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"At least two important conservative thinkers, Ayn Rand and Leo Strauss, were unbelievers or nonbelievers and in any case contemptuous of Christianity. I have my own differences with both of these savants, but is the Republican Party really prepared to disown such modern intellectuals as it can claim, in favor of a shallow, demagogic and above all sectarian religiosity? Perhaps one could phrase the same question in two further ways. At the last election, the GOP succeeded in increasing its vote among American Jews by an estimated five percentage points. Does it propose to welcome these new adherents or sympathizers by yelling in the tones of that great Democrat bigmouth William Jennings Bryan? By insisting that evolution is 'only a theory'? By demanding biblical literalism and by proclaiming that the Messiah has already shown himself? If so, it will deserve the punishment for hubris that is already coming its way. (The punishment, in other words, that Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson believed had struck America on Sept. 11, 2001. How can it be that such grotesque characters, calling down divine revenge on the workers in the World Trade Center, are allowed a respectful hearing, or a hearing at all, among patriotic Republicans?).
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evolution
christianity
jesus
politics
religion
2003
ayn-rand
christian-fundamentalism
christian-right
us-elections-2000
william-jennings-bryan
world-trade-center
american-jews
leo-strauss
2001
sectarianism
pat-robertson
jerry-falwell
biblical-literalism
creationism
september-11-attacks
democratic-party-united-states
republican-party-united-states
united-states
atheism
fundamentalism
jews
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Christopher Hitchens |