The religious right would like you to think that all it wants is a place at the table for socially conservative Americans. But every once in awhile, a religious right activist reveals what he and his compatriots really want–to turn this country into a Christianized version of the Islamic State or Taliban-era Afghanistan. One of those times came a few days before Christmas, when one of the movement’s rising stars called for a ban on yoga.
Theodore “Ted” Shoebat is the son of Walid Shoebat, a convert from Islam to Christianity who is frequently trotted out by right-wing outlets as an “expert” on the supposed dangers of Islam. The elder Shoebat claims to be a former PLO terrorist who threw a bomb at an Israeli bank in the late 1970s, but investigations by CNN and The Jerusalem Post have proven that Walid is a bald-faced liar who is simply in it for the money.
Well, his son has recently gained notice of his own for statements that make him sound little different from ISIS or the Taliban. People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch has assembled an extensive dossier on Shoebat; check it out here. To give you an idea what makes this guy tick, he has openly called for gays, feminists, atheists, Muslims and others to be executed unless they “leave their wicked ways under coercion.” He has also openly praised Donald Trump for his call to ban all Muslims from entering this country, calling it “the epitome of American values.” He also thinks Trump’s plan to kill ISIS families would be “a Biblical solution.”
When Shoebat learned that several Hindu radicals in India had brutally disemboweled a native Baptist pastor before burning him to death for refusing to convert to Hinduism, he hit the ceiling. Right Wing Watch got a clip.
Shoebat contended that what happened to that pastor is why Christians shouldn’t try to coexist with “these evil religions.” Instead, we should go back to the days of “when Christendom was Christendom,” and completely destroy any trace of non-Christian religion. He added that if he were a dictator of a Christian nation, he would invade India and forcibly convert the population to Christianity.
As far as Shoebat is concerned, Hinduism must be completely “uprooted from the earth.” One of the first steps would be to ban yoga.
“Yoga? Outlawed. And anyone who teaches yoga? Punished by the state. You need to be punished.”
In Shoebat’s view, yoga is no different from cocaine, and anyone practicing yoga should get the same treatment as a drug dealer–complete with SWAT team raids.
“I think the U. S. government needs to crack down on this evil, demonic thing called yoga and treat it like it’s a drug. Seriously, treat it like it’s a drug. You’re teaching yoga, have the SWAT team bust open the doors to that place and just arrest everybody.”
In the original video, Shoebat whines that his critics have denounced him as being no different from ISIS for expressing “very adequate, very efficient, very prudent ideas.” Well, Ted, when some of those ideas include a modern-day Inquisition to eradicate gays around the world, you deserve to be called out as the fascist that you are. And when you openly call for “a Christian supremacist society,” you deserve to be called out as the fascist that you are. Fascism is fascism, whether it’s hiding behind a cross or a crescent.
Why does this matter, you ask? Well, when religious right leaders are either behind closed doors or believe that only their followers area Christian supremacist society,” you deserve to be called out as the fascist that you are. listening, the masks fall off quickly, and their true agenda is revealed in full. Behind the friendly faces of people like Tony Perkins, Mat Staver, and other supposedly mainstream religious right leaders lurks the sinister face of Ted Shoebat.
Let Shoebat know what you think of his outrageous sentiments on Facebook and on Twitter–but please, be civil. We’re of better stuff than him, remember.
