From the Fringe to the Mainstream: Christian Nationalism Threatens Democracy

[babylonsister]

http://www.smirkingchimp.com/thread/bill-berkowitz/103861/from-the-fringe-to-the-mainstream-christian-nationalism-threatens-democracy


From the Fringe to the Mainstream: Christian Nationalism Threatens Democracy
by Bill Berkowitz | November 6, 2022 - 6:31am


As we close in on the Midterm elections, there has been lots of chatter about Christian nationalism, which has deep roots in the country, long before it featured prominently in the 2016 presidential election. From the country’s founding, Christians have often merged religious faith with national identity. And, according to a report in The Philadelphia Inquirer, “The ReAwaken America Tour is currently working its way across America to reawaken Christian nationalism.”

The Rev. Jennifer Butler, who attended a ReAwaken America tour stop in Batavia, New York, wrote: “The ReAwaken America speeches touted anti-Semitic, racist, sexist, and homophobic beliefs in the name of Christianity. Speeches were rife with apocalyptic and polarizing predictions of God’s vengeance befalling a wide range of opponents, including the founder of the World Economic Forum, President Joe Biden, and New York Attorney General Leticia James.”

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The Baptist Joint Committee sponsors the Christians Against Christian Nationalism Project. A recent statement deals with the threat of Christian nationalism: “Christian nationalism seeks to merge Christian and American identities, distorting both the Christian faith and America’s constitutional democracy. Christian nationalism demands Christianity be privileged by the State and implies that to be a good American, one must be Christian. It often overlaps with and provides cover for white supremacy and racial subjugation. We reject this damaging political ideology and invite our Christian brothers and sisters to join us in opposing this threat to our faith and to our nation.”

Katherine Stewart pointed out that Christian nationalism is not “a social movement arising from the grass roots and aiming to satisfy the real needs of its base. It isn’t. This is a leader-driven movement. The leaders set the agenda, and their main goals are power and access to public money. They aren’t serving the interests of their base; they are exploiting their base as a means of exploiting the rest of us.”

As Rev. Jennifer Butler, author of Who Stole my Bible?: Reclaiming Scripture as a Handbook for Resisting Tyranny, maintained, rather than dealing with real issues affecting Americans, “politicians and pastors under the ReAwaken America tent are touring the country, preying on the fear and anger of people — often white — who feel like today’s country is leaving them behind.”

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[lees1975]

2. It's destructive to government and to the churches

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/10/important-distinctions-between.html

https://signalpress.blogspot.com/2022/10/marjorie-taylor-greene-preaches-another.html

When you have immoral deniers of the gospel of Christ like Eric and Don Jr. on the platform of a rally, boosting their abusive, lying, sexually immoral father as an instrument of God, any Christian that supports that is a fraud, phony and hypocrite. No wonder the Evangelical churches are losing members.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

3. Republicans, Pootineers, Taliban, Islamic Republic of Iran, Nazis, NatCs -- all same, same.