Upon reading Republican Gomorrah by Max Blumenthal one cannot help but get the sense that they are reading an attempt to catalogue all the examples of religious hypocrisy to ever occur within the ranks of the Republican Party. It reads like a grocery store tabloid laundry list of Republican politicians and/or conservative preachers who have committed adultery or have participated in homosexual affairs.
To be sure, there are many examples of blatant and sordid sexual encounters that have occurred within the ranks of the Republican Party leadership and the conservative evangelical community over the last several years. Without doubt, some of the criticism offered by Blumenthal is justified.
Having said that, I will also point out that it is not just the Republicans who are committing such sins, but, the Democrats as well. One has to only think for a very short moment or two until many examples of Democrat Party leaders who also have committed hypocrisy in the sexual arena also pop up on the list. Let’s see, one such example I can think of right away would be former U.S. Senator John Edwards of North Carolina. I mean…you could write a book on just that situation alone. Anyway, you get my point. Hypocrisy, religious hypocrisy, marital infidelity are not just specific to Republicans or conservative evangelical leaders. For every Republican politician you can point to who was/is involved in a sex scandal, you can just as easily name a Democrat. But, to read Blumenthal’s book, one is left with the impression that only Republicans and Christians commit such sins.
OK, let’s take a look at the book. By the title “Republican Gomorrah” it is clear that Blumenthal is making a strong and not so subtle statement about what he perceives as religious hypocrisy within, not only the Republican ranks, but also within the ranks of Christians in general. Let’s be sure on one thing, this book is not friendly to Christianity. Perhaps, Blumenthal’s sequel will be “Democrat Sodom”?
Next, the writing style of Blumenthal leaves a lot to be desired. When reading the book, you sometimes get the feeling that you just happened to have been walking by a newsroom, back in the 1980’s, and someone forgot to turn off the UPI news ticker and you happened to stop by to read the latest news reports streaming in from the various media outlets. And, these news stories have no rhyme or reason or correlation but, they are none-the-less news stories. “Republican Gomorrah” has way too much detail and discusses way too many people, way too many incidents without really offering much in-depth analysis. “Republican Gomorrah” is like an old UPI news ticker that someone forgot to turn off.
So, after having inundated the reader with a plethora of news stories and names, Blumenthal attempts to tie them all together into a vast Republican, Right Wing, Religious Conspiracy. He fails. It’s just way too much stuff, way too many names, way too much history, way to much religious history to try and “tie off” in the simplistic way that Blumenthal attempts to do. Blumenthal makes no attempt to differentiate or separate-out those evangelical Christian, Republican politicians having been involved in sex-scandals from the overall pool of the evangelical Christian population. Also, Blumenthal eqautes being an evangelical Christian as synonymous to being a Right Wing Christian Radical wanting to “take over the world”. He makes no attempt to defferentiate within the overall evangelical population. This is “intellectual dishonesty” as the liberals like to say.
Next, we see Blumenthal rely heavily on the influence of Erich Fromm. It seems even, at some places in the book, that Blumenthal appears to be offering his own psychoanalysis of certain people and events.
Let’s get started by looking at the Introduction. It is clear that Blumenthal seeks to portray conservative, evangelical Christians as extreme. And, he makes absolutely no attempt to differentiate between the various groups or camps of Christians. This is a grievous mistake by any analysis, no matter who you are. There are many camps within Christianity. There are many denominations within Christianity. There are many and very differing views held by Christians on a variety of subjects. So, to simply attempt put all Christians “in a box” is a foolish way to approach one’s analysis.
Here in the Introduction is where Blumenthal begins his psychoanalysis by quoting President Eisenhower on page 5, paragraph 3, as he states “…the rise of extreme movements could be explained only by the psychological yearnings and social needs of their supporters.” Then, on page 9, paragraph 4, Blumenthal makes a feeble attempt to be a theologian as he states “The Christian right as a whole is called the pro-Family movement, and movement allies are known as friends of the Family. In an actual family, blood ties are required, however, joining the Christian right requires little more than becoming born-again, a process of confession, conversion, and submission to a strict father figure.”
By the above analysis given by Blumenthal, one can see that you will not be getting a very sound or critical theological review by reading his book. Blumenthal’s casual reference to major doctrines of the Christian faith are simply jaw-dropping. One cannot take Blumenthal seriously after this point when it comes to his analysis of anything Christian. It appears that Blumenthal really doesn’t understand what it means to be a Christian. Therefore, if he doesn’t understand what it means to be a Christian, how then can he possibly give an accurate analysis about anything Christian?
To prove my point further, just go over to page 10, paragraph 1 and see Blumenthal compare the crucifixion and sufferings of the Savior, as depicted in “The Passion of The Christ”, to, in Blumenthal’s words, “two hours of unrelieved pornographic masochism.” This is an extremely inflammatory statement by Blumenthal. I believe it represents a lot of personal anger and hatred coming from Blumenthal towards Christians and Christianity. By making such a statement, Blumenthal shows a reckless disregard for all Christians and Christianity in total. Such vulgarity is just unbelievable. In my thinking, this proves that Blumenthal does not understand Christianity. Blumenthal making such a statement appears to be a feeble attempt to sound esoteric, as he attempts to portray Christians as mentally unstable and weak minded. I am surprised that we don’t see any quotes from Karl Marx.
Next, let’s look at page 32, paragraph 1, as Blumenthal takes aim at Howard F Ahmanson. I just can’t help but point out that in this paragraph as Blumenthal states that Ahmanson lives in Newport Beach, he actually feels that he needs to tell the reader where Newport Beach is located. I mean, come on already! Perhaps, Blumenthal should have told us where California is located as well? Anyway, back to Ahmanson.
Notice on page 33, paragraph 4, as Blumenthal portrays Ahmanson as a misguided psychopath who happened upon his wealth by default and didn’t know what to do with it until, in his weak-minded state, he linked up with the Christians. This is exactly the picture Blumenthal wants the reader to see, not only of Ahmanson, but of all conservative, evangelical Christians.
Indeed, Blumenthal has been reading Fromm so much, too much, that he seems to think that he now is a “psychologist for the world.”
Next, on page 37, paragraph 2, look at how Blumenthal attempts to downplay the prominence of the character of “Frodo” in the book/movie titled “Lord of The Rings”. We see Blumenthal state that Frodo was “…the Hobbit protagonist of Tolkien’s novels who must destroy a magical ring in order to save the world”. Let’s see, the last I heard, the three part movie series titled “Lord of The Rings” had so far grossed over $4,000,000,000, and this ranks number 2 of all time. I think it is somewhat of an understatement and somewhat casual to refer to something so significant to the people of the world, as Blumenthal does.
By this, it seems to me that more than pointing out the failings of Republicans, the real goal of Blumenthal is to strike against anything Christian. Not convinced, well let’s look at page 45, paragraph 5, as Blumenthal makes an attempt at giving Ahmanson a psychiatric diagnosis and implies that conservative, evangelical Christians are neurotic. Perhaps, Blumenthal could suggest a medication regime for Ahmanson as well?
Next, we see on pages 224 and 225 as Blumenthal takes on the movie “Braveheart” and he attacks Mel Gibson and attempts to portray the quest of Christian men to be masculine as some sort of latent attempt to cover up homosexual tendencies that “all Christian men have”. In no uncertain terms, Blumenthal concludes that conservative, evangelical Christians choose to be what they are, because they are trying to escape or hide from some form of inner sexual perversion.
Next, we see on page 298 where Blumenthal mocks the Biblical manifestation of Speaking in Tongues, and expresses disdain for an African Pastor, and unsuccessfully attempts to describe what certain Christians were praying about. Then, on page 299 Blumenthal takes a shot a Governor Sarah Palin’s religious beliefs as he suggests that she apparently believes in witchcraft. Here, it might be pointed out that God has plenty to say about witches and witchcraft in the Bible.
So, in short, Blumenthal has failed in his attempt to psychoanalyze all Christians of the world. Blumenthal has failed at his attempt to be a theologian. Blumenthal has failed in his attempt to give a broad and comprehensive political analysis as he portrays Republicans and even more so, Christians as the source of all the ills of the United States of America. Blumenthal “splashes” all of these stories into one book and then plays the psychologist for us all and tells us how we should interpret the facts. Blumenthal attempts to compress decades of religious and political history into a few esoteric sound bites. It just doesn’t work. The world is more complex than that.
Finally, Blumenthal attempts to portray Jesus as an anthropomorphic manifestation of misguided, narrow-minded, neurotic, ego-dystonic homosexual Christians. Blumenthal attempts to get the reader to believe that American Republicans are the only people in the world who are serious about their Christianity. And, that because of this they are evil and dangerous. In reality, Blumenthal’s book doesn’t seem to be about Republicans so much as it really appears to be a book written to ridicule and make a mockery of Christianity.