Democracy Now video (18 min 54 sec) of interview with Pulitzer Prize winning author Chris Hedges's new book examines how Christian dominionists are seeking absolute power and a Christian state. According to Hedges, the movement bears a strong resemblance to the young fascist movements in Italy and Germany in the 1920s and '30s. Hedges is the former New York Times Middle East bureau chief and author of "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning." Chris Hedges has spoken at Bataan Hall in Taos.
Amy Goodman: "Why did you write this book?" Chris Hedges: "Anger. I grew up in the church and of course graduated from seminary and I think these people have completely perverted and distorted and manipulated the Christian message into something that is the very antithesis of certainly what Jesus preached in the gospels."
Amy Goodwin: "Who are these people?" Chris Hedges: "...We use terms like evangelical and fundamentalist to describe them. And I think that those are incorrect terms. Traditional fundamentalists always called on believers to remove themselves from the contaminants of secular society, shun involvement in politics. Evangelical leaders like Billy Graham always warned followers to keep their distance from political power. He of course was burned by Richard Nixon. Came to Nixon's defense and then when it publically came out the Nixon lied, it taught a lesson to Graham.
This is a new movement as embodied by people like James Dobson or Pat Robertson or Jerry Fallwell who call for the creation of a Christian State. Who talk about attaining secular power. They are more properly called 'dominionists' or 'Christian reconstructionists'... They fuse the language and iconography of the Christian religion with the worth forms of American nationalism and then created this sort of radical mutation which has built alliances with powerful right wing interests including corporate interests and made tremendous inroads into the corridors of power....
