A Christian Response to Fascism: Part 7 of 16
If you’re new to this series, I’m a pastor countering aspects of fascism with Christian theological critique.
In fascist regimes, people who disagree with the leader are viewed as treasonous. The leader demands total loyalty to himself and, by extension, to the state (which he views as an extension of himself) — and not to the nation as it is, but to an idealization of the nation rooted in nostolgia for a (false) glorious past. I wrote about this latter aspect in part 2 of the blog series.
Today we witness the rise of several such leaders: Viktor Orban of Hungary accused his Socialist opponents of treason for their support of a Russian gas project; Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil threatned his opponents would go to jail if they didn’t exile themselves abroad; in Germany, the alt-right party resurrected a number of Nazi-era terms they hurl at their opponents, including Angela Merkel — words like Volksverräter, meaning enemy of the people; in the United States, Trump leads rallies of people chanting “lock her up” — speaking of his 2016 election opponent Hillary Clinton.
It should cause my fellow Americans great concern that their leader has accused a leading newspaper of treason; labeled democrats treasonous because they did not applaud his State of the Union address; called an FBI agent treasonous because of his support for H. Clinton; and claimed democrats are part of the “party of crime.” We’ll deal with contempt for journalists and media outlets in a later post, but the casual way strongman leaders throw around language suggesting treason, criminality, disloyalty, and lack of patriotism are key red flags as a nation grows increasingly cozy with authoritarianism. He doesn’t actually mean it — it’s simply bombast, is a common thought. But fascist-style leaders have proven just the opposite: they mean exactly what they say and, given the right amount of public support and authority they will act on their basest instincts. But first, the leader has to test the waters to see what he can get away with — will people stop him, or can he push further?
Since the leader can not bear dissent, an anti-intellectual environment ferments and ripens — if what the leader says must be taken as truth, then no other truth can be pursued. Political philisophy professor Jacob Levy writes about how this dynamic serves the leader:
“The great analysts of truth and language in politics — including “George Orwell, Hannah Arendt, Vaclav Havel — can help us recognize this kind of lie for what it is … Saying something obviously untrue, and making your subordinates repeat it with a straight face in their own voice, is a particularly startling display of power over them. It’s something that was endemic to totalitarianism.”
I wrote extensively in part 6 of this series about how Jesus’s followers are not to lie —we are to be seekers and purveyors of truth as best we are able. However, it’s worth further exploring a characteristic that should be endemic to Christians: humility.
Authoritarian leaders detest humility — they thrive on a cultivating an image of strength and power. There are few things more powerful than creating your own reality and imposing it on others.
But Jesus says, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.” And “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” And, “For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” And, “[God] has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.”
The Apostle Paul says, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.” And, “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”
Jesus’s brother James says, “But [God] gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: ‘God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.’” And, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
In her beautiful book, To Love As God Loves, Professor Robera Bondi writes that, when we adopt a posture of humility, we grow to understand our human limits; we become non-judgemental; and we relinquish seeing ourseves as heroes. Oh, what a relief it would be to the world should we Christians pursue humility as a core value.
Fascist leaders exert narrative power to garner loyalty and solidify their ruling status. In the U.S. today, it makes it difficult to catch my breath watching Trump demand unearned and absolute loyalty from his cabinet members and from his base.
Loyalty in and of itself isn’t a bad quality. But we must be discerning about how and toward whom/what we direct our loyalty. In his book, The Righteous Mind, sociologist Jonathan Haidt talks about how loyalty and hierarchy are characteristics valued by people with more conservative instincts. And those values are not bad in and of themselves — they evolved in humans to help us survive and thrive as a species. But over and above all of our human loyalties, Christians are called ot be loyal to Jesus. And if a person or cause contradicts our spiritual path, we are to redirect our loyalties away from that person/cause.
