Thread by @docrussjackson

#THREAD

Christian fascism is a far-right political ideology that denotes an intersection between (neo)fascism & Christianity.

It is sometimes referred to as #Christofascism, a neologism coined in 1970 by the liberation theologian Dorothee Sölle.

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1572001692169768960

Most fascist movements portray themselves as defenders of Christianity & the traditional Christian family against atheists & amoral humanists. Modern #neofascists claim "Judeo-Christian values must be defended", or are "under attack from western liberals".

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1571842612780322821?s=20&t=NFPQXrAf7x7veeL9dJpRyg

This was true of Catholic fascist movements in Poland, Spain, Portugal, France, Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, & Brazil.

We see the rise of divisive, intolerant, nationalistic & fundamentalist #Christofascist rhetoric in the USA, & now here in the UK too.

In France, Valois, Taittinger, Renaud, Bucard, & La Rocque were Catholics, & Doriot appealed to Catholic sentiments after he became a fascist. Although Maurras was an agnostic, he defended the Catholic church as a pillar of social order: many Catholics were among his followers.

The fascist Robert Brasillach described the Spanish Civil War as a conflict between Catholic fascism & atheistic Marxism.

Drieu La Rochelle rejected liberal Catholicism but praised the “virile, male Catholicism” of the Middle Ages & the “warrior Christianity of the Crusades.”

Although fascists in Germany & Italy also posed as protectors of the church, their ideologies contained many elements that conflicted with traditional Christian beliefs, & their policies were sometimes opposed by church leaders.

The Nazis criticized the Christian ideals of meekness & guilt on the grounds that they repressed the violent instincts necessary to prevent inferior races from dominating Aryans.

Today's potential #Christofascists too reject meekness & guilt.

Martin Bormann, the second most powerful official in the Nazi Party after 1941, argued that Nazi & Christian beliefs were “incompatible,” primarily because the essential elements of Christianity were “taken over from Judaism.”

Despite the many anti-Christian elements in Nazism, the vast majority of Nazis considered themselves to be religious, & most German antisemites supported Christianity purged of its “Jewish” elements.

The pro-Nazi German Christians held that Christ had been a blond-haired, blue-eyed Aryan, & male members called themselves “SS men for Christ.”

In many German families children began their prayers before meals with the phrase, “Führer, my Führer, bequeathed to me by the Lord.”

In Italy, Mussolini signed a concordat with the papacy, the Lateran Treaty (1929), which, among other things, made Roman Catholicism the state religion of Italy and mandated the teaching of Catholic doctrine in all public primary and secondary schools.

Later, many practicing Catholics joined the conservative wing of the Fascist Party, but in 1931, Pope Pius XI denounced fascism’s “revolution which snatches the young from the Church & from Jesus Christ, &which inculcates in its own young people hatred, violence & irreverence.”

Chris Hedges & David Neiwert contend that the origins of American #Christofascism date back to the Great Depression, when Americans first espoused forms of fascism that were "explicitly 'Christian' in nature".

archive.org/details/elimin…

Hedges writes that "fundamentalist preachers such as Gerald B Winrod & Gerald LK Smith fused national & Christian symbols to advocate the country's first crude form of Christofascism".

simonandschuster.com/books/American…

In American Fascists, Chris Hedges, author of the National Book Award finalist War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, challenges the Christian Right's religious legitimacy, arguing that at its core it is a mass movement fueled by unbridled nationalism & a hatred for open society.

Hedges argues the Christian right has lured millions of Americans, who rightly feel abandoned & betrayed by the political system, from the reality-based world to one of magic — to a childlike belief that God has a plan & Jesus will guide & protect them.

popmatters.com/christian-fasc…

The 1980s saw the founding of the Council for National Policy & the Moral Majority, two organizations which carried on the tradition, while the patriot & militia movements represented efforts to mainstream the philosophy in the 1990s.

brill.com/view/journals/…

Incidents of anti-abortion violence, including the Atlanta & Birmingham bombings committed by Eric Rudolph, & the assassination of George Tiller at his Wichita, Kansas church in 2009, have also been considered acts which were motivated by #Christofascism.

thestar.com/opinion/column…

More recently, parallels between #QAnon & the history of #Christofascist ideology have become more apparent: Christofascist organizations like the Christian Nationalist Crusade explicitly rail against Communism, a “one world government,” & immigration.

bylinetimes.com/2021/06/09/the…

Hedge's pessimistic but well-informed assertion is that: "In the end, even the liberal class will choose fascism over empowering the left wing & organised labor. The only thing the ruling oligarchy truly cares about is unfettered exploitation & profit."

salon.com/2022/06/28/chr…

"They, like the industrialists in Nazi Germany, will happily make an alliance with the Christian fascists, no matter how bizarre and buffoonish, and embrace the blood sacrifices of the condemned."

#NeverForget #NeverAgain

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1530506330452246529?s=20&t=S6sbj6VqtovHY4OOHo3vLw

Meanwhile... 🤪

Also... 😬

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1577231544892395520?s=20&t=S6sbj6VqtovHY4OOHo3vLw

And of course... 🤬

https://twitter.com/docrussjackson/status/1597981098340147201?s=20&t=S6sbj6VqtovHY4OOHo3vLw