With God On Their Side: How Christian Fundamentalists Trampled Science, Policy, And Democracy In George W. Bush's White House [Hardcover]

Esther Kaplan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 7, 2004

The unholy alliances that have placed America in the hands of a messianic Christian elite.

For four years, Americans have lived under an administration that holds twice-weekly Bible classes in the White House and daily prayer meetings at the Department of Justice. The Christian right is no stranger to Washington's corridors of power. But a combination of a born-again president, a burgeoning family-values movement, and the canny political strategies of Karl Rove has delivered unprecedented influence to today's Christian fundamentalists.

As Esther Kaplan shows in this fast-paced investigation, no condom fact sheet or obscure drug advisory panel is too small to escape the roving eyes of Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, Concerned Women for America, or the many other political advocacy arms of the evangelical right. While organizations that promote family planning and sex education are the targets of relentless audits, church groups receive hundreds of millions in federal dollars for programs promoting sexual abstinence and marriage training, especially for the poor. Religious considerations even shape the government's foreign aid policies and its war on terror. And while much of the Christian right's influence could be quickly reversed with a change in administration, Bush's crusading makeover of the federal courts will undermine women's and gay rights —and bolster a corporate agenda —for decades to come.

• Under pressure from Christian fundamentalists, the National Park Service has approved the display and sale of a creationist book that claims the Grand Canyon was formed by the flood that launched Noah's ark.
• To sell his faith-based initiative to Christian conservatives, President Bush allowed religious groups receiving federal funds to legally refuse to hire Jews, gays, unmarried mothers, or anyone who fails to meet their moral code.
• The administration has collaborated with states it considers sponsors of terror, such as Libya and Iran, to forward an anti-abortion agenda at the UN. Meanwhile, doctors sent to restore social services in Iraq were vetted to make sure they were anti-abortion.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This well-written, fast-paced and engaging book scores points for style, though its decidedly liberal slant will most appeal to readers who already share Kaplan’s view that George W. Bush’s cozy relations with evangelical Christian activists represents a grave threat to the future of America. Kaplan, a journalist and former editor at The Nation, rehearses how Bush’s evangelical Christian faith has dictated his decisions on international issues, such as his determination to invade Iraq, and domestic ones, including his anti-abortion stance, promotion of abstinence, silence on the AIDS epidemic and conservative court appointments. The book is best when Kaplan discusses the "holy war" mentality that she feels is prevalent in the Bush administration, whether in Attorney General John Ashcroft’s stark approach to the war on terror or Karl Rove’s machinations in promoting judicial appointees who would be accepted by both corporate and religious conservatives. Kaplan writes vividly of the people involved and offers memorable human-interest stories, such as a day in the life of two Tennessee abstinence activists. But in many places, she veers away from her focus on the Bush administration to castigate the "Religious Right" more generally. She also fails to appreciate the ideological nuances of American evangelicalism. For example, she dismisses Intelligent Design Theory as "pseudoscience" and incorrectly claims that its proponents believe the earth is only a few thousand years old, thus conflating it with biblical creationism.
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Review

A truly shocking dossier of recent religious fundamentalist incursions into the machinery and soul of American democracy. -- Tony Kushner

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 322 pages
• Publisher: New Press, The (October 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565849205
• ISBN-13: 978-1565849204
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,371,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

150 of 177 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book that every patriot must read ASAP, October 17, 2004

By 

Mark Crispin Miller (New York, N.Y.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: With God On Their Side: How Christian Fundamentalists Trampled Science, Policy, And Democracy In George W. Bush's White House (Hardcover)

In this journalistic masterpiece, Esther Kaplan makes it clear that Bush & Co. has just about succeeded in transforming the US government into a Christo-fascist juggernaut, endangering our freedoms and the welfare of the world. A lucid analyst and highly scrupulous reporter (and a most gifted writer), Kaplan describes, in harrowing detail, the Bush regime's ongoing subversion of American democracy. Here is the whole shocking story that should by now be known to every rational American, and yet the US press has steadfastly refused to deal with it: Bush/Cheney's religious war against Iraq, the "Christian Zionist" foundation of the regime's catastrophic Mid-East policy, Bush/Cheney's vast faith-based assault on science, the regime's fervent efforts to impose its puritanical morality on everybody else, the use of our tax dollars to support the proselytizing work of pro-Bush Christian groups, and on and on.

Concerning the grave threat posed by Bush/Cheney, there are a lot of excellent books and documentaries available today (including mine, if I may say so). If you decide to buy just one (or just one more), get Esther Kaplan's book--and do it now.

77 of 92 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bush administration = religious fascists, December 27, 2004

By 

Robin Orlowski "political activist" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: With God On Their Side: How Christian Fundamentalists Trampled Science, Policy, And Democracy In George W. Bush's White House (Hardcover)

This book documents the religious right's attack on America through George W. Bush's reign of terror. Even Ronald Reagan (who was the first modern president to court the religious right in order to win the Republican presidential nomination) never had attempted to divide America through religion to this extent.

From John Ashcroft's tenure as Attorney General to the establishment of a White House office for religious outreach, this administration has reached new lows in religious zealotry. Good government policy has thus become defined as only what conveniently matches the Bush administration's own religious convictions.

The unprecedented errors in government publications are allowed because the religious right honestly is not interested in having a realistic public policy discussion. They want to condemn and punish ANYBODY who does not share their totalitarian world view. This includes people of faith who WANT everybody to enjoy religious freedom.

Bush may be sincere in his own religious convictions, but I cannot see this same belief system being of actual moral use if he is trampling the First Amendment rights of myself and other citizens--who are also a part of the America he is supposed to work for.

For all Bush's fancy education, he has selectively forgotten that the First Amendment also protects the religious rights of other people, and also people who do not want to engage in any religious practices (organized or otherwise).

The First Amendment was enacted because the framers had personal experience with theocracies in England and the colonies; a person who was outside of the state-sponsored religion automatically became less of a person, and (virtually) ceased to exist as a being.

If the president of America is not interested in learning from American history, we are in deeper trouble than initially imagined.

117 of 142 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must-read book!, September 29, 2004

By 

M. Tepper - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: With God On Their Side: How Christian Fundamentalists Trampled Science, Policy, And Democracy In George W. Bush's White House (Hardcover)

Still looking for evidence to give your family and friends that George W. Bush has got to go? This book doesn't take cheap political shots, it just lays out all the connections between the Religious Right and everyday activities at the White House -- from John Ashcroft leading morning prayer sessions for the people who report to him at the Department of Justice to a battle over creationist psuedo-science books being promoted in a Grand Canyon park service store.

It may seem like George W. Bush's major effects on American life has been in the area of foreign policy, but Kaplan's well-reported, well-written book shows how political appointees from the country's most conservative groups are filling advisory councils and approval committees -- and, often unseen, making shocking changes to our national policies about condoms, access to contraception, and healthcare research and funding. As even the Reagans know, this administration is hazardous to your health!

I'd recommend this book to anyone who cares about the future of science policy, education, and health research in the United States -- which is probably everyone reading this review.