Republican Disaster -- The Evangelical/Zionist Anatomy of Meltdown

I was a Republican insider. For instance, the late Jack Kemp was a friend who I often advised on "connecting" with the Religious Right, until I left the Republican Party and the evangelical subculture and slammed the door behind me. During my last call with Jack he hung up on me. (I was backing McCain in 2000 and he was for W.) I want you to understand this context of my "insider's" comments here because they are going to strike you as shocking. So please let me recap some personal history.

My parents and I were the guests of the Reagans, Fords and Bush's in the White House and/or in other private meetings. Jack Kemp was so good a friend that he once interrupted a speech at a fund-raising banquet in Washington that I'd walked into late and walked from the podium to the back of the hall shook my hand introduced me to the assembled Republican leaders, then walked back to the podium and continued his speech. He did this because -- in those days -- I was an important link to the (then) powerful evangelical movement.

I was often in Jack's house with Jack and his wife Joanne who, at that time, was conducting a weekly Bible study group with other congressional wives called the "Schaeffer group," based on my father's books. In those days -- the 1970s and early 80s -- as both a staunch Republican and pro-life leader and the son of the famous evangelist, I was right in the middle of the Republican machine.

Talk about a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom -- in the 1970s my family was an integral part of bringing the Republican Party under the sway of the emerging Religious Right, particularly because of our support of the antiabortion movement. It was my father who talked Jerry Falwell into "taking a stand" on the "moral issues" of the day, which then morphed into the Moral Majority. Back in the 70s and early 80s Dad and I both appeared on the 700 Club many times, I preached from Jerry Falwell's pulpit and was the keynote speaker at the Religious Broadcasters and Christian Booksellers Association annual events several years running.

There came a day in 1985 (my dad had died in 1984) that I began to take another look at my commitment to the both the far right of Republican Party and the Religious Right. I came to realize that I was in bed with a group of people who were profoundly anti-American. They were professional haters. They wrapped themselves in the flag and "loved America," but it was an America in their imaginations only and cast in their image: white, middle-class, straight, born-again, homophobic and tinged with racism, not to mention misogyny.

The America most Americans lived in; diverse, open, tolerant and multi-ethnic was the America that the right would hardly even acknowledge. They "loved" an America that didn't exist, and hated the real country we live in. (I go into this in detail in two books; Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All -- or Almost All -- of It Back and also in my forthcoming Patience With God: Faith For People Who Don't Like Religion -- Or Atheism where I lay out an alternative to some very bad choices between the extremes.)

So what went wrong with the Republican Party? Believe me, it's all about religion!

Two religions (in the broadest sense of the term) have destroyed the Republican Party: evangelical Christianity and Christian/Jewish Zionism. Evangelical Christianity created the Religious Right which forever linked the Republican Party to the antiabortion, anti-sex education, anti-evolution and anti-gay crusades. And both Christian and Jewish Zionism linked the Republican Party to what became the neoconservative movement with its roots in such publications as Commentary magazine and their shrill Israel-can-do-no-wrong anti-Arab agenda. (I knew the late editor of Commentary Norman Podhoretz quite well, and we met several times to build alliances between evangelicals and the far American Zionist far right. When it came to Arabs, I believe he was a real racist.)

I would not call Zionism per se a religion, but I'm talking about secular goals pursued with religious fervor. I would call Zionism, American-style a politicized version of a religion. I also argue that the neo-con side got traction when religious Jews became Zionists and when religious Christians (evangelicals) hopped aboard to hasten the "Rapture." And I'd like to point out that American Zionists ally themselves with the Israeli hardliners, but that opinion in Israel is much more diverse and often tolerant than that, as is opinion among Jewish Americans, who do not by and large accept the AIPAC point of view uncritically.

The result of the Republican Party being taken over by these religious groups was that we got George W. Bush. His idea of governance was a hands-off, all-government-is-bad-government neglect, combined with an unnecessary war in Iraq inspired by a form of Zionism that sees all Arabs as a threat, Islam as evil, America as an exceptional place duty-bound "by God" to keep the world safe for evangelical Christian "values," on the one hand, and militant Christian and Jewish Zionism on the other. It is a poisonous blend. (It's not just Zionism, or a form of Zionism, that makes Americans hate Arabs. Anti-Arab, anti-Muslim images in America go way back and some right wing evangelicals and Jews merely tap into that racism.)

Evangelical/Christian Zionism has been bad for the State of Israel too. It has helped put that country into a permanent defensive crouch in which there is now perhaps no way out from destruction that comes to all people who see everyone else (from the EU to the UN to the Arabs and Iran) as a threat. The building of the illegal West Bank settlements and turning the Gaza Strip into what amounts to a concentration camp, combined with demographic reality will doom the State of Israel if a two state peace agreement is not reached and reached fast. But Christian Zionists have done all they can to undermine peace in the name of fulfilling "biblical prophecy" as have the far right of the Jewish Zionists, people like my old friend Norman Podhoretz.

With "friends" like the Christian Zionists -- exemplified by the Reverend John Hagee and many others who "support" Israel while eagerly waiting for the "return of Christ" and the destruction of all "unbelieving Jews" -- Israel needs no enemies. Given that the hard-line American Christian Zionists encouraged the Republican Party to become the party of permanent war to keep the State of Israel "safe" they have actually helped set the stage for its destruction. And therefore the Republicans also opened the door to our national economic ruin as well. The two are linked; eternal war and ruin, because our permanent wars (thinly veiled excuses to "keep Israel safe") are never paid for by increased taxes or a draft. (Disclosure: my son served in the Marines and was deployed.)

But attitudes are changing: The results of a new Zogby poll are interesting. They suggest that Obama would have strong support for a US diplomatic effort to forge an Israel-Palestine deal, even if it means tough pressure on Israel. According to the poll, when asked if the United States should "get tough" with Israel in order to back up its call for an end to settlement construction in the occupied West Bank, fully 50 percent of Americans said yes, with just 19 percent saying "do nothing," and 32 percent not sure.

Asked whether the interests of Israel and the US are identical, only 28 percent of Obama voters agreed, while 59 percent disagreed. Among McCain voters, it was the reverse: 78 percent of McCain voters said US and Israel interests were identical (!) and 15 percent said they are not.

So what did the Republicans become? They are the party of unnecessary wars both actual and cultural and the party of the rich -- those who never serve in the military, just put up flags to "support the troops." The actual war in Iraq was (as everyone knew with a wink and a nod, but few dared say) really about our commitment to Christian and Jewish Zionism as it was "understood" by the born-again fool Bush. The culture war is also an unnecessary and unmitigated war that pitted the "real America" (in other words white mostly uneducated, lower-middle-class evangelical/Catholic working Americans) against everyone else.

If you're not a gay-hating, "pro-life," born-again evangelical and/or an ardent Israel-can-do-no-wrong-all-Arabs-are-evil-Jesus-is-coming-back-soon evangelical on the one hand or a neoconservative I-never-met-a-war-I-didn't-like "intellectual" on the other hand, these days you're probably not a Republican. Throw in a college degree or the habit of getting information from any source other than right wing blogs, radio "personalities" like Rush Limbaugh or "authors" like Ann Coulter and you won't be voting Republican again in this lifetime.

What's caused the Republican Party's real meltdown? It's that it has ceased to exist as a political party and is instead a dwindling weirdly eclectic collection of uneducated rubes led by a few fearful angry far right thinkers who talk in media sound bites geared to the types of people who watch Fox News. Jack Kemp was not part of this horrible little "party." He was a smart compassionate man. There used to be more Republicans like Kemp. Today the Republican core constituency is the national village idiot.

With the election of President Obama America has turned the page on the village idiots. We now have a president who is a religious believer himself, who supports Israel (as I do, by the way), but who well understands -- and articulates beautifully as he just did at Notre Dame talking about abortion -- the fact that authentic faith should be a unifying force instead of a divisive one. That's bad news for religious nuts, be they Christians or Jews. That's good news for America and the world, and maybe for our overstretched military too.

The choice for America has always been between inclusive pluralism and exclusion. The kind of religion and Evangelical/Zionist/neoconservative cabal used to take over the interests of the Republican Party is just too small for this big diverse, tolerant and open country of ours. So the Republicans have a choice: become an American political party again serving American interests or continue to serve the narrowly defined religious interests of two angry and fearful Jewish/Evangelical minorities who are themselves bastardized offshoots of their Christian and Jewish traditions.

Frank Schaeffer is a writer. He is author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up as One of the Elect, Helped Found the Religious Right, and Lived to Take All (or Almost All) of It Back and also author of the forthcoming Patience With God: Faith For People Who Don't Like Religion (Or Atheism).

Comments

[lgillooly]

Mr. Schaeffer,
You are my favorite on Huffpo because I see what you see, but you have the cred to say it. Sadly, my kids and I have fallen away from Church because of this. I keep trying to tell them to focus on the New Testament and what Christ represented for 33 yrs and NOT the hateful Evangelical Old Testament verses they seem to always pick.
I recently started a radio show to address these [e-mail] if you are interested in being a guest.

lgillooly

[AnotherTry]

People cling to faith because it is bullet-proof. Obama knows this well. Take his illogical stance against marriage equality, for example. He uses religious bigotry to keep some Americans down and when we complain, he just shrugs his shoulders and says, "It's my faith."

[smurphette]

whateva!

[kjstjohn]

Gays will have their day just like blacks and women. Obama has to say he wants civil unions instead of gay marriage because he knows that America is not quite ready for the change that will inevitably arrive as todays teenagers replace our elderly citizens in the voting booth.

In the meantime, individual states will show the way.

[wontgetfooledagain24076]

The Obama-strain of pragmatism strikes again! Don't ever stand up for principles, someone might like you less (never mind that person probably already doesn't like you and probably never will). This rationalization of the unjustifiable (whether it be re: equality for same-sex couples, the white collar crime that tanked the global economy and the corporate bailout theft that has since ensued, torture, or respecting the rule of law) is precisely why the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act weren't passed for 99 and 100 years, respectively, AFTER the end of the Civil War.

As Mr. Schaeffer has so astutely pointed out, the GOP has been shrunken to its most vile and intolerant core. From everything I've seen, they're perfectly fine with that and there's nothing anyone can say or do to change that. If the President and Congress were actually serious about implementing a progressive agenda and reforming the horrors that were wreaked on our nation by the Warmongering-Jesus Freak Crusade Machine of the last eight years, I'm pretty sure they could get that done.

Maybe my standards are too high, afterall, I'm just a citizen in a democratic republic, expecting my government to work for the people. Expecting the President to stand on principle, instead of doing the politically expedient thing, is sadly proving to be asking WAY too much. Afterall, I wouldn't want to see him piss off Fox News viewers.

[wontgetfooledagain24076]

P.S. If you're going to flame me for not falling into lockstep behind everything the President does (no matter how much it reminds me of his immediate predecssor) please spare me the replies about what a mess he inherited, the fact that he's got a lot on his plate, and the fact that he's been on the job for less than five months. I'm well aware.

[HyperInfluential]

He has also never stated that that faith would cause him to veto something that was clearly the will of the people. He's been very clear that he will honor OUR wishes, even when they conflict with his. Which is actually super smart because it allows him to actually do the things we need done without opening himself up to personal spats with the Republicans he has to work with every day. He can say to them, well, you know I agree with you, friend, but as a constitutional law professor I believe I had to sign that law because it was the will of the people. And then he'll flash that gorgeous smile and we'll move on and get some more work done fixing everything up! He rocks.

[lawyernerd]

Great article. I'll be forwarding this to a few people...

[thehonestpolitician]

you hit the nail on the head....Yo­u highly recommend that you get on Maddow or Keith O and explain this.....

[jollyelle]

Great post.
Thanks for speaking out loud about the danger of fundamentalist thinking both Jewish and Christian.

Why is it in our country people are so uncomfortable commenting on any negative actions made by Israel?

The law of attraction often seems to uncover that which is trying so hard to remain under cover.
Truth for Israel is the only way to secure a regional peace, it needs to stand in its' own light or dark----before it makes demands of its' neighbors.

We are right smack in the middle of a relentless fear campaign waged by Israel targeting Iran. Take note of how it's played out in newspapers and on the MSM.

[VMA]

"Authentic faith should be a unifying force instead of a divisive one. " EXACTLY!!

[Merlin7]

"Faith" is just a euphemism for believing in something with no evidence whatsoever to substantiate that belief. If you believe in a god, you might as well believe in unicorns or fairies or Tinkerbell. It's sad that many people have to cling to these fantasies to get through life -- and even sadder that they often insist on imposing their beliefs on the rest of us.

[Khirad]

Fair enough, but what ideal do unicorns, fairies or Tinkerbell represent for mankind? When you reduce religion to the absurd, you make a mistake. I don't believe in god, yet I can still see value in the poetry of faith.

[skyreader7]

Live another 1000 lifetimes and you might begin to realize that the fantasy is this world. The real world is spiritual. But as I said, maybe you will get it once you have lived another thousand lives.

[Linda Dodson]

But how can faith be unifying when my faith is in Jesus Christ, another's is in the God of the Old Testament, another's faith is in Allah, another's is humanity, and another's is in nature? The best we can hope for is a level of tolerance for each other's faith, but to unite is asking the impossible.

[seaturtledove]

Everything you are saying is so true. Back in the late eighties and into the early 90's I was involved in a large, seemingly, main stream Christian Church which started preaching Zionism. I saw videos promoting the financial support of Israel and its army. We were told, "By aligning ourselves with Israel, we were in alignment with God and his Kingdom. " I was taught that the reestablishment of Israel as a nation after WWII was a fulfillment of Biblical Prophesy. Bible verses were cherry picked and used to support the "last days teaching "

From the fundamentalist evangelical perspective the war in Iraq is a holy and necessary war and is part of Last Days Prophesy. Verses from the Book of Revelations and Isiah are quoted out of original context and used to manipulate and convince the faithful church goers that supporting the war is supporting "God's plan. "

You quote:
" The actual war in Iraq was (as everyone knew with a wink and a nod, but few dared say) really about our commitment to Christian and Jewish Zionism as it was "understood" by the born-again "

Yes, bingo! You hit the nail on the head. Finally we are seeing some evidence of this coming out with GQ's coverage of the Rumsfeld's Crusade Memos.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/17/rumsfelds-crusade-memos_n_204353.html

I do think if McCain and Palin won, we could of had a self-fulfilling prophesy.

[Freesia2]

"78 percent of McCain voters said US and Israel interests were identical (!) ".

My God (said reverently) did we dodge a bullet or not? And that that whole sordid group is supported in large by the white,undereducated evangelical (throw in the other qualifiers) it is no wonder that Palin was so appealing. That's them in all their white, racist, undereducated glory only in a prettier package.

For some reason, though I always knew this in my gut, but seeing it spelled out like that I feel kind of stunned. 78 percent of the supporters of the man I would have been stuck with as a supposed step up (equal footing) to Bush would perpetuate this madness that leads to a "rapture" that is both bizarre and decidedly unChristian. Definitely unAmerican. As a Christian you're supposed to embrace life and not presume to speak for God. Oh my do they presume.

I'll read this again. The breakdown of how this all played out is really well written. A lot to chew on.

[crzy]

These are frightened people who use fear as a tool to gain moral authority and incite war. Frightened by their own shadow now that the curtain has been pulled back. It's clear that the far right is the middle of a psychotic breakdown where the truth cannot be reconciled. It is my hope that those who have chose to follow an administration (or prop up) that claimed to bring back "moral integrity" to the White House can see through their fear and begin an inclusive dialogue. How low can the republican party sink before they decide to help themselves? We shall see.

Thank you for the insightful read.

[WorkingClass]

"Today the Republican core constituency is the national village idiot."

Bravo! This is a great rant Frank. And an excellent portrait of the remnant of the GOP.

[mamalisa38]

You know, I don't believe in God, but I do think that I live my life more according to the 10 Commandments than any of these people do.

[max08]

FABULOUS! Just FABULOUS!

[jmpurser]

NOBODY knows the religious right and by extension the GOP like Frank does. "Thank you" might be a bit of a stretch as reading this stuff is far from pleasant. Every thing you write about here goes so completely against my expectations of humanity that I'm reluctant to believe it but it also agrees so completely with what I've seen in the last 30 years that I can't doubt it.

I would argue one point. I don't believe the GOP can any longer "choose" to "become an American political party again serving American interests". I don't think they're in touch with reality enough to find America much less develop a political party aligned with American Interests. The beast has lost it's head and in evolutionary terms that's not a promising sign.

[TimSledge]

I wonder how the "Israel-Ca­n-Do-No-Wr­ong" Americans would respond if a group of American Indians showed up in their city or county or state and said, "We're here to claim our land!" America is a living contradiction to the idea that "this was our land first" gives undisputed rights to property.

Evangelical Christians mainly believe the Jews are the "good guys" and the Palestinians are the "bad guys," but in fact were all just humans with good and bad qualities. How ironic that the people who would be most expected to take a stand for fairness end up with no perspective at all on what is fair. There are notable exceptions, thoughtful Christians like Jimmy Carter, for example.

[kbella]

"Evangelical Christians mainly believe the Jews are the "good guys" and the Palestinians are the "bad guys," but in fact were all just humans with good and bad qualities.­"

I completely agree! This is something I have always said!

Another thing to add: We went to Iraq on the pretense that Saddam had weapons of mass destruction and that they have violated UN Resolutions. Want to know who has broken more UN Resolutions than anyone else? Israel. That's right...Am­erica's bestest friend in the world has broken more UN Resolutions than any other country...­funny how Bush and co. condemned Iraq and defended Israel.

[NHInsider]

Totally true. I remember walking around in 2003 saying "take any statement about Iraq and substitute Sharon for Saddam . . . ."

[JXB]

Good points, but take care in certifying any elected official in America as a religious believer, especially a highly educated and thoughtful one. Declaring and exhibiting one's faith and religious belief is a virtual requirement for any politician to get elected in this country, whether the politician actually is a believer or not.

[lyta]

Unfortunately all too true, if you can't get a Mormon elected you sure aren't going to get a Deist, agnostic or atheist elected.