Comments on: God Soldiers: An Interview With Jeff Sharlet

By: John Sondericker

John Sondericker — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:03:12 +0000

Oh, and word on the street, doubly confirmed, is that Ted Haggard is starting a new church in Colorado Springs. He’s been holding services in his house, but the plan is to expand into a decent sized space this summer. It should be fascinating to attend a service.

By: Jeff Sharlet

Jeff Sharlet — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 21:14:29 +0000

I’ve never seen fundamentalism and science as necessarily antagonistic. Some of the oppo to taking climate change seriously is simply generational, little different than
my secular father’s complete disinterest in the issue. Then there’s that concern about environmentalism as a religion. But most important, I think, are the economic implications. Despite the happy yuppie rhetoric about cap and trade and all that,
there’s no real freemarket response. Which freaks guys
like chuck colson out because it means a systemic human response is demanded.

By: John Sondericker

John Sondericker — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:53:49 +0000

On a separate topic, I’ve long been fascinated by how the religious right (a good example is Focus Action) stands in harsh opposition to the environmental and global warming movements. The only reasoning I’ve been able to come up with is that these attacks are part of a larger effort to discredit science in general, making a 6,000 year old earth theory easier to swallow.

In your opinion, why is global warming a Christian issue to begin with?

By: John Sondericker

John Sondericker — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:46:51 +0000

I think that there was something of a backlash when the religious right appeared to be a powerful lobby who was going to take away our beloved beer and porn. This is about when James Dobson was accused of hating Sponge Bob and our President appeared to be in bed with fundamentalist wacko’s. I think that this scared even a lot of relatively moderate evangelicals. The rhetoric coming out of Focus Action was really over the top. Then the Ted Haggard scandal hit, along with Larry Craig. By the time the elections rolled around only the most hardcore of my New Life Church attending friends were voting for McCain. Even my pal Pastor Rob Brendle voted for Obama.

I see the pendulum as having swung in the other direction. It’ll be back. I do find it surprising how quickly the movement seemed to be taken apart though.

By: Jeff Sharlet

Jeff Sharlet — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:28:11 +0000

Aaron — alas, not a chance. When Ted spoke of the inevitability of same-sex marriage, he meant it in the sense of the inevitability of sin in what he perceived as a decadent culture.

John — You tell me. I know you’ve been looking at these questions about as long as I have. My sense is that A) yes, the formal organizational power was always overstated, which means leaders — and thus voting blocs — were never as strong as they claimed, but that B) the cultural power has always been underestimated, in large part because it doesn’t necessarily express itself predictably. I think, for instance, that the absence of the kind of longstanding left that exists in every other developed nation has a lot to do with the cultural influence of evangelicalism and fundamentalism. Not in terms of specific political ideas, but rather in the form of a culture that refuses to see systemic critiques. That continues. Is it weaker? I dunno — I don’t think that movements that take decades to build disappear in a day (Jan. 20, that is). The leaders will change, but I suspect the movement will endure, and, possibly, deepen. Abortion, homosexuality, and such were always spoken of among the smart religious right leaders as wedge issues designed to develop alienation from the broad culture of secularism. That worked, and it continues — indeed, a significant part of the Democratic Party now actively and explicitly rejects “secularism,” a straw man caricature that ignores the word’s real meaning, which isn’t about abolishing faith.

That’s my two cents. Or maybe 4, since I can go on. What do you think, John?

By: Jeff Sharlet

Jeff Sharlet — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:20:35 +0000

Great to hear from you, Jimmy. Your point about the conflation of free exercise and an individual officer’s own bully pulpit is dead on. While I didn’t encounter a whole lot of fundamentalist activists who were conversant with the First Amendment, most regularly invoke freedom of religion — theirs. That’s linked to the sense of persecution many evangelicals and fundamentalists experience, their belief that the U.S. is hostile to Christianity. What I find fascinating about that is that they’re keying in on a current that IS hostile to a lot of their values (and good, fairly universal values, too). Not the “New Atheists,” a powerless bunch, but the commodification of just about everything. They know they’re being turned from human beings into consumers. But they don’t respond by asserting their common humanity; rather, they turn toward obedience to divinity.

Anyway, I’m glad you’re out there, Jimmy, fighting the good fight.

By: John Sondericker

John Sondericker — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:43:38 +0000

Jeff,

Thanks for taking the time!

To what extent has the influence of the value voter block faded? Was its power always grossly overstated?

I remember hearing bloated claims such as: “As president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Haggard represents 30 million conservative Christians spread over 47,000 churches from 52 diverse denominations.” I don’t believe that Haggard actually “represented”, nor did the vast majority even know that they were being counted as members of the NAE.

Did the religious right overstate its influence to the point where they scared moderate and secular citizens to the point that there was a backlash?

By: Noel Black

Noel Black — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:39:57 +0000

Are you two Jimmys the same Jimmy? Or Jimmy 1 and Jimmy 2?

By: Aaron Retka

Aaron Retka — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:26:21 +0000

You talked about Haggard’s resignation in 2005 that gay marriage was an inevitability, and now he’s poised to start a new church in the Springs. Is there a possibility that evangelicals could take a gay-friendly turn—that Haggard, perhaps, or another gay ideologue, could spearhead a gay-positive ministry?

By: Jimmy

Jimmy — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:22:10 +0000

to add:

Thank you for addressing here the difference in thought between the idea of an empire of god and the many many secular officers who look to the current state of affairs and find no backing for wars of aggression and the American empire. i missed the part in my oath of office that says anything but support and defend the constitution.
Obama’s administration should be bringing positive changes to our military, but he’s failing a lot of hopeful soldiers so far– from the secular troops, to the homosexual troops, to those who really believed they’d see a retreat from the American empire. Jeff, can you explain why Obama has not come out strongly for “change”?

thanks, jimmy