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Post by Admin on Sept 26, 2022 16:43:48 GMT
3 Threats Christian Nationalism Poses to the United States Andrew Whitehead www.msn.com/en-gb/news/editorpicks/3-threats-christian-nationalism-poses-to-the-united-states/ar-AA12ftUeIn a recent national poll, researchers found that a majority of Republicans favor declaring the United States a Christian nation. In July, Marjorie Taylor Greene made waves on social media when she claimed Republicans should proudly embrace Christian nationalism. Politicians like Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano have increasingly used Christian nationalist rhetoric on the campaign trail, likely due to seeing how well it worked for Trump. It is clear more people are paying attention to and using the term; there were more tweets including “Christian nationalism” in July of 2022 than in all of 2021 combined. But what is “Christian nationalism” and is it really worth the fuss? Christian nationalism refers to an ideology that asserts all civic life in the U.S. should be organized according to a particularly conservative and ethnocentric expression of Christianity. Christian nationalism is more than theological or religious beliefs. It includes several cultural assumptions including: Strict moral traditionalism focused on sustaining social hierarchies. Comfort with authoritarian control—exercised by the “right” people—that includes the threat and use of violence. A desire for strict ethno-racial boundaries around who is a “true” American, where non-white and non-natural born citizens are viewed as unworthy of full participation in American civic life. (This is why many label it white Christian nationalism) Christian nationalism centers and privileges the white, Christian experience. It believes the founders of the U.S. were conservative, white Christian men intent on founding a country where they and others like them could lead and flourish. Now, many Americans believe Christianity played an important role in the founding period or that the founding fathers were religious in one way or another. No reputable historian disputes these claims. However, Christian nationalism moves well beyond such observations. It views this particular expression of Christianity as the undisputed framework of the U.S. and wants all levels of the government to preserve that framework. This means that Christian nationalism does not want a government for the people by the people. It wants a government for a particular people, by a particular people. Namely, politically and religiously conservative white American Christians. Survey after survey show between 15-20 percent of Americans strongly embrace the tenets of Christian nationalism, while another one-third support it, albeit less fervently. Perhaps now we can sense the danger Christian nationalism poses to the U.S. if it sees our country as primarily for the benefit of a small subset of the overall population. A burgeoning collection of recent social science research provides evidence of the threats Christian nationalism poses and here I will identify three. Christian nationalism is anti-democratic Christian nationalism is about power. Power in the “right” hands to ensure the U.S. fulfills its covenant with God. However, democracy demands we share power. This places Christian nationalism at odds with democracy. Americans who embrace Christian nationalism want to ensure the country does not turn its back on God. So when the political winds turn against stances they see as endorsed by God, they must do all they can to stand for what they see as the ultimate good. Candidates like Mastriano are willing to set aside democracy itself, ignoring the results of fair and free elections, to fulfill their interpretations of God’s commands. This is why in one recent study we find that Americans who embrace Christian nationalism are more likely to: Deny voter suppression is a problem Believe it is “too easy to vote” in the U.S. Believe voter fraud is rampant Support having to pass a civics test in order to vote Support laws that would disenfranchise anyone who committed certain crimes And the national poll showing a majority of Republicans favor declaring the United States a Christian nation referenced above? It found Republicans support this stance despite recognizing such a move would be unconstitutional. The anti-democratic propensities of Christian nationalism preserves the unequal access to the political process enjoyed by white, natural-born, conservative Christian citizens. Moves to expand who can pull the levers of power imperils this access. Therefore, Christian nationalism will discard democracy, if necessary. Christian nationalism perpetuates racism Various recent books demonstrate how white Christianity in the U.S. was a key part of the creation and preservation of racial hierarchies. White Christian nationalism served as the ideological mortar that allowed for the walls of racial division and inequality to be built, brick by brick. Today it perpetuates these systems. Recent research shows Christian nationalism obscures the origins of racial inequality by allowing some to consider the current state of affairs as “just the way things are” or attributing racial inequality to personal or individual shortcomings of Black Americans. In fact, for white Americans, Christian nationalism is linked to affirming whites are the real victims. Christian nationalism is also directly linked to blaming Black Americans when police use deadly force. According to the ideology of Christian nationalism, the negative experiences of racial and ethnic minorities in our country are mere distractions bent on sowing division. Christian nationalism approves of political violence Comfort with violence is a natural byproduct of Christian nationalism’s obsession with power. At times, the only way to get people to do what they should—as God commanded—is with the use (or threat) of force. Embracing Christian nationalism is a leading predictor of which Americans believe the riots at the Capitol on January 6th were justified and that violence is acceptable in advancing political goals. Christian nationalism is also closely linked to believing true American patriots may have to resort to physical violence in order to save the U.S. These findings suggest that to a subset of the American population, January 6th was no mere aberration. The next time we hear anyone confidently declare “true Americans” and “faithful Christians” should embrace Christian nationalism, or that the outcomes of elections are battles of biblical proportions of good versus evil, we can remember how Christian nationalism is anti-democratic, perpetuates racism, and approves of political violence. These three threats are especially concerning when a national poll shows a majority of one political party favors declaring the U.S. a Christian nation. It is vital we identify and help others recognize the threats Christian nationalism poses if we want to move closer to a country that truly exemplifies liberty and justice for all.
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Post by Admin on Oct 3, 2022 18:41:53 GMT
MAGA Christian—I Can’t See Jesus in You MAY 3, 2017 / JOHN PAVLOVITZ johnpavlovitz.com/2017/05/03/help-me-christian-i-cant-see-jesus/Dear MAGA Christian, I have a problem that maybe you can help me with. I keep hearing you tell me that I need Jesus; that he is my only hope, that he is the one who saves, that the best life available here is lived by knowing him. Many of you have spoken to me with great affection about that moment you found this Jesus, and the joy that came into your heart—and it all sounds quite beautiful. My problem, is that I’ve read the words of this Jesus and they are fully compelling and they speak deeply into my heart, but when I turn away from them and look at you—I can’t see him anymore. I can’t see the “Do to others as you would have them do to you” Jesus, as I watch you bullying the LGBTQ community as they live and work and worship. I can’t see the “Blessed are the peacemakers” Jesus, in the angry war rhetoric of your preachers toward the Muslim-Americans living alongside you. I can’t see the “Love your neighbor as yourself” Jesus, as you strain to hoard freedom and privilege and rights from those who worship or love or believe differently than you. I can’t see the “You cannot serve both God and money” Jesus, in the way you accumulate wealth and chase opulence and strive for power. I can’t see the “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Jesus, as you turn away from those seeking refuge from brutality here on these shores. I can’t see the “Why are you so afraid, do you still have no faith?” Jesus, in your terrified sermons that suggest you are always under siege, always needing defense. I can’t see the “For God so loved the world” Jesus, in your rabid Nationalism and flag-waving America First fervor and contempt for foreigners. I can’t see the “Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone” Jesus, as you expend so much energy to hurl condemnation and generate vitriol toward so much of the world. I can’t see the “Turn the other cheek” Jesus, in your grudges and your resentments, and in your desire to make others pay for their supposed offenses to God or to you. I can’t see the “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” Jesus, as you battle over doctrine and denomination, and war with other Christians. I can’t see the “Do not judge, or you too will be judged” Jesus, as you continually wield an inventory of the transgressions of others, that you claim merit their damnation and warrant their exclusion. I can’t see the feeding of the multitudes Jesus, as you neglect the hungry in your own neighborhoods while you live with overflow. I can’t see the healing of the sick Jesus, in your silence as the sickest and poorest are being stripped of care. I can’t see the washing the feet Jesus in you refusal to bend to serve those around you who are hurting and suffering and grieving. I can’t see the “Let your light shine before all men.” Jesus in your gatherings and in your lives and in the way you treat me. And if I can’t see this Jesus clearly through those who claim to know him, who profess to be of him, I will have to assume that this Jesus is imaginary. I will be left to conclude that this search is fruitless and to give it up entirely. I am looking at you, MAGA Christian—and I am trying to see Jesus. Show him to me.
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Post by Admin on Oct 4, 2022 20:34:52 GMT
American Christians are making their faith worse — and our politics worse: conservative Opinion by Raw Story www.msn.com/en-gb/news/editorpicks/american-christians-are-making-their-faith-worse-and-our-politics-worse-conservative/ar-AA12ALypEvangelical churches are splintering under the strain of politics, and a longtime conservative said the mingling of faith and partisanship has been a disaster. More than 40 percent of evangelical pastors have said they've considered leaving their ministry, and The Bulwark's Paul Wehner said that political divisions within their congregations have worn them down and turning Christians against one another. "I reached out to probably thirty or forty pastors and theologians, and what was interesting to me is I didn’t get a single dissenting voice in terms of the divisions and the acrimony that’s rising within evangelical churches, splitting them apart," Wehner said. "A lot of it is political, but some of it is just stuff that’s in the air. It’s just a tropism to our disagreement in temperance and antipathy." Most evangelical Christians say with complete sincerity that their faith is the most important thing in their life, Wehner said, but he said partisanship has warped what that means. IN OTHER NEWS: Ketanji Brown Jackson levels long-standing conservative claims against voting laws "Increasingly core to a lot of people in the Christian faith, and particularly in the white evangelical world, is politics and culture," Wehner said, "and in a sense, faith is engrafted. It’s a secondary issue. A friend of mine uses the term 'hood ornament — that faith becomes a hood ornament: It validates these pre-existing attitudes and ideologies. But the way it’s being done is that people are unaware of it, because they’re going through and, in my experience and in my observations, is they’re proof-texting their preordained political, cultural, sociological beliefs, and then saying this is what the Bible says." "When that happens, it can really become dangerous for politics and for faith, because you’re taking already intense issues and passions and divisions and you’re overlaying on that the sense that I have the imprimatur of God on this," he added, "and then you’re in a struggle of the children of light and the children of darkness, and we need politics to have the temperature turned down, not up. I’m afraid to say, and sad to say, that for a lot of American Christians, they’ve made not just their faith worse, but our politics worse, and it’s a terrible witness for the church and for the claims of being followers of Jesus."
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Post by Admin on Nov 20, 2022 19:16:41 GMT
Army of lawyers give free advice to far-right, politicized pastors Lynda Edwards, Investigative Reporter www.msn.com/en-gb/news/politics/army-of-lawyers-give-free-advice-to-far-right-politicized-pastors/ar-AA14kquAWhen conservative white evangelical preachers denounce ex-Pres. Donald Trump's law-abiding, Christian political opponents as Satanic baby traffickers, they are violating a Constitutional Amendment designed to ensure the separation of Church and state. Signed into law in 1954 by Pres. Dwight Eisenhower, the bipartisan Johnson Amendment forbids tax-exempt churches, religious schools, and 501c3 nonprofit charities from endorsing or opposing political candidates or raising money for political campaigns. If a ministry violates the amendment, the IRS is supposed to revoke its tax-exempt status and require it to pay taxes. That seldom happens. "The Johnson Amendment is a toothless tiger," attorney and Liberty Counsel founder Matthew Staver told Raw Story. Liberty Counsel offers pro bono lawyers to conservative pastors fighting battles against abortion, same-sex and COVID vaccinations. "No church has ever lost its tax exemption as a result of this amendment. This Johnson Amendment will eventually be repealed. If the IRS ever tries to enforce the amendment, it will be ruled unconstitutional under the First Amendment." The amendment was not controversial when it was passed. Republicans and Democrats crafted it to serve two purposes that the founding fathers wanted: preventing bogus 'holy wars' by churches condemning others for political purposes. And the amendment allowed houses of worship to spend their money on charitable causes in their communities without the burden of taxes. Florida-based Liberty Counsel is classified by the IRS as a tax-exempt ministry although it does not list food pantries, helping the disabled, staffing homeless shelters or other charitable outreach among its services. Last Saturday, as Floridians were digging out of hurricane debris, Liberty Counsel posted an urgent alert on its website that slams Rev. Ralph Warnock, Georgia's Democratic Senator headed to a December runoff election. "URGENT UPDATE: The U.S. Senate returns on Monday to VOTE NEXT WEEK on the (Dis)Respect for Marriage Act," Liberty Counsel begins. "Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) plans to use the vote to sway the Georgia Senate runoff. HR 8404 will legalize every perversion of marriage you can think of. Going far beyond same-sex marriage, this bill forces every state and territory to give legal recognition to the crazy marriage laws of any other state—including California’s sick child bride laws that allow pedophiles to marry children. But it is even worse than that, thanks to the rabid LGBTQ lobby that seeks to punish any who refuse to bow to their gender-bending sexual perversions. Any church, business, nonprofit organization, school, adoption center or even a private person will be forced to comply and participate in the madness—or face Department of Justice investigations and massive civil lawsuits designed to bankrupt Christians who insist on God’s plan for marriage." (HR 8404 actually proposes that states who do not recognize same-sex marriages as legal respect the legal status of same-sex spouses married in states where their unions are legal.) There's a nationwide effort encouraging far-right pastors to defy the IRS by openly supporting GOP candidates, and rendering the Johnson Amendment impossible to enforce. The Black Robe Regiment, supported by Trumpers Mike Liddell and Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn is the most famous. Black Robe proudly refers to Liberty Counsel as its partner. Staver was a star speaker at an October conference where pastors were taught how to lobby and be political activists at a gorgeous lakeside Couer d'Alene, Idaho golf and spa resort. Liberty Counsel's website encourages churches to donate to its ministry which staunchly opposes same-sex marriage and anti-abortion and does not support LGBT rights because it takes the stance that "there is no evidence a person is born homosexual" and calls for schools to "indoctrinate" children to embrace heterosexuality. Liberty Counsel is closely affiliated with Liberty University, founded in Virginia by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr. Falwell launched the 1970s Moral Majority movement that made far-right Christian extremism into a GOP political powerhouse. One of Liberty Counsel's clients is Liberty University, which just claimed a record-breaking enrollment of 15,800 on-campus students. Staver was dean of Liberty University School of Law for over eight years. He and Falwell, Sr. launched the law school in 1989 with the goal of it being a tool to adapt U.S. law to conservative Christian views. Liberty's law school students dream ambitiously. The school built "a 330-seat courtroom contains the only known replica of the U.S. Supreme Court bench, accurate down to the angles and measurements," the website says. It's a place where students can practice for the day when they may be arguing a case before America's highest court. Staver may have even met a conservative Supreme Court justice due to his place on the Board of Governors of the Council for National Policy. CNP members include Ginni Thomas (bogus conspiracy theory superspreader and wife of Justice Clarence Thomas), Trump adviser Steve Bannon, Heritage Foundation president Kay Cole James, disgraced National Rifle Association leader Wayne LaPierre and the executive vice president of the pro-Trump Family Research Council (which won IRS status as a church despite a public outcry). The poster for Staver's posh Idaho conference refers to the "separation of church and state myth." Interestingly, one of the issues the Idaho conference stressed is that Christian pastors must embrace is "public school exit". The assumption is that public schools can't provide a morally sound education so an alternative to teaching kids must be found. On the website, a list of dangers faced by students in public schools scrolls past photos of elementary school students. The dangers include "brainwashing, bullying, transgenderism, fake history, globalism, suicide, depression, violence, gangs, climate change, Marxism." That hodgepodge is intriguing because there are dangers that parents of all political views would agree children need to be rescued from: depression, bullying, gangs, fake history, and violence. But the list maker torpedoes chances of valuable problem-solving discussion by adding bizarre boogeymen like "brainwashing," "Marxism" and "globalism" that don't appear in normal elementary schools. The Texas Tribune, Pro Publica, and the New York Times recently documented ministries that seemingly violate the Johnson Amendment, yet face no repercussions from the IRS or the Department of Justice. Some Black evangelical pastors told Raw Story that they disagreed with their inclusion in the articles because, as private citizens, they retain the right to endorse or oppose candidates. They noted that many white evangelical pastors mentioned in the reports don't bother with that distinction and endorse candidates from the pulpit during worship services. The most flamboyant may be Global Vision Bible Church’s Tennessee Pastor Greg Locke. Last year, he told his church, as its pastor, that "Hollywood pedophiles are gonna be exposed. Fraudulent sleepy Joe, he's a sex trafficking, demon-possessed mongrel. He's of the left. He ain't no better than the Pope, Oprah, Tom Hanks, and the rest of that wicked crowd...(God's) going to expose Kamala Harris for the Jezebel demon that she is." YouTube deleted Locke's channel this month because he consistently violated community standards like smearing people as pedophiles who are not pedophiles. But video snippets of his defamatory sermons are still pooped across YouTube. When Locke screamed the following at his congregation this spring, the nonpartisan watchdog Freedom From Religion Foundation filed a formal complaint with the IRS. "If you vote Democrat, I don’t even want you around this church. You can get out. You can get out, you demon. You can get out, you baby-butchering election thief," Locke screeched. "You cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat in this nation. I don’t care how mad that makes you. You [can] get as pissed off as you want to. You cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat in this nation. … They hate this nation! … You cannot be a Democrat and a Christian. You cannot. Somebody say “Amen.” The rest of you get out! Get out! Get out in the name of Jesus." In that sermon, Locke also defended the insurrection and vowed that another insurrection would erupt soon, saying the Bible says Christians will take back the government by force. It doesn't. Satan is the only one in the Bible who shares Locke's view. In the gospel of St. Luke chapter 4, verses 1 through 13, Christ is fasting and praying in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights when the Devil appears. He takes Christ to a mountaintop and shows him all the nations and kingdoms of the world. He offers to seize them and deliver them to Christ if He will become an ally. Jesus rejects the Prince of Lies with this famous retort: "Get thee behind me, Satan!" Locke apparently did not want an IRS audit of his church's finances. He responded to the FFRF complaint by publicly renouncing his tax-exempt status. But cofounder Annie Laurieaylor told Raw Story that the IRS never told her foundations whether Locke's tax-exempt status was removed. Gaylor says FFRF has successfully gone to court to get the IRS to fill a job crucial to investigating the abuse of the house of worship classification. There are pastors violating the Constitution," Gaylor said. "But it's a hard battle; the IRS used to publish a list of organizations that lost their tax exemption, but it hasn't done that for 15 years. I'm not sure the IRS even requires people like Greg Locke to announce on their websites when they no longer have tax exemption." The IRS is unlikely to take as bold a position as Christ on a mountaintop. But Locke apparently was not eager for anyone to scrutinize his finances. He said he would surrender tax exemption for his megachurch. But as of Monday, the donation page of his Global Vision Baptist Church does not mention whether donations are tax deductible or not.
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Post by Admin on Nov 21, 2022 21:47:34 GMT
This 1980 report, 42 years later, sheds light on the Christian nationalist extremism of 2022 www.alternet.org/2022/11/this-1980-report-christian-nationalist/Editor's note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Paul Robeson was a White fundamentalist evangelical. The article has been updated to identify James Robison as a White fundamentalist evangelical. Paul Robeson was a famous bass-baritone artist and football player who was investigated by the House Committee on Un-American Activities after he refused to affirm he was not a communist. AlterNet regrets this error. On August 24, 1980, the Washington Post published a report by journalist Kathy Sawyer that took a close look at what was, at the time, a new phenomenon on the right: the alliance of far-right White evangelicals and the Republican Party. And 42 years later, in 2022, Sawyer’s reporting sheds light on a movement that, critics argue, is unapologetically authoritarian in nature — a movement that has made considerable advances since then. When Sawyer’s article was published, President Jimmy Carter was running for reelection; in November 1980, he suffered a landslide defeat at the hands of Republican former California Gov. Ronald Reagan, who turned out to be the most influential U.S. president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt. From 1932 (the year in which FDR was elected) until 1980, liberalism arguably dominated the political conversation in the United States. But Reagan’s victory over Carter pushed the U.S. in a much more conservative direction. All of the Democratic presidents elected after the 1980s have been centrists — Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden — and the U.S. hasn’t had a staunch liberal in the White House since President Lyndon B. Johnson in the 1960s. As president, Reagan oversaw a fragile right-wing coalition that included everyone from far-right evangelicals to fiscal conservatives to libertarians. The Reagan coalition was by no means one big happy family, and ultimately, White evangelicals became much more influential in the Republican Party than than the libertarians they despised. READ MORE: After Trump, Christian nationalist ideas are going mainstream – despite a history of violence Sawyer’s report vividly describes the progress that White fundamentalist evangelicals like James Robison and the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Sr. were making in the GOP in August 1980. Reporting from Texas, Sawyer explained, “Evangelist leaders joined forces with conservative politicians here last week in exhorting millions of non-voting Christians to ‘crawl out from under those padded pews’ and take up political arms in the equivalent of a moral war to save America. The two-day gathering in the brimstone shimmer of 105-degree Texas heat was billed sedately as The National Affairs Briefing. But it was really a fusion of Bible-thumping revivalist oratory with hardline New Right politics. Its goal: to get godly conservatives elected to offices high and low across the land.” Sawyer described a speech by Robeson in Texas, who railed against “perverts, radicals, leftists, communists, liberals and humanists" and declared, “Not voting is a sin against Almighty God.” Sawyer reported, “The crowd heard speakers ranging from Phyllis Schlafly, anti-feminist leader of the Stop ERA movement, to a general who predicted a nuclear holocaust within a decade if America does not ‘turn to God’ and beef up military defenses against godless communism. The repentant son of atheist crusader Madelyn Murray O'Hair urged that prayer be returned to the schools. Champions of the anti-abortion National Right to Life Committee promoted their cause. And throughout, attentions swung wildly from theology and scripture to instruction on how to organize without violating tax laws, the practicalities of registering a congregation to vote during the Sunday service and the importance of keeping a ‘moral score card’ on the voting record of elected representatives.”
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Post by Admin on Dec 18, 2022 20:21:15 GMT
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Post by Admin on Dec 31, 2022 14:46:01 GMT
Faith Leaders Say Jan. 6 Committee Report Downplays Role of Christian Nationalism "If we don't confront Christian nationalism then we are leaving ourselves open to future attacks, like what we saw on January 6," said one critic. www.commondreams.org/news/christian-nationalism-january-6In an effort to fill in what they say are critical gaps in the U.S. House select committee's report on the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, faith leaders are pushing the corporate media and the American public to confront the role Christian nationalism played in the insurrection, warning that ignoring the link could make similar violence more likely in the future. The committee's report, released last week, laid out extensive evidence showing that former President Donald Trump was the driving force behind the attack aimed at stopping lawmakers from certifying the 2020 presidential election results, but mentioned Christian nationalism just once, despite the fact that many of the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol openly expressed Christian nationalist beliefs before, during, and after the attack. As Religion News Servicereported last week, some Trump supporters who attempted to overthrow the government carried flags displaying a so-called "Jesus fish" painted red, white, and blue like the American flag along with the words "Proud American Christian." Hundreds took part in what they called a "Jericho March" and prayed for the election results to be overturned the day before the insurrection, and some were heard chanting, "Christ is king" in Washington, D.C. on January 6. "The symbols of Christian nationalism were on full display not only on January 6 itself, but at numerous rallies leading up to the attack," Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (BJC), told Alicia Menendez on MSNBC on Wednesday. The report, however, only noted that supporters of white supremacist Nick Fuentes, who was in Washington on January 6 but has not been accused of breaching the Capitol, have "repeatedly promoted white supremacist and Christian nationalist beliefs." The inclusion of just a single reference to Christian nationalism—the belief that the government should actively ensure that the U.S. is a Christian nation—was something faith leaders warned against earlier this year when they called on lawmakers to closely examine the role the belief system played in convincing thousands of people to storm the Capitol and continue to question the 2020 election results long after January 6. In June, Christians Against Christian Nationalism, a project of the BJC, wrote in a letter to the House committee that "Christian nationalism helped motivate and intensify the insurrection" and that lawmakers should "thoroughly investigate the role that Christian nationalism played in the attack." "This seditious mob was motivated not just by loyalty to Trump, but by an unholy amalgamation of white supremacy and Christianity that has plagued our nation since its inception and is still with us today," wrote Robert P. Jones, president of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), at the time. As Religion News Servicereported last week, a spokesperson for committee member Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wy.) suggested weeks before the report was released that the congresswoman objected to focusing seriously on Christian nationalism, telling The Washington Post that Cheney "won't sign onto any 'narrative' [that] suggests every American who believes God has blessed America is a white supremacist." Lawmakers including Cheney, who leaves office next week, "fear that confronting Christian nationalism might be misconstrued as an attack on Christianity or Christians, and nothing could be further from the truth," Tyler told MSNBC. "We are trying to draw attention to what Christian nationalism is... Christian nationalism turns Christianity's gospel of love into a false idol of power. It turns John's gospel teaching us that God so loved the world on its head, saying falsely that God has a special plan for the U.S. or that God loves the U.S. more than any other country, or that God has preordained election results." Faith leaders are working to explain "why that's not the case," added Tyler, "because if we don't confront Christian nationalism then we are leaving ourselves open to future attacks, like what we saw on January 6."
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Post by Admin on Jan 4, 2023 20:16:47 GMT
Personally, I'm atheist but this is for all the maga Christians: Acts 2:44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they shared with anyone who was in need Acts 4:32 The multitude of believers was one in heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they owned. Acts 11:29 So the disciples, each according to his ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. Literally: From each according to ability to each according to need Here endeth today's lesson Amen
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Post by Admin on Jan 17, 2023 14:40:32 GMT
Domestic terrorists of the American far right are driven by zeal for heretical distortions of Christian theology. Of the 85 violent extremist incidents that resulted in death since September 12, 2001, far right wing violent extremist groups were responsible for 62 (73 percent) while radical Islamist violent extremists were responsible for 23 (27 percent).” Fatal terrorist attacks by far-right-wing extremists include: (A) the August 5, 2012, mass shooting at a Sikh gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, in which a White supremacist shot and killed 6 members of the gurdwara; (B) the April 13, 2014, mass shooting at a Jewish community center and a Jewish assisted living facility in Overland Park, Kansas, in which a neo-Nazi shot and killed 3 civilians, including a 14-year-old teenager; (C) the June 8, 2014, ambush in Las Vegas, Nevada, in which 2 supporters of the far-right-wing “patriot” movement shot and killed 2 police officers and a civilian; (D) the June 17, 2015, mass shooting at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in which a White supremacist shot and killed 9 members of the church; (E) the November 27, 2015, mass shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in which an anti-abortion extremist shot and killed a police officer and 2 civilians; (F) the March 20, 2017, murder of an African-American man in New York City, allegedly committed by a White supremacist who reportedly traveled to New York “for the purpose of killing black men”; (G) the May 26, 2017, attack in Portland, Oregon, in which a White supremacist allegedly murdered 2 men and injured a third after the men defended 2 young women whom the individual had targeted with anti-Muslim hate speech; (H) the August 12, 2017, attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which a White supremacist killed one and injured nineteen after driving his car through a crowd of individuals protesting a neo-Nazi rally, and of which former Attorney General Jeff Sessions said, “It does meet the definition of domestic terrorism in our statute.”; (I) the July 2018 murder of an African-American woman from Kansas City, Missouri, allegedly committed by a White supremacist who reportedly bragged about being a member of the Ku Klux Klan; (J) the October 24, 2018, shooting in Jeffersontown, Kentucky, in which a White man allegedly murdered 2 African Americans at a grocery store after first attempting to enter a church with a predominantly African-American congregation during a service; and (K) the October 27, 2018, mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in which a White nationalist allegedly shot and killed 11 members of the congregation. ......................... (7) On March 15, 2019, a White nationalist was arrested and charged with murder after allegedly killing 50 Muslim worshippers and injuring more than 40 in a massacre at the Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Mosque in Christchurch, New Zealand. The alleged shooter posted a hate-filled, xenophobic manifesto that detailed his White nationalist ideology before the massacre. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern labeled the massacre a terrorist attack. (😎 In January 2017, a right-wing extremist who had expressed anti-Muslim views was charged with murder for allegedly killing 6 people and injuring 19 in a shooting rampage at a mosque in Quebec City, Canada. It was the first-ever mass shooting at a mosque in North America, and Prime Minister Trudeau labeled it a terrorist attack. (9) On February 15, 2019, Federal authorities arrested U.S. Coast Guard Lieutenant Christopher Paul Hasson, who was allegedly planning to kill a number of prominent journalists, professors, judges, and “leftists in general”. In court filings, prosecutors described Lieutenant Hasson as a “domestic terrorist” who in an email “identified himself as a White Nationalist for over 30 years and advocated for ‘focused violence’ in order to establish a white homeland.”
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Post by Admin on Jan 26, 2023 18:21:33 GMT
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Post by Admin on Feb 14, 2023 0:33:04 GMT
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Post by Admin on Mar 11, 2023 14:14:36 GMT
"Fables should be taught as fables, myths as myths, and miracles as poetic fantasies. To teach superstitions as truths is a most terrible thing. The child mind accepts and believes them, and only through great pain and perhaps tragedy can he be in after years relieved of them." ~ Hypatia
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Post by Admin on Mar 19, 2023 16:02:35 GMT
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Post by Admin on Mar 19, 2023 16:14:42 GMT
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Post by Admin on Mar 19, 2023 16:17:12 GMT
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