Christian delusions are driving the GOP insane

[DonViejo]

Why aren't Republicans more frightened of a shutdown and a default? Part of the reason is magical thinking

BY AMANDA MARCOTTE

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The press often talks about the Tea Party like they’re secularist movement that is interested mainly in promoting “fiscal conservatism”, a vague notion that never actually seems to make good on the promise to save taxpayer money. The reality is much different: The Tea Party is actually driven primarily by fundamentalist Christians whose penchant for magical thinking and belief that they’re being guided by divine forces makes it tough for them to see the real world as it is.

It’s not just that the rogue’s gallery of congress people who are pushing the hardest for hostage-taking as a negotiation tactic also happens to be a bench full of Bible thumpers. Pew Research shows that people who align with the Tea Party are more likely to not only agree with the views of religious conservatives, but are likely to cite religious belief as their prime motivation for their political views. White evangelicals are the religious group most likely to approve of the Tea Party. Looking over the data, it becomes evident that the “Tea Party” is just a new name for the same old white fundamentalists who would rather burn this country to the ground than share it with everyone else, and this latest power play from the Republicans is, in essence, a move from that demographic to assert their “right” to control the country, even if their politicians aren’t in power.

It’s no surprise, under the circumstances, that a movement controlled by fundamentalist Christians would be oblivious to the very real dangers that their actions present. Fundamentalist religion is extremely good at convincing its followers to be more afraid of imaginary threats than real ones, and to engage in downright magical thinking about the possibility that their own choices could work out very badly. When you believe that forcing the government into default in an attempt to derail Obamacare is the Lord’s work, it’s very difficult for you to see that it could have very real, negative effects.

It’s hard for the Christian fundamentalists who run the Republican Party now to worry about the serious economic danger they’re putting the world in, because they are swept up in worrying that President Obama is an agent of the devil and that the world is on the verge of mayhem and apocalypse if they don’t “stop” him somehow, presumably be derailing the Affordable Care Act. Christian conservatives such as Ellis Washington are running around telling each other that the ACA will lead to “the systematic genocide of the weak, minorities, enfeebled, the elderly and political enemies of the God-state.” Twenty percent of Republicans believe Obama is the Antichrist.Washington Times columnist Jeffrey Kuhner argued that Obama is using his signature health care legislation to promote “the destruction of the family, Christian culture”, and demanded that Christians “need to engage in peaceful civil disobedience against President Obama’s signature health care law”.

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Full article
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/10/christian_delusions_are_driving_the_gop_insane/

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

1. Superb article. K&R!

[M.G.]

2. Yep - it's the fanatics and fundamentalists.

Yes, this is basically it.

Having been a Republican many years ago, I can personally vouch that fundamentalist, stubbornly anti-logical thinking guides quite a bit of what the party is about. The people who entertain such beliefs aren't stupid; they can be well educated and even scientifically literate, but they simply close down when matters related to their ideology are up for discussion.

Outsiders looking at national Republicans and wondering at their frequent seemingly "crazy" actions sometimes think they're trying to extract maximal concessions with hardline stances. Nope, the party is, in my experience, driven by fundamentalists and fanatics who believe what they're doing is right. The non-fundamentalists in the party let themselves be taken for the ride more often than not, and the barely-interested middle convinces itself that "both parties are the same."

[Thav]

4. Most are Christians in name only - they follow Paul

There are juicy tidbits they just eat up in the letters of Paul. They love them so much they flat out ignore the Gospels. Mix in a little of Leviticus and you've got their platform. They're not Christians, they're Paulites.

Call them on that sometime, it irritates the hell out of them.

[M.G.]

5. I'm not Christian, but...

The thing with Christianity is that, like other ancient world religions, it basically means whatever believers say it means. At this point I'd say American-style Supply-Side Christianity is as "valid" as any other interpretation, although it probably isn't remotely like anything the authors of the gospels would have recognized.

[Orsino]

3. The author is credulous...

...mistaking much of the faux-Christianity for sincere belief.

The Bible is really just a convenient carrying handle with which to drag around the funamentalists.

[flamingdem]

6. Maybe. The truth is that they're con men

Yes they've conned themselves along the way but when you see them appear on TV they are as slick as can be. That's the style of a con man. Deluded people would more likely start citing scripture or otherwise showing their religious bent. Dominionism is a bit different with its cult training from childhood forward. That could explain some of it.

[M.G.]

7. I'm not sure all the more visible representatives are believers

The more visible party representatives may speak for the believers, but I'm not sure they always or even often share their fundamentalism. Sure, we have a sizable faction of office-holding fanatics, and as I've said above, the believers usually end up driving the show, but a lot of the representatives we see on the media are just flack politicians doing what politicians do - i.e. saying whatever they think constitutents want to hear.