This essay by witty British Catholic writer deals with ideology and theology of Neocons as they invade the British Isles .

Moral Squeamishness

by Anthony S. McCarthy (asdmccarthy@ hotmail.com)

What’s a neoconservative? As with many political terms, neither its sense nor reference is crystal clear. Let’s hear what various knowledgeable people have said from geopolitical and eschatological perspectives.

Here is a conversation between George H. Bush Senior and his incurious president son:

George W. Bush: “What’s a neocon?” George H. Bush: “Do you want names or a description?” “Description.” “Well,” said the former president of the United States , “I’ll give it to you in one word: Israel .”[i]

According to Professor Claes Ryn of the Catholic University of America, evident in this “ideology” or ideological pattern is a large element of neo-Jacobinism. As well as openly endorsing the need for big government (for example, William Kristol and David Brooks), neoconservatives talk of the need for a “a neo-Reaganite foreign policy of national strength and moral assertiveness abroad.” Neoconservative Robert Kagan’s words about his fellow Americans are also noted by Ryn: “As good children of the Enlightenment, Americans believe in human perfectibility. But Americans…also believe…that global security and the liberal order depend on the United States – that ‘indispensable nation’ – wielding its power.”[ii]

Ryn says of this ideology, “The neo-Jacobin vision for how to redeem humanity may be less obviously utopian than that of communism. It may strike some as admirably idealistic, as did communism. But the spirit of the two movements is similar, and utopian thinking is utopian thinking, fairly innocuous perhaps if restricted to isolated dreamers and theoreticians but dangerous to the extent that it inspires action in the real world.”[iii]

Ryn, a man who knows his history as well as his faith, notes, by way of contrast, that,

“Christianity has always stressed the imperfect, sinful nature of man and warned against placing too much faith in manmade political institutions and measures. St. Augustine (354-430) is only one of the earliest and least sanguine of many Christian thinkers over the centuries who would have rejected out of hand the idea that mankind is destined for great progress and political perfection, to say nothing about the possibility of salvation through politics. Although Christianity has stressed that rulers must serve the common good and behave in a humane manner, it has been reluctant to endorse any particular form of government as suited to all peoples and all historical circumstances.”[iv]

In trying to piece together the different strands of Neoconservative ideology it is useful to listen to what the proudly Jewish thinker Benjamin Ginsberg has written. In discussing neoconservatives and their relation to “paleoconservatives” (traditional conservatives like Claes Ryn, Pat Buchanan, Paul Gottfried and Thomas Fleming). Ginsberg observes:

 “Few neoconservatives attach much moral significance to the issues of abortion or school prayer and pragmatically advocate doing little to concretely advance these causes in order to avoid alienating middle-class suburban voters. Indeed, many neocons are fond of saying privately that social issues are merely useful bait with which to attract the votes of the riff-raff. By helpfully reminding conservative Protestants and Catholics of the true character and aims of the Jews (as revealed by the portions of their liturgy they have chosen to overlook in recent years), paleoconservatives can disrupt the improbable alliance between conservative Christians and Jews and bring the former over to their camp….Many neocons were at one time liberal Democrats or, in some cases ,even Socialists or Marxists. One major factor that drew them to the right was their attachment to Israel…In the Reaganite right’s hard-line anticommunism, commitment to American military strength, and willingness to intervene politically and militarily in the affairs of other nations to promote democratic values (and American interests), neocons found a political movement that would guarantee Israel’s security.”

If Ginsberg is right, then it would seem that social issues such as abortion, which many people have regarded as extremely important, for the neocons take a back seat to foreign policy considerations, especially US support for Israel .[v] And, of course, this ideological pattern is in many ways the antithesis of the notion of the Social Kingship of Christ that those who profess to be followers of Christ are duty-bound to promote. In fact, despite the many Christians who see themselves as neocons or fellow-travellers with neocons, this ideology seems something very far from Christian.

Melanie Phillips certainly thinks so, telling an audience of her fellow-Jews at the Limmud conference:

 “If the neo-cons aren’t really conservative, they differ even more strikingly from their Christian co-counter revolutionaries. For the neo-con view of the world is a demonstrably Jewish view. Christians see man as a fallen being, inherently sinful. The neo-cons have the Jewish view that mankind has a capacity for good or ill. Christians believe humanity is redeemed through Christ on the cross; the neo-con approach is founded on the belief that individuals have to redeem themselves. Christians believe in transforming fallen humanity through a series of mystical beliefs and events. Neo-cons believe in taking the world as it is, but encouraging the good and discouraging the bad. It is this impulse to tikkun olam or repair of the world, this belief that the world must not be allowed to fester but can be persuaded to change for the better, that gives the neo-cons the optimism that so distresses old-style paleoconservatives when the principles are applied to world affairs. For it was the neo-con belief that good can prevail over evil, that pre-emptive strikes against rogue states are justified and that regime change into democracy can transform a terrorist state into a model world citizen, that lay behind the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq.”[vi]

Phillips makes quite explicit the idea that neocons have a “Jewish view of mankind”. She is to be commended for bringing into discussion the theological dimension of political movements. It would be nice, however, if she allowed others to bring in that dimension too. The BBC film-maker Adam Curtis made a series of films entitled The Power of Nightmares about neoconservatives and radical Islam. Not only was Israel not mentioned, but nor (if I remember rightly) were the words Jew, Jewish or Judaism. I regarded this as a striking omission. Still, at least no-one could accuse Mr Curtis of anti-Semitism and perhaps he too thought this. Melanie Phillips, however, thought differently, writing of Curtis in her blog:

“You obviously can't overestimate the creative imagination of a pukka conspiracy theorist. It's not enough wilfully to invent a conspiracy by sinister neo-cons, aka Jews, in Washington to subvert American foreign policy.”[vii]

Apparently only the likes of Melanie are allowed to delve into these esoteric areas. The rest of us will have to make do with whatever exoteric message is given us, and stop imagining things that just aren’t true…

Perhaps it’s easier to live with double standards if one adopts the neoconservative view which, according to Phillips, effectively denies the reality of Original Sin - or at best admits its existence but de-emphasizes it in the name of the belief that “the world…can be persuaded to change for the better”, a belief to be contrasted with a robust belief in Original Sin. We can all share Phillips’ unexceptionable wish to “encourage the good and discourage the bad” without being quite so sanguine about the results.

Phillips does not, of course, believe in the redemptive power of the crucified and resurrected Christ. Human suffering as it relates to Christ’s sacrifice is, for her, meaningless. But Phillips the neoconservative goes further than most. Not only does she reject outright the New Covenant which forms the New Israel that is ( so Catholics believe) the Catholic Church, but she thinks that anyone who believes that the New Covenant has superseded the Sinai Covenant is necessarily anti-Semitic (her article on the matter is entitled “Christians who hate the Jews”)[viii]. Assuming that Ms Phillips knows the history of this view (an incautious assumption) she is condemning as anti-Semitic Christ Himself, St Peter, St Paul, all of the Church Fathers, all of the Popes, all Saints, and all orthodox Catholics. Not only that but, as Jewish convert Israel Shamir points out, “Her insufficient grasp of ideas calls it “replacement theology invented by a revisionist Palestinian theologian.”…A genuine article is ‘replaced’ with a substitute, while an outdated idea is ‘superseded’ by a newer one. It was indeed invented by a “revisionist Palestinian theologian”, but his name was not Canon Ateek, as she claims, but Prophet Isaiah. He spoke of the New Covenant that will supersede the Old one. Afterwards, this idea became the cornerstone of Christianity, as the New Covenant between God and the Church ( Israel of spirit) superseded the Old Covenant between God and Israel of flesh. Ignorant Jews present it as an act of “hatred of Jews”. But it was just the opposite: the act of eradicating hatred between Jews and non-Jews.”[ix]

Had Phillips listened to the man who is now Pope she would have learned that “The Torah of the Messiah is the Messiah, Jesus, himself…To imitate him, to follow him in discipleship, is therefore to keep the Torah, which has been fulfilled once and for all. Thus the Sinai covenant is superseded.”[x]

 Rejection of the New Covenant is rejection of Christ. If to follow Christ and His Church is necessarily anti-Semitic and if neoconservatism is a Jewish movement (even if rejected by most Jews)[xi] then it should come as no surprise that critics of neoconservatism, especially if they are Christian, are accused of anti-Semitism. In being thus slandered, they are in good company.

Thus far I have quoted various people’s views on what the word neoconservatism denotes. In so doing I have aimed to give an impression of some common themes which roughly identify the aims of any movement that might be called neoconservative. I started with geopolitical concerns and moved on to theological assumptions. With regard to the latter, we have those like Melanie Phillips openly identifying neoconservatism as a Jewish (or Jewish-inspired) movement. Promoting the central goals of such a movement/ideology, as she describes it, is surely incompatible with living a good Christian life. For a start, the doctrine of Original Sin can never be downplayed – it is absolutely central to the Christian life and to any understanding of the Gospels, Sacraments etc. To minimize or ignore this doctrine is to invite upon oneself some of the greatest disasters of history.

Standard Christian teaching holds that the Incarnation came about because of Original Sin. And through the Incarnation the God-Man Christ, the Second Adam, chose through love to embrace suffering on the Cross in order to bring about an atoning sacrifice offered to all mankind. If a Christian believes in the doctrine of Original Sin, he also believes in the need for Redemption through a Second Adam, the perfect Son of God.[xii]

Can’t one deny or downplay Original Sin, brush it away, talk of some vague need for ‘healing’? The tiqqun olam to which Phillips refers was popularized through the Lurianic Caballah. The Jewish historian Gerschom Scholem explains:

 “ “God has created bowls to contain the light of his understanding. The bowls proved incapable of containing that light and broke, scattering the light throughout creation, where it remained imprisoned in matter. The realm of qelippah, where the sparks are held in bondage, is a distinctly political realm “represented on the terrestrial and historical plane by tyranny and oppression”. The purpose of man’s existence on earth became tiqqun or healing, restoring the lights in their original place in the universe before the breaking of the vessels had released the forces of sin and evil. “The messianic king, far from bringing about the tiqqun, is himself brought about by it: he appears after the tiqqun has been achieved. The cosmic redemption of the raising of the sparks merges with the national redemption of Israel , and the symbol of the “ingathering of the exiles” comprises both.” ”[xiii]

This form of Gnosticism has little to do with Original Sin but everything to do with a worldly messianism, the very kind of messianism that caused the earth-shattering ruptures at the time of Christ. And it is this toxic messianism that many neocons seem to be obsessed by. If the neoconservative movement - or loose group of convergent interests - cannot excommunicate someone like Michael Ledeen (in fact he is cherished) then I think we can safely say that the movement is a form of revolutionary messianism. Ledeen tells us:

“Creative destruction is our middle name, both within our own society and abroad. We tear down the old order every day, from business to science, literature, art, architecture, and cinema to politics and the law. Our enemies have always hated this whirlwind of energy and creativity, which menaces their traditions (whatever they may be) and shames them for their inability to keep pace. Seeing America undo traditional societies, they fear us, for they do not wish to be undone. They cannot feel secure so long as we are there, for our very existence – our existence, not our politics – threatens their legitimacy. They must attack us in order to survive, just as we must destroy them to advance our historic mission.”[xiv]