Christian fascism

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Christian fascism is a

far-right political ideology that denotes an intersection between fascism and Christianity. It is sometimes referred to as "Christofascism", a neologism which was coined in 1970 by the liberation theologian Dorothee Sölle.[1][2][3]

Interpretation of Sölle

Tom F. Driver, the Paul Tillich Professor Emeritus at Union Theological Seminary, expressed concern "that the worship of God in Christ not divide Christian from Jew, man from woman, clergy from laity, white from black, or rich from poor". To him, Christianity is in constant danger of Christofascism. He stated that "[w]e fear christofascism, which we see as the political direction of all attempts to place Christ at the center of social life and history" and that "[m]uch of the churches' teaching about Christ has turned into something that is dictatorial in its heart and is preparing society for an American fascism".[4][5]

Christofascism "disposed or allowed Christians, to impose themselves not only upon other religions but other cultures, and political parties which do not march under the banner of the final, normative, victorious Christ" – as Paul F. Knitter describes Sölle's view.[6][7]

Christomonism

Douglas John Hall, Professor of Christian Theology at

fundamentalist Christianity which led him to conclude that Christomonism easily leads to Christofascism, and violence is never far away from militant Christomonism. (Christomonism only accepts one divine person, Jesus Christ, rather than the Trinity.) He states that the over-divinized ("high") Christology of Christendom is demonstrated to be wrong by its "almost unrelieved anti-Judaism". He suggests that the best way to guard against this is for Christians not to neglect the humanity of Jesus Christ in favour of his divinity, and remind themselves that Jesus was also a Jewish human being.[2][8][9]

American history and politics

Gerald B. Winrod and Gerald L. K. Smith fused national and Christian symbols to advocate the country's first crude form of Christo-fascism".[11] Smith's Christian Nationalist Crusade stated that a "Christian character is the basis of all real Americanism".[11] Hedges also believes that William Dudley Pelley was another prominent advocate of Christofascism.[10]: 88  Nonetheless, some historians contend the presence of Christian fascism in the Antebellum United States.[12]

In the late 1950s, some adherents of these philosophies founded the

dominionists.[11] Likewise, the Posse Comitatus movement was founded by former associates of Pelley and Smith.[10]: 90  The 1980s saw the founding of the Council for National Policy[11] and Moral Majority,[13][14] two organizations which carried on the tradition, while the patriot and militia movements represented efforts to mainstream the philosophy in the 1990s.[10]
: 90 

Incidents of anti-abortion violence, including the Atlanta and Birmingham bombings which were committed by Eric Rudolph and the assassination of George Tiller at his Wichita, Kansas church in 2009, have also been considered acts which were motivated by Christofascism.[10]: 90–91 [15]

Usage of the term caused controversy in 2007 when Melissa McEwan, a campaign blogger for then-presidential candidate John Edwards, referred to religious conservatives as "Christofascists" on her personal blog.[16][17]

Criticism of the use of the term

Germany's Christian church during the previous century.[18] The strife of the medieval Hussite Wars has led some contemporary historians to condemn their methods as fascist.[19]

See also

Christian fascist movements in Europe and the United States dating back to World War II

References

  1. ^ Sölle, Dorothee (1970). Beyond Mere Obedience: Reflections on a Christian Ethic for the Future. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House.
  2. ^ a b Hall, Douglas John (November 6, 1999). "Confessing Christ in a Post-Christendom Context". 1999 Covenant Conference, Network of Presbyterians. Atlanta, Georgia: Religion Online. Archived from the original on August 23, 2007. Retrieved December 21, 2007. ...shall we say this, represent this, live this, without seeming to endorse the kind of christomonism (Dorothee Sölle called it 'Christofascism'!...
  3. ISBN 1-56338-404-3
    . ...of establishing a dubious moral superiority to justify organized violence on a massive scale, a perversion of Christianity she called Christofascism....
  4. ISBN 0-8245-0105-5
    . We fear Christofascism ...
  5. ISBN 978-0-7914-3595-3
    . Driver argues that traditional Christology fosters what he calls 'Christofascism.' He means by this, first, the absolutizing of the past in order to…
  6. S2CID 220984907
    . Dorothee Soelle can even describe much of Christology as 'Christofascism' in the way it has disposed or allowed Christians to impose themselves upon not only other religions but other cultures and political parties which do not march under the banner of the final, normative, victorious Christ
  7. ISBN 0-88920-185-4
    .
  8. ISBN 0-415-35487-0
    .
  9. ^ Hall, Douglas John. "The Identity of Jesus in a Pluralistic World". Archived from the original (Microsoft Word) on February 28, 2008. Retrieved December 21, 2007.
  10. ^
    ISBN 978-0-9815769-8-5
    .
  11. ^
    ISBN 978-0-7432-8446-2
    .
  12. S2CID 244746966
    .
  13. ISBN 978-0-8223-3756-0
    .
  14. ISBN 978-0-8006-2432-3
    .
  15. ^ Zerbisias, Antonia (June 2, 2009). "Doctor's killing is domestic terrorism". The Star.
  16. ^ Broder, John M. (February 9, 2007). "Edwards gets lesson in reconciling Internet culture with presidential campaign". The New York Times.
  17. ^ Cooperman, Alan (June 2, 2007). "Obama Web Site Seeks to Rally The Faithful". The Washington Post.
  18. ISBN 0-8028-4940-7
    .
  19. ISBN 978-1-4668-6589-1
    . Retrieved June 2, 2023.

Further reading

External links

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