Going to Hell in a Handbasket

In addition to Elizabeth Kolbert's book, Field Notes from a Catastrophe, I'm thinking about using my Amazon kickback money to buy Kevin Phillips's book, American Theocracy. The Times reviewed it on Sunday.

Phillips is a long time Republican well known for his early prediction of the flourishing of Republicans in the Sun Belt.

In his new book, he forsees death and destruction for America caused by his beloved Republicans. He bemoans the big debt in Washington and in the individual's credit card statement. The oil industry's influence over foreign affairs also freaks out Phillips. But what made my hair stand up on end was his description of the Religious Right and their impact on American politics.

He points in particular to the Southern Baptist Convention, once a scorned seceding minority of the American Baptist Church but now so large that it dominates not just Baptism itself but American Protestantism generally. The Southern Baptist Convention does not speak with one voice, but almost all of its voices, Phillips argues, are to one degree or another highly conservative. On the far right is a still obscure but, Phillips says, rapidly growing group of "Christian Reconstructionists" who believe in a "Taliban-like" reversal of women's rights, who describe the separation of church and state as a "myth" and who call openly for a theocratic government shaped by Christian doctrine. A much larger group of Protestants, perhaps as many as a third of the population, claims to believe in the supposed biblical prophecies of an imminent "rapture" — the return of Jesus to the world and the elevation of believers to heaven.

Prophetic Christians, Phillips writes, often shape their view of politics and the world around signs that charlatan biblical scholars have identified as predictors of the apocalypse — among them a war in Iraq, the Jewish settlement of the whole of biblical Israel, even the rise of terrorism. He convincingly demonstrates that the Bush administration has calculatedly reached out to such believers and encouraged them to see the president's policies as a response to premillennialist thought. He also suggests that the president and other members of his administration may actually believe these things themselves, that religious belief is the basis of policy, not just a tactic for selling it to the public. Phillips's evidence for this disturbing claim is significant, but not conclusive.

I haven't lost much sleep about the Religious Right up until now, I have to admit. I know that PZ Myers is wagging his finger at me, but I haven't really gotten all hot and bothered about it all. I mean there isn't any real Religious Right. It's a bunch of different churches and congregations with nobody in charge to coordinate action. Each church may have a couple things in common, but probably have more differences. Most super religious types are just like everyone else I know -- too busy to over throw the world. And those little girls in their rolled down socks at church don't look too scary to me.

So, I haven't worried, until I read this piece. Somehow, when a Republican sees the end of the world coming at the hands of his party, it makes me more nervous than when I hear a Democrat saying that.

I don't know. Dad thinks that Phillips is a wingnut, but this review turned my head. I'll have to check it out for myself.

Comments

[Ryan Carlton]

I didn't worry until I read about another Phillips: Doug Phillips

www.visionforum.com

Call for theocracy, biblical patriarchy and the like.

[Henry]

I'm still not losing sleep.

"Christian Reconstructionsts" may be a "rapidly growing" group, but smallness and rapid growth go hand in hand. When the American Taliban gets numbers close to those of South Park viewers, then I'll get worried.

[Dr. Manhattan]

Laura, as a would-be member of the vast-right-wing conspiracy, I can assure you that Kevin Phillips hasn't loved the Republicans for several decades. A quick perusal of his last several books should prove as much.
How seriously would you take an analogous critique by Zell Miller? (Miller's Democratic bona fides are much longer-standing and more recently held.)
More seriously, Kevin Phillips has laways been loyal not as much to Republicans as to his thesis of right-wing economic populism. It worked for Richard Nixon, but hasn't had much success since then, which has, I think, professionally embittered Phillips.

[Allison]

There was recently a big article on the whole Rapture business in Vanity Fair. Forgot which month, but Kate Moss was on the cover...Jan?

[Amy P]

Laura,
I would highly recommend regular reading of getreligion.org, which is a a group blog by working journalists and is devoted to analysis of press treatment of religion-related stories. One of their major themes is that the press doesn't approach religion as seriously or as professionally as it addresses other areas requiring expertise. They argue that religion reporting requires at least the same sort of specialized knowledge that is routine among sports reporters, so religion reporting needs to be its own field, rather than the province of rookies and dilettantes.

[Laura]

Shrugging. OK, nobody likes Phillips? I don't know. It's worth a read, I think. I have to learn more about this rapture stuff. Catholics are too busy worrying about ashes and palms and stuff to worry about the end of the world.

Amy, re: non-religious people writing about religious matters. Yes, I made that argument once, when really ticked off at the lack of tolerance in certain quarters. I've also gotten annoyed at men for writing about feminism. But we have to allow for well-balanced professionals to write on a variety of topics. If you come to a topic with an open mind, a willingness to talk to the experts, and a little humility, I think that you should be able to write about anything. A little perspective and distance might even make for better analysis.

[JE Meyer]

It's very odd and ahistorical that the current "Religious Right" is seen as such a novel and theocratic threat. In their wildest dreams, most religious conservatives would be absolutely overjoyed if a few states were allowed to restore certain areas of public policy (religion in the public square, abortion, etc.) to roughly where the *entire country* was circa 1965.

[JE Meyer]

And also, Kevin Phillips is a "Republican" as much as William Bennett is a "Democrat" (i.e., they both belonged to those respective parties 20+ years ago).

[marty]

What does the term "Going to Hell in a Handbasket" mean?