God-botherers and Other True-believers: Gandhi, Hitler, and the Religious Right PDF
Preview God-botherers and Other True-believers: Gandhi, Hitler, and the Religious Right
God-Botherers and Other True-Believers ALSO BY F.G. BAILEY Caste and the Economic Frontier, 1957 Tribe, Caste and Nation, 1960 Politics and Social Change, 1963 Stratagems and Spoils, 1969, New Edition, 2001 Gifts and Poison (ed.), 1971 Debate and Compromise (ed.), 1973 Morality and Expediency, 1977 The Tactical Uses of Passion, 1983 Humbuggery and Manipulation, 1988 The Prevalence of Deceit, 1991 The Kingdom of Individuals, 1993 The Witch-Hunt, 1994 The Civility of Indifference, 1996 The Need for Enemies, 1998 Treasons, Stratagems, and Spoils, 2001 The Saving Lie, 2003 G -B OD OTHERERS AND O T -B THER RUE ELIEVERS Gandhi, Hitler, and the Religious Right b F.G. Bailey Berghahn Books New York (cid:129) Oxford Published in 2008 by Berghahn Books www.berghahnbooks.com ©2008 F.G. Bailey All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bailey, F. G. (Frederick George). God-botherers and other true believers : Gandhi, Hitler, and the religious right / F. G. Bailey. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 978-1-84545-512-5 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Religion and politics. 2. Religious fundamentalism. 3. Religious right—United States. 4. Christian conservatism—United States. 5. Gandhi, Mahatma, 1869–1948. 6. Hitler, Adolf, 1889–1945. 7. National socialism. I. Title. BL65.P7B35 2008 201'.72—dc22 2008007616 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Printed in the United States on acid-free paper ISBN: 978-1-84545-512-5 hardback For Paula Levin, Amica Nostra Verissima . . . remembering above all to walk gently in a world where the lights are dim and the very stars wander. —Gilbert Murray, Five Stages of Greek Religion The spectacle of what is called religion, or at any rate organized religion, in India and elsewhere has fi lled me with horror, and I have frequently condemned it and wished to make a clean sweep of it. Almost always it seems to stand, when it comes to practice, for blind belief and reaction, dogma and bigotry, superstition and ex- ploitation, and the preservation of vested interests. And yet I knew well that there was something else in it, something which supplied a deep inner craving of human beings. How else could it have been the tremendous power it has been and brought peace and comfort to innumerable tortured souls? —Jawaharlal Nehru, An Autobiography And malt does more than Milton can To justify God’s ways to man. Ale, man, ale’s the stuff to drink For fellows whom it hurts to think: Look into the pewter pot To see the world as the world’s not. —A.E. Housman, A Shropshire Lad C ONTENTS b Acknowledgments vii Introduction 1 PART I | FAITH AND POLITICS 13 1 Faith, Reason, and Consequences 15 Three Kinds of Faith 15 Only Believe! 20 Humanism 23 Oneness 26 A Point of View 28 2 Religion and Persuasion In Politics 39 Religion and Political Involvement 39 The Problem of Order 40 What Should Go On and What Does Go On 43 Defi ning Situations 46 Information Costs: Political Clairvoyance 51 Creating Trust 56 Persuading 60 Reality Testing 65 PART II | ANTAGONISTIC RELIGIONS 69 3 Desert, Marketplace, and Forum 71 The Religious Right (and Left) 71
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