“They said what they would do, and we did not listen. Then they did what they said they would do.”
Sounds frightening, doesn’t it? Who could “they” be? A 1984-like government? A terrorist organization? An alien force? Well, according to the author who wrote those words, the “they” are big bad Christians.
Christian Nation by Frederic C. Rich is a new novel which, according to some reviewers, is their worst nightmare, for it details a country in which Christian values are strictly obeyed.
From GoodReads.com,
“They said what they would do, and we did not listen. Then they did what they said they would do.”
So ends the first chapter of this brilliantly readable counterfactual novel, reminding us that America’s Christian fundamentalists have been consistently clear about their vision for a “Christian Nation” and dead serious about acquiring the political power to achieve it. When President McCain dies and Sarah Palin becomes president, the reader, along with the nation, stumbles down a terrifyingly credible path toward theocracy, realizing too late that the Christian right meant precisely what it said.
Upon further reading, one discovers Palin and her Christian force have imposed an authoritarian rule called “The Blessing” upon their subjects, which is enforced by the “Purity Web.”
Here’s some positive feedback from the Ordinary Reader Review section on ReadChristianNation.com:
“A genuinely frightening look at a possible future.” -- Goodreads, July 7
“It’s captivating, realistic, and rather terrifying.” -- Goodreads, June 1
“Very chilling.” -- Goodreads, July 8
I’m sorry, but what exactly is “frightening,” “terrifying,” and “chilling” about praying, going to church, and making sure your kids don’t stumble upon X-rated websites?
I tend to like Betsy Woodruff’s review much better. In a piece for National Review Online, she tears apart this hilariously over-the-top novel page-by-page.
Come for the groundbreaking Evangelical-Christians-are-like-Nazis rhetoric, stay for the mind-numbing dialogue...Rich’s novel is essentially what Atlas Shrugged would have been if it had been conceived by a Freedom from Religion Foundation focus group and edited by Howard Dean.
I hate to tell the author of this book and his frightened readers, but our Christian founding fathers’ ideal of America wasn’t very far off from Rich’s “scary” plot. As most of them were men of God, they most likely knew a country centered on Jesus was the best foundation. Liberals may fear a nation in which a bold conservative woman takes the reigns, but for us conservatives, who fear an overbearing federal government, family values being placed on the back burner and an increased dependency on Uncle Sam -- our nightmare is all too real.
Instead of reading the book, which seems like it would be headache-inducing, watch the hysterical trailer instead: