How the Conservative Right Hijacks Religion
Sosteric exposes how the conservative right co-opts religious symbolism, language, and institutions to promote violence, inequality, and disconnection. Rather than embodying spiritual truth, these political forces deploy religion as a weapon of ideological control—a classic case of Colonial Religion. The analysis focuses on how divine authority is used to justify war, patriarchy, and economic injustice.
Sosteric, M. (2019, July 21). How the conservative right hijacks religion. The Conversation.
- Original URL: https://theconversation.com/how-the-conservative-right-hijacks-religion-109218
- Canonical URL: https://repo.lightningpath.org/articles/journalistic-pieces/the-conversation/files/how_the_conservative_right_hijacks_religion.pdf
- Type: Ideological Analysis / Religious Deconstruction
- Keywords: Colonial Religion, Ideology, Spiritual Abuse, Control, Politics
Theoretical Integration
This article operationalizes several Lightning Path concepts:
- Colonial Religion: The repurposing of spiritual systems to serve elite and political agendas.
- Spiritual Abuse: Exploiting religious forms to foster fear, control, and obedience.
- Ideology: How religious metaphors are converted into tools of false consciousness.
- Control Structures: Conservative religion as a psychological regime for suppressing authentic spiritual connection.
Relevance to Avatar.Global
This article reveals the religio-political mechanisms of disconnection, providing a bridge between Avatar.Global’s work on spiritual healing and its critique of structural power. It is key for understanding how authentic spiritual expression is hijacked and weaponized.
Recommended for:
- Religious studies reformers
- Avatar Global clergy / spiritual educators
- Consciousness scholars analyzing spiritual warfare