WITH EACH passing second, every freedom-loving Amer ican is in danger of losing his liberty to a dangerous group of religious fanatics. These extremists believe that our ideals of global freedom and humanitarianism contradict the will of God, and they therefore feel justified in destroying these ideals. They place their deep superstitions above liberty, education and intellect. They hate what our nation stands for.
Most frightening of all, the most dangerous of these fanatics do not live across the ocean, and they have nothing to do with Osama bin Laden. They are close to home, living among us. They look the same, speak the same, and dress the same as we do. They hold the minds of millions of people in their clutches and have influence in the highest levels of our government. They call themselves the Christian right, and it's high time we acknowledge that they are a threat.
Some may say it is unduly harsh to equate the Christian right with the lunatics who attacked our nation on Sept. 11. While the two groups of fanatics differ in their tactics, their motives are strikingly similar. Both believe that they are justified in causing misery and angst on Earth in the name of their deities. Anyone who doubts that the Christian right causes misery on a daily basis needs only to consider the plight of a Christian homosexual who, powerless to change her sexual orientation, lives her life utterly terrified by the prospect of eternal torment. The Christian right is a danger to us all because it places its ideology above considerations of our happiness and liberty.
Days after hearing of the terrorist attacks, Christian right leader Jerry Falwell announced, "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way - all of them who have tried to secularize America - I point the finger in their face and say, 'You helped this happen.'"
If this isn't terrorizing society in the name of religion, then nothing is. Falwell thinks that thousands of innocent people deserved to be destroyed because they committed the sin of living in a nation of tolerance and civil liberties. He hates what our nation stands for, and he wants to destroy it.
The Christian right is currently the most potent threat to our way of life, more so even than bin Laden's cadre of nutcases. This becomes obvious when we consider which group of fanatics is more likely to succeed in thrusting their repressive ideology upon us. In March 2000, a Gallup poll reported that 24 percent of American adults considered themselves a part of the Christian right. While all of these people might not agree entirely with Falwell, he influences all of them. With a quarter of the population under their thumbs, the leaders of this fanatical faction possess a frightening political power that makes the Christian right infinitely more dangerous to our freedom than any violent terrorists ever could be.
The Christian right understands that the way to attack our freedom is not with violence but with subtlety and manipulation. Its political agenda includes drafting and passing laws that favor Christian values and compromise our government's impartiality. With lawmakers and large groups of voters in its thrall, it has the tools to ingrain these tenants of repression into the very fabric of our nation.
As we protect our country against outside threats, the Christian right is slowly chipping away at it from the inside. It does not strive to destroy our great nation outright. It seeks to pervert it so badly with hatred and intolerance that there will be nothing left worth protecting.
The Christian right is not a violent group of people, and it should not be treated as such. It respects our methods of peaceful societal change, and in this way it is different from those who have attacked us with violence. But it does seek to destroy our way of life with tactics of psychological terror and fanatical determination. It puts its hateful superstitions above our sacred ideals of liberty and equality.
Noble Americans have fought peacefully and politically against religious extremism in the past, and they have won. Without a doubt, our nation remains strong enough today to fend off anti-freedom fanatics, foreign and domestic. But as we embark on President Bush's crusade against fanatical religious extremists abroad, perhaps we should keep an eye fixed on the ones in our own backyard.
(Anthony Dick is a Cavalier Daily viewpoint writer.)
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