Christian Right's Rage

Christian right’s rage problem: How white fundamentalists are roiling America

Todd Starnes
Over the past few years, America has been divided by religion. The culture wars have heated up with secularists on one side and God-fearing Americans on the other, and to understate things: They disagree. But does that mean we hate one another? If the animosity is so intense, what kind of outrage goes too far? Bonnie Weinstein has tackled this issue in an important but very troubling book out Dec. 2, titled “To the Far Right Christian Hater … You Can Be a Good Speller or a Hater, But You Can’t Be Both: Official Hate Mail, Threats, and Criticism From the Archives of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation."
Married to Mikey Weinstein, founder of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), the author has collected and annotated a sampling of the hate mail the foundation has received over the past few years. This hate mail is not trolling or anonymous “Internet comments." The letters are specific and threatening and most often include a return address or email. The Weinsteins’ home has been vandalized — many times — and the family has had to take serious and expensive security measures. It’s no joke. As I read the book, curled up on my couch, my wife kept asking if I was OK. My face was fixed in an expression of horror and disbelief as I read the rage, hate and cruelty cataloged on every page. Bonnie has uncovered a shocking reality: Self-professed Christians deny the fundamental humanity of other people they don’t even know.
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If you really want to hear some “old time religious rage” see the Dawkins video on YouTube. He reads his hate mail by the fire. Just devout followers of the “prince of peace” who want him drawn, quartered, maimed, killed, burned with several expletives thrown in for good measure. The KKK’s got nothing on these witless rednecks.
Cap’t Jack

Of course most moderate christians will simply dismiss these ugly rants as not coming from “true” christians. I think there is some movement among the more progressive christian crowd about taking christianity back from extremists. That at least is a positive step.

But more troubling than just the rage and the divide, is the source of it. I honestly believe, left to their devices, most people, right and left, just want to be left alone, help others when possible, and so on. It’s the Fascists who know how to manipulate certain groups to get them to act en masse just as the Fascists want. Koch brothers and the astro turf Tea Party is the prime example. Faux News is another. When they can trump up a culture war, add a bit of puerile patriotism with 911, and you have the perfect recipe for control of both sides.

Also, our criminal justice system has institutionalized racist predilections, as brought to the public consciousness, most recently, by events in Ferguson. I think that most whites are content to ignore this, as they, do not typically consider their lives to be at risk, every time they are pulled over for a traffic stop. Also, whites are less likely to be caught up in the criminal justice system, so why rock the boat?
So even us white progressives are unlikely to cheer on the blacks that are trying to change this. Personally, I am all for their efforts to keep the issue in the forefront, but am unlikely to join a protest march. And none of my white friends, that I have seen lately, seem interested in the matter. OTOH, and pardon my generalization, though I think it has some validity, blacks should also consider looking inward at their culture. e.g., Young black men are typically viewed as angry and thus threatening. Probably due to many of them actually being angry, and typically, for good reasons, such as the disparities they face in our society. But, I submit, that on an overall cultural level, one thing that would behoove the black community, to do, is to get away from the validation of corporal punishment of their young children. (I am not saying that there aren’t dumbass white parent figures who use corporal punishment, proudly. I am just saying that it is too prevalent in the overall black community.)

Some more of that Christian rage from the redneck point of view.

Obvious clickbait is obvious.

But more troubling than just the rage and the divide, is the source of it. I honestly believe, left to their devices, most people, right and left, just want to be left alone, help others when possible, and so on. It's the Fascists who know how to manipulate certain groups to get them to act en masse just as the Fascists want. Koch brothers and the astro turf Tea Party is the prime example. Faux News is another. When they can trump up a culture war, add a bit of puerile patriotism with 911, and you have the perfect recipe for control of both sides.
There is a lunatic fringe in everything. Politics and religion are the perfect places for it. Lois
But more troubling than just the rage and the divide, is the source of it. I honestly believe, left to their devices, most people, right and left, just want to be left alone, help others when possible, and so on. It's the Fascists who know how to manipulate certain groups to get them to act en masse just as the Fascists want. Koch brothers and the astro turf Tea Party is the prime example. Faux News is another. When they can trump up a culture war, add a bit of puerile patriotism with 911, and you have the perfect recipe for control of both sides.
There is a lunatic fringe in everything. Politics and religion are the perfect places for it. LoisI guess you missed my point. There's nothing lunatic fringey in the far left or far right and all points in between. My point is, their are powerful people who create and then use these divisions to their own advantage, as well as to everyone else's disadvantage. Lunatic fringe has nothing to do with it.