The Sickness of Christian Politics & Christian Nationalism

[LFC]

From TPM:

The Key Ingredients Of Christian Nationalism
Christian nationalism isn’t new. But its core components are dominating Republican politics.

Christian nationalism has been all over the news lately, but it is neither a new term nor a new phenomenon in American politics. The label gained greater usage during former President Donald Trump’s presidency because of his mobilization of the Christian right around his strongman politics. Interest in the ideology — and the term — grew even more following the January 6 insurrection, where Christian nationalist rhetoric and symbols were on full display, sometimes violently. As Trump acolytes Michael Flynn and Roger Stone enthrall crowds with their Christian nationalist “Reawaken America” tour, and Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano fuses Trump’s stolen election lie with Christian nationalism, its threat to democracy has never been more vividly apparent.

Many on the Christian right have long rejected the term, but Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has embraced it, and even started selling “Proud Christian Nationalist” t-shirts. “I am being attacked by the godless left because I said I’m a proud Christian Nationalist,” she tweeted in response to criticism. “They hate America, they hate God, and they hate us.”

Although Greene made it more popular, not all Christian nationalists wear the label on their sleeve, or a t-shirt. So how can you tell who is a Christian nationalist?

[Bact PhD]

I can’t say I “like” this, but it is an accurate summation.

Scary, innit, how some of the same people who appear to support the Iranian protesters want to establish a hard-line (Christian) theocratic state in this country. Never mind, of course, that the main reason these groups could flourish in the FIRST place is the presence of the Establishment Clause — otherwise the “official” religion would most likely be either Episcopalian or what today is the United Church of Christ, both anathema to today’s Talibangelicals.

[goldenvalley]

Plenty of minority religious groups are very concerned about this form of nationalism.  Jews and Muslims are no doubt first on MTG's list to be removed.

[LFC]

Brought to you by the same people who thought up the name "Teabaggers."

[LFC]

What can you say? Every bit of this should nauseate real Christians.

[LFC]

Spot on.

John Fugelsang
@johnfugelsang

"I oppose abortion in all cases, unless it's to save the political life of the father"

[LFC]

[LFC]

This TPM headline sums things up nicely.

Where Things Stand: Trump’s Bad Candidates Ask God For Help

There’s nothing quite as humbling as begging for divine intervention.

A few of the extreme candidates that Donald Trump backed in the primaries are facing some big challenges ahead of November’s general election. Whether it’s campaign funds drying up, hypocrisy, ghosts from the past coming back to haunt or general flailing around, the Trumpers are having a hard time trying to convince normal voters (i.e. those who don’t buy into the whole brand of Big Lie, MAGA extremism) to support them in a few short weeks.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) had tried to keep his party from experiencing the uncertainty the GOP is currently facing. But Trump endorsed a lot of bad candidates with a lot of bad baggage. Roe’s overturning proved to be far more unpopular than Republicans expected. And a big chunk of the Republican candidates who won primaries and are on the ballot in November hardly have a policy platform beyond something-something 2020 election.

That doesn’t mean they won’t win. But it does mean that winning won’t be pretty — and they’ll need all the help they can get.

So as things get desperate, a few are turning to the Almighty to help.

[andydp]

Oct 5, 2022 16:07:26 GMT LFC said:

This TPM headline sums things up nicely.

Where Things Stand: Trump’s Bad Candidates Ask God For Help

There’s nothing quite as humbling as begging for divine intervention.

 they’ll need all the help they can get.

So as things get desperate, a few are turning to the Almighty to help.

Failing that, there's (Marriage is sacred) Newt.  (See above)

[pnwguy]

Oct 5, 2022 16:07:26 GMT LFC said:

This TPM headline sums things up nicely.

Where Things Stand: Trump’s Bad Candidates Ask God For Help
...

So as things get desperate, a few are turning to the Almighty to help.

You are discounting the way this works with their base.  Appeals to God (R-Heaven) create an obligation to get out and vote. Now it's no longer just a factor of voting Nazi Republican as supporting their tribe.  Now it's DIVINE COMMANDMENT to be a Christian warrior and vote R.  Preachers can lay the guilt trip from the pulpit to increase turnout.  It's one thing to say you support these cretins candidates but don't actually get to the polls.  But shirking your citizen priviledge is now FAILING your duty as a Christian.  

[LFC]

Oct 5, 2022 17:31:09 GMT pnwguy said:

You are discounting the way this works with their base.  Appeals to God (R-Heaven) create an obligation to get out and vote. Now it's no longer just a factor of voting Nazi Republican as supporting their tribe.  Now it's DIVINE COMMANDMENT to be a Christian warrior and vote R.  Preachers can lay the guilt trip from the pulpit to increase turnout.  It's one thing to say you support these cretins candidates but don't actually get to the polls.  But shirking your citizen priviledge is now FAILING your duty as a Christian.  

Same mechanism used by the pastor in a recent post I put up except he used it to rape children and women. These clowns are using it to rape our democracy.

[goldenvalley]

Oct 5, 2022 13:42:59 GMT LFC said:

Spot on.

John Fugelsang
@johnfugelsang

"I oppose abortion in all cases, unless it's to save the political life of the father"

“All abortions should illegal. There are exceptions : rape, incest, and whatever situation I find myself in.” Handy for all who like to talk out of both sides of the mouth.

[LFC]

Oct 5, 2022 19:29:02 GMT goldenvalley said:

“All abortions should illegal. There are exceptions : rape, incest, and whatever situation I find myself in.” Handy for all who like to talk out of both sides of the mouth.

When Confronted With a Past Abortion: "I have begged God(tm) for forgiveness. I should never have done that and would never do it again ... now that I'm not afraid of having to be in that situation again." That's if they don't just lie like Herschel.

[LFC]

A picture that tells us all we need to know.

[LFC]

A pastor insurrectionist. That's a little different. Not much, but a little.

Court documents show that a pastor from a church in Ohio was arrested on Wednesday for his role in the violent Jan. 6, 2021 breach at the U.S. Capitol.

[LFC]

The Christian nationalist Family Research Council claims there's no such thing as Christian nationalism and we all just hate Christians, pulling the never gets old playing of the victim. This denial is every bit as scary to me than an outright embrace.

Via email from the Family Research Council:

Those claiming to be concerned about the threat of Christian nationalism are not concerned that you may be falling into idolatry, they’re concerned for their political power. They take the time to misrepresent you and make you look bad because they are afraid of what you are capable of.

You will hear a lot more about Christian nationalism in the future. When you do, there will be ominous music in the background, and they will prove their point by quoting people who really have fallen into the trap of political idolatry. They will imply that because you are also a Christian, you’re just like them.

The goal is to motivate their base by proving you’re a threat and to shame you into silence, fear, and retreat. It’s a trap. Don’t fall for it. If you do, they get to do whatever they want and then the whole country turns into California.

Besides, there is no real risk of Christian nationalism taking over America — but even if there was, it’s not worse than the rainbow, equity, pagan nationalism they’re offering as an alternative.

[Bact PhD]

Oct 6, 2022 15:43:57 GMT LFC said:

The Christian nationalist Family Research Council claims there's no such thing as Christian nationalism and we all just hate Christians, pulling the never gets old playing of the victim. This denial is every bit as scary to me than an outright embrace.

Via email from the Family Research Council:

I’ve seen less projection in a movie house.

They’re just PO’d that their game is getting called out. Believe me when I say that for decades their struggle has been about raw power.

[AnBr]

Oct 6, 2022 3:03:58 GMT LFC said:

A picture that tells us all we need to know.

Sieg Heil!

[LFC]

It turns out Doug Mastriano has been a religious nutjob for a long time and has the writing skills of Ann Coulter.

One of the most controversial politicians in the United States is causing a stir far north of the campaign trail: at a Canadian university that once granted him a doctorate.

Students at the University of New Brunswick are pushing their university for details about its role in granting Doug Mastriano the crowning academic achievement on his CV in 2013.

A UNB associate professor listed on Doug Mastriano's doctoral dissertation describes it as atrocious academic work and says he can't understand why the paper includes his name.

"This dissertation has bothered me for nine years," Jeffrey Brown told CBC News in an interview.

"[Mastriano] was awarded a PhD on very shaky grounds."

Mastriano's campaign used his doctorate in fending off a recent political controversy. When a photo surfaced showing Mastriano wearing a Confederate uniform at a 2014 educational event, an adviser dismissed it as a smear job against a historian, pointing to his academic credentials.

Brown was on the examining board for Mastriano's dissertation.

Mastriano's work was dishonest, sloppy, tinged with religious zealotry, and indifferent to facts that contradicted his claims, said Brown, a scholar of U.S. history at UNB and a U.S.-Canada dual citizen.

He expressed alarm when the university granted the PhD and has provided CBC News with emails he sent colleagues at the time.

Brown lamented that the same traits he denounced back then are materializing in Mastriano's public life: namely the fanaticism and indifference to facts.

"The prospect of Doug Mastriano having any power, anywhere, is horrifying," said Brown, who met and worked with Mastriano on several revisions to his dissertation.

Eventually, Brown bowed out of the project. Or so he thought.

Criticism of Mastriano's scholarly work goes back years and spans several countries.

In Oklahoma, a teacher and history PhD candidate wrote last year to the UNB warning that Mastriano's work was rife with academic fraud.

James Gregory, who first encountered Mastriano's work in his published book, says he's since found over 150 problems with the thesis.

It's rampant with fake footnotes, he says, meaning the paper often makes a claim, cites a footnote to back it up, then, when you actually go check the source mentioned in the footnote, it says something else.

He showed CBC News some examples.

For instance, Mastriano's paper says a journalist first took an interest in York's story because of its religious aspect; a footnote then cites a telegram the journalist, Canadian George Pattullo, sent on Jan. 30, 1919. But Gregory tracked down the telegram and there's nothing about religion, just Pattullo's travel plans and a request for battlefield data.

"His dissertation is just filled with these issues," Gregory said. "He's making it up."

"It's academic fraud."

There's also a WaPo piece from May on his Masters thesis.

Two decades before he was Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, Doug Mastriano warned in a master’s thesis that the United States was vulnerable to a left-wing “Hitlerian Putsch” that would begin with the dismantling of the U.S. military and end with the destruction of the country’s democracy.

[Bact PhD]

Oct 6, 2022 19:05:50 GMT LFC said:

It turns out Doug Mastriano has been a religious nutjob for a long time and has the writing skills of Ann Coulter.

One of the most controversial politicians in the United States is causing a stir far north of the campaign trail: at a Canadian university that once granted him a doctorate.

Students at the University of New Brunswick are pushing their university for details about its role in granting Doug Mastriano the crowning academic achievement on his CV in 2013.

A UNB associate professor listed on Doug Mastriano's doctoral dissertation describes it as atrocious academic work and says he can't understand why the paper includes his name.

"This dissertation has bothered me for nine years," Jeffrey Brown told CBC News in an interview.

"[Mastriano] was awarded a PhD on very shaky grounds."

Mastriano's campaign used his doctorate in fending off a recent political controversy. When a photo surfaced showing Mastriano wearing a Confederate uniform at a 2014 educational event, an adviser dismissed it as a smear job against a historian, pointing to his academic credentials.

Brown was on the examining board for Mastriano's dissertation.

Mastriano's work was dishonest, sloppy, tinged with religious zealotry, and indifferent to facts that contradicted his claims, said Brown, a scholar of U.S. history at UNB and a U.S.-Canada dual citizen.

He expressed alarm when the university granted the PhD and has provided CBC News with emails he sent colleagues at the time.

Brown lamented that the same traits he denounced back then are materializing in Mastriano's public life: namely the fanaticism and indifference to facts.

"The prospect of Doug Mastriano having any power, anywhere, is horrifying," said Brown, who met and worked with Mastriano on several revisions to his dissertation.

Eventually, Brown bowed out of the project. Or so he thought.

Criticism of Mastriano's scholarly work goes back years and spans several countries.

In Oklahoma, a teacher and history PhD candidate wrote last year to the UNB warning that Mastriano's work was rife with academic fraud.

James Gregory, who first encountered Mastriano's work in his published book, says he's since found over 150 problems with the thesis.

It's rampant with fake footnotes, he says, meaning the paper often makes a claim, cites a footnote to back it up, then, when you actually go check the source mentioned in the footnote, it says something else.

He showed CBC News some examples.

For instance, Mastriano's paper says a journalist first took an interest in York's story because of its religious aspect; a footnote then cites a telegram the journalist, Canadian George Pattullo, sent on Jan. 30, 1919. But Gregory tracked down the telegram and there's nothing about religion, just Pattullo's travel plans and a request for battlefield data.

"His dissertation is just filled with these issues," Gregory said. "He's making it up."

"It's academic fraud."

There's also a WaPo piece from May on his Masters thesis.

Two decades before he was Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, Doug Mastriano warned in a master’s thesis that the United States was vulnerable to a left-wing “Hitlerian Putsch” that would begin with the dismantling of the U.S. military and end with the destruction of the country’s democracy.

Just finished reading the full CBC piece. All I can say is, Wow, just Wow. Sooo, UNB basically punted on letting horrible scholarship through because they didn’t want to risk pissing off a major constituency. Where ELSE have I seen that lately…hmmm…

[LFC]

Wow. Just ... wow. The best part of the video is the last 30 seconds where he's "speaking in tongues." You really do have to be a special brand of stupid to fall for that shit.

Right Wing Watch
@rightwingwatch

George Pearsons, senior pastor at televangelist Kenneth Copeland's church, cited Christian nationalist pseudo-historian David Barton's nonsense about our voting system supposedly coming out of the book of Exodus while "taking authority" over the midterm elections.

[LFC]

Wow. I guess those primitive people need the guiding hand of white men to understand God(tm).

[LFC]

[LFC]

Somehow Dennis Prager just got creepier.

DENNIS PRAGER (HOST): Just this one verse that men should not wear women's clothing or women men's clothing. So, let's go to my motto, preferring clarity to agreement. Either the Bible's right or the left is right. They can't both be right.

That's why you can't be a serious Jew or Christian and be a leftist. You can be a liberal, you can be a conservative, but you can't be a leftist. Just on this issue alone. You just would have to say the Bible's wrong and you're right.

...

There's no secular argument against adult incest. Brother and sister want to make love, what's your argument? That they're going to produce mentally retarded offspring? That's nonsense. It takes many generations of inbreeding to do that. There is no secular argument against adult consensual incest. There is a religious argument - sex cannot enter family life. It's a big taboo.

See, people think we can live without the greatest source of wisdom and morality in the history of the world, the Bible. That's what they think. Even some secular conservatives think that. They don't realize that they're living on the fumes of the Judeo-Christian value system. But if you ultimately extract those flowers from the soil that nurtured them, those flowers will wither and die. I don't want to see that happen.

Soooo if the Bible says incest is wrong, and you think incest is wrong, then you have to accept 100% of the shit in the Bible? Wow. That "logic" is astounding.  (And yes, there are secular arguments against incest. Try learning to use the Google, Dennis.)

[LFC]

I'll point out, yet again, that Mike Flynn was promoted to the rank of general and was given access to the most sensitive data the U.S. government has. And he's nuckin' futs.

The Associated Press has a new piece out today as part of an investigative series it’s producing with PBS’ “Frontline” focused on former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his ongoing descent into extremism and Christian nationalism. The investigative series will roll out alongside a documentary tomorrow night called “Michael Flynn’s Holy War.”

The new AP piece is a fascinating look at The Hollow, a bunker-like, Christian nationalist, far-right community site in Sarasota County, Florida that has become a MAGAworld meeting center and incubator for some of Flynn’s efforts to weave Trump grievances into politics at a hyper-local level. The Hollow has all the markings of a militia-community — even though the founder maintains it’s anything but that — that hosts events sponsored by Proud Boys family members, offers “Biblical citizenship” classes and is home to a gun range that offers classes to children as young as six. Flynn reportedly has visited the site multiple times this past year and financially supports the organization.

During one such visit in October of last year, Flynn gave a speech at a Halloween event that was put together by members of the Proud Boys and their wives. During his remarks, Flynn essentially encouraged those in the crowd to sign up to help run elections. Per the AP:

The event promised a “haunted hike” and trick-or-treating for kids, but it also included political speeches by a number of far-right activists, including Flynn and Kimberly Fletcher of Moms for America, one of the groups that organized the rallies in Washington on Jan. 5 and 6, 2021. Organizers said 1,000 people came. A video shows that during the event, Flynn got a standing ovation before telling the crowd that Republicans need to improve their election tactics.

“I can tell you exactly how the Democratic Party does precinct training and then who they put in charge,” Flynn said. “They know exactly where to put people, where to put the thugs.”

He suggested those in the audience should register to be precinct volunteers and poll watchers.

The piece is loaded with more bizarre details about the community and is worth read, but Flynn’s involvement with the group tracks with some of the other weird stuff he’s been doing for the past year. Most recently, Flynn has been traveling around the nation spewing lies about the 2020 election and tying various Trumpworld grievances to a spiritual revival of sorts. The “ReAwaken America” tour, in which Flynn is a participant, visited 15 different cities and towns around the U.S. in the last year, spreading a “message of a country under siege,” in the AP’s words: It’s “a traveling roadshow and recruiting tool for an ascendant Christian nationalist movement that’s wrapped itself in God, patriotism and politics and has grown in power and influence inside the Republican Party.”

The events include all the hallmarks of a Trumpian affair meant to further sow doubt in U.S. democracy, including baptisms into the “Army of God.”

For the man who once served as President Obama’s head of military intelligence, it’s been a befuddling trajectory.