©Mason Payne
A Christian Fatwa
August 23, 2005
American Christians should be asking themselves whether their religion is becoming dominated by extremists. As our nation’s lives and savings disappear in a war purportedly against fundamentalists and extremists—people who have allegedly hijacked the spirit of the Muslim faith—are we allowing ourselves to succumb to a similar fate?
Monday evening, Pat Robertson called for the assassination of the democratically elected president of Venezuela. Hugo Chavez has been no friend to the Bush administration, but who can blame him? Immediately following a coup orchestrated by the Venezuelan elite, the Bush administration supported the new leadership. Within a matter of days, the people of Venezuela rose up, ousted the installed government and returned Chavez to power. Instead of making amends with Chavez, the Bush administration secretly funneled money through the National Endowment for Democracy to support the recall movement, which proved to be another considerable failure.
Chavez has redirected his country’s considerable oil earnings toward social programs targeting the massive numbers of impoverished Venezuelans. He has worked with Cuba to provide doctors and teachers in the impoverished areas underserved by Venezuelan healthcare workers. He has worked to unify the Latin American countries behind trade deals that would better serve the interests of the region. He has aided in the creation of a South American television station that would rival stations that originate outside Latin America. What this amounts to, in the minds of Robertson, Bush and their ilk, is communism.
Granted, Chavez endorses what he calls a modern socialism which would place priority on the welfare of people over the profit of corporations. Unfortunately, in the limited lexicon of the American media, socialism equals communism. Further, any state that practices communism is considered a threat to the interests of the U.S.
In theory, an open democracy that encourages open dialog would take the idea of a modern socialism and put it out for discussion. Certainly few would argue that there is no possible improvement that can be made upon the current form of democracy we practice. After all, despite our best efforts, poverty still exists; crime, disease, inequality, prejudice and intolerance continue despite this being the “freest nation in the history of the world.”
Perhaps it is simply the belief that we are, indeed, so free. After all, for those of us who grew up during the cold war, communists were evil. There was no discussion in our history classes, no balanced versions of the past. We were taught from the start that all other countries were in some way less free, less fair, and less righteous. Therefore, whatever actions we took against those forces of evil were justified simply by the very nature of their existence. Certainly these communists would rather die than remain under the yoke of oppressive dictators, even if it means dying by the sword of a nation half a world away.
Following that logic, it can only in the best interest of all the world if we can act to remove any perceived threats to the American concept of democracy, even if it means attacking without outward provocation. We have set a precedent for this kind of behavior, and despite our current difficulties with the Iraq war, we have done little to halt the doctrine of the preemptive strike. Indeed we continue to threaten its use.
Which brings us back to Mr. Robertson. Should the American public shudder at this fatwa from the Christian extreme? It isn’t his first such act of foul intent. He has publicly “prayed” for god to do “something” to remove justices from the Supreme Court bench. He has made no secret of his hate of gays and lesbians; and never mind his opinion of liberals. Robertson’s use of Christianity to support violence and intolerance is no different than the extremist imams calling for the killing of western infidels. Certainly we would stop that kind of hate speech from being broadcast in this country.
Robertson’s use of demagoguery is no different than that used against the communist threat of the past, and as we can see the two combine nicely to create headlines for Robertson, which no doubt will fill his holy coffers. All too often moderate followers of organized religion disagree with the extremism of their leaders, but are hesitant to act upon their instincts. After all, these outrageous outbursts don’t emerge from nowhere, they build steadily over years; small steps that lack the singular audacity to send the flock fleeing into the hills.
Robertson’s call for the murder of an elected leader of a neighboring country should be that red flag—that signal that the Christian faith is being abducted by madmen, intent on reforming the concept of freedom to match their own narrow worldview. Men who believe that morality is an absolute concept defined exactly by their understanding of god’s will. Indeed, freedom has never been a true goal for these men. Freedom allows the flock to stray, it allows for “un-Christian” behavior, it allows for the practice of other beliefs, whether they be Buddhism, Islam or even communism. If the powers-that-be advocate for the killing of socialists today, might it not be you tomorrow?
©Mason Payne 2005