America, Fascism, And God: Sermons from a Heretical Preacher [Paperback]

Davidson Loehr (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2005

Religion and politics have always been a potent mix. History is littered with times when that combination caused sweeping death and destruction, when it fueled aggression and oppression--and when it gave fascism a religious and diplomatic face.
Reverend Davidson Loehr is afraid that we may be living in such a time in America today. On the Sunday following the election on November 2, 2004, Loehr, a liberal minister in Texas, delivered a sermon titled "Living Under Fascism"--a sermon that spread like wildfire through the Internet. "I mean to persuade you that the style of governing into which America has slid is most accurately described as fascism, and that the necessary implications of this fact are rightly regarded as terrifying," the preacher told his congregation. ". . . and even if I don't persuade you, I hope to raise the level of your thinking about who and where we are now."
In this series of incisive and inspired sermons, Loehr takes aim at the unholy alliance of corporate money, political power, and religious fundamentalism that is threatening both our political and our economic democracy. But Loehr's words provide little comfort to liberals and progressives who have stubbornly clung to a radical individualism and an amoral secularism.
America, Fascism, and God is a call--first to understand that religion has been hijacked and debased. And then to take it back.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Review

From Altar Magazine

By Patti Smith

Winter 2005
I once knew someone who prided himself on being a communist. He would tell his political affiliation to everyone, including (if the opportunity presented itself) the guy delivering pizzas. In fact, my ex-friend really wasn't so much as a communist as a person who liked to stir up trouble. The way that he would tell people over and over again of his communist leanings drove me nuts and stuck in my memory. So when I started reading Davidson Loehr's American Fascism & God: Sermons from a Heretical Preacher, and when I noticed he kept identifying himself as a "heretic," I groaned out loud and prepared myself for a long book. I was sure that I was in for a book by a guy who wouldn't actually live up to what he proclaimed to be, like my former friend. To my delight, Loehr quits the heretic rhetoric after his introduction and delivers a book full of various sermons he has given at his Unitarian Universalist church in Austin, Texas. The book offers reprints on sermons focusing on four topics: God, fascism, America, and honest religion. Perhaps the most powerful sermon, not surprisingly, is the one that was given immediately after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Loehr starts the sermon talking about his initial reaction to the 9/11 attacks as one of "kill the bastards," whoever they are! While much of the rest of the sermon focuses on how to respond to the attack when he later came to see the problem in thinking only of vengeance. This was the first sermon that I read, and the gut-wrenching honestly made me like Loehr instantly. I appreciated his honestly. Among the more interesting sermons are the ones that inform us about the soullessness of corporations (comparing them to the zombies in Invasion of the Body Snatchers), another challenges us to rethink our concept of God, and the final essay cries out for religion to save itself from its followers, to paraphrase the bumper sticker.

Review

EyeOnWisconsin.com

October 9, 2005
America, Fascism, and God is written by Texas Unitarian Pastor Davidson Loehr. Mr. Loehr has a Ph.D. in philosophy and religion from the University of Chicago. The small book (140 pages) is largely a collection of what the author calls "Sermons from a heretical preacher". Loehr is freely willing to call himself a "heretic" because he advises us that the word simply means preferring a "choice".
It was very difficult not to provide a book report rather than a simple review. The author packs a lot of very thought provoking ideas in a very small space. The first section is about God and the flawed literalism that fundamentalists follow. The second section gives a definition of fascism, lists characteristics, identifies those that benefit from it, and explains why we should fear its resurgence today. The third section discusses September 11th and America's response to it. The preacher then ends the book with a section on honest religion, and reclaiming our highest ideals from religion.
Many aspects of Loehr's work were very illuminating, such as his description of literalism and the Bible. He was able to demonstrate the clear idea that a religious person should be allowed to grow and "work out their own salvation with fear and trembling." The section on fascism was particularly frightening. Many people just automatically dismiss the use of the word as name calling. This author succeeded in not only describing fascism but giving current examples of it in our country. I challenge any doubters to read this section and then tell me that we are not in an era of an encroaching fascist state.
I did find several areas where I did disagree with the author. One example is that he apparently did not feel we should have gone to war in Afghanistan. I did agree with that action but believe that the administration did it in a very superficial manner. I also was challenged by some of his arguments on God and religion. While I do agree with his analysis on fundamentalism, I also feel that he went a bit too far on some theological issues. Even at those times in the book, he was very compelling. All of this in a book that you can take in over a single weekend.

"'Heretical' preacher calls U.S. 'proto-fascist'"

By John Goodspeed

The Star Democrat

October 14, 2005
In recent years the mainstream media I patronize have paid more attention to right wing preachers than they have to your average Christian. So here's a new book of sermons by Davidson Loehr, a preacher I'd describe as left-wing, sort of. Almost certainly not a communist, probably not even a socialist, maybe a New Deal Democrat, although he wasn't born until 1942.
Loehr is definitely against our current Republican federal government and the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He's described in his book's subtitle as "heretical" and on the cover as "senior minister of the [640-member] First Unitarian Universalist Church" in Austin, Texas (of all places). He served as a combat photographer in Vietnam and experienced a shot fired in anger at him from 15 feet by a North Vietnamese officer who apparently missed Loehr because he (the Vietnamese) was shot dead almost simultaneously by two nearby U.S. soldiers.
Loehr worked as a musician and carpenter after the war in Vietnam. "After returning in 1967," he writes, "it took almost 20 years, before I would acknowledge that we had absolutely no business in Vietnam, that the lives of our soldiers were lost for no decent purpose, and that the million or more Vietnamese we killed were the victims not of a just war, but of ignorant and arrogant slaughter."
He holds similar opinions of the U.S. role in Iraq and believes that the U.S. rich and high and mighty and politically conservative and neo-conservative, along with right-wing fundamentalist preachers and literalist Christians, are proto-fascist and are leading U.S. down the path to full-bore fascism-meaning the sort of fascism Benito Mussolini produced in Italy, Francisco Franco produced in Spain (they called it Fascism) and Adolf Hitler produced in Germany (he called it National Socialism). So what is fascism? Here's part of what the new Shorter Rutledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (see review below) says about it: "Fascist ideology is sometimes portrayed as merely a mantle for political movements in search of power, but in reality it set forth a new version of society, drawing on both left- and right-wing ideas. Fascists stressed the need for social cohesion and strong leadership. They see themselves as offering a third way between capitalism and communism." Davidson Loehr describes himself in America, Fascism, and God as "a religious liberal, but not a Unitarian Universalist. I see this tiny movement as a microcosm of what's wrong with the social and political left in America. Its center is political rather than religious, and it seems to swallow whole every liberal fad that comes down the road. Still, it offers more freedom than any other religious association, and there is probably no other homes as suitable for a heretic like me."

America, Fascism, and God was one of the most incredible books I've ever read. It's the first time in my life that when I finished a book, I immediately went right to the beginning and started over--with highlighter. Now I'm buying some more to pass on to friends.
Reader from Carlsbad, New Mexico

From the Publisher

"Davidson Loehr has the integrity, wisdom and moral courage to preach the radical message of the Gospel. His voice, in our times of turmoil and distress, peals out with a heartening clarity. This book will alienate some, including those in the liberal church whose timidity he assaults, and will anger others, especially the false prophets who entice us in the name of religion to idolatry. But what he says is true. He calls us to live the moral life. He calls us to stand up for justice and tolerance in the face of growing intolerance and injustice. He reminds us that no moral stance is ever made without risk and no hope is possible without the hard, often bitter labor by men and women of faith." —Chris Hedges, author of War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning and Losing Moses on the Freeway: The 10 Commandments in America

"What is the difference between Christianity and Fundamentalist Christianity? What happens when the world's most powerful government and its army are put in the hands of fundamentalist religion? Davidson Loehr tells us, with clarity and passion." —George Lakoff, author of Don't Think of an Elephant!

"In the days before the evangelical movement was captured by big politicians and became a critical instrument of corporate power and control, evangelicals provided the moral compass for this country, giving us leaders of the American Revolution, creating the Underground Railroad, abolitionists, and the civil rights movement. This extraordinary book by one of America’s most thoughtful religious leaders reviews religion’s special mission in American history and heralds the return of religion to its natural place in the moral high ground of our national politics." —Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

"Davidson Loehr’s sermons take a defiantly independent look at the mind control, environmental atrocities, media abdication, murderous imperialism, moral inconsistencies and "gagged Savior" touted by the Christian Right and asks: Is this Christianity? Is this what Jesus asks of us? For healing, I need the mystics. But for diagnosis, this renegade Texan is an American Jeremiah." —David James Duncan, author of The Brothers K and The River Why

"Davidson Loehr stands in the tradition of the prophets. An equal opportunity critic of both liberal and fundamentalist religion, his strong language may offend some. But his critique can help us break out of habits of thought that bind us and blind us. And he is first and foremost a pastor, calling us to avoid self-serving deceptions and reclaim an America which is for all of ‘We the People’." —Rev. William Sinkford, Unitarian Universalist Association president

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea Green (September 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931498938
• ISBN-13: 978-1931498937
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,411,015 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Davidson Loehr has always been a heretic. When he was six, his Sunday School teacher told the class a new story. It was called, as he heard it, "Trinadee." He didn't mind the God in the sky—Superman and Captain Marvel were up there, so there could be room for gods, too. And the god had a son—well, this is fine, too. Especially since they had a poster of this blue-eyed, brown-haired son right on their Sunday School wall, with a lot of little kids gathered around him.
But then the teacher said there was this ghost. The only image of a ghost Davidson had was Caspar. Now Superman and Captain Marvel are one thing, but Caspar the Friendly Ghost was just silly. So when the teacher asked if they "understood" this Trinadee story, he told her that it wasn't a bad story—though not one of the best they'd heard—but next time, lose the ghost.
The teacher got angry, and enlisted the rest of the class to agree that they liked the story, ghost and all. Then she said "You know, Jesus doesn't like little boys who don't like this story!" "Well then," Davidson said, "You can lose Jesus, too."
He was through with religion that day, until he heard an honest preacher fifteen years later: a Unitarian minister named John Wolf, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Here, he found religion that was honest, relevant, and profoundly challenging. A few months later, in January 1964, Davidson enlisted in the Army and was soon sent to Germany, where he attended a tough NCO Academy. He returned to the states the following year, and attended artillery officer candidate school. Later he was sent to Vietnam as a Lieutenant. There, he first served as The Vietnam Entertainment Officer, handling all the
USO-sponsored shows and entertainers. All told, Davidson spent nearly four
years in the military.
But he came to feel both bored and cowardly in Saigon, so transferred to the field, and spent his final seven months as a combat photographer and press officer assigned to the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. He still describes that time as "sacred."
He discovered that he had a gift for photography, and later opened a high-priced photography studio in Ann Arbor, where he had finished his undergraduate degree in music theory. (He had been a professional musician as a teen-ager, playing in combos, dance bands, and road bands.)
But neither music nor photography were addressing a deep kind of hunger he felt. Some of this came from what he would later describe as feeling terribly confused and lost after his year in Vietnam. But the deeper part was that double-edged yearning for honest religion, and for stories worth living by. This hunger had been part of him since he was six, and wouldn't leave until it was fed.
In the late 70s, he called John Wolf—it had been sixteen years since he'd heard his voice. They talked about the ministry, and Davidson asked where he could get the best and most demanding education in religion. "That would have to be the University of Chicago," said his old minister. "Oh," said Davidson, "I didn't know Chicago had a university." After a long pause, Wolf muttered "Jesus Christ!"
Loehr called information, and discovered that Chicago did have a university. So in 1979, he enrolled at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He left in 1986, with an MA degree in methods of studying religion, and a Ph.D. in theology, the philosophy of religion and the philosophy of science. But his heretical soul was still there: the title of his dissertation was "The Legitimate Heir to Theology: A Study of Ludwig Wittgenstein."

Since 1986, Davidson has served Unitarian churches in Michigan, New York and Minnesota, before being called to his current church in Austin, Texas in 2000. The church has around 650 members, is a bright and lively place, and a perfect match for an eclectic heretic. He plans to stay there for the rest of his career, and speaks of the church and its people with admiration and love.
After music, photography and woodworking, Davidson has a new obsession: wood turning. He's been turning wooden bowls on a lathe for about a year, has spent time and money studying with four of the top turners/teachers in the country, and turns an average of at least a bowl a day, in addition to his real job.
Heresy comes from a Greek word meaning "to choose." It's the path of those who, throughout history, have chosen "the road less traveled." And as Robert Frost observed, it makes all the difference. Heresy is also, Davidson says, about the only place where the holy spirit can be found. "The religion of the priests is always orthodox, and always serving the gods of the culture, mostly money. The religion of the prophets is always heretical, choosing better stories and more demanding paths. It's the only religion worthy of the name." Well, that's just what a heretic would say!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sleepers Awake!, October 17, 2005

By 

Carol Zilinsky "Scotty Zilinsky" (Fort Walton Beach, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: America, Fascism, And God: Sermons from a Heretical Preacher (Paperback)

As Garrison Keillor wrote in Home Grown Democrat, gadfly preacher, Loehr, puts plain sense into plain language. He calls spades spades and introduces the new term Christo-fascism while outlining the problems America must grapple with if she is ever to reclaim her place as a nation of courage, morality, and character. Here too, is the chiling tale of religion's role in promoting violence and hate and greed. Read this short book of sermons that make good sense to good people.

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Profound-- and Profoundly Depressing, March 31, 2006

By 

A reader (United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: America, Fascism, And God: Sermons from a Heretical Preacher (Paperback)

This is among the best, and also among the most distressing and depressing books I have ever read on what's wrong with America today. Probably because the author is a minister, he somehow manages to maintain some degree of optimism in the face of his own devastating analyses, but I find his pale faith to be cold comfort in the face of what he describes: a country that has ALREADY been taken over by Christo-fascists intent on ramming their religion and morality down everyone else's throats.

Unless you're a dedicated Unitarian-Universalist, you could easily skip Part I, entitled "God," and go directly to the sections on Fascism and America, where there are so many wonderful insights, expressed in such direct, easily-grasped, and striking language, that I felt like underlining just about every sentence!

Just as chilling as Loehr's insights about the goals of fundamentalist religion are his observations about corporate America's "long and patient campaign to gain control of government," and its recent, near-total success. He notes that this take-over goes far beyond any attempt to widen the gap between the upper and lower classes: it's a campaign to "separate the top 1 percent from all below them."

Although Loehr occasionally touches on the issue of the role played by sexual attitudes in fueling the culture wars, he doesn't pursue that insight sufficiently. He notes the hatred of men like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson toward "liberated women, abortion, and homosexuality," without taking note that this attitude-- this seething envy and hatred of anyone suspected of having sex for any reason other than the joyless "duty" of procreation-- underlies the whole fundamentalist agenda. Their opposition to abortion isn't about saving poor little helpless fetuses; it's about punishing women for having sex for any reason other than having children. If they were REALLY "pro-life," they wouldn't be such avid supporters of slaughtering everyone who gets in the way of America's imperialistic ambitions.

Despite my minor reservations, I consider this a brilliant book that should reach a much larger audience than--alas-- it will. As with all such books, it's a case of preaching to the choir. Those who read it will be those who already agree with Loehr, and those who most need to read it will ignore it.

51 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gospel According To Democracy's Death March to The Tar Pits, December 9, 2005

By 

Sunshine Greeny (The Wonderful World of Colonized Minds) - See all my reviews

This review is from: America, Fascism, And God: Sermons from a Heretical Preacher (Paperback)

The good reverend Davidson Loehr was a combat photographer in the Vietnam war, earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in philosophy and religion, and is senior minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin, Texas. His sermon, "Living Under Fascism," delivered the following Sunday post 2004s (S)election, caused an uproar among many bewildered and brainwashed Right wing "Christians" who, conditioned over time and through a sense of familiarity, have failed to recognize that their religious denomination and political party have merged in dark union, have been subverted by those who, in reality, do not embody the tenets of The Prince of Peace, nor encompass "conservative" or "patriotic" ethics; those are the fronts such 'pious' snake oil salemen use. Their "family values" consist of a corrupted ethic of greed which makes sure that they and theirs continue to lead the "good life" at any cost, no matter how devoid of compassion or sympathy the means to that end may be.

This virulent movement is what author Mark Crispin Miller {"Cruel and Unusual: Bush/Cheney's New World Order," and, "Fooled Again: How The Right Stole The 2004 Election"} psychologically frames as being "projective;" those who abide its propagandistic indoctrination have only the need and desire to violently attack and impute to its opponents that which they who comprise their movement are most guilty of, and therefore, on an unconscious level, are most fearful of.

It is a pathological mass movement that has strategically inundated its venomous, belligerent, high-fiving, "shout-down-smack-down" attacks against everything "soft," "progressive," and "liberal" [i.e. anyone who dares criticize its positions or propaganda "talking points] within a deluge of pop culture mediums, mainly television and talk radio, the programming of which resonates and amplifies various free floating anxieties and hostilities of average, working class people and suburban Wonder-breaders: the "angry white guy" syndrome, whose hatred of "whiny liberals" is only a cover for their hatred of women, their lack of conscience, and their inability to confront their own emotions[which is why Right wingers often accuse liberals as being "too emotional," as if their own fanatical loathing of more articulate people than themselves ISN'T fueled by emotion. Again; *projection*].

If not so utterly misinformed, shifted to the 'ME FIRST!' Right within the Consumer Culture, and indoctrinated into empathy-deadening, blinders-on "reality," they'd realize the true source of their daily frustration - be it acknowledged or denied - has a great deal to do with the very politicians, lobbyists and corporate pirates that the propaganda they buy hook, line and sinker encourages them to vehemently rally in support of.

The Christo-fascist movement has been amassing institutional power {establishment power is inherently conservative} over the past three decades, it's Orwellian, unconstitutional effects now hovering like a death shroud over our frightfully weak democracy - and *not* because there's a true majority in favor of its sinister agenda; because giant corporations have ensured that, via mass media, truth and reality are obfuscated, carefully framed, and the result is large numbers of "supporters" who do so only because they've been deceived by government puppets and mouth-pieces. The entire system is little more than a corporate front. Government-big business-extreme rightist agenda....gee, get it? Go look up the definition of "fascism."

DOES THIS SEEM FAMILIAR?

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism - Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights - Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause - The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military - Even when there are widespread
domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism - The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

6. Controlled Mass Media - Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security - Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined - Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected - The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed - Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts - Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption - Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections - Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.

Every one of those characteristics is applicable in America today.