American Taliban
I remember the day my favorite aunt died as if it was yesterday. I had just gotten engaged to my then fiancée (now wife of thirteen years). We were in New York for a wedding and stopped by my parents’ house. My favorite aunt, with whom I hadn’t spoken in a while, called my mother. She had become a devout, born again, something or other, and liked to call to preach her gospel in a quest to prove that her personal deity was more righteous and powerful than anyone else’s. I wasn’t thinking about this when I asked my mother for the phone to say hello. I was only thinking about how happy I was to be engaged to my best friend. So when she told me that I was going to hell for fornicating (we were already living together), it came as a shock, even though it probably shouldn’t have. It was at that moment that her life faded away, at least in my eyes. This twice divorced former party girl was attempting to pontificate about the moral implications of my relationship, and I wasn’t having it. I handed the phone casually back to my mother and continued on my vacation.
It has occurred to me, with the overturning of Roe vs. Wade as a backdrop, that we have a slow moving theocratic coup currently taking place in the United States. With their latest victory, more of these American Taliban are saying the quiet part out loud, expressing their belief that this country was founded on Christian values, and all of our laws should be derived from their exclusive interpretation of the Bible. They are attempting to shift the Overton window and, by proxy, the national conversation, to a place where people have to defend their personal morals. Abortion, gay marriage, racial integration, no topic is safe from their twisted examination.
“American Taliban members do not believe in any of these things, at least not in the way we normally think they do.”
Some people think these zealots believe what they are spewing. That life begins at conception. That two men kissing is an abomination before God. That races were designed with some odd, unprovable tier system with Caucasians at its apex. They do not. American Taliban members do not believe in any of these things, at least not in the way we normally think they do. These beliefs are not the disease. They are a symptom of a group of people indoctrinated with the notion that they should always look for an “other” in order to boost their self-worth.
A person once told me that they believed that every gay person had at their core some trauma that made them that way. It was a notion I instantly rejected. I know plenty of gay people that are more well adjusted than I am, and have not a drop of trauma in their entire history. Their behavior also reflects this. They are kind, funny, non-judgmental, and set aside toxic behaviors in favor of inclusive ones. If anything, in my experience, they are the polar opposite of the religious zealots that persecute them. In contrast, the most bigoted religious folks in this American Taliban movement are swift to adopt toxic behaviors. They paint with a broad brush, and spend more time projecting than anything else.
I think of my aunt, for whom I mourned in accordance with tradition, and how she condemned me to the eternal fire for the crime of sharing a mortgage with my girlfriend/fiancée/wife. I juxtapose that with her two divorces, child out of wedlock, the alienation of her family, and the self-righteousness she now possesses and it gives me clarity. I don’t begrudge anyone a divorce, or an unmarried pregnancy. It isn’t any of my business. The blatant hypocrisy gives me a window into what fuels her hatred. She, like many others, is looking for absolution and going about it the worst way possible. Instead of reflecting inwards, she lashes out, and that is sad. So, a joyous occasion, like the engagement of a close family member, becomes rudeness and vitriol. This is the mindset that drives today’s American Taliban.
During much of the gay rights movement, countless anti-gay priests, politicians, pundits, and the like had their own gay lifestyle outed. For a time, seeing a politician’s views on homosexuality “evolve” after finding out a close relative was gay was an almost weekly occurrence. Some saw this as progress, but others, myself included, saw it for what it was. These folks now had a reason to take the “othering” and reverse it. Don’t get me wrong. There are still those among the American Taliban that will disown their children for being gay. However, it seems to be a bridge too far for some, leading to this u-turn of thought.
The same thing will happen in the aftermath of the Roe vs. Wade decision. It’s never a good thing when people’s private lives end up in the public square. It is even worse when that private information involves medical history. But that train is never late. Inevitably, some of the loudest pro-life (or forced birth, if that’s your preferred nomenclature) voices will be outed as not just patrons of abortion clinics, but frequent flyers. Their hypocrisy will be on full display yet again, and many will misunderstand the cause of this contradictory behavior. It isn’t the abortion that they are fighting. Abortion is merely a vehicle that allows them to hate a section of the population. It isn’t homosexuality that they despise. The LGBTQIA community is simply an avenue for them to “other” someone. Why? Because it makes them feel like part of the “correct” crowd. It gives them the feeling that they possess some special attributes that the uninitiated do not. It gives them a feeling that they are anointed for existing, even if that existence turns out to be a blatant lie.
It isn’t lost on me that this isn’t a description of all religious people, but it does seem to center on religion’s loudest voices. When religion sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing hate. They’re bringing bigotry. They’re hypocrites. And some, I assume, are good people.
