Download The Apocalyptic Worldview Shared by Steve Bannon and ISIS: A

The Apocalyptic Worldview Shared by Steve Bannon and ISIS: A Theological Critique
March 12, 2017
James J. Bacik
Introduction
1. The immense influence of Bannon, the architect of Trump victory
2. Expectations of a final decisive clash between the Judeo-Christian West and the Muslim East
3. Vatican II and Pope Francis offer a theological critique
1. Stephen K. Bannon
A. Life: born into an Irish Catholic family Nov 27, 1953; married divorced three times; 3 adult
daughters; education Virginia Tech, Georgetown MA, Harvard MBA; served in U.S. navy for
seven years; vice-president of investment banking at Goldman Sachs 1984-1990; 1990
started Bannon Co. which was sold in 1998; 1993-1995 worked on a research project on
global warming; produced 18 documentary films including “In the Face of Evil” about Ronald
Reagan as an outsider and “The Undefeated” on Sarah Palin; 2007-2011 CEO of Affinity
Media; 2012-2015 executive chair and founder of the Government Accountability Institute;
2012 he became executive chair of Breitbart News and declared the website “the platform
for the alt-right” and “virulently antiestablishment,” especially the permanent political class;
August 17, 2016 became chief executive of Trump’s presidential campaign and now serves
as senior counselor to President Trump and attend s the National Security Council meetings.
B. Characteristics
1. Intelligent, strong opinions, successful in financial world, embraces elements of the
Catholic tradition, controversial
2. Dislikes: the progressive left, the Republican establishment, the New York Times, the
mainstream media, corporatists
3. Likes: Andrew Jackson as nationalist populist; Putin as very smart traditionalist and
nationalist, the Tea Party; Ronald Reagan as outsider who became president;
traditional Catholicism; the energy of Trump rallies; Brexit and Nigel Farage leader of the
UK Independent Party
C. Politically
1. A revealing event, “the monumental loss” of 2014 of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor
who spent 8 million to a professor evangelical Christian libertarian Dave Brat who raised
$175,000 and claimed Cantor paid too much attention to Wall Street and not enough to
Main Street Brat won 57-43
2. Working class people are tired of elected officials selling out to crony capitalism. This is
a global movement
3. Elections can be won without spending vast sums by tapping the anger of those who
feel left behind, ignored, replaced, falling into minority status
4. Bannon was impressed with a Trump rally seeing him as new Andrew Jackson
5. Strong supporter of Tea Party movement
D.
E.
F.
G.
6. He opposes or ignores traditional Republicans: social conservatives, fiscal conservatives
and military hawks
Economically cf Talk to Human Dignity Institute in the Vatican summer of 2014 by Skype
from Los Angeles
1. Before WWI the world was “at total peace,” trade was good. Christian faith was strong
in Europe
2. After WWII, Capitalism created great wealth, distributed among middle class, creating
many decades of peace a “Pax Americans”
3. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union things have gone downhill and we are now in a
crisis of “our church” of faith, of the West and of capitalism
4. Capitalism three types: State sponsored as in China and Russia aligned with
government and military benefitting only a few; Libertarian, Ayn Rand, Objectivist
School that reduces people to commodities, appeals to young people and quest for
personal freedom: influenced by secularism has lost its Judeo-Christian spiritual roots.
Earlier capitalists were motivated by their Jewish or Christian faith.
Entrepreneurial Capitalism which opposes all forms of crony capitalism and benefits the
working class; the kind favored by the Action Institute a Catholic think tank located
Grand Rapids, Michigan founded 1990 by Fr. Robert Sirico to connect good intentions
with sound economics, has been critical of Pope Francis for not understanding American
capitalism and the great achievements of capitalism in reducing poverty.
5. Bannon calls himself “ a pragmatic capitalist” a hard headed business man
6. Very critical of the Obama bailout of the financial industry and that none of the greedy
people who caused the 2008 Great Recession were prosecuted
7. Supports economic nationalism, America first – for bilateral trade deals; against NAFTA
and ATP
Charges of prejudice
1. Most charges that Bannon is anti-Semitic and racist stem from articles that appeared on
Breitbart which he himself called a platform for alt-right (white nationalism as
promoters of European Americans) also a deposition by his ex-wife that he did not want
his kids going to a school with a lot of Jewish kids ( a charge denied by Bannon). The
Anti-Defamation League denounced him for his connection to the alt-right but admitted
they knew of no anti-Semitic statements he made
2. Close Jewish co-workers say they never heard any anti-Semitic comments and that
Breitbart opposed the Iran nuclear deal and consistently supported the State of Israel;
Alan Dershowitz sees no evidence Bannon is anti-Semitic. Bannon consistently speaks of
the Judeo-Christian tradition and speaks positively of Jewish capitalists. He admits the
prejudice in the alt-right but says “it will wash out” over time.
Globalization and New Tribalism
1. He fears that globalism hurts common people economically and culturally
2. Advocates a new American tribalism (America first)
Relation to Cardinal Raymond Burke
1. The New York Times in a Feb 7, 2016 article claimed Bannon, in Rome for the
canonization of John Paul II, met with Cardinal Burke and bonded on a similar
worldview; Islam threatening to overrun the West weakened by the erosion of
2.
3.
traditional Christian values; seeing themselves as unjustly ostracized by political elites.
The article claims Bannon called Pope Francis a “socialist/communist” who is asking
working people in Europe to “get out of the way” to accommodate immigrants.
Writings in Crux by John Allen plays down the connection between Bannon and Burke
noting they have met only once, are not really friends, have different agendas and
Burke is not helpful to Bannon in influencing the pope
Massimo Faggioli, professor of theology at Villanova sees Bannon and Burke united in
rejection of Vatican II developments and the worldview of Pope Francis. Bannon
presence in the White House can embolden Catholics to oppose Francis who challenges
the idea of American supremacy based on military and economic superiority.
II. Bannon and Islam
A. Bannon
1. We are at “the beginning stages of a global war against Islamic fascism.”
2. Islam is not a religious but a political ideology; it is not “a religion of peace: it is a religion
of submission.”
3. In 2007, he wrote a proposal for a film, “Great Satan” (never produced) worrying that
Islam could take over the United States and remaking it into “the Islamic States of
America”. The takeover would be engineered by subversive Muslim groups already in
the United States, enabled by the media and government agencies appeasing Islamic
jihadists. The film would show the intolerances of sharia law, the secret workings of
Islamic front groups.
4. We need Christians today to take an aggressive militant stand against Islam as they did
in the past at Tours in 732 Charles Martel defeated the Umayya Caliphate preventing
Muslims from taking over all of Europe
5. We are moving toward an Apocalyptic final clash between the Christian West and
Muslim East
6. ISIS has appropriated Western technology especially social media for its own purposes
to recruit etc.
7. He has a pre-Vatican II notion of Islam as the enemy
8. There are echoes of Samuel Huntington’s The Clash of Civilization that after the cold war
future conflicts will be rooted in culture and religion
B. ISIS Leaders cf by Graeme Wood in The Atlantic “What ISIS Really Wants”
1. The world is moving rapidly toward a final battle between the Islamic caliphate and the
Christian West (the armies of Rome)
2. In one version a great battle will occur in Dabiq near Allepo with an Islamic victory and
the expansion of the Islamic Caliphate. But an anti-Messiah figure will come and kill
most of Muslim warriors leaving 5,000 cornered in Jerusalem but Jesus reappears to
lead the Muslims to a final victory
3. Whatever the details, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and other leaders do hold an apocalyptic
vision of the great clash between Islam and the West
4. They justify random violence as a catalyst for the final showdown
5. Many Muslim scholars reject this viewpoint as totally Un-Islamic with no valid basis in
the tradition
III. An alternative view of Christianity and Islam
A. Christian viewpoint
1. Vatican II takes a positive view of Islam as a vehicle of truth and goodness; the belief in one God
shared by 3 monotheistic religions, the importance of dialogue and the need for collaboration
for world peace. The Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) challenged this popular view in its
Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religious (Nostra Aetate). The
declaration notes that the Church has “a high regard for Muslims” who worship the one God
and submit themselves without reserve” to the divine will as did Abraham. Although Muslims
do not acknowledge the divinity of Jesus they do venerate him as a prophet and honor Mary as
his virgin Mother. They “highly esteem an upright life and worship God, especially by way of
prayer, alms-deeds and fasting,” while awaiting the “reward of God following the resurrection of
the dead.” Recognizing the many quarrels in the past, the Council urges “a sincere effort” to
achieve “mutual understanding” which will promote “peace, liberty, social justice and moral
values.”
2. Pope Francis: “Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters.” We must say no to “violence
which is perpetuated in the name of a religion and of God himself.” Muslims “believe that no
one can place a limit on divine mercy.”
3. Pope Francis: on globalization which is good if it unites people while respecting personal and
cultural differences; it is bad if it destroys the richness of local cultures. In the New York Times
article (March 5, 2017) Austin Ivereigh says Francis confirmed Bannon’s claim that the United
States is “not an economy just in some global marketplace with open borders” but is “a nation
with a culture and a reason for being.” On the other hand, the pope would criticize Bannon’s
American nationalism (his new American tribalism) for restricting refugee access. We could say
Francis would only accept a tribalism with a compassionate human face and not one that builds
wall and imposes tariffs.
B. Muslim viewpoint
1. At the end of the 2007 Ramadan fast, 138 Muslim leaders sent a letter entitled A Common
Word Between Us and You to Pope Benedict
2. The opening paragraph points out that Muslims and Christians together constitute well over
half of the world’s population and insists that “there can be no meaningful peace in the
world” without “peace and justice between these two religious communities”
3. The letter goes on to argue at length that the solid basis for ongoing dialogue and
collaboration is our common commitment to loving the one God wholeheartedly and to
loving our neighbor as ourselves
4. The authors have identified genuine common ground between Christians and Muslims that
is solidly rooted in our sacred texts. Love of God and love of neighbor are essential core
elements in both traditions and form a firm foundation for dialogue and collaboration on
behalf of justice and peace in the world
5. In Islam, love of God is “not a mere fleeting, partial emotion;” it is “an injunction requiring
all-embracing constant and active love of God” inspired by frequent repetition of the
formula, “there is no god but God”
6. The authors of the letter express their belief that it can be equated with the first and
greatest commandment taught by Jesus to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
strength (Mk 12:28-29) Remarkably, they even suggest that Muhammad was “perhaps,
through inspiration, restating and alluding to the Bible’s First Commandment”
For Muslims, love of neighbor is an essential and integral part of faith in God,” because in
Islam without love of the neighbor there is no true faith in God and no righteousness.”
Muhammad insisted: “None of you has faith until you love for your brother what you love
for yourself.”
The letter points to a similar teaching in the Bible, recalling the teaching of Jesus that the
second great commandment is like the first: You shall love your neighbor as yourself (MT
22:38-40) – a command found also in the Hebrew Scriptures (Lev 19:17-18)
The Muslim authors of the letter want all Christians to know “that we are not against them
and that Islam is not against them” -- as long as they do not wage war or oppress Muslims.
They also suggest that Christians need not be against Muslims, citing the saying of Jesus:
“For he who is not against us is on our side.” (Mk 9:40)
“If Muslims and Christians are not at peace, the world cannot be at peace.”
To those who “relish conflict and destruction” in itself or as a tactical weapon, “we say that
our very eternal souls are at stake if we fail to sincerely make every effort to make peace
and come together in harmony.” Our differences must not cause “hatred and strife
between us.” “Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works. Let us
respect each other, be fair, just and kind to another and live in sincere peace, harmony and
mutual good will.”