"A Christian Looks
At the Religious Right"
The Commies R Comin
Of unique and peculiar interest to me is the way in which Religious Right agencies have been able to have lucrative success in their fund raising. Serving in churches for over 25 years, I have noted the raising of money is often difficult and never easy. I have suspected that many of these groups have blended their ministries with secular movements. The most obvious is the pledge to fight world Communism. Many groups have discovered that waving the American flag and promising to fight Communism has proven successful in financial campaigns. This could help explain the effect of the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe on the movement. The result has been the refocusing of the fear of Communism on groups like the United Nations and Secular Humanism. Having a visible world enemy to fight is helpful in raising funds from frenzied followers.
The self proclaimed father of the Religious Right, Billy Hargis, is a case in point. Billy's crusades, much like a younger Billy Graham, promised to win converts and fight Communism. Hargis even believes the supposed fall of Communism in the Soviet Union is a mere guise to trick the American people into letting down their guard. He publishes lenthy articles in his magazine declaring to uncover secret infiltration plots from the old Soviet Union into U.S. government agencies.(1) Hargis' insistence on a Communist conspiracy helps to channel influence and money into his organization that promotes itself as fighting world Communism.
Hargis believes that illegal immigration from Mexico is a clandestine plot to perform a Communist takeover in America. He believes that Mexico is actually, perhaps secretly, Communist and has planned this activity at the government level.(2) Billy says the federally required changes in public education "fits perfectly nearly all the requirements of the Communist Manifesto."(3) He believes that Cuba must be eradicated from Communists or America will be lost.(4) Hargis teaches that cult leader and politician Jim Jones was actually a Communist.(5)
The fact that Billy Hargis proclaims that his late friend Joseph McCarthy has now been exonerated by history makes the case even clearer. McCarthy has been called the patron saint of the John Birch Society, which is active in Religious Right circles.
Red scare leader Joseph McCarthy was linked with many Religious Right leaders including, Hargis, H.L. Hunt, Carl McIntire and others. McCarthy and Hargis often targeted the World Council of Churches as having a Communist agenda. Jesse Helms is no stranger to sparking fires of fanaticism. Helms claimed the Supreme court ruling on school prayer was masterminded by Communist attorneys.(6) Pat Robertson has attempted to "remind" the American public that the idea of separation of church and state is not an American idea but a Soviet concept. Thus Communism and separation of church and state organizations are linked together. Virtually all Religious Right leaders deny Jefferson's interpretation of the Constitution to mean a wall of separation.
Another influencial organization in the Religious Right is the WACL or World Anti-Communist Communist league. The League historically has been staffed by extremist elements around the world.
It is not unusual to find Nazi factions amidst the make up.(7) Carl McIntire fanned the flames of anti-Communism mixing fiery evangelical preaching with revelations of Communist conspiracies.(8) Carl was also famous for linking up with Billy Hargis to tell the country that integration was a Communist plot. Hargis joined forces with David Noebel, a John Birch Society activist to set up summer youth camps helping to fight Communism.
Among Hargis' claims was that rock music has been used by the Communists to infiltrate U.S. culture. Anti-semitic elements, who have not come out of the closet but are there in the Religious Right, seek to link World Communism with secret Jewish plots. Many right wing groups blame Jews for the presence of world Communism. Pat Robertson's book on the New World Order links such world Communist liaisons with secret societies which historically have implied Jewish connections.
Robert Welch, founder of the John Birch Society, once said that in World War III. . . ."A struggle from which either Communism or Christian-style civilization must emerge with one completely triumphant and the other completely destroyed."(10) Hargis' and Welch's historical suspicions about Communism leaves little room for passive co-existence. The John Birch Society believed that the PTA and foreign aid were Communist fronts.(11) Hargis' belief that we should launch an attack against Cuba is an interesting slant to foreign policy. One wonders how strong a following these people have.
All of these factions prove at least one point. No one has ever gone broke in America fighting Communism.
1. Billy Hargis Ed. CHRISTIAN CRUSADE, March 1996, pg. 8.
2. Billy Hargis, COMMUNIST AMERICA MUST IT BE?, New Leaf Press, Green Forrest, Arkansas, 1986, Pg. 115.
3. Ibid. pg. 32.
4. ibid. pg. 88.
5. Ibid. pg. 107-
6. Barry Lynn, ":Perspective", CHURCH AND STATE, March, 1994, pg. 23.
7. Sara Diamond, SPIRITUAL WARFARE, Southend Press, Boston, Ma., 1989,, pg. 59.
8. Abraham Foxman, THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT, ADL, N. Y. , N.Y., 1994. pg. 59.
9. Ibid. pg. 82.
10. American Opinion Book services pamphlet, winter, 1996.
11. Daniel Bell, Ed. THE RADICAL RIGHT, Doubleday, N.Y., N.Y., 1963, pg. 205