Neo-fascism and religion refers to debates about the relationships between neo-fascism and various religions.

Some scholars, using the term neo-fascism in its narrow sense, consider certain contemporary religious movements and groups to represent forms of clerical or theocratic neofascism, including Christian Identity in the United States; some militant forms of politicized Islamic fundamentalism; some militant forms of Jewish nationalism; Hindu nationalism in India (Sangh Parivar); and some neopagan alternative religions advocating white supremacism.

Background

Terminology

Main article: Fascism

The term fascism was first used in Italy during the 1920s, and like Nazism, its meaning came to refer to a type of union of right wing concepts of authoritarian political controls with welfare state economic policies. The term neo-fascism is used to describe fascist movements active after World War II.

Modern colloquial usage of the word sometimes extends the definition of the terms fascism and neo-fascism and Neo-Nazism to refer to any totalitarian worldview, regardless of its political ideology. Although the assertion that religious fundamentalists and militants are fascists can often be understood as hyperbole, (see Fascist (epithet), some scholars have used the term when discussing certain religious movements.

Controversies over linking fascism and religion

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, authoritarian ideals saw a resurgence in the context of political upheavals across Eurasia, typically anti-aristocratic socio-political revolutions. The ethnic-rooted conflicts of World War I and World War II arose from the political conditions brought about by internal societal battles, typically between left-wing revolutionaries and right-wing traditionalists.

In addition to the authoritarian political model, most scholars classify fascism as an extreme right ideology, along with ethnic-populist movements that call for increased traditionalism. In the context of civil conflicts, the demand for increased traditionalism typically promotes ethnocentrism, and in extreme cases this ethnic unity resulted in the persecution of those not within the chosen ethnic group. Religion has often been an aspect of ethnicity, whose moral foundation and message may grow corrupted by the societal acceptance of convergence between political and religious populism.

Between the two world wars, there were three forms of fascism: Italian economic corporatism; German racial nationalist Nazism; and clerical fascist movements such as the Romanian Iron Guard and the Croatian Ustashi. Since WWII, neofascists have reinterpreted fascist ideology and strategy in various ways to fit new conditions."

In the context of social conflict in which religious figures and institutions come under partisan influence, religion often becomes a political tool by which principled authority is replaced by authoritarian violence. Early fascism was a mixture of syndicalist notions with Hegelian or idealistic theories of the state. Both early and later fascists viewed the state as an organic entity instead of as an institution to protect collective and individual rights. Fascists often defined themselves in opposition to laissez-faire capitalism, Marxism, and democracy.

During World War II, Karl Popper described fascism as different from Hegelianism, which was bound to a specific "traditional religious form" (Lutheran Christianity in Frederick William's Prussia). Popper suggests that in fascism, religion is typically replaced by a form of evolutionist materialism: "Thus the formula of the fascist brew is in all countries the same: Hegel plus a dash of nineteenth-century materialism (particularly Darwinism in the somewhat crude form given to it by Haeckel)."

He argues that as a consequence of the popularity of Marxism in the first half of the 20th century, traditional fascism is not endorsing any specific religion. He wrote that while Marxism is seen as atheistic, fascism is not necessarily atheistic:

...fascism has not much use for an open appeal to the supernatural. Not that it is necessarily atheistic or lacking in mystical or religious elements. But the spread of agnosticism through Marxism led to a situation in which no political creed aiming at popularity among the working class could bind itself to any of the traditional religious forms.

Later scholarship took several different approaches. Roger Griffin argues that

Fascism is best defined as a revolutionary form of nationalism, one that sets out to be a political, social and ethical revolution, welding the 'people' into a dynamic national community under new elites infused with heroic values. The core myth that inspires this project is that only a populist, trans-class movement of purifying, cathartic national rebirth (palingenesis) can stem the tide of decadence.

This concept of fascism as palingenesis is complementary with the idea of James Rhodes that fascism is a form of apocalyptic millenarianism - and with the work of Emilio Gentile, who argues that fascism is a form of "political religion" that involves the "sacralization of politics."

Roger Eatwell sees a complex relationship between fascism and religion, noting that "Religions…involve some form of belief in a supernatural being(s). However, this misses a point that all modern ideologies exhibit dimensions of religions." Eatwell questions "liberal historiography's demonization of fascism as an un-intellectual creed...." According to Eatwell:"A more fruitful way of distinguishing between ideology and religion is to adapt Søren Kierkegaard's view that the essence of a religion is not the persuasion of the truth of the doctrine, but a leap of faith to accept a view which is inherently absurd.... Fascism's essential syncretism meant that it was possible to find forms, which overtly married ideology and religion - for example, in the Iron Guard, or among a limited number of Italian and German clerics (though most failed to see the radicalism at the core of fascism). Moreover, there were aspects of fascism, which were absurd - particularly the belief of some Nazis that there was an international Jewish conspiracy against Germany, which encouraged a belief in apocalyptic holy war against the Jew. However, most fascists were not driven by such affective sentiments. Indeed, there is nothing absurd about the core ideology of generic fascism namely the quest to forge a holistic nation and create a radical syncretic Third Way state." "Reflections on Fascism and Religion".

Christianity in the United States

See also: Christofascism

The linking of Christianity with fascism or neo-fascism has generated debate among scholars and in the media; and some consider it offensive to Christians. Stanley Kurtz called comparisons of the Christian Right with fascism an ill-advised attack on conservative Christians:

The most disturbing part of the Harper's cover story (the one by Chris Hedges) was the attempt to link Christian conservatives with Hitler and fascism. Once we acknowledge the similarity between conservative Christians and fascists, Hedges appears to suggest, we can confront Christian evil by setting aside 'the old polite rules of democracy.

Some Christian organizations believe that the Christian Right has become fascist. Reverend Rich Lang of the Trinity United Methodist Church of Seattle gave a sermon titled "George Bush and the Rise of Christian Fascism", in which he said, "I want to flesh out the ideology of the Christian Fascism that Mr. Bush articulates. It is a form of Christianity that is the mirror opposite of what Jesus embodied.".

Some leftists and libertarians use the term Christian fascism or Christofascism to describe what some see as an emerging proto-fascism and possible theocracy in the United States. Advocates of this view include Carl Davidson, who has written an essay, "Globalization, Theocracy and the New Fascism: Taking the Right's Rise to Power Seriously

More extreme than the Christian Right are two movements where there is more scholarly support for charges of neo-fascism: Christian Identity and Christian Reconstructionism. There are versions of the Christian Identity movement that adopt openly neo-Nazi ideologies.

Some scholars consider Christian Reconstructionism a quasi-fascist movement because it is explicitly opposed to religious liberty and human rights. Berlet and Lyons have witten that the movement is a "new form of clerical fascist politics."(Right-Wing Populism in America, p. 249) Karen Armstrong sees a potential for fascism in Christian Reconstructionism, and claims that the system of dominion envisaged by Christian Reconstructionist theologians R. J. Rushdoony and Gary North is totalitarian: "There is no room for any other view or policy, no democratic tolerance for rival parties, no individual freedom." (Armstrong, Battle for God, pp. 361-362)

Islam

See also: Islamofascism

Some commentators and politicians use the concept of Islamic fascism to describe militant Islamic fundamentalists such as the Taliban, al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah. Critics of such comparisons to fascism say that that political ideologies in the Middle East derived from fascism - such as the Kataeb Party, the Baath party, and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP) - have been explicitly secular, and typically violently opposed to Islamism.

Some commentators, such as Daniel Pipes, say they only use comparisons to fascism when describing a small number of militant Islamist zealots and terrorist. In 2001, Christopher Hitchens wrote, "he bombers of Manhattan represent fascism with an Islamic face, and there's no point in any euphemism about it. What they abominate about "the West," to put it in a phrase, is not what Western liberals do not like and can't defend about their own system, but what they do like about it and must defend: its emancipated women, its scientific inquiry, its separation of religion from the state." Robert S. Wistrich has described Islamic fascism as adopting a totalitarian mindset, a hatred of the West, fanatical extremism, repression of women, loathing of Jews, a firm belief in conspiracy theories, and dreams of global hegemony.

In late 2005, President George W. Bush and other high United States government officials began to use the terms Islamo-fascism or Islamic fascism, and suggested that opposing militant Islamic terrorism was similar to opposing the Nazis during World War II. This created storm of controversy as supporters and opponents debated these contentions and the term Islamofascism.

Although the concept of clerical fascism originated in reference to Roman and Orthodox Catholicism, some scholars apply it in Islamic contexts. Walter Laqueur discusses fascistic influences on militant Islam in his book Fascism: Past, Present, Future. Some writers claim that certain strands of Wahhabi or Salafi Islam display some of the signifiers of fascism or totalitarianism.

Some commentators have compared groups such as Muslim Brotherhood and al-Qaeda inspired by the writings of Sayyid Qutb to fascism, and some have use the term neo-fascism to describe all highly politicized strains of Islam, including Shi'a radicalism as practiced in Iran, where the government practices high control of the economy, nationalism and leader worship. J. Sakai has suggested that some middle class Islamists have formed groups that can be called fascist.

Academic Roger Griffin believes the word fascist is being stretched too far when applied to "so-called fundamentalist or terrorist forms of traditional religion (i.e. scripture or sacred text based with a strong sense of orthodoxy or orthodoxies rooted in traditional institutions and teachings)." However, he concedes that the United States has seen the emergence of hybrids of political religion and fascism in such phenomena as the Nation of Islam and Christian Identity, and that Bin Laden's al Qaeda network may represent such a hybrid. He is unhappy with the term clerical fascism, and says that "in this case we are rather dealing with a variety of 'fascistized clericalism.'"

Judaism and Zionism

Because Jews suffered their worst persecution in modern times during the Holocaust carried out by German Nazis and their fascist allies, the conflation of Judaism with fascism raises hackles well beyond the conflation of other religions with fascism.

Some find it difficult to disentangle religion from nationalism in relation to this group because there is a strong correlation between the religion Judaism with what has historically been viewed as a people, a nation, or even a race - the Jews. A further reason is that a substantial portion of the world's Jews are citizens of Israel and/or are supporters of the (largely secular) ideology of Zionism. Except in the case of an explicitly religious movement, it is difficult to say whether a specific Israeli political movement is Jewish in the sense of the religion or of the people.

The terms Judeofascism and Zionazism are political epithets. Those who use the terms occasionally claim they are referring only to certain groups or individuals alleged to have fascist or totalitarian tendencies. Critics of these terms argue that they are merely used to smear Jews or Zionists, and to inflame public sentiments, with the highly negative connotations. These terms are sometimes used as an expression of anti-semitism, conflating the religion, Judaism, with Zionism, the state of Israel, Israeli government policies, and Jews around the world (and with United States foreign policy).

Vladimir Jabotinsky, the founder of the right-wing "Revisionist" movement within Zionism was influenced by Italian fascism, but this movement was thoroughly secular. Religiously inspired Zionism in that period (e.g. Ahad Ha-am, Rav Kook, Martin Buber) tended to be anti-authoritarian and more concerned with cultural renewal focused on a Jewish homeland, instead of on building a Jewish state, and has little or no connection to fascism. More recently, however, some scholars have pointed to what they consider fascistic elements in the Israeli Kach and Kahane Chai parties. Both political parties were outlawed under Israeli anti-terrorism laws in 1994. Kach had already been banned from electoral politics for "incitement to racism" against Arabs. Their leaders have advocated policies of "transfer" that would forcibly expel Arabs from Israel proper - and even from territories under Israeli control. The Israeli settler movements and their supporters in the United States have also been subject to similar accusations.

Hindu nationalism

Some critics of Hindu nationalism in India view elements of the Hindutva ideology as fascist. Romila Thapar and Himani Bannerji have used the terms "Indian fascism" and "Hindu fascism" to describe the ideology of the Sangh Parivar.

Prabhat Patnaik has written that the Hindutva movement as it has emerged is "classically fascist in class support, methods and programme" Patnaik bases this argument on the following "ingredients" of classical fascism present in Hindutva: the attempt to create a unified homogeneous majority under the concept of "the Hindus"; a sense of grievance against past injustice; a sense of cultural superiority; an interpretation of history according to this sense of grievance and superiority; a rejection of rational arguments against this interpretation; and an appeal to the majority based on race and masculinity.

Prominent organizations labelled as fascist or heavily influenced by fascism include the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) religious movement, and the related Bharatiya Janata Party, which ruled India's government from the period of 1998-2004.

Some scholars contend that the traditional meaning of the term fascism does not apply to Hindutva groups, and may hinder an analysis of their activities.. Academics Chetan Bhatt and Parita Mukta reject the identification of Hindutva with fascism, because of Hindutva's embrace of cultural instead of racial nationalism, because of its "distinctively Indian" character, and because of "the RSS's disavowal of the seizure of state power in preference for long-term cultural labour in civil society". They instead describe Hindutva as a form of "revolutionary conservatism" or "ethnic absolutism"..

Before World War II, Sadashiv Golwalkar, head of the RSS from 1940-1973, embraced Nazi ideology and anti-semitism,

German national pride has now become the topic of the day. To keep up purity of the nation and its culture, Germany shocked the world by her purging the country of the Semitic races, the Jews. National pride at its highest has been manifested here. Germany has also shown how well-nigh impossible it is for races and cultures having differences going to the root, to be assimilated into a united whole, a good lesson for us in Hindustan to learn and profit by." ("We or our nationhood defined" 1938, p.37)

However, anti-semitism plays no role in post-1947 Hindutva. Golwalkar in 1966 wrote:

"The Christians committed all sorts of atrocities on the Jews by giving them the label “Killers of Christ”. Hitler is not an exception but a culmination of the 2000-year long oppression of the Jews by the Christians."

Contemporary Hindutva groups are overwhelmingly supportive of the Jewish State of Israel. Savarkar himself supported Israel during its formation. Golwalkar too supported Israel in his statement:

"The Jews had maintained their race, religion, culture and language; and all they wanted was their natural territory to complete their Nationality"

Paganism and Esoteric religions

Further information: Neo-völkisch movements
Further information: Esoteric Nazism

Some followers of Germanic neopaganism or Odinism adhere to white supremacist or neo-Nazi ideologies. Instances of groups in which fascism and Paganism intersect include the White Order of Thule and the Creativity Movement (formerly the "World Church of the Creator"). A further example is the Wotanism of David Lane, who promotes WOTAN as an acronym for "Will Of The Aryan Nations.".

Examples in Europe include the Belgian Werkgroep Traditie and the German Deutsche Heidnische Front and Artgemeinschaft. The Ausar Auset Society is a Kemetic neopagan group advocating Black supremacy.

Fascist ideology is the exception within the neopagan movement. While many reconstructionist groups have folkish or racialist ideologies (such as "metagenetics"), most mainstream Asatru and other Neopagan websites post disclaimers denouncing ethnic supremacism or racism.