The politics of fear

As I write this, I’m on a plane and the guy sitting next to me is reading a book about keeping Christian faith in a secularized world. The underlying premise, of course, is that Christianity is under attack from all sides. Now from my perspective, I don’t think Christianity is anything like being “under attack;” I would suggest the opposite is true: it seems to me that fundamental Christians are doing everything they can to impose their particular brand of religion on the rest of the country.

For instance:

• Passing a law that puts the Ten Commandments carved in stone in the courtyard of a public building.
• Having Nativity scenes on town squares and other publicly-owned property.
• Having a giant cross in a public park (as in San Diego).
• Prayer in schools and at city hall meetings where city business is conducted.
• Legislating when life begins and limiting or eliminating abortions.
• Teaching “intelligent design” (really just thinly-veiled creationism) in public schools.

On the surface it’s tempting to say to each of the above “So what! What’s the harm in prayer in school or before public meetings? And why not a Nativity scene? After all, most of the people in that town are Christians anyway! Aren’t we a democracy? And isn’t evolution a “theory?” Why not teach alternate theories like intelligent design? Geez, lighten up!!”

Others have done a nice job addressing why each of the above bullet points presents a Constitutional problem, so I’ll not weigh in on them individually just now. I’m more interested in the whole siege mentality that some Christians seem to have. How is it that they perceive the creation/protection of an inclusive and tolerant society to be an attack on their faith?

I have read several books on the topic of fear and its use in manipulating people for political ends. The general premise of each of these books is that fear is a powerful motivator, even when that fear is groundless. One (non-political) example cited is of a news report of poor maintenance records of an airline. An isolated incident became a much bigger story with the implication that this was an endemic problem (it wasn’t), raising fears that airplanes were going to fall out of the sky. In fact the safety record of airlines is admirable; airplanes are by far the safest form of transportation in existence today. But what the story did was frighten people into driving to their destinations, which actually put them at orders-of-magnitude greater risk than flying (many more people die in car accidents than do in airplane crashes).

Knowing this characteristic, politicians (cynical beasts that they are) will prey on people’s fear, exaggerate them and then use that to manipulate them to vote based on that fear. So fear of minorities “taking over” has led to voter registration laws that favor the entrenched. The unfounded fear that illegal immigrants are draining resources from our welfare system leads to blocking any efforts at badly-needed immigration reform, and the list goes on. We’re seeing that exact situation play out right now with Trump’s candidacy for the Republican nomination.

Even more cynical is what is described in the book “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” where people are induced through fear (and misinformation) to vote against their own best interests, but that’s for another entry.

So people are being manipulated through fear to behave in a way desired by whomever is stirring up the fear. Sometimes it’s cynical and sometimes inadvertent, but the end result is the same.

While I think there are more complex things at play for Christians who believe they are under attack, it strikes me that it is to the advantage of Republicans trying to get re-elected to keep them thinking that way, and that (thank God!) they are here to protect the Christians’ way of life.

Think about it. For all the promises, posturing and bloviating about memorializing Christian values in our laws, what’s actually happened? Abortion is still legal in all 50 states and we don’t have prayer in schools. With all the “hard work and support” of the Republican majorities, one would think that there would be some progress in accomplishing their stated agenda.

Unless…

I think that the Republican party leaders never intended to support such a socially conservative agenda. Historically the Republican platform has always been a staunch defender of individual rights against government incursion. But if those Christian voters can be convinced that their faith and their very way of life is under threat, they will vote for those politicians who say they are going to protect them. Keep them frightened; keep them believing they are being threatened, and they’ll stay in the Republican fold.

Then those that are stirring the pot can get on with their REAL agenda: maintaining the status quo of the rich. Okay, that’s a bit cynical. Not all Republicans are like that. And not all Democrats are the way they are characterized either.