The Theocons: Secular America Under Siege

The message is timely, necessary, and vital. It reminded me of Winston Churchill's bold and frequent efforts to warn the British Parliament about the danger posed by Adolph Hitler to the security and peace of Europe, including Britain, during the 1930's. Churchill was viewed by right and left alike as a troublemaker, a war-monger, a lone voice crying in the wilderness. Consequently, he was marginalised, ignored, and shut out as a political fool. Had Churchill been heeded it is possible that Hitler could have been stopped before he had built his war machine and settled on his imperialist quest for lebensraum, and formed his insane doctrines, persuaded others to stand by his side, and plunge the world into a war it did not want, could not afford, and that need not have happened - IF Churchill had been believed and Hitler's expansionist and dominatory schemes forestalled. There is a real danger that theocons, neocons, and paleocons, will combine to steal America from Americans, and then refashion it into a right-wing Fasco-evangelical one party state in which essential freedoms will be removed from the lives of all dissenters. Those with the loudest voices seldom have the best ideas, but it is a fact of American historical record that atypical minorities have driven laws that please no one but their supporters, even when they are not understood. Linker should be heard, and his warnings heeded. Failure to learn the lessons of history is 90% the cause of repeating the same or similar disasters. Single issue politics is insanity, and before anyone protests that 'these things' could not happen in America, they should know that they already have happened, and are likely to get worse as fewer and fewer theo-pols rant away the freedoms that the US vaunts as a model for the rest of the world. Whoso readeth, let him understand that a prepared man is a ready man, and the enemy is at the door. If ye are prepared ye shall not fear.

Damon Linker's fascinating monograph is both compelling and insightful, having been in the midst of things as editor of the rightwing Catholic magazine "First Things." This book does not reek with "sour grapes," but is a provocative wake-up call to serious observers of the American cultural and political scene. As an historian, I am impressed by the first-rate prose and organization of this book, not to mention what I perceive as a successful argument and finish. Linker's book is a good companion to Michelle Goldberg's recent book on the religious right and its threat to American democracy and the separation of religion and government (Church and State in the old way of speaking). Hopefully people will apply critical thinking and intellectual honesty to the issues Damon Linker raises.

Linker does a spectacular job in his expose of the infamous editor, conservative and convert to Catholicism, Fr. Richard John Neuhaus and his theoconservative colleagues. A well-written and edited work, this book systematically approaches the chronological development of an ideology that has come to manifest itself in the current United States governmental administration. While the book might be viewed as polemical by those sympathetic to the theoconservative agenda, it is generally a even-tempered, fair treatment of the subject of a ideological group seeking to influence public policy. An approachably written book, this is a nice analysis of timely subject regarding politics that diverges from the bounty of polemical material currently in print regarding the Bush Whitehouse. I highly recommend this book.

This book should be required reading for anyone interested in the relationship between religion and politics in the U.S. The Theocons tells a story that has otherwise been lost in the recent fascination with the connection between evangelicals and conservative politics in the U.S. Linker's book is riveting, as he describes the ways that several influential American Catholics have shaped American political debates and pursued their goal of making this a deeply Christian country. Linker provides much-needed insight into the workings of the Theocon movement.

The Theocons describes a phenomenon that ought to be of concern to anyone wanting to maintain the United States as a democratic republic, the marriage of religion and politics. Randall Balmer has accurately described how the marriage of religion and politics tends to weaken and corrupt both religious and governmental institutions. Mr. Linker examines this phenomenon from the perspective of Catholic institutions, rather than from the usual perspective of Protestant evangelicalism. As a practicing Catholic, I didn't find the book anti-Catholic or anti-religion, rather, it is a just criticism of the attempts of some religious individuals to marry religion and politics. Mr. Linker describes in the book how he began his career at First Things believing in what Fr. Neuhaus was doing, and how he became a critic after observing the publication and its editor in action. I would recommend this book for anyone wanting discussion on conservative Catholic involvement in what has been described as "dominionism."