We are living in a critical period where everything is permitted in the name of God, including extreme political violence. Many political conflicts have their origins in religious extremist inspirations; think of the conflicts in the Middle East between Israel, Hamas and Iran which had consequences as far as Montreal, where shots were fired at synagogues and Jewish schools. The camps claiming to be “pro-Palestinian” were also a place of propaganda and anti-Semitic religious hatred. Furthermore, radical Islamism has favored the rise of the extreme right and racism in France. Closer to home, the American presidential election leads us to reflect on the political manipulation propagated by American evangelical groups regarding the Republican candidacy.
Donald Trump would indeed be “a messenger of God”, despite his behavior that does not respect any precept of the Bible. This is why “the hand of God” would have saved him during the last attack this week. Moreover, the Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States has become a martyr who did not miss the opportunity to add to it, fist in the air, exhorting his troops to “fight, fight, fight”!
I hope the far-right militias that stormed the Capitol to block President Joe Biden’s nomination in the last election understood that this was not about taking up arms. However, those who believe in the conspiracy theory will be well served, because assassination attempts and gun violence are part of American history and religious culture.
The excesses of the American religious extreme right
A contemporary historical look reminds us that several assassination attempts have already marked this great country conquered by the violence of firearms and the Protestant religion that encouraged it. Let us remember the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert F. Kennedy, without forgetting Martin Luther King. All three fought against the racist policies advocated by American far-right militias. In short, religious supremacy over democratic institutions is a bad advisor, let us remember the political domination of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s in the United States which advocated the superiority of the Protestant religion and the white race in the name of God.
Since there are more firearms in circulation (400 million) than population (350 million) among our southern neighbors, can we be surprised by this violence in politics? Will this latest assassination attempt lead us to civil war as related in the dramatic film? Civil War by Alex Garland (Civil war in French version) if Donald Trump is not elected president?
The latter has already declared that he would recognize the results of the presidential election only if he is elected; there is nothing reassuring there, indeed. Let us recall that this film describes in a fictional way the fall of an American president accompanied by a carnage of assassinations and cruelty filmed and photographed live by a team of reporters trying at all costs to have the scoop on the assassination of the president. Funny coincidence which, I hope, will remain fictional!
Political violence in the name of God, no thanks.