Mark Taliano, the author of the blog, Canada's Hidden Fundamentalism, is a fear-monger telling us that we're about to be overrun by crazy Christian fundamentalists who for 30 years have taken us toward a dystopian cliff, an undesirable frightening society, that can be explained by the great evil of today, religion! Oh my God, get out the wooden crosses to ward off the evil.
Taliano reaches out to our baser emotions by citing an author for whom he provides no link, for whom I can find no reference -- James Hall and then relies on Chris Hedges, author of "American Fascists, The Christian Right And The War On America," about whom the New York Times Book review wrote: "But he writes on this subject as a neophyte and pads out his dispatches with ungrounded theorizing, unconvincing speculation and examples that fall far short of bearing out his thesis." This despite the fact Chris Hedges was a long time foreign correspondent for the New York Times.
Taliano via Hedges warns us that Canada is falling into the clutches of the Christian right: the CPC (Conservative Party of Canada) political base, which includes the Reform Party and, before that, the Social Credit Party, which he says has a strong Fundamentalist base, similar to the religious base of the Republican Party under former U.S president Bush. And he also wants us to be aware of the fact that the base is made of Christian Zionists. Oh, no, not the Christian Zionists.
You know, those people who promote justice and are committed to seeking "Godly peace and pro-active solutions for Israel and its neighbours, while not being willing to overlook injustice for the sake of any cause": the right of Israel, to live safely in the land that God promised, that Jerusalem remain the undivided capital under sovereignty. The ones who declare:
The biggest obstacles to any peaceful resolution remains the refusal of opposing parties to even recognize Israel's right to exist. The existential threat that Israel faces from terrorist entities such as Hamas and Hezbollah, and from rogue states such as Iran should not be underestimated or ignored. Neither too should one minimize the growing campaign to see Israel labeled an Apartheid state so as to validate its dismantling.
It's a sure sign of fascism when a democratic country, Canada, defers from practicing moral and cultural relativism and chooses to stand with the only democratic country in the Middle East. How dare the religious right take us down that fascist path.
Taliano says the Christian Right is intolerant of homosexuality. That might be true. But in Canada the Supreme Court won't allow speech that might hurt someone who is gay.
And abortion? Well, the Christian right would want to end all abortion in Canada. Except, there will be no re-opening the abortion discussion by this Conservative government if Mr. Harper has his way. He refused his own backbenchers the right to ask for a discussion.
Taliano accuses the Christian Right of intolerance toward Muslims. That there are people who are not tolerant of Muslims after all the terrorism -- by word and deed, is not confined to Christians, right, left or centre.
Science-real science-in Canada he says is being undermined by this Conservative government. "Why worry about the earth and the environment if God will take care of everything?" he asks, as if all Christians whom he describes as right wing believe they have no obligation to care for the earth. And yet the Bible, Genesis 2:15 says:" God took the man and settled him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and take care of it."
In his link he refers to environmental projects the government is questioning. Not all Canadians are against the Tar Sands and pipelines. Many prefer them to being indebted to the Middle East, to countries like Saudi Arabia who is the primary exporter world-wide of Wahhabism and Sharia law.
Then, of course, the last illogical leap: "the hierarchical (male) governance of the Church can be seen as a model for top down, anti-democratic political governance, and ultimately, for totalitarianism, which, Hedges argues, could manifest itself as Christo-fascism." It could. And pigs could fly.
This article is an example of poor scholarship for the sole purpose of inciting hate and fear of Christians: you know, the ones who control Prime Minister Harper.