Reply #24: They're only connected in the most abstract sense [View All]

[mobuto]

in that they both represent the forces of reaction in the more-or-less universal struggle between progressive secular modernity and fundamentalist conservatism.

But that doesn't mean that the Christian Right -- for all its faults -- is anywhere near as bad or as dangerous as Wahabbi and fanatical Shi'ite Islamism. The latter have as their only goal the destruction of modernity. Now the former oppose many aspects of modernity, but they aren't organized to destroy it. They lack the clarity of vision that one needs to, say, kill millions of innocent people. I don't think you can say that about Osama bin Laden or of some of the clerics in Iran.

The rise of the radical Christian Right in this country is a problem of the most profound seriousness. I've been doing battle with them, on a daily basis, for several months now. But you can't honestly believe that as a threat to the safety and security of the American people, it measures even remotely up to the forces of international terror.