Jim McDermott: Traitor

Congressman Jim McDermott omitted the phrase "under God" when he led the House of Representatives in the Pledge of Allegiance recently. For that he was excoriated by Republicans, chastised even by the Democrats, and now he is being called a "traitor" by Hans Zeiger, fascist-in-residence for the Boy Scouts of America.

Hans Zeiger writes for World Net Daily:

McDermott's hatred of America and America's God surfaced once again as he led the Pledge of Allegiance on the floor of Congress minus the words "under God." ... McDermott himself is not an atheist. He claims attendance at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Seattle, hardly a Christian church. St. Mark's is currently promoting a "Statement of Faith-based support for Same-sex marriage" and preaches almost exclusively about "social justice," "peace," and "diversity" while nary a mention is made of sin and salvation. ... It is convenient to think that Jim McDermott is a harmlessly unique product of liberal Seattle, but the truth is McDermott hates America, he despises our Godly heritage, and he sits in the way of the cause of liberty.

Let's be clear about this: according to Hans Zeiger, anyone who refuses to "pledge allegiance" to America and to Zeiger's God alongside is a traitor who hates America. It doesn't matter if someone says the rest of the Pledge as McDermott does - not believing in or pledging allegiance to Zeiger's God means that you can't really be pledging allegiance to or have any reliable loyalty to America. Indeed, if you don't follow Zeiger's God, it is doubtful that you even qualify as a "real" Christian.

Zeiger has in the past made it clear that it is unacceptable for anyone to question whether God is on the side of America and, therefore, the enemy of anyone who oppose America. Zeiger has also made it clear that no one has a right to escape his God. Zeiger has also made it clear that colleges should be in the business of indoctrinating religious beliefs and has suggested that maybe it shouldn't be considered OK for a person to be an atheist or an agnostic.

That last bit alone was sufficient to justify classifying Hans Zeiger as a type of fascist, but he only digs himself into a deeper hole here when he argues that a person who doesn't accept his conception of a righteous, religious, Christian America must be a traitor who hates America and who hates his God. Treason is the "violation of allegiance towards one's country," therefore McDermott and others can only be guilty of treason if they owed some prior allegiance to Hans Zeiger's God. That, in turn, assumes some mystical connection between this God and America which is so fundamental that American can't exist without it.

Such an attitude is precisely what has characterized fascism in the past. In Germany it was the belief in a mystical connection between the nation and "das Volk" which defined what it meant to be a true German. In Italy, it was a belief in a mystical connection between ancient Rome and modern Italy. For people like Hans Zeiger, fascism involves a mystical connection between a specific God/religion and the nation - without it, there is no nation to even defend. Those who reject it are traitors. In Germany we would have been race-traitors. In Zeiger's America, were are traitors to God and Homeland.

You know, that's something I think I could be proud of. I'd much rather be a traitor to Hans Zeiger's America than be a loyal citizen in any sort of state that met with his approval.

Read More:

• Religious Right
• Christian Extremism
• Christian Nationalism
• Religious Intolerance & Bigotry