Bush's God

From an essay by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, from the American Prospect courtesy of AMERICAblog, on politics and fundamentalism:

There is a larger pattern here. In its eagerness to promote the teaching of creationism in public schools, encourage school prayer, support anti-sodomy statutes, ban abortions, bar gay marriage, limit the use of stem cells, reduce access to contraceptives, and advance the idea of America as a "Christian nation," the Bush administration has done more to politicize religion than any administration in recent American history. It has already blurred the distinction between what is preached from the pulpits and what are the official policies of the United States government, to the detriment of both. Right-wing fundamentalists -- including not a few high-level Bush-administration officials -- charge us secularists with being "moral relativists" who would give equal weight to any moral precept. In so doing, they confuse politics with private morality. For religious zealots, there is no distinction between the two realms. And that is precisely the problem.

The great conflict of the 21st century may be between the West and terrorism. But terrorism is a tactic, not a belief. The underlying battle will be between modern civilization and anti-modernist fanatics; between those who believe in the primacy of the individual and those who believe that human beings owe blind allegiance to a higher authority; between those who give priority to life in this world and those who believe that human life is no more than preparation for an existence beyond life; between those who believe that truth is revealed solely through scripture and religious dogma, and those who rely primarily on science, reason, and logic.

Click here for the rest.

The one thing I don't understand about fundamentalist efforts to transform US law into their version of Biblical law is what they hope to accomplish should they ever succeed. I remember from my days as a young Southern Baptist that the Bible says that works without faith are meaningless. That is, even if one follows God's law, he is still doomed to Hell unless he has accepted Jesus as his savior (whatever that means)--following God's law, doing good things (as defined by a literalist interpretation of the Bible), is then evidence of "being saved."

So...what's the point in compelling Americans to follow fundamentalist Biblical teachings if it won't get them into Heaven? Clearly, if fundamentalists were truly concerned with love and forgiveness they would be trying to "lead people to the Lord" first, fulfilling the so-called "Great Commission." Once "saved," people would, ideally, behave in a "Godly manner." From their own perspective, their own theology, they've got this all turned around, which leads me to ask: what's this really all about?

Obviously, it's about control.

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