Rick Santorum and the Selling of Hate and Fear

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I will take it as point of favor in this series discussing Sean Faircloth's new atheist political strategy that it is showing itself relevant to current events.

Point 6 on Faircloth's strategy is that the secular and atheist communities need to reclaim moral language.

In my comments on that point, I argued that secular and atheist communities need to more effectively and emphatically counter the claim that without a god there is no foundation for morality.

(See: Atheist Ethicist Atheism and Lacking a Moral Foundation)

We treat this as if it is merely another false proposition. We ignore the fact that it is a false proposition with a purpose. It aims to socially promote or elevate one social group who hold it by selling hatred and fear of a target group.

We treat it like the false claim that the Earth is 6000 years old, when we should be treating it like the false claim that Jews are "Christ killers."

Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum gave a speech on Wednesday in which he said the following:

They are taking faith and crushing it. Why? Why? When you marginalize faith in America, when you remove the pillar of God-given rights, then what’s left is the French Revolution. What’s left is the government that gives you right, what’s left are no unalienable rights, what’s left is a government that will tell you who you are, what you’ll do and when you’ll do it. What’s left in France became the guillotine. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re a long way from that, but if we do and follow the path of President Obama and his overt hostility to faith in America, then we are headed down that road.

(See: Santorum: Obama Putting America On ‘Path’ Of Executing Religious People)

There is no moral difference between standing in front of a crowd and giving this speech, then standing in front of a crowd and saying:

The Jews killed Jesus Christ. The murdered our savior. And if they could they would certainly murder your children as well. They will take your innocent children and murder them for their blood - so that they can use their blood in their religious services. We are a long ways from that now. However, if we follow our current path - if you do not hand the reigns of political power over to me - then we are headed down that road.

Both sets of claims are mistakes.

However, they are not mere mistakes. They are mistakes that serve a political and social function. They are mistakes that serve to promote one group by uniting them in fear and hatred if another.

Secularists and atheists have a habit of reacting to claims like those of Santorum as mere factual errors. They shake their heads and say, "Obviously he does not understand the philosophical points raised in Plato's Euthyphro argument, and he is perhaps unaware of the secular moral theories that have dominated the philosophical literature for the past 400 years."

This may be true.

It may be false. Santorum is an intelligent human being and I would actually be surprised to discover that he is not aware of these responses.

However, one of the things he definitely understands - perhaps as a conscious strategy, perhaps intuitively without much conscious thought - is the political power of hate. He understands the political effects of using hate and fear as a way of promoting himself and his political faction.

Santorum is a hate-monger. Buy my hate. Buy my hate and send your cash payments to Rick Santorum for President.

Like any good businessman, he sells his product to meet a current demand. There is more than enough survey and market data to show that there is a current demand to be met.

Also, like any good businessman, he seeks to grow that demand. He seeks to put his organization to work selling this hate to people who, at first, might be reluctant to buy - but also potentially willing to buy. Let us not pretend that the world consists solely of people who buy hate and those who never will. People are more varied than that.

The new atheist political strategy has to include an active campaign to fight this hate-mongering. Atheists have no more hope of having a political voice in a society sold on hatred of atheists have no moral foundation than Jews can expect in a society that embraces the charge of "Christ killer" and blood libel.

If it is to be challenged, this hate has to be recognized for what it is - and for what it is not. It is not just a mistake. It is a mistake with a social and political function - to politically and socially marginalize atheists while promoting the political and social standing of those who "have faith". It is an act of using hate and fear to obtain political and social goals.