Rightward,
Christian crazies

American documentary Silhouette City
delves into the weird, violent origins of
religious nationalism and follows its
tentacles to the pinnacles of power

OH LORDY: Michael Wilson and Natalie Zimmerman

by PATRICK LEJTENYI

The world of the American religious right is one bizarre place. It’s arrogant and bellicose, full of faulty internal logic, heavily armed and very white. It’s a fortress of righteousness, generally incomprehensible and almost impenetrable to the more secular minded. It’s baffling, and at times very scary.

It’s this world that two American filmmakers, Michael Wilson and Natalie Zimmerman, explore in their documentary Silhouette City, screening next Monday at Concordia courtesy of Cinema Politica. The film opens with an introduction to the Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA), a nutty Christian militia in Arkansas that, for four tense days in 1985, took part in an armed standoff with the police at their compound from which the movie gets its name. It then smartly moves into the weird—and dangerously potent—influence the religious right wields in the high reaches of the American government and military. The result is a documentary that is both chilling and mind-boggling, and raises some serious questions: From fervent soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan to bigoted American missionaries in Uganda to the previous occupant of the White House, how can people so goofy be so powerful?

Goofy gets scary

“This is a question we continuously asked ourselves,” writes Zimmerman in an e-mail. “It was clear that so many of these [preachers] were just performing a role. I think what attracts many people to these larger-than-life characters is their claim of possessing divine wisdom and absolute truth. Another reason is fear. Fear of what will become of them if they don’t accept this doctrine. The Bible is explicit in its description of violence and torment bestowed on unbelievers.”

The fire-and-brimstone-and-give-me-your-money-sinner brand of religiosity is distinctly American, even if Pentecostalism is probably the fastest-growing religion in the world—Wilson says it grew 500 per cent between 2000 and 2005. Twenty-thousand-plus capacity megachurches have been springing up across the U.S. for years, hosting sermons that are more crash-bang-wow than love-thy-neighbour. Bad religious rock blares. Fireworks explode. A solitary preacher screams and exhorts and sweats onstage. Crowds swoon in irony-free ecstasy. It’s shock and awe for the soul.

“It’s no secret that they draw on the same repressed libidinal energy that they condemn,” e-mails Wilson. “America probably has more religious yearning than most Western countries—maybe that’s because Europe dumped all of their zealots here or maybe the American dream draws upon Christian utopian traditions.”

“The leaders in this movement are very familiar types in the American cultural landscape,” adds Zimmerman. “Contemporary Hollywood cinema serves up a steady diet of burly testosterone-driven men ready to battle evil. The end is always the same: Goodness prevails after a long and bloody struggle. The narrative is comforting for the American audience. The Bible, with an ultimate battle in the final chapter, plays out these fantasies in the same way—evil will be crushed by the righteous.”

SOLDIERS OF GOD: Ron Luce of Teen Mania Ministries (top)
and CSA training (below)

Alive and thumping

But what is unremittingly creepy about the whole movement is its reach—something the filmmakers say they only discovered when they began their research. “Originally, we were only going to tell the story of the CSA, but soon realized, when its ideology was laid bare, it wasn’t noticeably different from those that would identify as fundamentalist Christians in the United States,” writes Zimmerman. “The same rhetoric driven by intolerance, ignorance and fear of ‘other’ became more pervasive in mainstream media with the ascendancy of the Republican Party.”

By looking at the roots of Christian nationalism, writes Wilson, “We anticipated a lot of what’s happening now in the Tea Party movement. The fact that the Christian Right is openly courting this movement signals a broader embrace of the Radical Right by the mainstream. In other words, the Christian Right is returning to its roots, but this time they have the money, power and 30 years of organizational experience.”

And despite the 2008 elections, which saw the professional demise of some of the more cartoonish elected representatives of the far right, recent events are hardly soothing. Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts and the recent Supreme Court decision to allow corporate funding of election campaigns, are ominous signs that the right may only be out of power a short while.

Zimmerman believes the decision “sadly and absolutely” benefits the Christian right. “That is why Newt Gingrich, who has re-branded himself as a Christian nationalist, was so enthusiastic about this ruling. [The Christian right] are fully aware of the power this ruling will give them and will use it to their full advantage.”

SILHOUETTE CITY SCREENS MONDAY,
FEB. 1 AT CONCORDIA’S HALL THEATRE
(1455 DE MAISONNEUVE W.
ROOM H-110), 7:30 P.M.