The Fundamentals of Extremism: The Christian Right in America
The politics, educational policies, and social values perpetuated by Christian fundamentalists are exposed in this critical perspective on the religious right's role in American society. Statistics and studies of the movement are offered that provide insight into the causes and characteristics of fundamentalism and its effects on minority groups including women, children, African Americans, gays, and lesbians. Essays from a variety of authors consider the path to theocracy, the effect of the theology of inerrancy on politics, and the state of fundamentalism in the United States after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Customer Review: Extremes of Fundamentalism
This is an excellent, well researched and documented primer on the aims and tactics of the "Christian" right wing. I put "Christian" in quotes because I cannot believe that Jesus would be anything but horrified and disgusted with what they are trying to do in his name. How anyone can claim to believe that Jesus was the incarnation in human form of a loving God, while vehemently opposing nearly everything Jesus advocated, is beyond me. But the right-wing "Christian" push to turn America into a theocracy, forcing everyone else to live according to their dictates, is a clear and present danger to our religious freedom that everyone should be aware of. Read this book and encourage your friends to read it!
Customer Review: A thought-provoking counterpoint
I strongly encourage the thoughtful reader to consider this book alongside any of the sloppily-produced, poorly-edited, "these people are attempting to destroy our country" books produced by the far Christian right, for they are of exactly the same genre, and are born of the same unsympathetic fear of the other.
The authors apparently have no interest in understanding the lives and motivations of those whom they condemn; instead we find sweeping descriptions of the destructive intent and power of "Fundamentalists," in which the most extreme criminal acts are held up as representative and on to which are tacked -- an apparent afterthought -- half-hearted disclaimers that maybe this doesn't describe all Christians. The resemblance to similar books decrying the insidious plots of "secular humanists" is really quite uncanny.
This is not to say that the book doesn't contain some useful data and interesting opinions, but the wheat is so buried in a chaff of wild generalizations, unfounded conclusions, and outright factual errors, all couched in prose that often rivals the worst undergraduate essay, that the reader is left not knowing what to trust and what to discard.
This book will meet the needs of those who already believe that all conservative Christians are poorly-educated, sexually-repressed conspirators in a plot to overthrow democracy -- it will not unduly challenge your preconceptions. However, it contributes little to the genuine conversation and understanding that will be required to bridge the divide that such demonizing rhetoric has planted between people of good will on both ends of the political spectrum. If you're looking for a book that honestly represents the fundamentalist perspective, let this pass.
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Why the Christian Right Is Wrong: A Minister's Manifesto for Taking Back Your Faith, Your Flag, Your Future "I join the ranks of those who are angry, because I have watched as the faith I love has been taken over by fundamentalists who claim to speak for Jesus but whose actions are anything but Christian."
- Robin Meyers, from his "Speech Heard Round the World"
Millions of Americans are outraged at the Bush administration's domestic and foreign policies and even angrier that the nation's religious conservatives have touted these policies as representative of moral values. Why the Christian Right Is Wrong is a rousing manifesto that will ignite the collective conscience of all whose faith and values have been misrepresented by the Christian Right.
Praise for Why the Christian Right Is Wrong:
"In the pulpit, Robin Meyers is the new generation's Harry Emerson Fosdick, George Buttrick, and Martin Luther King. In these pages, you will find a stirring message for our times, from a man who believes that God's love is universal, that the great Jewish prophets are as relevant now as in ancient times, and that the Jesus who drove the money changers from the Temple may yet inspire us to embrace justice and compassion as the soul of democracy. This is not a book for narrow sectarian minds; read it, and you will want to change the world."
-Bill Moyers
"In this book, a powerful and authentic religious voice from America's heartland holds up a mirror to the Bush administration and its religious allies. The result is a vision of Orwellian proportions in which values are inverted and violence, hatred, and bigotry are blessed by one known as 'The Prince of Peace,' who called us to love our enemies. If you treasure this country and tremble over its present direction, this book is a must-read!"
-John Shelby Spong author, The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love
"This is a timely warning and a clarion call to the church to recover the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to a great nation to resist the encroachment of the Christian Right and of Christian fascism. Many of us in other parts of the world are praying fervently that these calls will be heeded."
-Archbishop Desmond Tutu
Customer Review: Great Insight
This author expresses eloquently and with rational clarity why we "leftward" leaning Christians are so uncomfortable with the unrighteous dealings from the religious right. Well spoken, no minced words, forthright, and full of truth. A worthwhile read for thinking Christians and those who are not Christians and have been hurt by the actions of the religious right.
Customer Review: A Book Not To Be Missed
After the 2004 election, "when half the country felt clinically depressed about the reelection of George W. Bush," Robin Meyers, pastor of Mayflower Congregational UCC Church in Oklahoma City, at the behest of students at the University of Oklahoma, gave a speech to protest the war in Iraq. While his speech reads extremely well, it must have so much better heard live. It is broken up essentially into sentences that begin with "when you," and ends with "you are doing something immoral." Here is one example:
"When you cause most of the rest of the world to hate a country that
was once the most loved country in the world and act as if it doesn't
matter what others think of us, only what God thinks of you, you have
done something immoral."
Reverend Meyers then takes his speech, sentence by sentence, and expounds further on it. With clear, thoughtful rhetoric, he makes his case that the Christian Right is in bed with (my image, not his) the Republican Party, "God's Own Party." He discusses what is wrong with Bush and the GOP's position on religion, the environment, the war in Iraq, civil rights, gay rights, tax breaks for the very rich, the death penalty, etc.
Meyers reminds the reader that this administration is the first "ever not to voluntarily add a single species to the endangered species list," and that the U. S. supplied Saddam Hussein with "poison gas, military advisors, and arms. . . in the 1980s" and that Rumsfeld shook his hand in 1983. Reverend Meyers' discussion on what has been done to language in this country (for example, the term "collateral damage") is frightening beyond words; and again he reminds us that George Orwell's 1984 may be the most prophetic book written in the twentieth century.
Meyers in the final pages of this book exhorts the reader to take back this country and tells us what we must do. He urges us to join nonviolent resistance groups, vote out warmongering politicians, get concerned about the environment, and stop spending on "stuff" we do not need. (After all, when Bush sends volunteer soldiers to fight, he urges the rest of us to go shopping.) Finally, he reminds us that the Religious Right does not have a monopoly on Jesus and that we should judge churches by the Sermon on the Mount, rather than their size and location.
Both Bill Moyers and John Selby Spong, two men whose credentials on morality and values are (in my opinion) impeccable, have endorsed this really fine book; they are certainly right about both this most decent man and his book.
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