I am very, very tired of hearing from Pat Robertson, Falwell, Dobson, and the rest of the Christian Pundit Class. Truly, they are little more than the Vegas showgirls of Christianity, and bear as little relationship to true, deeply felt religion as a Vegas topless show does to the more nuanced works of theatre. But damn, look at the costumes! The sets! The music!
And yes, when the audience isn't paying sufficient attention to the performance, Robertson et. al. are far too eager in obliging us with religious/transcendental "show us your boobs!" moments, in the form of nine-hundred-foot tall religious visions that only they can see, or Holy ransom notes on their lives, or detailed descriptions of who God hates, and how much, and what particular climatological or sociopathic event is a sign of God being pissed off at New State Law X or Insufficient Bigotry Against Y.
I'm waiting for one of them to simply give up all pretense and start speaking in tongues. Now that I'd watch, if merely to see how many Godly Inspired Prophecies had words that curiously resembled "Enchirito!" or "Tandoori!"
And yet, these spiritual bling-bling artists are not -- or at least, shouldn't be -- ignorable. We may say it in mocking tones, but these figures do indeed represent a striking parallel to the religious extremist movements that pose such significant threats in the Middle East. Consider the ever-expanding list of parallels...
- Though not strictly part of government, hold such substantial political power as to be able to dictate many government policies, with well-known religious figures holding forth in frequent public court on government policies and actions.
- Extremely distrustful of science as being contrary to religious values. Generally anti-intellectual.
- Intolerant of those with differing religious values; view other religions -- even generally closely related sects -- as illegitimate. Associated persecution complex which presumes religious-neutral or religious-absent law to be intentionally oppressive of their own beliefs.
- Attempting to weaken state-based education systems in favor of a government-funded network of religious schools dedicated towards the teaching of strict fundamentalist values.
- Demand government support for their religious agendas, including the passage of laws based on their particular religious beliefs, under the assertion that the country was "divinely founded" and therefore inherently subservient to their religious sect.
- Generally dismissive of the rights of women.
- Generally dismissive of the rights of minorities.
- Calls for God to "remove" political opponents by killing or otherwise rendering them unable to serve.
- An extensive worldwide fundraising network that includes financial connections to the bloody West African "conflict" diamond trade and other questionable financial activities.
- And finally, as we have seen in the last few days: willing to publicly endorse the utility of violence against international foes. Significantly, actions against purely political or socioeconomic foes are justified based on questionably religious grounds.
While this is of course only the smallest of lists -- others have explored the topic in more depth -- I think the central point is clear. If we were talking about another country which exhibited such alarming internal characteristics...
... we'd be making serious plans to bomb the holy crap out of them right now. And, one could argue, with fair reason.
The United States and other countries have been increasingly pressuring Saudi Arabia and other countries -- and rightly so, I might add -- to renounce their close government ties to religious extremism. Lest we be perceived as being as hypocritical as we actually are, we might be wise to do the same.
Let the religions of this country be led by those among us who do not see targeted assassination, gambling, the blood diamond trade, and divinely inspired whacking of political opponents as being valid tools to consolidate their own power. Doesn't seem like too much to ask to me.
Of course, I'm not a follower of Pat Robertson or the other Prophets of the Phosphorescent Screen. Those who do follow these creatures of money and political power obviously have different spiritual priorities.