THE SEXUAL JIHAD: THE GLOBAL RISE OF SEXUAL AND RELIGIOUS RADICALISM

Stephen Baskerville (skbaskerville@phc.edu)
Professor of Government at Patrick Henry College and Research Fellow at the Howard Center for Family, Religion, and Society and the Independent Institute

Abstract

Since 1989, the two most dynamic ideological trends in global politics have been religious radicalism, especially Islamist, and sexual radicalism, both feminist and homosexualist.  Both have roots in older socialist/Communist ideologies and likewise reject traditional Western Christian values and promise sweeping social transformation.  Both make regulating sexual behavior a high priority.  Though mutually incompatible in content, both aspire to political power at the expense of the traditional Christian West and by controlling the terms of sexuality.  Occasionally, they also make common cause.  Yet political radicalism originated in the West, arguably in English Puritanism, where similarities are seen with today’s Islamism, including the latter’s “puritanical” sexual morality and the alleged 'patriarchal' quality of both movements.  Yet not all forms of religious radicalism regulate sexuality in the same way.  Puritanism led to stability, freedom, and prosperity.  Islamism (so far) has led only to instability, stagnation, and terror.  More research is needed into both the theology and the practical politics to explain why.

Keywords: Islamism, feminism, puritanism, religious radicalism, sexual radicalism, family

Author Biography

Stephen Baskerville is Professor of Government at Patrick Henry College and Research Fellow at the Howard Center for Family, Religion, and Society and the Independent Institute.  He holds a PhD from the London School of Economics and has taught at Howard University and Palacky University in the Czech Republic.  His books include The New Politics of Sex: The Sexual Revolution, Civil Liberties, and the Growth of Governmental Power (Angelico, 2017), Taken Into Custody: The War against Fathers, Marriage, and the Family (Cumberland House, 2007), and Not Peace But a Sword: The Political Theology of the English Revolution (Routledge, 1993; expanded edition, Wipf & Stock, forthcoming).  He is an advisor to the Men’s Health Network, serves on the board of affiliates of Gendercide Watch, serves as contributing editor to the journal, In Search of Fatherhood, and is past managing editor of the International Journal for Religious Freedom.

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