Thursday, January 25, 2007
There's a very interesting article at the New Statesman website about the Religion of Despair.
The engine that drives the radical Christian right in the United States... is not religiosity, but despair.
Those in despair are the most easily manipulated by demagogues, who promise a fantastic utopia, whether it is a worker's paradise, liberté-égalité-fraternité, or the second coming of Jesus Christ. Those in despair search desperately for a solution, the warm embrace of a community to replace the one they lost, a sense of purpose and meaning in life, the assurance that they are protected, loved and worthwhile.
And the key quote: The danger of this theology of despair is that it says that nothing in the world is worth saving. It rejoices in cataclysmic destruction... The obsession with apocalyptic violence is an obsession with revenge. It is what the world, and we who still believe it is worth saving, deserve.
The engine that drives the radical Christian right in the United States... is not religiosity, but despair.
Those in despair are the most easily manipulated by demagogues, who promise a fantastic utopia, whether it is a worker's paradise, liberté-égalité-fraternité, or the second coming of Jesus Christ. Those in despair search desperately for a solution, the warm embrace of a community to replace the one they lost, a sense of purpose and meaning in life, the assurance that they are protected, loved and worthwhile.
And the key quote: The danger of this theology of despair is that it says that nothing in the world is worth saving. It rejoices in cataclysmic destruction... The obsession with apocalyptic violence is an obsession with revenge. It is what the world, and we who still believe it is worth saving, deserve.
Labels: Christianity, Fundamentalists- Christian, United States
