Heinlein's Crystal Ball
Lorie Johnson printable version print page     Bookmark and Share
Wed Apr 26, 2006 at 10:46:56 AM EST
Science fiction ia a genre well-known for its cutting edge thought, speculation on far flung civilizations, and incredible technology that takes us to the stars.

But science fiction also has 'close to home' elements, too- alternative history, day-after-tomorrow scenarios, and all sorts of 'what if?' elements.

So, it should not be a surprise when an author as well known and respected as the late Robert A. Heinlein peers into the future of America- and does not like what he sees.

In his recently republished book, "Revolt in 2100", the first part of the story involves a secularist revolt against a theocratic government. "Prophets" take over as presidents, the first being Nehemiah Scudder, a preacher turned President, who then becomes a dictator. [Wikipedia]

At the end of the novel, Heinlein himself steps in with a post script about the story, written in 1952. He could clearly see the handwriting on the wall.

As for the second notion, the idea that we could lose our freedom by succumbing to a wave of religious hysteria, I am sorry to say that I consider it possible. I hope that it is not probable. But there is a latent deep strain of religious fanaticism in this, our culture; it is rooted in our history and it has broken out many times in the past. It is with us now; there has been a sharp rise in strongly evangelical sects in this country in recent years, some of which hold beliefs theocratic in the extreme, anti-intellectual, anti-scientific, and anti-libertarian.

Anti-intellectual, anti-scientific, and anti-libertarian... If you had a checklist, you could definitely check these items off on it.  The anti-intellectual part can be seen in the gutting of programs meant to teach self-sufficiency and help women get beyond their biological processes- the 'abstinence only' programs, the faith-based prison and health programs, the fake abortion clinics, and most chillingly, the deliberate and systematic removal from government websites of material that educates and informs women, poor people, consumers, and citizens about health care and other programs. Women have been hit especially hard here.

Anti-scientific is self- explanatory. The Discovery Institute and its 'wedge' program of intelligent design and 'critical analysis' of scientific teaching, as well as the muzzling and financial gutting of governmental scientific agencies is a definite red flag. Global warming does not exist for the theocrats- it is merely a hastening of Christ's return.

Anti-libertarian shows itself in the brutal and systematic takeover of the Republican party and the decimation of the Democratic party, and any other political party that either does not advance the theocratic wave, or opposes it in any manner. The systematic takeover of religious sects and moderate and liberal churches is another part of this pattern.

Heinlein continues:

It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground all heretics. This is equally true whether the faith is Communism or Holy-Rollerism; indeed it is the bounden duty of the faithful to do so. The custodians of the True Faith cannot logically admit tolerance of heresy to be a virtue.

To today's theocrats, 'tolerance' is a dirty word, and in fact, they revel in their intolerance. The idea of heresy being a virtue is an interesting one- the root of the word means 'to choose', and anyone who chooses not to toe the theocratic line is automatically targeted for conversion or ruin in this country.

Nevertheless this business of legislating religious beliefs into law has never been more than sporadically successful in this country - Sunday closing laws here and there, birth control legislation in spots, the Prohibition experiment, temporary enclaves of theocracy such as Voliva's Zion, Smith's Nauvoo, a few others. The country is split up into such a variety of faiths and sects that a degree of uneasy tolerance now exists from expedient compromise; the minorities constitute a majority of opposition against each other.

Could it be otherwise here? Could any one sect obtain a working majority at the polls and take over the country? Perhaps not - but a combination of a dynamic evangelist, television, enough money, and modern techniques of advertising and propaganda might make Billy Sunday's efforts look like a corner store compared to Sears Roebuck. Throw in a depression for good measure, promise a material heaven here on earth, add a dash of anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Negroism, and a good large dose of anti-"furriners" in general and anti-intellectuals here at home and the result might be something quite frightening - particularly when one recalls that our voting system is such that a minority distributed as pluralities in enough states can constitute a working majority in Washington.

He nails it.  Hardline Christians taking over a political party: check.

Lots of money, a cowed press, and overt propoganda disguised as 'news': check.

Economy circling the drain: check.

"Left Behind" mentality: check.

Antagonistic beliefs and behavior: check.

Tampering with elections and redistricting places to create a false majority: check.

Here's a quote from the story which is chilling in its application today:

"Secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy ... [sic] censorship. When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, 'This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know,' the end result is tyranny and oppression, no matter how holy the motives. Mighty little force is needed to control a man whose mind has been hoodwinked; contrariwise, no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything —you can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him."



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An in-depth analysis of "If This Goes On..." can be found here.

by Lorie Johnson on Wed Apr 26, 2006 at 10:51:27 AM EST

"When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross."

His 1935 novel "It Can't Happen Here" is also an interesting read and rather prophetic. He gets the parties wrong, but otherwise it hits pretty close to home.

by portheus on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 10:37:38 AM EST


And what's worse, some on the Progressive side become co-conspirators in the theocratic movement by enabling that secrecy.  When intellegent people hear of what's going on, and yet try to belittle or downplay the (very real) threat posed by dominionist/theocratic movements, they're indirectly allowing the conspiracy of silence to continue.  Not taking these people seriously only allows them to continue their slow, patient campaign.

Blessed Be


by Taliesin on Wed Apr 26, 2006 at 02:58:36 PM EST

all of those affected by the religious right, across a very wide social, political and religious spectrum have been rather set in their ways, and not adapted well to the new realities of the rise of the religious right in all of its shades and colors, strengths and weaknesess.

Often people pooh pooh the significance of the religioius right, in part because they know little or nothing about it. In order to save face, and not acknowledge their ignorance, they have to attack the ideas of those who, in fact, know what they are talking about.

Here at Talk to Action, even the most expert among us are learning all the time, (I know I am) and are open and grateful for it. This is the kind of ethos we need to encourage more widely so those who most need to learn, will feel more comfortable in doing so.

by Frederick Clarkson on Wed Apr 26, 2006 at 03:34:34 PM EST
Parent

Until recently, my main problem in trying to tell people about this theocratic threat was what I call Deliberate Denial. This was (and in some cases still is) prevalant in many people whom I think of as peers- moderate Christians or secular intellectuals. "Quit the Chicken Little stuff!" one told me. "Those holy rollers aren't going to take over the government!"

Happily, he saw the light, and even apologized to me for being so rude. I see myself as a canary in the mine shaft, putting the puzzle together and not liking what I see. I've learned that my primary job is to educate- to be provocative enough in my writing to pique interest in people like me, and to then get them to assemble the puzzle themselves.

This has hit home in an interesting way- a fellow I know at work told me about a 'really interesting' Internet site I should visit. It was my own community.

by Lorie Johnson on Wed Apr 26, 2006 at 04:18:10 PM EST
Parent

One of the real problems I've had until recently is, when I told about what I experienced in the Assemblies of God church I walked away from and on my real fears of theocracy in the US as a result, almost anyone who was not a walkaway themselves tended to come back with:

"Oh, people won't let it get THAT bad" or even "You're exaggerating" (regarding my own experiences).  This was even to some extent in communities dedicated to fighting spiritual abuse, fighting aspects of dominionism (like the push for censorship of media), etc.

For some time afterwards--even after hearing this from progressives--I did shut up, I did start to wonder if I was exaggerating things.

The more I saw, the more I realised I wasn't exaggerating and that some of my very worst nightmares were starting to take fruition before my eyes.

Fortunately, by that time more walkaways had started sharing their stories and I could point to their stories and show I wasn't alone and that I wasn't on complete and utter crack.  And people who were in the progressive community started expressing their own concerns.

Unfortunately, people still want to stick their heads in the sand over it.

I think the point that really encouraged me to start speaking out again on this was when I discussed with friends of mine (who I pretty much consider my "real" family anymore, my blood-family being pretty much lost to the church I walked away from) on what I experienced growing up, how I know they had been pushing dominionism for at least three decades that I knew of if not longer...and pretty much all of them said "write your story down, and get it published far and wide so people know that this is really happening and this is a real threat".

Shortly after that, I ended up joining Dark Christianity (and a few months after that, Talk2Action and the Ex-Pentecostals walkaway forums) and the rest is history, so to speak.

It still hurts like hell when people tell you that you're essentially making things up when you lived the hell of dominionism, though. :(

by dogemperor on Wed Apr 26, 2006 at 05:41:33 PM EST
Parent

in the culture, and it takes many forms.  That's why it is important that Dark Christianity, Talk to Action and others exist.  

The conversation about these things is all too often pooh poohed even shouted down. Certainly dismissed and ignored.  

Through all that we do here, warts and all, we are calling out the radical defense of ignorance, denial and political defeat.

We are educating ourselves far more than we are educating others. And that is far more important. As we do, and as we choose to become progressively more effective, we will infact become the persons and the community that we set out to be.

by Frederick Clarkson on Wed Apr 26, 2006 at 06:04:51 PM EST
Parent


I am reasonably well read in US theocratic movements, and would be the last to tell a walkaway that they didn't experience what they did, but I don't think we are likely to reach a tipping point. If nothing else, I have some faith that American men in aggregate are sufficiently addicted to porn and TandA-laced ads, and are sufficiently dependent on a second household income, that they will stop voting for the theocrats and loudly stir things up should actual prohibitions affecting their lives occur. And face it, American religion has been seen as sissified since the mid-1800s. Hence periodic promotions of "muscular Christianity". All the Kurt Warners (football players) in the world can't make all the men want to appear pious around the generality of "the guys", since a part of the American masculine pantheon includes the cowboy and the soldier and the thug and the hard-drinking rebel.

I am more concerned by corporatist co-option of religion as a means of keeping the public distracted from other issues. In other words, the Bush-style regime is more likely to turn into a working dictatorship than an explicitly theocratic one.

by NancyP on Thu Apr 27, 2006 at 12:30:38 AM EST
Parent






It seems that many of President Bush's actions lead in the direction of fascism but it also seems that he is following a family tradition.  I've just received this very interesting site about an attempted takeover in the 1930's by a group which included Bush's grandfather, to depose Rosevelt and lead the USA down a fascist road.

http://www.bbc.co.uk:80/radio4/history/document/document_20070723 .shtml

by Concerned on Mon Dec 10, 2007 at 01:51:10 PM EST



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