By Sunsara Taylor, Revolution #62
On September 12, people watching ABC’s day-time TV talk show The View
saw this rather remarkable exchange between Rosie O”Donnell, one of the
four co-hosts on the show, and Elisabeth Hasselbeck, another co-host:
Rosie O”Donnell:
We were attacked not by a nation, and as a result of the attack and the
killing of nearly 3,000 innocent people, we invaded two countries and
killed innocent people in their countries.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck:
You do understand that the belief funding those attacks, okay – that is
widespread. And if you take radical Islam and you want to talk about
what’s going on there you have to, you have to”
Rosie O”Donnell: Radical
Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam. [Applause] In a
country like America, where you have separation of church and state,
we”re a democracy.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck: We”re not bombing ourselves here in this country”
Rosie O”Donnell: “But we are bombing people in other countries, true or false?
Rosie had only been a co-host on The View
for a week, and there has been a lot of controversy over her being
hired for this major network show because she is openly gay. So it was
very bold of her to cut through the war mongering that Bush and his
regime has been whipping up around 9/11-in front of The View”s
average TV audience of 1.1 million. At a time when those in the arts
and entertainment and other public figures are under enormous pressure
(with threats to their careers, etc) to remain silent about the
horrendous crimes of Bush & Co., Rosie was exemplary with her
forthright-and true-words about the danger of Christian (as well as
Islamic) fundamentalism and about the U.S. wars.
The
“Republican noise machine” immediately went into overdrive. MSNBC’s Joe
Scarborough, for example, accused Rosie of “bigotry and intolerance”
for her remarks on radical Christianity, encouraged a boycott of ABC
until she is fired, and called on viewers to demand an apology from her.
What
is the truth about the danger of “radical Christianity,” or Christian
fascism? Let’s take Scarborough’s assertion that no radical Christians
today are attempting to get their hands on nuclear weapons the way that
radical Islamic forces are. Well, what about the born-again President
who has openly stated that he believes God called him to be President
and to launch the war on Iraq-and who has his finger on the “nu-cular”
trigger? Isn’t this Christian fundamentalist currently heading up the only
government in the world that has ever pulled that trigger? And isn’t
Bush and his regime now threatening to use these nukes in a new war
against Iran?
And the entire U.S. military is crawling with
born-again crusaders. Take General Jerry Boykin who was charged with
capturing Osama bin Laden. He stood up in a church in full military
uniform and proclaimed that Bush was put in the White House by
God-after which he was promoted.
These radical Christians don’t need to go hide in underground caves hatching schemes to come up with nukes in five to ten years-they”ve already got them!
Scarborough
also said that under an Islamic state, Rosie would likely have been
flogged for her remarks and stoned to death for being a lesbian. So,
somehow she should be grateful to be in a country that’s in the early
stages of such legislated brutality? Where already laws in many states
restrict gay marriage, creating separate legal categories for gay
people? Where Bush’s Faith-Based Initiative has made it legal for
federal money to fund agencies that refuse to employ gay people or
non-Christians? Where high-level office holders advocate executions for
abortion providers, assail basic truths like evolution, sabotage condom
distribution in a world ravaged by the AIDS pandemic, and argue openly
that homosexuality is akin to bestiality? Newsflash: the rationale for all of this is undergirded by the use of Christian scriptures.
The
Christian bible not only condones but celebrates: stoning disobedient
children, raping women, taking slaves, and destroying whole villages of
“God’s enemies.” Any student of history can tell you how media
stonings, like the one Scarborough is helping spearhead, often pave the
way for actual reactionary violence. And anyone who’s been paying
attention can’t honestly dismiss the fact there are powerful forces
gaining ground in their quest to turn this country into a Dark Ages
theocracy.
The point is not to argue, as Scarborough tries
to pose things, over which brand of religious fundamentalism is
preferable. The point is that radical fundamentalist Christianity is
embedded in the most powerful military and governmental power in the
world, and it is this government and military that is
destroying millions of lives and creating conditions in the Middle East
where Islamic fundamentalism is spreading including in many places
which once were quite secular. And it is this whole deadly (and
mutually reinforcing) dynamic between McWorld/McCrusade and Jihad that
we have to break out of.
In this regard, people must not
only defend Rosie, but join her in rejecting the notion of placing the
“safety of Americans” above the lives of those around the world and in
refusing to give a pass at intolerance and bloodshed just because it is
dressed up in Christian garb.
Even more, as the rulers in
the U.S. (with powerful elements of Christian fascists) rattle their
sabers and prepare for a new war against Iran, and as the right-wing
media steps up its assault on truth-speakers, it is necessary for
hundreds of thousands of people to step out visibly
in the protests planned for October 5th by World Can’t Wait and to show
the whole world that the people of this country are determined to bring
all this to a halt.
Sunsara Taylor writes
for Revolution newspaper and sits on the
advisory board of The World Can’t Wait –
Drive Out the Bush Regime!