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Christian fascism is a term used by some to describe what they see as Totalitarian Fascist politics in the contemporary Christian Right , primarily in the United States. For example, the Reverend Rich Lang of the Trinity United Methodist Church of Seattle , gave a sermon titled '' George Bush and the Rise of Christian Fascism'' in which he said ''"I want to flesh out the ideology of the Christian Fascism that Mr. Bush articulates. It is a form of Christianity that is the mirror opposite of what Jesus embodied. It is, indeed, the materialization of the spirit of Antichrist : a perversion of Christian faith and practice..."''. Some who use the term ''Christian fascism'' do not describe an existing state of fascism, but rather an ''emerging'' proto-fascism, and warn that action is needed to stop the possible emergence of a Theocratic fascist state. A fictionalized account of such a society is found in The Handmaid's Tale , a 1985 dystopian novel by Margaret Atwood. The novel explores themes of women in subjugation, and the various means by which they gain agency, against a backdrop of the establishment of a totalitarian theocratic state. Princeton Professor Cornel West, a University Professor of Religion at Princeton University who has held positions at Union Theological Seminary, Yale University, Harvard University, and the University of Paris has spoken about the subject in a number of his published a books, in particular, Democracy Matters: Winning The Fight Against Imperialism. [2004; Penguin Group; ISBN 1-59420-029-7 and ISBN 01430.35835), which discusses the development historically between a right-wing Christianity and other strains opposed to it. The book discusses the issue of the fight between the concepts of American Imperialism and American Democratic principles. Chapter 5, is entitled, The Crisis Of Christian Identity In America. In this chapter he discuses the long battle between so-called Prophetic Christians, which he identifies with Christ, Paul, Martin Luther King, William Sloan Coffin, and the Separation of Church and State; and the so-called Constantinian Christians, which he identifies with Emporor Constantine, Jerry Falwell and the institutional connection between Church and State in political society. Professor West traces the history of the fight between these two concepts, including the struggle between them in the American Constitutional Period where the result was specific language that protected the freedom of worship, the freedom from institutional worship, and the Separation of Church and State in the body of the Constitution, and explains how it is the Constantinians who are in power now in America, as evidenced by the amount of influence the group we call Fundamentalist Christians have in the government of the United States. He outlines the religious threat to democratic practices, both domestically in the USA, and abroad, and explains the developmental link between the Constantinians and the Fundamentalist Jews and Muslims throughout the world, and their effect on the nations they are dominant in. His complaint is that the Constantinians have an undue influence over governmental policies through the justification of three Dogmas: Free Market Fundamentalism; Aggressive Militarism; and Escalating Authoritarianism. This justification is achieved through their religious rhetoric, and he feels that this is ironic and sad, in that "this fundamentalism is subverting the most profound, seminal teachings of Christianity, those being that we should live with humility, love our neighbors, and do unto others as we would have them do unto us." Critics of the term "Christian fascism" dismiss it as hyperbolic, and an "ill-advised attack on conservative Christians" {Link without Title} . SEE ALSO
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