Museum of the Bible - Trump "seated and mantled with the power of God"

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/06/opinion/sunday/the-museum-of-the-bible-is-a-safe-space-for-christian-nationalists.html
The Museum of the Bible Is a Safe Space for Christian Nationalists
By KATHERINE STEWART | JAN. 6, 2018

...

Mr. Drollinger believes that social welfare programs “have no basis in Scripture,” that Christians in government have an obligation to hire only Christians and that women should not be allowed to teach grown men. He lays out his thinking in a 2013 book, “Rebuilding America: The Biblical Blueprint.”

Mr. Drollinger was an early, passionate supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential candidacy. The “institution of the state” is “an avenger of wrath,” he explains, and its “God-given responsibility” is “to moralize a fallen world through the use of force.” Apparently, President Trump excels in these biblical criteria for leadership.

Mr. Drollinger is dedicated to communicating those views in weekly Bible study groups. The participants in his groups, however, aren’t just anybody. They include Mike Pompeo, the director of the C.I.A.; Attorney General Jeff Sessions; Vice President Mike Pence; Betsy DeVos, the secretary of education; and other senior officials in the Trump administration. Mr. Drollinger seeks to institute similar if less-star-studded Bible study groups in all 50 state capitals.

That’s why Cindy Jacobs, a leading figure in the fast-growing world of charismatic Christianity, and a featured speaker at the Revolution 2017 event in December, described the museum as “God’s base camp.” There, in the auditorium of the museum, Ms. Jacobs offered this prediction: “The army of the heavens marches into Washington, D.C., and marches out of Washington, D.C.” Soon enough, “they go into North Korea.”

[cilla4progress]

1. Ayatollah

...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. This is some scary shit.

[Anon-C]

5. Right!

Christian fascism; where Jesus returns, fully kits up in combat dress and conducts the Final Judgement by going door-to-door with Blackwater operatives and sending sinners to hell.

[Angry Dragon]

3. perversion of the Word

[uponit7771]

4. +1

[Docreed2003]

6. Sigh...its like these sick fucks have never read the gospels

Yeah, Jesus’s purported words had jack crap to say about feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, healing the sick, ministering to the prisoner...yeah he was totally about forceful institution of God’s plan through use of force.

SMDH....this infuriates me to the point of visceral seething anger. These fuckers actually think they are the “true messengers” of God’s word. Charlatans...the lot of them.

These evangelicals have successfully deluded and brainwashed a huge segment of American Christians for the better part of 40 years, to the point that children from my generation have children of their own who are being indoctrinated into this nonsense. Those who were smart enough to reject this false representation of the teachings of Christ ran away, but the influence and power of these sick, power hungry, dominionist/evangelicals has continued to reach across all parts of this country. I honestly have no clue how to push back against their movement.

[OAITW r.2.0]

7. 30 years of bible indoctrination?

Well, at least they convinced you that Republican morons are better than intelligent Democrats in our public forums.

[madamesilverspurs]

8. So that's where they go

to learn how to frame their justifications for their actions, how to make their evil sound 'angelic' as they trash the populations they claim to be saving. They make a mud pie and peddle it as steak, and the willingly gullible rush to swallow it, in God's name of course.


.

[appalachiablue]

9. Serious business

[AJT]

10. They have billions of dollars behind them and have finally made the inroads

they have worked so hard to make for 40 years with 45 and Pence. The cabinet and higher up positions in government, including federal judgeships, are being filled with Christian fanatics. This is fast becoming Franco's fascism......corporations and religion running the government.

[mountain grammy]

13. Yep. This won't go away any time soon

and certainly won't end well.

[Initech]

11. Fuck these people.

I want no part of their bullshit religion.

[kskiska]

12. My daughter lost her job at a textile company due to her boss subscribing to this crap (Dominionism.

It's a cult. They did everything to make her quit, including shunning, and finally fired her. They had Corporate Chaplains on board and Bible study groups.

[Alwaysna]

14. I believe

This is the sort of thing Hobby Lobby indulges in. I haven't stepped foot in their store since 2012 and they filed suit in Missouri regarding ACA and birth control.

[dalton99a]

23. They're not subtle people. They're on a jihad - three blocks from the U.S. Capitol

The intensely politicized religion that appears to be taking up residence at the Museum of the Bible isn’t there by accident. When Steve Green, the museum’s founder and the president of the Hobby Lobby crafts chain, formed the museum’s parent organization in 2010, he informed the I.R.S. that its purpose was “to bring to life the living word of God, to tell its compelling story of preservation, and to inspire confidence in the absolute authority and reliability of the Bible.” In 2012, the language was changed to say that the aim was simply “to invite people to engage with the Bible.”

Mr. Green rose to fame by getting the conservative majority on the Supreme Court to confer on Hobby Lobby the right to withhold federally mandated reproductive health care coverage from its female employees. The Green family lent artifacts to the Creation Museum in Kentucky and offers support to a “religious literacy” program aimed at public school students detailing the consequences they face if they disobey God.

Joining the Hobby Lobby stores on the donor wall that memorializes large gifts to the Museum of the Bible are a dozen-plus foundations that routinely back conservative Christian causes. There is also a lot of Amway money supporting the museum, including the Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation and other foundations connected to the DeVos family.

Given the theologico-political goals of its founders and patrons, it isn’t hard to see that the location of this museum was an act of symbolic and practical genius. If you’re going to build a Christian nation, this is where you start.

[TygrBright]

15. This shit is why Pence scares me WAY more than [Redacted]. n/t

[benld74]

16. Totally disgusting on many levels

[bobbieinok]

17. Is museum founded by Green family, owners of Hobby Lobby?

I believe they have many objects in museum of questionable provenance, either fake or stolen. They also rigidly restrict who can examine the material. So if some things are legitimately there, no or very few recognized scholars have access to the material. Thus the value if any is lost to scholarship.

IIRC the Green family also plans a Bible curriculum they intend for public schools. I think they are negotiating with some TX schools.

[The headquarters of Hobby Lobby is in OKC. The Green family bailed Oral Roberts University (in Tulsa) out of bankruptcy a few yrs ago. In return, they got a membership on the board of regents. Michelle Bachmann is a grad of the now closed ORU law school. David Barton, the leading national purveyor of 'America is a Christian nation' is an ORU grad. Kenneth Copeland, one of the richest televangelists, attended ORU and was an early pilot for Oral.]

[dalton99a]

18. Yep.

https://www.museumofthebible.org/leadership

Steve Green serves as chairman of the board of Museum of the Bible. In his role as chairman, Green has assembled a team of academics, designers, technology professionals and other experts to create the 430,000-square-foot Museum of the Bible, dedicated to a scholarly and engaging presentation of the Bible's impact, history and narrative. It is scheduled to open in 2017 in Washington, three blocks from the U.S. Capitol.

Green is also president of Hobby Lobby, the world's largest privately owned arts and crafts retailer. Founded in 1972 by his father, David, in 300 square feet of retail space, the chain has grown to more than 600 stores. Along with its affiliated companies, Hobby Lobby employs some 30,000 people companywide. Today, Hobby Lobby and its affiliates (including Hemispheres and Mardel Stores, a Christian bookstore and educational supply chain) have combined sales of more than $3.3 billion.

[bobbieinok]

20. Thanks. The article about the meeting should have emphasized this info

We all need to be aware of how these groups are interconnected and how they infiltrate everything.

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. It does have 3 paragraphs on the Green family, and also the DeVos Amway money in the museum (nt)

[bobbieinok]

25. Sorry. I fast skimmed it. In current situation, I think all connections should be shouted upfront!!

[Princess Turandot]

29. FYI Green was made to forfeit over 5,000 pieces and pay a $3 million fine in 2017...

I believe the items were then repatriated, mostly to Iraq.

[regnaD kciN]

19. "Social welfare programs have no basis in Scripture...???

Ever hear of the Jubilee in ancient Israel? The parable of the sheep and the goats? The passages in Acts about the early Christian community holding all things in common?

It seems, as usual, that those who thump the Bible the most have never actually read it.

[Mc Mike]

21. Blatant birchers' biblical balderdash.

[Boomerproud]

22. K&R

This is very important for everyone to know.

[Paladin]

26. Big-money blasphemy.

Hey, Drollinger: Does the phrase "Depart, I know thee not" ring a bell with you? No, I didn't think so.

[highplainsdem]

27. They're fake-Christian fascists and jihadists.

[workinclasszero]

28. Totally

If they had the power, they would be lopping off democrats heads just like ISIS, you can count on that!

[bluestarone]

30. no doubt

GOTTA STOP THIS SHIT

[Nevernose]

31. Racism is the entire POINT of fundamentalist Christianity

Promotion of segregation (“religious freedom”) is the primary reason the modern fundamentalist movement exists, with sexism a close second.

But social niceties must be observed, now, so they couch all their hateful bullshit in made-up pseudo-biblical nonsense.

[milestogo]

32. Because if nobody will convert to your views you should impose those views on others by force.

It's worked well all through history.