Chris Hedges, former New York Times reporter, author of American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America

Chris Hedges was raised and schooled in Christianity. His father was a Presbyterian minister, and Chris himself graduated from Harvard Divinity School.

From that background, he provides a trenchant critique of the Christian Right, specifically a group he calls “dominionists” who want to establish a “Christian state” in America. He is careful to differentiate this small group of “dominionists” from the evangelical or fundamentalist Christian community at large. In fact, he notes that the quest for a Christian state is a total departure from traditional fundamentalism or evangelical Christianity.

When asked if the title of his book, Christian Fascists, is “a bit overboard,” he does not back down one iota. He believes that dominionists, who use the reassuring language of Christianity and American patriotism, seek domination, unquestioning obedience from their followers, and essentially – the overthrow of democracy. He names Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell and others as leaders of this movement.

He describes his own experiences at Coral Ridge Ministries in Florida where he attended a workshop for congregants, teaching them how to convert others. He found the techniques used deceptive and misleading.

He decries the “cult of masculinity” within the movement, in which women are subservient to men in church, marriage and nation. He characterizes “creationism” as a method for overturning evidence-based scientific thinking among followers in the movement.

The movement has gained ground, he says, because it appeals to those who are victims of economic squeeze and the outsourcing of jobs. It also appeals to those in the “exurbs” who are isolated from neighbors, and find their church a sole source of community.

That part of the movement that preaches the “prosperity gospel,” he says, betrays real Christianity. Many of the preachers, he notes, are not only power hungry, they have also amassed great wealth themselves, often at the expense of those living on the margins.

There are serious divisions within the movement, but Hedges says they are somewhat papered over with the quest for a Christian state.

The 2006 elections, he notes, were merely a temporary setback, not a decisive defeat. President Bush, he says, is marginal to this movement, although he has helped blur the lines between ideology and state. For 2008, Sam Brownback is popular with these folks, but they will not gain power, he says, unless there is some sort of cataclysmic event that propels them to power.

The way to deal with this problem, according to Hedges, is to go to the source. He believes it is necessary to solve the problem of economic inequality in America and re-integrate the working class into American society.

The Baha’i Feast of Ridvan, and the Coming Baha’i National Assembly

Sovaida Ma’ani, a representative of the external affairs office of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States 

Sovaida Ma’ani introduces us to the basics of Baha’i beliefs: religious truth is not absolute, but relative; God is the same for all the world’s religions; revelation has come through special prophets or teachers through the centuries as human beings have been capable of understanding the message. Social laws can change (e.g., don’t eat pork) and need to change with time. All human beings are equal no matter what their gender, race, ethnicity or sexual orientation.

The Baha’i faith was born in Iran, and its founder, Baha’u’llah, was born into a Muslim family, but became the founder of an independent religion. Baha’is see him as the latest of the spiritual teachers sent to earth by God throughout history. He was banished from Iran to Baghdad (present day Iraq), and later to Turkey. Ridvan remembers his days in the “Garden of Ridvan” in Baghdad when he announced his mission to the world.

The Baha’i Assembly takes place in late April in Wilmette, IL. It is a time for elections…which are conducted totally without electioneering! People decide individually and silently for whom to vote, and do not reveal their choices to anyone else. The Assembly also takes care of general Baha’i business, and will address an important ongoing concern: the persecution of Baha’is in the nation of Iran, where they are regarded as heretics by the ruling Muslims. Baha’is have appealed this issue to nations around the globe, as well as to the United Nations itself.

The Divisions in the U.S. Baptist Community

Dr. Stan Hastey, executive director of the Alliance of Baptists, a mainline Protestant denomination

Twenty years ago, the Alliance of Baptists split from the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) after the SBC underwent a takeover by conservative fundamentalists. In more recent years, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship left the SBC over a variety of doctrinal and ideological issues. The American Baptist Church and the Southern Baptists split over slavery at the time of the Civil War.

Dr. Hastey does not believe that these divisions will be healed any time soon. For example, the Alliance of Baptists, though small, has a commitment to ecumenism, especially with the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church/Disciples, a commitment not shared by the SBC. And former presidents, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, both Baptists, recently proposed a meeting of Baptists to establish a new worldwide Baptist covenant. But the SBC has refused adamantly to participate, and is instead, launching a new worldwide effort to spread its belief in biblical inerrancy.

Dr. Hastey says that he does not believe in biblical inerrancy, largely because Jesus did not. Jesus, he notes, altered Hebrew texts.