Mind Siege

Mind Siege: The Battle for Truth in the New Millennium is a book written by evangelist Christian ministers David Noebel and Timothy LaHaye (co-author of the ghastly Left Behind series) pushing a particular conspiracy theory involving secular humanism. It was published in 2000.

The book argues, apparently seriously, that there are a vast number of groups involved in the conspiracy to "turn America into an amoral, humanist country, ripe for merger into a one-world socialist state"!

The list is endless!
According to the book, the quite remarkable list of "secret societies" and liberal groups working to destroy "every vestige of Christianity" include: the Trilateral Commission, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Organization for Women, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Association of Biology Teachers, Planned Parenthood, the "major TV networks, high-profile newspapers, and news magazines", the United States Department of State, the major philanthropic foundations, the World Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches, the United Nations, UNESCO, the "left wing of the Democratic Party", the Democratic Socialists of America, Harvard, Yale, and "2,000 other colleges and universities".

We must act!
Against such a vast left-wing conspiracy, American society is clearly doomed, and LaHaye and Noebel have a message for the 80 million evangelical Christians in the US. They must remove the evil humanists from public office! Their battle cry is apparently: "No humanist is fit to hold office."

They insist that:


 * Only fundamentalists should be elected.
 * That conservative judges should be appointed.
 * That funding for the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Department of Education, and other "humanist" agencies should be cut.

On the face of it, they would seem to be arguing for something along the lines of dominionism.

Reality
In general, humanists in the United States of central North America feel themselves to be a somewhat weak minority. Surveys tend to be unreliable, but the American Humanist Association estimates that humanists could account for around 20% of the 18-25 year old group, but probably much fewer in older groups where the power to enact such a complex and wide-ranging conspiracy would lie. To suggest that they are behind such an overwhelming conspiracy is beyond absurd, perhaps trumped in ridiculousness only by the idea that every one of these humanists is a foot-soldier in some vast and secret war on Christianity. Using such a conspiracy as a "call to arms" could be taken as yet further evidence that the religious right in the US operate almost entirely on fearmongering and paranoia.