Let’s reject religious extremism and ultra-nationalism

Our News Wire newsletter is your weekly dose of local news, arts, and culture every Thursday.

Send me local news!

I’m still hearing echoes of the Dec. 20 San Luis Obispo Master Chorale concert, when I joined the chorus and the entire sold-out audience in Miossi Hall to sing the magnificent Handel’s Messiah:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)

At this troubled time, who could object to this vision placing government “upon (the) shoulder” of this “Prince of Peace”? 

Let’s acknowledge some objections: The Constitution guarantees us freedom of religion. And non-Christians might prefer their government to be based on the Jewish call for reconciliation in the Talmud, or the compassion of the Buddha. Muslims may desire a government based on the core principles found in the Quran. Hindus would ask for a government that resonates with melodious Sanskrit verses of the Upanishads. Many Chinese find a grounding for government in the tranquility and unity of Confucianism. 

Americans’ level of religious belief ranks significantly higher than most other nationalities, but the reality is that religiosity in the U.S. is on the decline. 

Yet even as organized “mainstream” religion declines, we’re seeing a rise in religious extremism and the violence associated with fanatical devotion: 

• Earlier this month, a father and son team radicalized by Islamic State propaganda targeted a Jewish celebration on Bondi Beach in Australia, killing 15 and injuring 40 with high-powered weapons. 

• White supremacists, often radicalized by Christian nationalist organizations like Christian Identity, have committed mass shootings as recently as 2022 with a terrorist attack on a Buffalo, New York, supermarket that left 10 dead and three injured. In 1995, this movement claimed 168 with Timothy McVeigh’s bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

• From the anti-colonial, anti-fascist far left, terrorist threats have also risen in recent years: Just two weeks ago, the FBI announced arrests of four bomb-makers in the Mojave Desert associated with the “Turtle Island Liberation Front.” They are alleged to have targeted two U.S. businesses as well as agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

Whatever the source of religious terrorism, one must ask: Why it is that such real-world struggles involve religion in the first place? Isn’t our instinct to seek solace in a church—or in a synagogue, a temple, or a shrine—a virtuous feature of humanity? How and why does religious faith drive some to engage in seemingly mindless acts of violence?

We might seek an answer just down the road at UCSB, where distinguished professor Mark Juergensmeyer has taught global studies for more than 30 years. He suggests that religious fanatics turn to violence when three conditions are present:

1. The struggle is perceived as a defense of basic identity and dignity.

2. Losing such a struggle would be unthinkable.

3. The struggle is perceived to be unwinnable using “normal” civic processes.

Nowhere were these three conditions more on display than in last weekend’s “AmericaFest” conference with Turning Point USA. Amid a rancorous exchange of insults, every speaker issued jeremiads citing the “victimhood” of white Christians. This crowd of devout Christians painted an apocalyptic scenario of national decline under the oppressive weight of multi-culturalism and the rules-based international order. They seemed heaven-bent on conducting a crusade against those heathen infidels invading our borders and infecting our children with “woke” ideology. 

No speech highlighted this sense of messianic struggle for “the American identity” better than the closing remarks by Vice-President JD Vance: He ranted about a “war … on Christians and Christianity in the U.S.” He signaled “Christian identity” followers with this barely disguised dog whistle: “A true Christian politics … must be at the heart of our full understanding of government.”

Vance railed against Somali immigrants in Minnesota; he bragged about having “relegated DEI to the dustbin of history, which is exactly where it belongs.” And he boasted that “in the United States of America you don’t have to apologize for being white again.” 

Here in SLO County, we have our own example of a Christian ultra-nationalist in the office of elected District Attorney Dan Dow. Last month, Dow re-tweeted an inflammatory post tying New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to the 9/11 attacks by Muslim extremists. 

That post drew a rebuke from one of Dow’s erstwhile allies, Dr. Rushdi Cader. A physician and consultant to law enforcement on religious extremism, he published an opinion column that, in his view, Mamdani is “a man of great integrity and noble intent.” Dr. Cader pointed out that Mamdani was 9 years old at the time of the 9/11 attack, and noted that Dow’s attempt “to attach (Mamdani’s) mayoral victory in New York to this sinister incident is grossly inaccurate and offensive.” 

Rushdi is (full disclosure!) both a neighbor and a good friend; he has called for Dow to publicly apologize. No such apology has come. 

I’ll close this column with Dr. Cader’s own words from that column: “May the rifts in our nation continue to close … may we endeavor to see the good in one another. … Diversity of both background and belief is our greatest strength as an ‘American’ people. May God’s peace be upon our nation. May we be united in purpose, around the principles of our Constitution, and may we all see it as our calling to enjoin what is good and prevent what is harmful.”

This Christmas season, I urge my fellow Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, and “nones” to heed this call for unity within our diversity, for respect of all religious faiths, and to reject all forms of bigotry and ultra-nationalism that incite violence. ∆

Respond to John Ashbaugh with your own letter to the editor or commentary by sending it to letters@newtimesslo.com.

This article appears in Dec 25, 2025 – Jan 1, 2026.