over at CRUX<\/a>. His juicy observation about the article is that \u201cIt does not rise to the level of mediocrity\u201d<\/p>\nHaving read the article I actually agreed with some of the observations about Evangelical Fundamentalism.<\/p>\n
The problem is that the authors are commenting on something they don\u2019t know about from personal experience. It\u2019s all theory from a few books they\u2019ve read and perhaps a few conversations with fellow intellectuals in some coffee shop in Europe.<\/p>\n
The American Evangelical scene is far more complex and crazy than these guys understand. Their snide comment, for instance about Evangelical fundamentalists being mostly \u201cwhite men from the deep South\u201d is a racist bigoted comment on the level of Obama\u2019s famous and fatuous wisecrack\u00a0about country folk who \u201ccling to their religion and guns\u201d or Mrs Clinton\u2019s \u201cbasket of deplorables\u201d.<\/p>\n
When will these people learn that not all conservatives are Wal-Mart shoppers with a gun rack in their pick up?<\/p>\n
But the main problem is that in the second half Spadaro and Figuerao attempt to throw\u00a0Catholic conservatives into the same pick up truck\u00a0as the \u201cstupid Evangelicals\u201d. They come up with a name \u201cCatholic Integralists\u201d. This shadowy group want to create a \u201ctheocracy\u201d and go to war with the Muslims etc. etc. As others have pointed out, such American Catholics only exist in the imagination of Spadaro and Figueroa. They come up with Michael Voris and his Church Militant group. Sure, but Michael and his devotees are a tiny minority in the Catholic Church of the USA. Do we really need the editor of a major Vatican paper to put Voris in his place? I think not.<\/p>\n
Spadaro\u2019s attack on American \u201cCatholic Integralists\u201d is an attack on a straw man. Its a scarecrow and like all scarecrows the article doesn\u2019t have a brain.<\/p>\n
But there is a reason for Spadaro to create this\u00a0straw man. He wants to create a scarecrow that is scary. By creating this imaginary creature \u201cthe American Catholic Integralist\u201d he has given a label to all the Catholic conservatives he wishes to demonize.<\/p>\n
This follows the usual routine of conflict: 1. Generalize about your enemy. 2. Imagine they are organized 3.Create a name for this shadowy group\u00a0\u00a04. Demonize them\u00a05. Marginalize them\u00a06. Exclude them\u00a07.Get rid of them. 8. Feel good about it.<\/p>\n
In other words, use a scarecrow to create a scapegoat.<\/p>\n
The article is a classic example of the progressive\u00a0passive-aggressive tactics. The talk is all about sweetness and light and tolerance and being nice, but while they smile they stab and while they kiss they twist the knife.<\/p>\n
The fact that Spadaro and Figueroa blather on about \u201cPope Francis is building a world without fences and borders\u2013which calls for dialogue and not for war and conflict\u201dmakes this blatant attempt at stereotyping and scapegoating\u00a0all the more ironic.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When will these people learn that not all conservatives are Wal-Mart shoppers with a gun rack in their pick up?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":22749,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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