Christofascism
Encyclopedia
Christofascism is a concept in Christian theology
first mentioned by Dorothee Sölle
, a Christian theologian and writer, in her book Beyond Mere Obedience: Reflections on a Christian Ethic for the Future in 1970. To Sölle, Christofascism was caused by the embracing of authoritarian theology by the Christian church. According to Sölle, it is an arrogant, totalitarian, imperialistic attitude, characteristic of the church in Germany under Nazism, that she believed to be alive and well in the theological scene of the late 20th and turn of the 21st century. Usage of the term became much more prominent in 2006–8, as a backlash against increasing usage of the word "Islamofascism
" by conservatives in the USA such as David Horowitz
.
Professor Emeritus at Union Theological Seminary in New York
, expressed concern "that the worship of God in Christ not divide Christian from Jew, man from woman, clergy from laity, white from black, or rich from poor". To him, Christianity is in constant danger of Christofascism, stating that "[w]e fear christofascism, which we see as the political direction of all attempts to place Christ at the center of social life and history" and that "[m]uch of the churches' teaching about Christ has turned into something that is dictatorial in its heart and is preparing society for an American fascism". Christofascism allows Christians, or disposes them, to impose themselves upon other religions, upon other cultures, and upon political parties which do not march under the banner of the final, normative, victorious Christ.
George Hunsinger, director of the Centre for Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary
, regards the conception of Christofascism as being an attack, at a very sophisticated level of theological discourse, on the biblical depiction of Jesus Christ. He equates what is viewed as Christofascism with "Jesus Christ as depicted in Scripture" and contrasts it with the "nonnormative Christology
" that is offered as an alternative by some theologians, which he characterizes as extreme relativism that reduces Jesus Christ to "an object of mere personal preference and cultural location" and that he finds difficult to see as not contributing to the same problems encountered by the Christian church in Germany that were noted by theologian Karl Barth
.
Douglas John Hall, Professor of Christian Theology at McGill University
, relates Sölle's concept of Christofascism to Christomonism, that inevitably ends in religious triumphalism and exclusivity, noting Sölle's observation of American fundamentalist Christianity that Christomonism easily leads to Christofascism, and that violence is never far away from militant Christomonism. (Christomonism, also known as Unitarianism
of the Second Person
, accepts only one divine person, Jesus Christ.) He states that the over-divinized ("high") Christology of Christendom
is demonstrated to be wrong by its "almost unrelieved anti-Judaism
". He suggests that the best way to guard against this is for Christians not to neglect the humanity of Jesus Christ in favour of his divinity, and to remind themselves that Jesus was a Jewish human being.
Chris Hedges
and David Neiwert
observe the beginnings of American Christofascism during the Great Depression
, when Americans espoused forms of fascism that were "explicitly 'Christian' in nature." Hedges writes that "fundamentalist preachers such as Gerald B. Winrod
and Gerald L.K. Smith fused national and Christian symbols to advocate the country's first crude form of Christo-fascism." Smith's Christian Nationalist Crusade
said that "Christian character is the basis of all real Americanism." Another prominent advocate of Christofascism was William Dudley Pelley
.
By the late 1950s, followers of these philosophies became the John Birch Society
, whose policy positions and rhetoric have greatly impacted modern dominionists
. Likewise, the Posse Comitatus movement began with former associates of Pelley and Smith. The 1980s saw the Council for National Policy
and the Moral Majority
carry on the tradition, while the patriot movement
and militia movement represented efforts to mainstream the philosophy in the 1990s.
The term is also used to describe modern tendencies. Episcopal priest Carter Heyward
, professor of theology at Episcopal Divinity School
, uses the term to describe political and social policies that exclude nontraditional families in the name of Christianity, a practice she described as "arrogant and blasphemous." Jonathan Turley
referred to conservatives who wished to make Representative Keith Ellison
, a Muslim, swear in on a Bible as "Judeo-Christofascists," in response to the use of "Islamofascists." Incidents of anti-abortion violence, including the bombings committed by Eric Robert Rudolph
and the murder of George Tiller, have also been called Christofascism. The term caused controversy in 2007, when Melissa McEwan, a campaign blogger for then-presidential candidate John Edwards
, referred to religious conservatives as "Christofascists" on her personal blog.
Christian theology
- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
first mentioned by Dorothee Sölle
Dorothee Sölle
Dorothee Steffensky-Sölle was a German liberation theologian and writer who coined the term Christofascism...
, a Christian theologian and writer, in her book Beyond Mere Obedience: Reflections on a Christian Ethic for the Future in 1970. To Sölle, Christofascism was caused by the embracing of authoritarian theology by the Christian church. According to Sölle, it is an arrogant, totalitarian, imperialistic attitude, characteristic of the church in Germany under Nazism, that she believed to be alive and well in the theological scene of the late 20th and turn of the 21st century. Usage of the term became much more prominent in 2006–8, as a backlash against increasing usage of the word "Islamofascism
Islamofascism
The term Islamofascism is a neologism which draws an analogy between the ideological characteristics of specific Islamist movements from the turn of the 21st century on, and a broad range of European fascist movements of the early 20th century, neofascist movements, or totalitarianism.-Origins of...
" by conservatives in the USA such as David Horowitz
David Horowitz
David Joel Horowitz is an American conservative writer and policy advocate. Horowitz was raised by parents who were both members of the American Communist Party. Between 1956 and 1975, Horowitz was an outspoken adherent of the New Left before rejecting Marxism completely...
.
Theological viewpoints
Tom Faw Driver, Paul TillichPaul Tillich
Paul Johannes Tillich was a German-American theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher. Tillich was one of the most influential Protestant theologians of the 20th century...
Professor Emeritus at Union Theological Seminary in New York
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York
Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York is a preeminent independent graduate school of theology, located in Manhattan between Claremont Avenue and Broadway, 120th to 122nd Streets. The seminary was founded in 1836 under the Presbyterian Church, and is affiliated with nearby Columbia...
, expressed concern "that the worship of God in Christ not divide Christian from Jew, man from woman, clergy from laity, white from black, or rich from poor". To him, Christianity is in constant danger of Christofascism, stating that "[w]e fear christofascism, which we see as the political direction of all attempts to place Christ at the center of social life and history" and that "[m]uch of the churches' teaching about Christ has turned into something that is dictatorial in its heart and is preparing society for an American fascism". Christofascism allows Christians, or disposes them, to impose themselves upon other religions, upon other cultures, and upon political parties which do not march under the banner of the final, normative, victorious Christ.
George Hunsinger, director of the Centre for Barth Studies at Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary
Princeton Theological Seminary is a theological seminary of the Presbyterian Church located in the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey in the United States...
, regards the conception of Christofascism as being an attack, at a very sophisticated level of theological discourse, on the biblical depiction of Jesus Christ. He equates what is viewed as Christofascism with "Jesus Christ as depicted in Scripture" and contrasts it with the "nonnormative Christology
Christology
Christology is the field of study within Christian theology which is primarily concerned with the nature and person of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament. Primary considerations include the relationship of Jesus' nature and person with the nature...
" that is offered as an alternative by some theologians, which he characterizes as extreme relativism that reduces Jesus Christ to "an object of mere personal preference and cultural location" and that he finds difficult to see as not contributing to the same problems encountered by the Christian church in Germany that were noted by theologian Karl Barth
Karl Barth
Karl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas...
.
Douglas John Hall, Professor of Christian Theology at McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
, relates Sölle's concept of Christofascism to Christomonism, that inevitably ends in religious triumphalism and exclusivity, noting Sölle's observation of American fundamentalist Christianity that Christomonism easily leads to Christofascism, and that violence is never far away from militant Christomonism. (Christomonism, also known as Unitarianism
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
of the Second Person
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
, accepts only one divine person, Jesus Christ.) He states that the over-divinized ("high") Christology of Christendom
Christendom
Christendom, or the Christian world, has several meanings. In a cultural sense it refers to the worldwide community of Christians, adherents of Christianity...
is demonstrated to be wrong by its "almost unrelieved anti-Judaism
Anti-Judaism
Religious antisemitism is a form of antisemitism, which is the prejudice against, or hostility toward, the Jewish people based on hostility to Judaism and to Jews as a religious group...
". He suggests that the best way to guard against this is for Christians not to neglect the humanity of Jesus Christ in favour of his divinity, and to remind themselves that Jesus was a Jewish human being.
American history and politics
American historians and political commentators have also used the term to refer to politico-religious tendencies in American society.Chris Hedges
Chris Hedges
Christopher Lynn Hedges is an American journalist, author, and war correspondent, specializing in American and Middle Eastern politics and societies...
and David Neiwert
David Neiwert
David Neiwert is a Seattle-based freelance journalist and blogger. He received the National Press Club Award for Distinguished Online Journalism in 2000 for a domestic terrorism series he produced for MSNBC.com....
observe the beginnings of American Christofascism during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
, when Americans espoused forms of fascism that were "explicitly 'Christian' in nature." Hedges writes that "fundamentalist preachers such as Gerald B. Winrod
Gerald B. Winrod
Gerald Burton Winrod was a pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic evangelist, author, and political activist.-Biography:...
and Gerald L.K. Smith fused national and Christian symbols to advocate the country's first crude form of Christo-fascism." Smith's Christian Nationalist Crusade
Christian Nationalist Crusade
Christian Nationalist Crusade was an antisemitic organization which operated out of P.O. Box D-4, St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Its founder was Gerald L. K. Smith. It sold and distributed, inter alia, The International Jew, and subscribed to the antisemitic views embodied in the Protocols of the Elders...
said that "Christian character is the basis of all real Americanism." Another prominent advocate of Christofascism was William Dudley Pelley
William Dudley Pelley
William Dudley Pelley was an American extremist and spiritualist who founded the Silver Legion in 1933, and ran for President in 1936 for the Christian Party.-Family:...
.
By the late 1950s, followers of these philosophies became the John Birch Society
John Birch Society
The John Birch Society is an American political advocacy group that supports anti-communism, limited government, a Constitutional Republic and personal freedom. It has been described as radical right-wing....
, whose policy positions and rhetoric have greatly impacted modern dominionists
Dominionism
Dominionism is a term used to describe politically active conservative Christians that are believed to conspire and seek influence or control over secular civil government through political action, especially in the United States, with the goal of either a nation governed by Christians, or a nation...
. Likewise, the Posse Comitatus movement began with former associates of Pelley and Smith. The 1980s saw the Council for National Policy
Council for National Policy
The Council for National Policy , is an umbrella organization and networking group for social conservative activists in the United States...
and the Moral Majority
Moral Majority
The Moral Majority was a political organization of the United States which had an agenda of evangelical Christian-oriented political lobbying...
carry on the tradition, while the patriot movement
Patriot movement
The Patriot Movement is a loose collection of independent minarchist social movements in the United States beginning in the latter half of the 20th century...
and militia movement represented efforts to mainstream the philosophy in the 1990s.
The term is also used to describe modern tendencies. Episcopal priest Carter Heyward
Carter Heyward
Isabel Carter Heyward is a lesbian feminist theologian, teacher and priest in the Episcopal Church - the province of the worldwide Anglican Communion in the United States....
, professor of theology at Episcopal Divinity School
Episcopal Divinity School
The Episcopal Divinity School is a seminary of the Episcopal Church based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Known throughout the Anglican Communion for prophetic teaching and action on issues of civil rights and social justice, its faculty and students have been directly involved in many of the social...
, uses the term to describe political and social policies that exclude nontraditional families in the name of Christianity, a practice she described as "arrogant and blasphemous." Jonathan Turley
Jonathan Turley
Jonathan Turley is an American lawyer, legal scholar, writer, commentator, and legal analyst in broadcast and print journalism...
referred to conservatives who wished to make Representative Keith Ellison
Keith Ellison (politician)
Keith Maurice Ellison is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 2007. He is a member of the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party. The district centers on Minneapolis. He was re-elected in 2010. Ellison is a co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.He is the first Muslim to be elected to the...
, a Muslim, swear in on a Bible as "Judeo-Christofascists," in response to the use of "Islamofascists." Incidents of anti-abortion violence, including the bombings committed by Eric Robert Rudolph
Eric Robert Rudolph
Eric Robert Rudolph , also known as the Olympic Park Bomber, is a criminal responsible for a series of bombings across the southern United States between 1996 and 1998, which killed two people and injured at least 150 others in the name of an anti-abortion and anti-gay agenda...
and the murder of George Tiller, have also been called Christofascism. The term caused controversy in 2007, when Melissa McEwan, a campaign blogger for then-presidential candidate John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
, referred to religious conservatives as "Christofascists" on her personal blog.
See also
- American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on AmericaAmerican Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on AmericaAmerican Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America is a non-fiction book by American author Chris Hedges, published in January 2007. Hedges is a former seminary student with a master's degree in divinity from Harvard and was a long-time foreign correspondent for The New York Times...
- Clerical fascismClerical fascismClerical fascism is an ideological construct that combines the political and economic doctrines of fascism with theology or religious tradition...
- Culture warCulture warThe culture war in American usage is a metaphor used to claim that political conflict is based on sets of conflicting cultural values. The term frequently implies a conflict between those values considered traditionalist or conservative and those considered progressive or liberal...
- IslamofascismIslamofascismThe term Islamofascism is a neologism which draws an analogy between the ideological characteristics of specific Islamist movements from the turn of the 21st century on, and a broad range of European fascist movements of the early 20th century, neofascist movements, or totalitarianism.-Origins of...
- Neofascism and religionNeofascism and religionNeo-fascism and religion refers to debates about the relationships between neo-fascism and various religions.Some scholars, using the term neo-fascism in its narrow sense, consider certain contemporary religious movements and groups to represent forms of clerical or theocratic neofascism, including...