Your Email:

Subject:

Message:
Entry: The Neocons and Charles Maurras Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/leo_strauss_the_neocons_and_charles_maurras#6734 Post contents: "But I’m not sure who in the neocon or Straussian fold resembles Maurras as a seducer of once faithful Christians?" - Professor Gottfried First of all, Professor Gottfried, my sincere thanks for this interesting essay and for your most recent book, which I have just finished reading. It is my observation that Christian Zionism and other aspects of fundamentalist Protestantism as well as neo-conservatism are seducing once faithful Christians. In the case of Christian Zionism and other Protestant heresies, it is mainly a process of cultural osmosis combined to a certain extent with a "guilt trip" reaction to anti-Semitism which leads to the oft said but untrue statement among Catholics - "We don't convert Jews any more". But in the case of neo-conservatism, we do indeed have our Maurrasians - George Weigel and his colleagues Fr. Richard Neuhaus and Michael Novak, among others. Weigel has proposed changing the just war theology to include as a just cause a possible future threat to the commonwealth. He also criticizes the bishops for stating that there should be a presumption in favor of peace. Weigel clearly presumes in favor of war. His is court theology for the Bush regime and the neo-cons. His influence is such that many Catholics think that just war theology has already changed - because of 9/11. The bishops have failed to stand up to this particular heresy because they have been discredited and are now shell-shocked by the reaction to the sex abuse scandal. This has been pointed out by Catholic military analyst Andrew Bacevich in his book The New American Militarism. With the bishops in full CYA mode, the neo-cons are the only ones who speak with authority, however spurious. Sent at: 2008 05 16