Just because you don’t know it’s wrong doesn’t make it right
Take the case of more than 400 children removed from the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) compound in Texas last week. The leadership of this absent-when-God-was-handing-out-brains cult would have us believe their way of life is protected by the United States Constitution because it ostensibly falls under the umbrella of “freedom of religion.” This, of course, is a red herring designed to distract from the fact their beliefs deprive their membership of the more fundamental right to liberty.
Advocates who want to hand these poor kids back to their parents argue the equally abused mothers don’t know any better because they have been brutally conditioned by the megalomaniacal, polygamist male leadership. The answer to that is quite simple: just because you don’t know something is wrong doesn’t make it right. Many serial killers don’t know what they are doing is wrong either, but, as a society, we would never tolerate murder under the guise of tolerance for disparate belief systems.
The authorities did the correct thing in removing those kids. Ultimately, right or wrong (I would argue right), their way of life is against the law. The First Amendment doesn’t protect Catholic priests from being prosecuted for child abuse and it doesn’t give Muslims licence to practice Shariah law. Why should the FLDS be above the law?
As tragic as this situation is, however, the truly scary thing is that the FLDS is merely the radical outermost fringe of a much more mainstream movement bent on a campaign of historical revisionism the like of which the world has rarely seen and which is currently the gravest threat to humanity.
The big problem with groups like FLDS, is they make the much more dangerous core wingnuts look moderate by comparison. It has been dubbed “the religious right” or “moral majority” (and is neither right nor moral), but whatever you want to call it, evangelical Christianity American-style has much more in common with the FLDS than not. In fact, it is more similar to militant Islam than to traditional Christianity (the Inquisition and Crusades notwithstanding).
They have convinced millions of Americans to embrace ignorance over education. They are slowly but surely rewriting American history to reposition the world’s largest secular democracy as a Christian nation. They would have us believe biblical literalism is as legitimate as scientific evidence simply on the basis of the strength of their faith. They are waiting, indeed praying, for the apocalypse as set out in Revelations, a book that almost didn’t make it into The Bible in the first place. And, while they may not be promising 72 virgins, they are recruiting martyrs for Christ in much the same way as their militant Muslim counterparts with the same carrot of eternal life in Paradise. Their insidious influence has infiltrated Congress, The White House and the public education system. Mitt Romney, a member of the Mormon Church, of which FLDS is an offshoot, was almost a contender for the presidency.
Chris Hedges, in his book American Fascists: The Relgious Right and the War on America, likens these blood-thirsty, Bible-wielding zealots to the Nazis and warns it is time for sensible people to take a stand lest we be undone by our own tolerance.
I whole-heartedly concur. It is poignant the same First Amendment that promises religious freedom also guarantees freedom of expression and the press. The evangelical movement is doing its damndest to supress the latter in favour of the former, providing the former corresponds to their own narrow interpretation. They claim religion, specifically their religion, is under attack, a classic fascist tactic, even though it has become politically incorrect to even question someone’s religious convictions.
It is incumbent upon all thinking persons to question and to take action against what is quickly becoming an imminent danger. Granted, it is a tricky balancing act. We wouldn’t want to fight fascism with fascism, but remaining silent is de facto acceptance and we’ve all seen what a mess that can create.
