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Donald Trump, American extremism and the rise of radical Christlamicism. How the Christian conservative movement has turned to terrorism and how ti has been protected by extremist Christian politicians, leaders, activists and the conservative news media.
By Ray Hanania
covering Chicago
City Hall
(1976-1992)
The way people are screaming about Donald Trump, you would think he is the anti-Christ. If we could just remove him from the national obsession, things would be better and return to normal.
But what has been “normal” in America in the past 14 years is not really America.
The leading contender in the Republican race for president, Trump has become the face of a growing threat if American intolerance. And it isn’t just Republicans.
Trump reflects a new American conscience. All he did was connect the dots in the American public’s mindset when he declared Muslims should be banned from entering the United States.
The absurd “ban” is merely political rhetoric reflecting the growing “anti-Sharia Law” movement that has its roots deep in rightwing Christian activism, and the increasing racism against Muslims and Arabs that has embedded itself into mainstream American life.
America took a hard turn to the far right as a direct result of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Osama Bin Laden must be laughing in his watery grave over the consequences of his terrorist act.
Sept. 11 empowered the radical right which is founded on Christian religious extremism, xenophobia and growing political demagoguery. Today’s contemporary vernacular might define it as “radical Christlamicism.” It’s an extremist movement that not only includes extremist Republicans, but also conservative Democrats and mainstream Americans whose fear of terrorism has trumped their reason.
It doesn’t just target Muslims, but also those who support practices considered to be “anti-Christian,” such as Planned Parenthood and abortion.
Former President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney used Bin Laden’s terrorism to redefine American values, and to advance their personal agendas.
Instead of undermining the threat of Islamic extremism, the 2003 invasion of Iraq fueled its growth in Iraq and now in Syria and throughout the world. But the war also served as the foundation for a growth in Radical Christlamicism, too. It’s disciples included J. Paul Bremer, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle (the Prince of Darkness), Condoleezza Rice, Donald Rumsfeld and George Tenet, the incompetent CIA director who did what he was told, not what intelligence revealed about terrorism.
They are driven by one agenda, to redefine American Democracy using stereotypes, fear of terrorism. Their rightwing Christian fundamentalism is the cornerstone of this strategy which is also based on strengthening of Israel’s place in the Islamic and Arab World. They are not going to defend Israel by pursuing peace. They will do it through radical Christlamic empowerment.
In the past 14 years, radical Christlamic extremism has redefined the Republican Party and empowered the Christian right. It has undermined moderate Republicans, like the defeated Senator John McCain. And it has forced other moderate Republicans out of the mainstream.
The idea of banning Muslims from entering America is merely an outgrowth of prior policy threats from the radical Christlamic extremists who have previously vowed to put severe restrictions on Muslims and Arabs, and increase police monitoring of Mosques and Muslim centers.
One source is the conservative think tank, the Center for Security Policy headed by radical Christlamic leader Frank Gaffney.
Gaffney champions “anti-Sharia law” policies. And while many Republicans are feigning anger at Trump, they all stood at Gaffney’s altar as presidential candidates hoping to win his support.
Every major Republican presidential candidate including Trump attended the think tank’s recent conference. That includes Dr. Ben Carson, who lit the fuse of Trump’s Muslim ban with his own assertion that America should not have a Muslim president.
There’s little fundamental difference in terms of radicalism and extremism when it comes to the two positions.
Cheering Gaffney’s “anti-Sharia law” movement have been many who have become critics of Trump only because Trump is now the leading Republican presidential contender. The criticism is not about principle but rather politics. It’s hard wired into the Tea Party.
All of them stumped at the think tank’s conference including Sen. Ted Cruz, former Sen. Rick Santorum, and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal. Former Gov. Mike Huckabee is an “anti-Sharia law” disciple, too, as is former Republican contender Michele Bachmann.
It was Bachmann who claimed Hillary Clinton’s top adviser Huma Abedin was the spearhead of a secret radical movement to infiltrate American politics and impose Sharia Law on Americans.
The icons fueling radical Christlamic extremism also include Democrats, and the news media. It’s not just FOX News railing against Muslims and Sharia Law with much more finesse than Donald Trump. And it’s the Evangelical Christian movement, and many Bible Belt churches and organizations. The entertainment industry has fueled this fire with songs and lyrics portraying patriotism above fundamental human rights.
Trump’s foes want him to resign as a presidential candidate not to protect American human rights, or Muslims. They’re doing it purely for selfish politics.
And they have been silent on the real threat in America, radical Christlamic extremism which contradicts the fundamental precepts of the laws of American Democracy.
SIDEBAR
Radical Christlamic killings over the past two decades:
Ironically, the radical right defines radical Islamic terrorism” as violence by Muslims against Christians. Killings of Muslims, or the killing of individuals involved in supporting “anti-Christian beliefs,” are not treated as acts of terrorism.
In August 2012 in Mesa ,Arizona, Christian fanatic Frank Silva Roque murdered Muslim look-a-like, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh.
Last February, Craig Stephen Hicks murdered three Muslim students at Chapel Hill, North Carolina as a result of radical Christlamic extremism.
Between those two acts, hundreds of Muslims in America have bee attacked, injured and killed by suspects angry over Muslim terrorism and fears of “Sharia Law.”
Not all the targets of radical Christlamic terrorism are not Muslim, but rather targets involved in practices and services that are viewed as being “anti-Christian,” such as abortion. Planned Parenthood has been a consistent target of this growing radical rage.
Kansas Dr. George Tiller, who survived a 2003 attack by rightwing extremists because of his support for abortion, was killed by anti-abortion terrorist Scott Roeder in 2009.
Christian terrorists include Paul Jennings Hill (Centennial Olympic Park bombing 1996) Eric Rudolph (Atlanta, 1996), and James Charles Kopp (New York 1998).
Radical Christlamic terrorist Robert Lewis Dear murdered three at a Planned Parenthood office in Colorado days before the two Muslims killed 14 in San Bernardino.
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Hanania also writes about Middle East issues for the Arab News, and The Arab Daily News criticizing government policies in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hanania was named "Best Ethnic American Columnist" by the New America Media in November 2007, and is the 2009 recipient of the SPJ National Sigma Delta Chi Award for column writing.
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