By Gene Ogorodov
Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism are hardly monolithic blocs. In conversing with passionate Fundamentalists or Evangelicals the first thing that they will convey is that they are "born again"; the second is that they are not "that" type of Evangelical and/or Fundamentalist.
These are two terms that are poorly defined and amorphous in usage. Both a badges of honor and marks of shame, these terms are thrown about in American religious circles with little care for consistency. In a practical sense these terms mean little more than "us" and "them."
Although the words "Fundamentalism" and "Evangelicalism" have so many meaning that they are virtually meaningless, the movements are real and ubiquitous. Born from the fervor of the revivalism of the First and Second Great Awakenings, these movements bound together by a type of emotive perception of the Christian faith that has found its way deep into the American psyche.
Yet, Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism are hardly placid movements tied to a distant past. Mercurial and dynamic, these movements are in a state of perpetual flux. They are constantly changing to meet an ever changing world.
Chris Hedges in his book, American Fascists, gives a frightening picture of the power-hungry and totalitarian inclinations of prominent elements in American Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism. Rightly he condemns a spirit of willful ignorance and blind submission to religious leaders that is all too common among that portion of society.
However, he forgets one thing his narrative on American religious extremists that is elucidated in Umberto Eco's essay on Ur-Fascism that prefaces Hedges work, viz. Fundamentalism isn't the only fascist movement in the US. Most major movements in the US are an out growth of fascism. Fascism isn't about nationalism and bellicosity; it is corporate acquisition of government.
In the 1930s Robert Brady wrote a book entitled Business as a System of Power. This outlines the basic characteristics of fascism as a system of government. Hitler's Nazis and Mussolini's Italian Fascists may created type of fascism that was both highly abominable and highly unstable, which has a facade and overt characteristics not shared by Western Democracies that have been bought out by corporations. But innate contradictions, a self destructive nature, and a disregard for human life are connatural to all types of fascism extreme or moderate.
The paradoxes and conflicts inherent in fascism are born of the schizophrenic nature of a government that is compelled at the same time to be both public and private. Public and private interests stand in opposition with neither being dominate and neither being able to surrender to the other without jeopardizing the whole system.
When a ruling elite is composed of individual plutocrats the individuals can bifurcate their interests as rulers of the state and captains of industry, but when corporations are themselves the rulers of society they cannot so conveniently choose and thereby oppose their own interests while indefatigably pursing their own interests.
Returning to the question underlying Hedges' book: is Fundamentalism and Evangelicalism fascist? Contra Chris Hedges--No. Randall Balmer put it quite well when he described Evangelicalism as "the folk religion of America." Fascist movements are necessarily pseudo-popular movements because they are inextricably bound to the interests of the ruling class. Since Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism are grass roots movements they cannot be fascist.
Are some Evangelical and Fundamentalist leaders and movements fascist? Yes. Likewise many Mainline Christian and secular movements and leaders are also fascists. Since the United States is undeniably a fascist country, it inevitably supports fascist movements to maintain power. Simple people on the fringes of society that have no stake in this country are not fascists; the fascists are the great and the powerful who have a stake in the fascist state or the maniacal that wish to have a stake.
