Fragile Egos: fundamentalism and power
  by Martin Foreman

Richard Dawkins' two part special on religion as the root of all evil may soon be coming to a PBS station near you. I was lucky to see it on Britain's Channel 4 last month. It's an intriguing program where Colorado Springs pastor Ted Haggard plays a starring role.

Mild-mannered Dawkins was taken aback by Haggard's hostility in an interview to which the preacher had agreed. Shortly afterwards, Dawkins and his crew were thrown off church property while Haggard claimed that the scientist had called "his children" "animals."

Similar aggression came from Yousef Al-Khattab, a secular Jew from New York now living as a Muslim in Jerusalem. Al-Khattab is obsessed by sex and women, whom he sees not as mothers, homemakers and leaders of nations, but as bare-breasted sirens on television.

Haggard and Al-Khattab are, fortunately, not the only faces of faith. Dawkins interviewed other believers who offered respect and discussion rather than diatribe and vitriol. But it is the the Haggards and Al-Khattabs who are more representative of fundamentalist leaders.

Most preachers in Haggard's mold have modest ambitions - a small congregation offering bowed heads and a full collection box. In some cases their egos are best satisfied with sexual gratification from the lonely women in the congregation who are easily convinced that God needs their bodies to ease their pastors' suffering.

For a sizable minority the lust for power can only be satisfied by a national stage from which to sermonize. Hence the Pat Robertsons and Jerry Falwells of the world - men whose limited understanding of the world is buried deep below the image of authority they project.

Robertson, Haggard, Al-Khattab and the rest are driven by a need to dominate all those around them. Haggard's reference to "my children" and Al-Khattab's "your women" reflect a worldview where they, the alpha male, freely dispose of the freedom and rights of others.

They are only at ease with themselves when on a stage or a pulpit surrounded by subservient crowds hanging on to their every word. Put them in a situation where they have to listen to others' opinions and deal with others as equals and they can only react with hatred and anger.

These emotions and the lust for power are the flipside of insecurity. People who are sure of their ground and at ease with themselves are seldom bothered when others disagree with them. It is the man or woman who is least convinced of what he or she is saying who needs to say it loudest.

This phenomenon of attack as the best method of defense is not restricted to religious preachers - remember Bill O'Reilly's outburst on Fox News last year that Al Qaeda was welcome to blow up San Francisco.

Nor is it a right-wing phenomenon. Al Sharpton and maverick British MP George Galloway are as likely to indulge in posturing as in principles.

At heart, Haggard and Al-Khattab are children who have not grown up. They are surrounded by a world which they do not like and which, in the innermost depths of their being, they fear. They can only protect themselves by building walls of aggression round their fragile egos.

In an ideal world we would ignore them. In reality, however, we give them the power that they crave. We have only ourselves to blame.

Send us an Email

Or write to us at:
Freethinkers of Colorado Springs
P.O. Box 62946
Colorado Springs, CO 80962-2946
Phone: 719-594-4506