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Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism Paperback – Bargain Price, April 17, 2007
"A potent wakeup call to pluralists in the coming showdown with Christian nationalists."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
Michelle Goldberg, a senior political reporter for Salon.com, has been covering the intersection of politics and ideology for years. Before the 2004 election, and during the ensuing months when many Americans were trying to understand how an administration marked by cronyism, disregard for the national budget, and poorly disguised self-interest had been reinstated, Goldberg traveled through the heartland of a country in the grips of a fevered religious radicalism: the America of our time. From the classroom to the mega-church to the federal court, she saw how the growing influence of dominionism-the doctrine that Christians have the right to rule nonbelievers-is threatening the foundations of democracy.In Kingdom Coming, Goldberg demonstrates how an increasingly bellicose fundamentalism is gaining traction throughout our national life, taking us on a tour of the parallel right-wing evangelical culture that is buoyed by Republican political patronage. Deep within the red zones of a divided America, we meet military retirees pledging to seize the nation in Christ's name, perfidious congressmen courting the confidence of neo-confederates and proponents of theocracy, and leaders of federally funded programs offering Jesus as the solution to the country's social problems.
With her trenchant interviews and the telling testimonies of the people behind this movement, Goldberg gains access into the hearts and minds of citizens who are striving to remake the secular Republic bequeathed by our founders into a Christian nation run according to their interpretation of scripture. In her examination of the ever-widening divide between believers and nonbelievers, Goldberg illustrates the subversive effect of this conservative stranglehold nationwide. In an age when faith rather than reason is heralded and the values of the Enlightenment are threatened by a mystical nationalism claiming divine sanction, Kingdom Coming brings us face to face with the irrational forces that are remaking much of America.
- Print length272 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherW. W. Norton & Company
- Publication dateApril 17, 2007
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches
- ISBN-100393329763
- ISBN-13978-0393329766
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“Regardless of where you fall on the moderate-to-progressive political scale, this well-written chronicle of civil liberties under siege by holy rollers will undoubtedly scare the bejesus out of you.” (David Fear - Time Out )
“Goldberg's book will be recognized as the definitive guide to how a relatively tiny group of intellectuals, politicians, and conservatives religionists positioned themselves to take over America. This stuff is no joke.” (Tony Normal - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette )
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- ASIN : B004R96UN6
- Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company (April 17, 2007)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 272 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0393329763
- ISBN-13 : 978-0393329766
- Item Weight : 8.8 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.2 inches
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Probably the greatest concern to Goldberg and others like her is the Religious Right's use of deceptive tactics to sway the public. The use of reason was getting them nowhere, so they decided in the late 1980's to adopt other strategies to persuade the public over to their side. Running "stealth" election campaigns (not letting the public know a trained candidate's true agenda until after the election), finding and/or training scientists and PhD's to support and give credence to the Religious Right cause, conducting biased studies, etc., are all well- known and well- documented instances of unethical persuasion. Since many of the ideas of the members of the radical Religious Right were anti- liberty, unreasonable, and often illogical, its members decided to turn to the next level and seek out highly educated individuals who were sympathetic to the cause. Once the public heard that several people with Ph.D's were supporting Religious Right ideologies, the credibility of their claims would be strengthened and more people would be convinced to accept them. This strategy was key to the growing influence of Religious Right dogma, and Goldberg spends considerable time talking about these and other deceptive tactics used by these people in their attempts to move the United States closer to theocracy.
Goldberg successfully exposes many of the tactics used by the Religious Right and while many of them are well- known, they are often surprising for their obvious level of deceit. One is the concept of "Intelligent Design". There was no such term in the past- it was created by the members of the Religious Right for the sole purpose of introducing creationism into the school classrooms. Since the radicals knew they would never get away with inserting religious dogma into the science textbooks, they decided instead to disguise their ideas as science. By then creating a term like "Intelligent Design", they were able to give the idea scientific clout; making it sound like an official doctrine of science that, therefore, should be included in school textbooks. It really is a clever strategy, if you think about it. It's an act of complete and total deception and it ranks right up there with some of the better political strategies of recent history.
I like the way Goldberg wrote this book. Her approach is dead- on and her writing is highly effective. She even manages to write in a respectful way when she talks about some of these adversaries- an admirable feat, considering the use of deception so common in the movement's political strategies. She is obviously very concerned about the destruction of basic liberties and civil rights that will invariably occur if the ideals of the Religious Right really do become law. Legalized abortion is only the tip of the iceberg. There are many, many other areas where the Religious Right wants to stick its collective nose, and in almost every instance, personal liberty would be tossed to the wayside in favor of strict religious dogma.
Overall, Kingdom Coming is a very good political book about one of the most critical social issues of our time. The Religious Right and its many members and organizations may not ever succeed at making the United States government an all- out theocracy. But its ability to chip away at personal freedom should be viewed with concern by all Americans. Like Goldberg states plainly, the American way of life and Constitutional guarantees are at stake. Once a few rights have vanished, the road will be paved for further erosion of basic liberties as the nation inches closer and closer to religions/fascist- style of government rule.
Ms. Goldberg explains how homeschooling has allowed superstition to be instilled in a generation of young people who are being encouraged to become politically active. Exurban megachurches provide organizers with millions of voters and activists who can be rapidly mobilized around Christian causes. The author dedicates individual chapters to discussing six areas where extremist positions have gained ground, including: revisionism of U.S. history; anti-gay rights activism; intelligent design theory (Creationism); faith-based public services; abstinence; and the U.S. court system. As Ms. Goldberg clearly shows, the Christian movement's success has been substantial and in many cases has been attributable to sympathy and support at the highest levels of the U.S. government.
Significantly, Ms. Goldberg's comparative analysis shows that extremist Christian views have gained institutional support over time. For example, she compares how the Barry Goldwater campaign of 1964 shied away from the John Birch Society in order to distance itself from the admixture of militarism with religion to the Bush administration's embrace of General William G. Boykin after he had made several outlandish public statements about divine warfare. In fact, by appointing hundreds of ideologically sympathetic judges and bureaucrats to numerous positions within the federal government, Ms. Goldberg contends that the extremist Christian movement will continue to exert its influence for many years to come.
Drawing on the work of Hannah Arendt, Ms. Goldberg helps us consider how fascism finds fertile ground once all objective reason has been marginalized from public debate. The author attributes a peculiar form of Christian postmodernism, in its rejection of objective truth as myths that are propagated by the so-called liberal elite onto the unwilling Christian masses, to be responsible for fomenting a paranoid fanaticism that ultimately may prove to be a catalyst to inspiring violent action against all those who are different or who may object to the Christian agenda. But such concerns are not merely theoretical; Ms. Goldberg goes on to share the experiences of herself and others who have already suffered discrimination as a result of the works of Christian extremists.
Interestingly, Ms. Goldberg punctures the inflated claims of heartland moral superiority. The author points out that the "red states" where Christianity is strongest has higher divorce rates, lower education levels and are net debtors to the federal treasury when compared with the "blue states" where liberalism is strongest. The reality on the ground, then, suggests that the proclamations about Christian morals, Biblical guidance and American individualism are so much empty rhetoric; rather, such widely misheld beliefs probably provide simplistic answers to complex questions about changing economic, cultural and social conditions. While it is true that Ms. Goldberg does not propose a specific response to these underlying problems (which in any case would be beyond the scope of this book), her plea to liberals to stand up in defense of justice, reason and fairness is, in my view, totally appropriate: an enlightened, free and civil government is what is needed most to help solve the problems that plague the U.S. and the Christian community, and liberals need to make that fact better known.
I highly recommend this important book to everyone.
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She also gives a very deep explanation of the Christian Right world view, and why they think like they do, and how they are activily striving to change America into a Theocratic dictatorship.
As a registered American Democrat, I have recommended this book as a must to all my liberal friends.






