A danger to democracy

Everyone knows how dangerous to a democracy conspiracy theorists are. This was demonstrated, in spades, by the January 6^th insurrection in the USA. This is not so much because of the conspiracy theorists’ ability to organise insurrections (most are idiots), but by their patently obvious gullibility, which allows them to be manipulated by charlatans like Donald Trump and assorted fascists (Proud Boys, Oath Keepers etc.)¹. It is a fair bet that if these insurrectionists had found some of the elected members of Congress, especially Pence or Pelosi, they would have killed them². After all, they killed a few police officers during the insurrection. Where elected representatives are targeted for death by a mob of people in support of a person spouting numerous lies in an attempt to overturn an election, then democracy is under significant threat. 

While nothing like that has happened in Australia, there are indications that the same sentiments exist among the cohort of gullible conspiracy theorists and their urgers in the Murdoch media. At demonstrations apparently supported by the Murdoch media during the pandemic, there were death threats aimed at the Labor Premier of Victoria, Dan Andrews. These demonstrations were attended by assorted moronic conservative politicians such as (now fortunately former) Liberal federal member for Hughes Craig Kelly and (also now fortunately former) Democratic Labour Party member of the Victorian Legislative Council, Bernie Finn³.

But what of the religious? The International Panel for Social Progress concluded (in 2017) that religion is neither inherently pro-democracy nor anti-democracy. Indeed, many western nations became democratic when almost the entire population were believers, while the churches had a great deal of power over people’s lives, and a great deal of influence over governments of all political persuasions⁴. However, things have changed in recent years. The religious are now aware that their power and influence are in decline, as religion itself is in decline all around the world. This includes Christianity⁵, as well as Islam⁶.

In the United States this religious panic has manifested itself in that has been termed Christian Nationalism or christofascism. Calling former president Trump a Christian is laughable in that his only god is himself and his only commandments are what benefits Donald Trump. However, he does play up to the christofascists as well as the gullible. In June 2020, Trump strolled from the White House to a nearby Episcopal church for a photo-op with a bible in hand. Some white evangelical leaders lapped up the symbolism. Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition said that, “…what ails our country can be found in the repentance, redemption, and forgiveness of the Christian faith”⁷. In the January 6^th insurrection, there were many Christian symbols displayed by insurrectionists.

In a recent Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas late last year, state Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick took the stage and cast current culture war issues (immigration, transgender rights, gun rights…) as subordinate to America’s heritage as a Christian nation, which is in jeopardy. He warned, that “we have to be ready for battle,” because we are not in a fight any longer of Republicans and Democrats but a fight of lightness and darkness. 

For those fluent in the evangelical code, this is about a battle between God and Satan, with of course progressives doing the work of Satan⁸.

Until recently, such apocalyptic language would have been seen as confined to the extreme political fringe. However, the increasing power of hard-right overwhelmingly white American Christians, is because they are in the middle of a moral panic engendered by 50 years of social and demographic change, and in an existential crisis caused by the dramatic decline of their own churches. So, they are throwing their lot in with autocratic political leaders who espouse, or pretend to espouse, their religious values⁸.

Democracy is supposed to represent the interests of all of the governed, including people of different religious faiths and those with no religious affiliation; the political rise of christofascism and their success tearing down the wall between church and state is a danger to democracy⁸. 

After a decades-long campaign by the religious right, the stacked U.S. Supreme Court has expanded public funding of religious education, authorised prayer in public schools and struck down abortion rights. The christofascists are now targeting same-sex marriage and transsexual rights, and have supported voter suppression efforts targeting people of colour, are banning books they deem offensive from school and community libraries, and have denied the reality of climate change and the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines⁸.

In Australia, the panic among the religious engendered by this decline in religion has seen them take over most state branches of the Liberal Party and Queensland’s Liberal National Party⁹. Fortunately, this strategy has not worked so far, and has only led to what looks like a serious, possibly terminal decline in their electoral fortunes; with the Western Australian Liberals being almost completely wiped out in that state’s most recent election, the Victorian Liberals going backwards two elections in a row, the Queensland Liberal National Party also going backwards, while the South Australian Liberal government suffered a serious defeat in their most recent election. It also looks like the Liberal government in New South Wales could be headed for a similar fate. This relative lack of success when compared with the US may be because the decline in religion is more advanced in Australia¹⁰, than it is in the US¹¹. 

The manifestation of this christofascism in Australia is fortunately a poor imitation of that in the US. Here, it was perhaps epitomised by Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s failure to get the Religious Discrimination bill through parliament¹², by his secretly being sworn in as numerous ministerial positions without telling his colleagues¹³, and by his planned Voter Identification bill^{14, 15}.

Could it be that, as their numbers decline, the religious are becoming more and more strident in their panicked defence of their power and privilege, such that they pose a similar danger to democracy as conspiracy theorists? The reason I suspect this is so, is because of the odd dichotomy among Christians which has become more obvious in recent years, both in the US¹⁶, and Australia¹⁷. Indeed, in the US, this dichotomy has seen the branches diverge even further than when I first wrote about it almost six years ago¹⁶. This is indicated by political commentator Lindy Li, who in response to Republican Lauren Boebert ‘praying’ for a premature end to Biden’s presidency, tweeted: “This is the self-appointed party of Christianity SHAME ON YOU! This is why church pews are emptying at a ferocious rate. Why increasing numbers of Americans now say they are religiously unaffiliated. Christianity in America has devolved into a rabid tribe of Talibangelicals and gun-totin Y’all Qaeda fanatics.”¹⁸

It is often said that the privileged and powerful never give up their privilege and power willingly; it has to be taken from them. This is what the so-called “Talibangelicals and gun-totin Y’all Qaeda fanatics” are fighting tooth and nail against. Why do they do this? Because, deep down they know that the privileged position of ‘the people of faith’ and their churches are under threat, and they are terrified that when minorities attain equality, that people of faith will be treated as they treated minorities. This makes them just as dangerous to democracy as any bunch of deluded conspiracy theorists.

Sources

1. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/all-american-extremism-guide-1361035/
2. https://www.itv.com/news/2021-02-10/us-capitol-rioters-planned-to-kill-mike-pence-and-put-bullet-through-nancy-pelosis-skull-legal-documents-say
3. https://blotreport.com/2021/11/20/five-days/
4. https://theconversation.com/is-religion-bad-for-democracy-97351
5. https://blotreport.com/2019/07/29/decline-of-religion-in-the-anglophone-world/
6. https://www.dw.com/en/middle-east-are-people-losing-their-religion/a-56442163
7. https://brutalsouth.substack.com/p/a-field-guide-to-christofascism
8. https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/09/20/crisis-of-faith-christian-nationalism-and-the-threat-to-u-s-democracy/
9. https://blotreport.com/2021/03/19/paedophiles-coal-and-jesus-3/
10. https://blotreport.com/2022/06/28/and-so-it-continues/
11. https://blotreport.com/2021/12/15/a-less-christian-nation/
12. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/10/whats-happened-to-the-religious-discrimination-bill-and-where-to-next
13. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-25/key-takeaways-from-scott-morrison-secret-ministries-report/101699078
14. https://www.unsw.adfa.edu.au/newsroom/news/voter-id-laws-imported-solution-problem-australia-doesnt-have
15. https://theconversation.com/good-riddance-the-costs-of-morrisons-voter-id-plan-outweighed-any-benefit-172874
16. https://blotreport.com/2017/06/15/christian-dichotomy/
17. https://blotreport.com/2017/12/24/christian-dichotomy-australia/
18. https://www.rawstory.com/lauren-boebert-prays-biden/