The Sickness of Christian Politics & Christian Nationalism

[LFC]

I suspect we'll be hearing more and more "Christian" institutions using the special powers and rights being awarded by right-wing partisan hack SCOTUS to say the law doesn't apply to them.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson has filed to dismiss a lawsuit against him from Seattle Pacific University, a private school associated with the Free Methodist Church, arguing that he’s not violating the university’s constitutional rights by requesting information about its hiring practices.

Ferguson in late July confirmed his office was investigating the university for potential illegal discrimination against LGBTQ people due to the school’s employment policies. His announcement came after SPU sued Ferguson, claiming his probe aims to influence the university “in its application and understanding of church teaching.” SPU is represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

“The First Amendment does not provide religious organizations with such sweeping immunity that it is unconstitutional for the government simply to ask them for information,” Ferguson said in the motion he filed Aug. 18.

They're really starting to look like the bad guy in Lethal Weapon.

[goldenvalley]

Aug 24, 2022 17:22:57 GMT LFC said:

I suspect we'll be hearing more and more "Christian" institutions using the special powers and rights being awarded by right-wing partisan hack SCOTUS to say the law doesn't apply to them.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson has filed to dismiss a lawsuit against him from Seattle Pacific University, a private school associated with the Free Methodist Church, arguing that he’s not violating the university’s constitutional rights by requesting information about its hiring practices.

Ferguson in late July confirmed his office was investigating the university for potential illegal discrimination against LGBTQ people due to the school’s employment policies. His announcement came after SPU sued Ferguson, claiming his probe aims to influence the university “in its application and understanding of church teaching.” SPU is represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

“The First Amendment does not provide religious organizations with such sweeping immunity that it is unconstitutional for the government simply to ask them for information,” Ferguson said in the motion he filed Aug. 18.

They're really starting to look like the bad guy in Lethal Weapon.

I chuckled at this.  My son, on a whim applied to the MBA program at Seattle Pacific because it had a concentration in organizational psychology.  He underwent an interview which opened and closed with prayer.  He was told they were Kingdom people.  He was on Zoom or he would have run out of the room.

[LFC]

Man, these Christian nationalists are f***ed up and NC's Lt. Governor is one of them.

[goldenvalley]

Aug 31, 2022 20:34:17 GMT LFC said:

Man, these Christian nationalists are f***ed up and NC's Lt. Governor is one of them.

Wow!  My pastor must have missed that part of the New Testament. He never described Christ as some sort of warrior swinging a sword.  No wonder I never really pursued going to church in adulthood.  It was pretty boring compared to this dude's visions.

[Bact PhD]

The CN crowd, as we know, LOOOVES to cherry-pick Biblical passages. They’re big on the Angry, Jealous, and Smiting God in segments of the Old Testament, get the tinglies when they read about the Judgment Day in the Gospels or about how women are to be subservient in the Pauline epistles…but they go absolutely rapturous (pun intended) when discussing all the stuff that’s supposed to happen according to the Book of Revelation. To them, that’s the day they get to say, “neener, neener, we told you so!!!”

It’s as if all that stuff about doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly/ love your neighbor as yourself” didn’t exist.

[indy]

I am always reminded of the Susan B. Anthony quote in religious discussions: "I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires."

[AnBr]

[LFC]

I didn't read this entire piece but it covers the Christian nationalist movement, something that is now a part of the mainstream Republican base. These aren't a handful of fringe, tolerated characters. They have representatives in Congress and, more importantly, SCOTUS.

Dutch Sheets stood behind Marjorie Taylor Greene, the palms of his hands held up to God.

Revered by followers as a modern Christian apostle, Sheets told a packed crowd at Gas South Arena, outside Atlanta, to pray with him for the GOP congresswoman, who touts herself as a Christian nationalist, and appeared onstage in a bright-red dress.

“We say she is covered by the blood of Jesus,” Sheets said. “She will not be taken out by evil forces,” he insisted, adding: “We take authority over that in Jesus’ name. And we cover her now with a shield of prayer and faith and say, ‘Be strong! Be blessed! You are highly favored! You will not fail,’ in Jesus’ name.”

Sheets, 68, is one of America’s most influential Christian voices demanding an end to the separation of church and state. He’s been at the forefront of that movement for 20 years, but now the Republican part has come to him, with a growing contingent that’s embracing his end-times vision of America as Christian theocracy. At this July 1 worship event, Sheets told the crowd, “We must marry these two arenas — the civil and the sacred. They are not separate in Scripture,” he added, then insisted, “God never intended for it to be separate.”

Christian nationalism has long been an undercurrent of GOP politics. But with the rise of the MAGA movement and the Republican party’s lurch toward authoritarianism, its proponents have burst into the foreground. Representatives like Greene and Lauren “the church is supposed to direct the government” Boebert have embraced Christian nationalism in Washington, while far-right-media figures like Andrew Torba — the CEO of the platform Gab.com — embrace it as the answer to conservative setbacks in the culture wars, insisting: “We are going to take power in this country, for the glory of God.”

The right’s new hunger for theocracy is creating an opening for figures like Sheets, who has long preached that Christians cannot only impose their morals on society through the levers of government, but that doing so is Jesus’ most ardent desire.

Inside the arena, Sheets was soon leading the spirited crowd in a recitation of a new document he co-authored called the “Watchman Decree.” It reads like a Christian nationalist pledge of allegiance.

“As a patriot of faith, I attest my allegiance first and foremost to the Kingdom of God and the Great Commission,” Sheets began. (The “Great Commission” refers to the instruction by the resurrected Jesus to his followers to “make disciples of all nations.”) He then led the crowd in a series of theocratic declarations, including:

“We, the Church, are God’s governing Body on the Earth.”
“We have been given legal power and authority from Heaven.”
“We are … delegated by Him to destroy every attempted advance of the enemy.”

The audience then read aloud, with Sheets, a list of 13 decrees, including that the three branches of U.S. government will “honor God,” “write only laws that are righteous,” and only “issue rulings that are biblical.” The congregation continued, in unison, “We declare that we stand against wokeness, the occult, and every evil attempt against our nation.”

They concluded with Sheets’ trademark spiritual battle cry: “We decree that America shall be saved!”

[LFC]

Sounds about right.

[LFC]

These people are flat out insane.

After a petition started last month to recall four Boundary County Library board members over a routine policy update, library director Kimber Glidden has announced her resignation effective Sept. 10.

“Nothing in my background could have prepared me for the political atmosphere of extremism, militant Christian fundamentalism, intimidation tactics, and threatening behavior currently being employed in the community,” Glidden wrote in her announcement posted by the library.

A push by a few parents to ban books with LGBTQ themes started early this year and “has snowballed from there,” library board member Lee Colson said.

Widespread efforts to ban books and censor libraries are cropping up by groups across the Northwest and the nation, like an attempt to ban materials on gender studies from Mead School District’s libraries, another librarian quitting over armed intimidation in Coeur d’Alene and Idaho House Bill 666 introduced earlier this year, which could have held libraries liable for checking out materials that could be considered harmful to children.

In Boundary County, a local group is attempting to recall four of the five library board members, including Colson, after the board approved an updated Collection Development and Maintenance Policy. The new policy says, “Selection of materials will not be affected by any such potential disapproval, and the Boundary County Library will not place materials on ‘closed shelves’ or label items to protect the public from their content.”

Nancy Pearl, former executive director of The Washington Center for the Book at Seattle Public Library, was not familiar with the case in Boundary County but said these kinds of protests demonstrate a lack of understanding about the function of public libraries, which should be places for everyone, with books on all sides of an issue.

“Libraries are the heart of the community and to see this happening is just heartbreaking,” she said. Pearl is an author, book critic and affectionately referred to as “America’s Librarian.”

“Certainly parents have the right to decide what their children can read,” she added, “but I don’t think a parent or anyone has the right to tell somebody else what they can or can’t read. And that’s what is happening with these protests.”

Much of the recent scare has been over widely circulated lists of books and other media among far-right-wing groups, but Boundary Library officials have repeatedly said that the library does not contain any of the books people have raised concerns to them about.

“So really what they are trying to do is limit our ability to select books to be in our collection,” Colson said.

Watching this video was gobsmacking. It's amazing how these people are willing to wear guns, show up at meetings, show up at homes, and scream like maniacs until they are asked to comment on what they're doing and why. At that point they go completely into hiding. Who Would Jesus Bully?  BTW this piece mentions that they are screeching, with dials turned up to 11, about 400 titles that aren't even in the library.

They also note that this is part of a right-wing Christianist movement trying to create The American Redoubt where they effectively take control of several states to create their theocratic paradise.

[LFC]

The Catholic League is a sick, twisted, immoral organization previously lead (IIRC) by creeper Bill Donahue. Now they have a piece up by Donahue which goes after Pennsylvania's Josh Shapiro over his investigation of the Catholic Church and uncovering of evidence of 300 rapists. The defense is pretty much self damning. He really would have been better off keeping his mouth shut. This is what passes for "morality" in hard right-wing Catholic circles.

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro:

On the website of Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro it boasts that when he was Attorney General of the state he “exposed the Catholic Church’s decades-long cover up of child sexual abuse, identifying over 300 predator priests and thousands of victims and spurring investigation across the United States.”

This is a distorted account of Shapiro’s shameful grand jury investigation of Catholic priests. (For more on this subject see my book, The Truth about Clergy Sexual Abuse.)

Shapiro convinced the media that he found evidence of 301 priests who abused more than 1,000 children over a period of seventy years. This is thrice false (1) not all the alleged offenders were priests (2) most of the alleged victims were adolescents, not children, and (3) the report was not evidentiary—it was investigative—meaning that the accused priests were never given the opportunity to rebut the charges.

Importantly, nothing could be done about most of those who were actually guilty. Almost all the accused were either dead or had been thrown out of the priesthood. No wonder Shapiro was able to prosecute only two priests. He knew this from the get-go, but he used the report to push for a suspension of the statute of limitations.

Shapiro misused the grand jury for political purposes, and now he is at it again.

Soooo ... not all of them were priests (though all associated with the church), most weren't even or were sorta' / kinda' children, and the Catholic Church covered up over 1,000 crimes so effectively that most of the rapists are dead now. Yeeeaaah, maybe not the best defense, Bill. Bill's immorality of defending immorality is long-standing. He's definitely a serial creep.

[LFC]

Doug Mastriano offered a "prayer" about a week before Jan. 6 where he (at about 2:00) called on God(tm) to support the lies of Trump and to have politicians rise up to steal the election. He is an evil, immoral man.

[LFC]

Gab has created a guide for Christian Nationalists.

Via email from Gab founder and CEO Andrew Torba:

Gab is releasing our first book this week titled Christian Nationalism: A Biblical Guide To Taking Dominion and Discipling Nations where among other things we will explore the true Christian founding of America that happened long before 1776.

Christian Nationalism is a spiritual, political, and cultural movement comprised of Christians who are working to build a parallel Christian society grounded in a Biblical worldview.

This book is a guide for Christians to take dominion and disciple their families, churches, and all nations for the glory of Jesus Christ our King. (Matthew 28:19)

All nations? Sounds like they're already assuming their takeover of this one is a given.

[LFC]

"Those who can make you believe in absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Do any of you believe that there isn't an enormous number of these religious zealots who wouldn't jump right back to the imprisonment, torture, and rape of heretics if they were given the power to do so? All in God(tm)'s name, of course. This is just another step toward a violent, intolerant, all controlling theocracy.

On June 1, David Leavitt, the prosecuting attorney for Utah County, stood behind a lectern in his windowless Provo office before a gaggle of reporters. Wearing a gray suit and an exasperated look, he wanted to make something categorically clear: Neither he nor his wife were guilty of murdering or cannibalizing young children.

It was, by all accounts, a strange declaration from the progressive Republican prosecutor, a Mormon and younger brother of a former Utah governor, Mike Leavitt, who had earned a name for himself by prosecuting a well-known polygamist in 2001. But David Leavitt was up for re-election, Utah County voters would start casting ballots the next week, and the allegations, ridiculous as they may have sounded, had started to spread online and throughout the community.

Some of Leavitt’s most high-profile political opponents were willing to at least wink at the allegations against him: Utahns for Safer Communities, a political action committee opposing Leavitt’s re-election, posted his news conference to YouTube with the caption, “Wethinks He Doth Protest Too Much,” and on their website, the group wrote that Leavitt “seems to know more than he says.”

Leavitt lost the election, most likely not just because of the allegations against him but because of his liberal style of prosecution in a deeply conservative county where opponents labeled him as “soft on crime.” But the allegations’ impact on Leavitt was clear. After decades of serving as a city and county attorney with grander plans for public office, Leavitt now doesn’t think he’ll run again.

“The cost is too high,” he said recently in an interview from his home.

Leavitt’s experience is one of a spate of recent examples in which individuals have been targeted with accusations of Satanism or so-called ritualistic abuse, marking what some see as a modern day version of the moral panic of the 1980s, when hysteria and hypervigilance over protecting children led to false allegations, wrongful imprisonments, decimated communities and wasted resources to the neglect of actual cases of abuse.

While the current obsession with Satan was boosted in part by the QAnon community, partisan media and conservative politicians have been instrumental in spreading newfound fears over the so-called ritualistic abuse of children that the devil supposedly inspires, sometimes weaving the allegations together with other culture war issues such as LGBTQ rights. Those fears are powering fresh accusations of ritual abuse online, which are amplified on social media and by partisan media, and can mobilize mobs to seek vigilante justice.

Witch hunts have traditionally been associated with courts — even the kangaroo kind — but today, the accused can be branded satanist pedophiles at the speed of the internet. Online accusers can bypass police, therapists and the traditional media and out their alleged abusers straight to audiences of millions.

[LFC]

Seriously, is "bearing false witness" no longer an issue? Because the more outwardly "Christian" these groups and people are it feels like the more likely it is you can't trust a thing they say. It's as if lying for advantage is now a genetic trait for these people.

[LFC]

The president of a seminary in the Southern Baptist Convention is saying the quiet part out loud; if you don't vote Republican then you are committing a sin. The SBC should be furious at this level of blasphemy and yet I expect nothing of them. As Josh Marshall noted about this brand of Christian before, their morality is purely transactional. The fact that it immediately calls out most black, Christian voters is a feature, not a bug.

Another reaction.

Scott Coley
@scott_m_coley

Either evangelical gatekeepers have lost the ability to distinguish their own opinions from the will of God, or they’re aware that they have no actual argument to make and so they’ve resorted to claiming that we should share their opinions because God says so.

This is ludicrous.

Here's the asshat who proudly trumpets that message. I expect Dreher to call this blasphemy out in 3, [snicker], 2, [snort], ... Of course I'm just kidding. At this point I can't imagine him making the most modest comment of disapproval.

[LFC]

Ron DeSatanist is paling around with this sick prick. No apologies, of course.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) sparked controversy in recent weeks as The Forward reported Monday that an ad released Sept. 6 by DeSantis’s reelection campaign featured a “Christian nationalist pastor with antisemitic views.”

The ad titled “Results” started airing nationwide after its release and briefly shows Pastor Larry Jinks of First Baptist Church of St. James City, FL saying of the governor, “You protected our right to worship together in person.”

Jinks has “a history of inflammatory rhetoric,” noted The Forward’s Jacob Kornblough who ran through some of the pastor’s more controversial statements.

“It’s a shame that the Jews, who should know better, reject their own Messiah (who fulfilled everyone of their prophecies) still believe that they need sacrifices and the Temple to sacrifice them in,” Jinks posted on Facebook in April. “Nonetheless, because of their rejection they will move forward with that plan.”

Jinks also slammed Pope Francis for offering messages of religious tolerance between Christians, Muslims, and Jews.

“This is in step with what the Pope has been pushing for. ‘Peace amongst the three main world religions.’ It seems like there’s a plan among world leaders to push this ‘Unity.’ Which is just the opposite of what Jesus taught and what Christians are supposed to do,” Jinks wrote.

“We are called to be at odds with any religion that does not acknowledge Jesus as the Prince of Peace and the only way to the Father,” wrote Jinks in response to the Pope.

Jinks, seemingly aware of the nature of his remarks, added, “I wonder how long it will take for me to be in Facebook jail over these comments?”

DeSantis’s Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist, responded with a comment from his campaign spokesperson.

“Governor DeSantis has consistently refused to condemn hate or extremism, including the Nazis running around our state waving flags bearing his name. So while it may be shocking, it isn’t surprising that he would spend millions of dollars in advertising to elevate an antisemite with a history of hateful speech,” said Samantha Ramirez, Crist’s spokesperson.

“Ron owes Florida’s Jewish communities an answer for his refusal to forcefully condemn these groups and make clear he does not want their support,” Ramirez concluded.

[Bact PhD]

Sept 19, 2022 22:16:29 GMT LFC said:

Ron DeSatanist is paling around with this sick prick. No apologies, of course.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) sparked controversy in recent weeks as The Forward reported Monday that an ad released Sept. 6 by DeSantis’s reelection campaign featured a “Christian nationalist pastor with antisemitic views.”

The ad titled “Results” started airing nationwide after its release and briefly shows Pastor Larry Jinks of First Baptist Church of St. James City, FL saying of the governor, “You protected our right to worship together in person.”

Jinks has “a history of inflammatory rhetoric,” noted The Forward’s Jacob Kornblough who ran through some of the pastor’s more controversial statements.

“It’s a shame that the Jews, who should know better, reject their own Messiah (who fulfilled everyone of their prophecies) still believe that they need sacrifices and the Temple to sacrifice them in,” Jinks posted on Facebook in April. “Nonetheless, because of their rejection they will move forward with that plan.”

Jinks also slammed Pope Francis for offering messages of religious tolerance between Christians, Muslims, and Jews.

“This is in step with what the Pope has been pushing for. ‘Peace amongst the three main world religions.’ It seems like there’s a plan among world leaders to push this ‘Unity.’ Which is just the opposite of what Jesus taught and what Christians are supposed to do,” Jinks wrote.

“We are called to be at odds with any religion that does not acknowledge Jesus as the Prince of Peace and the only way to the Father,” wrote Jinks in response to the Pope.

Jinks, seemingly aware of the nature of his remarks, added, “I wonder how long it will take for me to be in Facebook jail over these comments?”

DeSantis’s Democratic opponent, Charlie Crist, responded with a comment from his campaign spokesperson.

“Governor DeSantis has consistently refused to condemn hate or extremism, including the Nazis running around our state waving flags bearing his name. So while it may be shocking, it isn’t surprising that he would spend millions of dollars in advertising to elevate an antisemite with a history of hateful speech,” said Samantha Ramirez, Crist’s spokesperson.

“Ron owes Florida’s Jewish communities an answer for his refusal to forcefully condemn these groups and make clear he does not want their support,” Ramirez concluded.

I’ve probably seen the referenced ad a few dozen times already. Usually, I’m quick enough to hit the MUTE button, or at least recognize the ad with an appropriate single-digit salute. I had no idea about the identity of that particular cleric—interesting (if not telling) their ad people went with him, rather than, say, a United Methodist preacher from Tampa-St. Pete with some conservative bona fides (yes, they exist).

[LFC]

Sept 19, 2022 22:27:44 GMT Bact PhD said:

I had no idea about the identity of that particular cleric—interesting (if not telling) their ad people went with him, rather than, say, a United Methodist preacher from Tampa-St. Pete with some conservative bona fides (yes, they exist).

a) But isn't an angry, fiery, white Christian nationalist what a lot of his base want and the rest don't mind?

b) Maybe finding an actual conservative preacher who wishes to be tied to DeSatanist is a heavy lift. You don't see sane preachers rallying around Trump. Once they start talking you realize they're all freaks.

[Bact PhD]

Sept 20, 2022 14:05:33 GMT LFC said:

Sept 19, 2022 22:27:44 GMT Bact PhD said:

I had no idea about the identity of that particular cleric—interesting (if not telling) their ad people went with him, rather than, say, a United Methodist preacher from Tampa-St. Pete with some conservative bona fides (yes, they exist).

a) But isn't an angry, fiery, white Christian nationalist what a lot of his base want and the rest don't mind?

The hard-core base most certainly does, yes, but based on my (somewhat limited) sample of “the rest,” saying they “don’t mind” is stretching things a bit—the tolerance for the fire breathers drops off pretty fast outside the hard Evangelical Protestant/“Traditional Catholic” demographic.

b) Maybe finding an actual conservative preacher who wishes to be tied to DeSatanist is a heavy lift. You don't see sane preachers rallying around Trump. Once they start talking you realize they're all freaks.

Now there you may be on to something—see my response to a).

[LFC]

White, Christian, nationalist theocracy.

hristian nationalism, a belief that the United States was founded as a white, Christian nation and that there is no separation between church and state, is gaining steam on the right.

Prominent Republican politicians have made the themes critical to their message to voters in the run up to the 2022 midterm elections. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, has argued that America is a Christian nation and that the separation of church and state is a “myth.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia hard-liner, declared: “We need to be the party of nationalism and I’m a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian Nationalists.” Amid a backlash, she doubled down and announced she would start selling “Christian Nationalist” shirts. Now Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis seems to be flirting with Christian nationalist rhetoric, as well.

Appeals to Christian nationalism have a long tradition in American history, though they have usually operated on the fringes. But the increasingly mainstream appearance of this belief in GOP circles makes sense if you look at new public opinion surveys. Our new University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll suggests that declaring the United States a Christian nation is a message that could be broadly embraced by Republicans in the midterms and 2024 presidential race. But our findings also see limits to its appeal — and over the long-term, Christian nationalism could be a political loser.
Most Republicans Say Christian Nationalism Is Unconstitutional — But Still Support It

Our national poll included 2,091 participants, carried out May 6-16, 2022, with a margin of error of +/- 2.14 percent.

We started by asking participants if they believed the Constitution would even allow the United States government to declare the U.S. a “Christian Nation.” We found that 70 percent of Americans — including 57 percent of Republicans and 81 percent of Democrats — said that the Constitution would not allow such a declaration. (Indeed, the First Amendment says Congress can neither establish nor prohibit the practice of a religion.)

[graph]

We followed up by asking: “Would You Favor or Oppose the United States Officially Declaring the United States to be a Christian Nation?” The findings were striking.

Overall, 62 percent of respondents said they opposed such a declaration, including 83 percent of Democrats and 39 percent of Republicans. Fully 61 percent of Republicans supported declaring the United States a Christian nation. In other words, even though over half of Republicans previously said such a move would be unconstitutional, a majority of GOP voters would still support this declaration.

[LFC]

No other word for it.

[LFC]

Wow, that's a pretty aggressive religious scam. Here's part of the article. It goes on. And on.

The East Baton Rouge school system in Louisiana has been accused of tricking hundreds of high school seniors into attending a religious event this week disguised as a college and career fair.

After students arrived at the venue—a church called the Living Faith Christian Center—they say they found something much different than a career fair called the “Day of Hope.” While several colleges did have a presence at the event, students said the emphasis appeared to be on something else entirely.

The pupils were reportedly separated into two groups by gender, forced to register to vote in order to obtain the promoted free food, and listen to speakers share disturbing stories of rape, suicide, and abstinence. One teacher claimed in a Facebook post that some transgender students were bullied by their peers at the event.

Now, a group called “Day of Nope” is seeking to file a lawsuit over the episode and asking attendees to share their experiences via a new website. “This was supposed to be a college fair, but the girls were talked to about abstinence, bullying, and death. And the guys played games,” one student told ABC affiliate WBRZ, which reported on the latest backlash to the event.

“Boys were encouraged to perform macho acts while girls were advised to forgive men who rape and assault them,” says a GoFundMe for this litigation effort, which had raised $75 as of Saturday. “Speakers subjected students to graphic tales and reenactment of suicide, which left some students with past loss due to suicide disturbed and upset with no emotional support to help them. Students were found in the bathroom weeping.”

“In violation of federal law, lunch was conditioned on completing voter registration forms and other election related materials were distributed to students,” adds the fundraising page, titled “Fight Back Against ‘Day of Hope’ Trauma.”

Brittney Bryant, a biology teacher who complained about the event on Facebook, fumed that “boys were instructed to go outside while the girls were left in the church for ‘girl talk.’ My transgender child was discriminated against for walking out.”

“I stayed and listened to the discussion,” Bryant added. “They talked about rape, forgiving the offender in life, suicide, prayer leadership, and many more dark controversial topics. We had females in the bathrooms crying due to the topics of discussion.”

Meanwhile, Bryant claims, the boys’ discussion was called “real talk” and included “male chauvinistic competition for monetary reward,” including doing pushups. “They were hyped up and egged on,” she wrote in her social media post.

A student named Alexis Budyach also took to Facebook to detail what she called “a horrible experience” that started with “rap battles and singing competitions, harmless fun.”

Her mother, Bonnie Kersch, told The Advocate that they had no idea the “college fair” would be held in a church. “She felt she was duped into thinking that she was going for a college and career fair,” Kersh told the Baton Rouge newspaper, “that she was proselytized over and prayed over.”

All too often religion is a drug that requires ever more righteousness to get that delicious high. Law? Morality? Bearing false witness? Simple courtesy for other's beliefs? That shit is for sucker Christians, not true God Warriors(tm). Oh, yeah. Here's the scam part.

Trey Holiday, a student who attended the event, told The Advocate that the college portion of the event included outdoor tents for only a few schools and programs.

[Bact PhD]

Sept 26, 2022 17:51:34 GMT LFC said:

Wow, that's a pretty aggressive religious scam. Here's part of the article. It goes on. And on.

The East Baton Rouge school system in Louisiana has been accused of tricking hundreds of high school seniors into attending a religious event this week disguised as a college and career fair.

After students arrived at the venue—a church called the Living Faith Christian Center—they say they found something much different than a career fair called the “Day of Hope.” While several colleges did have a presence at the event, students said the emphasis appeared to be on something else entirely.

[snip]

A student named Alexis Budyach also took to Facebook to detail what she called “a horrible experience” that started with “rap battles and singing competitions, harmless fun.”

Her mother, Bonnie Kersch, told The Advocate that they had no idea the “college fair” would be held in a church. “She felt she was duped into thinking that she was going for a college and career fair,” Kersh told the Baton Rouge newspaper, “that she was proselytized over and prayed over.”

All too often religion is a drug that requires ever more righteousness to get that delicious high. Law? Morality? Bearing false witness? Simple courtesy for other's beliefs? That shit is for sucker Christians, not true God Warriors(tm). Oh, yeah. Here's the scam part.

Trey Holiday, a student who attended the event, told The Advocate that the college portion of the event included outdoor tents for only a few schools and programs.

Read a piece in the Baton Rouge Advocate, which I believe the DB article references:

www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/education/article_925e12e2-3b9a-11ed-9c53-ef7d9b159cdb.html

Moreover, the school system was in bed with this thing to the tune of nearly 5 figures for transportation, AND this event was held during the school day and attendees were granted an excused absence.

But, it’s Louisiana; it figures (sigh).

[LFC]

I haven't read the full TPM piece referred to yet, though it's on my list. But this excerpt shows that DeSatanist is fully playing the God Warrior(tm) card. It's only a matter of time before these religious freaks hurt people in His(tm) name.

I wanted to flag this passage in Sarah Posner’s piece for TPM today …

In recent political speeches, DeSantis has been using a verse from Ephesians 6 (“Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes”), but with a notable substitution: instead of “the devil’s,” he has said “the left’s.” The meaning is not lost on evangelical audiences, who are well familiar with the actual words of the verse.

Read the piece here.