| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"©GOP is DEAD" |
| Date: |
31 Jul 2006 02:56:39 PM |
| Object: |
Bush's Fondness For Fundamentalism |
[Edited]
Bush's Fondness For Fundamentalism Is Courting Disaster At Home and
Abroad
Affinity with the Christian right has led to banning stem cell
research and turning a blind eye to civilian deaths in Lebanon
by Karen Armstrong
From the very beginning, the conflict between religion and modern
science was couched in extreme, even apocalyptic rhetoric. Thomas H. Huxley,
who popularized the Origin of Species, insisted that people had to choose
between faith and science; there could be no compromise: "One or the other
would have to succumb after a struggle of unknown duration." In response,
conservative Christians launched a crusade against Darwinism.
The struggle continues - nowhere more so than among the Christian right in
the US, who still regard the evolutionary hypothesis as surrounded by a
murderous nimbus of evil. In 1925, they tried to ban the teaching of
evolution in public schools and developed creation science, based on a
literal reading of the first chapter of Genesis. More recently, they have
tried to introduce into the school curriculum the teaching of intelligent
design (ID), which claims that the irreducible complexity of micro-organisms
could not have evolved naturally but must be the result of a single creative
act. The issue splits the nation down the middle: fundamentalists want to
win a battle for God; liberals and secularists are fighting for truth and
rationality.
The same passions are likely to be aroused by President Bush's decision last
week to veto the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, which would have
loosened the restrictions on federal funding for stem cell research. "This
bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding
medical benefits for others," Bush said. "It crosses a moral boundary that
our decent society needs to respect."
His opponents point out that while the president zealously champions the
rights of the unborn, he is less concerned about the plight of existing
American children. The US infant mortality rate is only the 42nd best in the
world; the average baby has a better chance of surviving in Havana or
Beijing; infant mortality rates are unacceptably high among those who cannot
afford adequate healthcare, especially in the African-American community.
And, finally, at the same time as Bush decided to veto the stem cell bill,
Israeli bombs were taking the lives of hundreds of innocent Lebanese
civilians, many of them children, with the tacit approval of the US.
Is there a connection between a religiously motivated mistrust of science,
glaring social injustice, and a war in the Middle East? Bush and his
administration espouse many of the ideals of the Christian right and rely on
its support. American fundamentalists are convinced that the second coming
of Christ is at hand; they have developed an end-time scenario of genocidal
battles based on a literal reading of Revelation that is absolutely central
to their theology. Christ cannot return, however, unless, in fulfilment of
biblical prophecy, the Jews are in possession of the Holy Land.
This nihilistic religiosity is based on a perversion of the texts. The first
chapter of Genesis was never intended as a literal account of the origins of
life; it is a myth, a timeless story about the sanctity of the world and
everything in it. Revelation was not a detailed program for the End time; it
is written in an apocalyptic genre that has quite a different dynamic. When
they described the Jews' return to their homeland, the Hebrew prophets were
predicting the end of the Babylonian exile in the sixth century BC - not the
second coming of Christ. The prophets did preach a stern message of social
justice, however, and like all the major world faiths, Christianity sees
charity and loving-kindness as the cardinal virtues. Fundamentalism nearly
always distorts the tradition it is trying to defend.
Fundamentalists do not want a humanly constructed peace; many, indeed,
regard the UN as the abode of the Antichrist. The willingness of the US to
turn a blind eye to the suffering of innocent people in Lebanon will
certainly fuel the rage of the extremists and lead to further acts of
terror.
Karen Armstrong is the author of "The Battle for God: A History of
Fundamentalism."
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0345391691/commondreams-20/ref=nosim
Email to: comment@guardian.co.uk.
© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
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