Where Is The Right on Radical Christian Extremism?

Last week at Word of Life Christian Church in Upstate New York, a 19 year-old man named Lucas Leonard was beaten to death by his own parents. The assault (which also left his 17-year-old brother Christopher in critical condition) came after a "counseling session" and was provoked by the desire of the parishioners for the boys to confess sins and ask for forgiveness. According to one account , the elder Leonard had confessed to practicing witchcraft.

Former members of the church have spoken out about the founder and former pastor, whose wife and children remain in leadership, painting a picture of paranoia, fear, and textbook cult-like control techniques.

Chadwick Handville, a former member of Word of Life, details some of the traits of the late founder Jerry Irwin: "He accused every male of lusting after his wife." Other abuses included personal attacks against parishioners and forcing congregants to do renovation work on Irwin's apartment.

Handville also said that there are other former members who are afraid to speak out against the church for fear of retaliation.

We're going to switch gears a little bit, but I have a point to make here, I promise.

Remember at the second Republican debate (the one on CNN ), when it seemed like every candidate mentioned the importance of the phrase, "radical Islamic extremism"?

It was meant mostly as a dig at president Obama, who has resisted calling out Islam in such terms.

Let's put aside for now the absurdity that these people believe that somehow using the phrase "radical Islamic extremism" will somehow make a difference in the War on Terror, as if ISIS and Al-Qaeda are Muslim Rumpelstiltskins.

Every time there is a terror attack perpetrated by a Muslim, Americans (especially on the right) decry the alleged silence of moderate Muslim voices. "Moderate Muslims should speak out against this kind of thing," they whine.

First of all, they do . Every . Single . Time.

But okay, let's grant that it is incredibly important for a religion's moderate voices to condemn violence done in that religion's name and extremism among its adherents. That should not be controversial.

The problem is that in America, it's not the moderate Muslims who fail time and time again to decry extremism in their religion. It's moderate Christians.

Calling the GOP presidential candidates "moderate" is a stretch, I know, but we're differentiating them from the types of people who beat their children to death for witchcraft. Progressive Christians do call out this madness, and often.

But progressive Christianity is not the strongest voice among Christians in America. For better or for worse (actually, just for worse) that distinction belongs to conservative, evangelical, and fundamental Christians.

I would love to hear a single GOP presidential hopeful decry the radical Christian extremism that led to this young man's death. Or the Christian terrorist group Army of God, which has been bombing, threatening, and attacking abortion clinics since 1982.

Or maybe they'd like to take on Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army beyond a "Kony 2012" hashtag. And while they're at it, The Concerned Christians, who planned to attack Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem in 1999, are just begging to be denounced.

The silence from not just Republican presidential candidates, but conservative clergy and Republican voters in general, says more about them than words ever could.

They recognize something in this radical Christian extremism that, while not an exact reflection, is eerily close to their own beliefs and ideals.

The beliefs that LGBT people, and women in general, are lesser people than straight men. The complete and utter denial of the reality of the vicious legacy of white supremacy, which amounts to an endorsement. The faith in a murderous, evil God that punishes people with eternal torment for who they are or what they believe or who they love.

So while Christianity lacks a concept of "jihad," radical Christian extremism is just as twisted, sinister, and dangerous as its Islamic cousin. The only difference is that the Christians have learned to hide in plain sight and convince people that their hatred is normal.

Extremism is terrible no matter what religion it uses as a cover. But maybe before denouncing the evils of Islam, conservative Christians should take a good look into the abyss and see that the abyss is staring right back at them.

In the interest of full disclosure, the author of this piece is, in fact, a Christian.