#Christian Nationalists

[contemplatingoutlander]

On Billionaires and "Tyrannical Freedom"

Another excellent commentary by Jamelle Bouie. As such, this is a gift🎁link that anyone can use to read the entire article, even if they do not subscribe to The New York Times. Below are some excerpts:

This week in Texas Monthly, I read a troubling profile of Tim Dunn, a 68-year-old billionaire Texas oilman and lavish financier for right-wing extremists in the state. “In the past two years,” Russell Gold writes, “Dunn has become the largest individual source of campaign money in the state by far.” He has spent, through his political action committee, millions of dollars targeting Republicans who don’t meet his ideological litmus tests of opposition to public schools, opposition to renewable energy and support for tax cuts and draconian anti-abortion laws. A pastor who once said that only Christians should hold leadership positions in government, Dunn sees himself as someone who is on a religious mission of sorts and has devoted his time and wealth to imposing his ultraconservative politics and fundamentalist beliefs on as many Texans as possible. [...] I was disturbed. There is his wealth and influence, yes. But there is also his worldview, captured in the opening scene of the piece. Dunn makes an unfavorable comparison between human societies and bee hives:

By itself, this passage reads as fairly innocuous. But when read with Dunn in mind — a straightforward Christian nationalist whose allies in Texas politics are leading the charge to ban books, suppress the rights of L.G.B.T.Q. Texans and restrict reproductive health care — it takes on a more ominous cast. The passage, in that context, seems to capture the perspective of a man who does not believe in democratic freedom — a freedom rooted in political and social equality — as much as he believes in the freedom of the master, which is to say the freedom to rule and subordinate others. It’s a tyrannical freedom, one that rests on the idea that the world is nothing but a set of overlapping hierarchies, and that if you do not sit at the top of one, then you must be made to serve those who do. You’ll find freedom within your role, and nowhere else. This is not a new or foreign conception of freedom — it is...one of the more dissonant notes in our collective heritage. The issue, today, is twofold. First, we have a powerful political movement, led by Donald Trump, that defines itself in terms of this freedom. And second, we’ve allowed such a grotesque accumulation of wealth that figures like Dunn can wield tremendous influence over the political system. I’ve written before that the fight to save American democracy will involve more than beating Trump at the ballot box. Finding ways to radically limit the political reach of the super wealthy is part of what I mean. [emphasis added]

#right-wing billionaires #christian nationalists #tyrannical freedom #tim dunn #texas #jamelle bouie #the new york times #russell gold #texas monthly #gift link

[truth-has-a-liberal-bias]

A venture fund and a real estate startup – both with links to far-right organizations – are promoting a residential development in rural Kentucky as a haven for fellow rightwingers.

The promoters have presented the planned development as an “aligned community” for right wingers who want to “disappear from the cultural insanity of the broader country” and “spearhead the revival of the region”.

...

The development was announced on X, formerly known as Twitter, and in a special edition of the New Founding by Joshua Abbotoy, who is managing director of venture fund New Founding and principal of real estate developer Kentucky Ridge Runner LLC according to company records.

...

Kentucky Ridgerunner, meanwhile, is an LLC founded in 2022 with Abbotoy at its head according to Kentucky company records. It is the main vehicle for HRP, and owns the bulk of the land which is up for sale to buyers with rightwing sympathies.

Abbotoy’s father, Mark, a real estate appraiser based in Hartsville, Tennessee, is named as managing partner on the Ridgerunner website, and Lazar Lazarovski, a Nashville-based tech entrepreneur and realtor, is marketing director.

The website currently advertises two developments in the vicinity of Burkesville, a town in the so-called Eastern Pennyroyal district of southern Kentucky, around 20 miles north of the Tennessee border.

One of the developments, christened “Longhollow Acres”, is described as “a rolling 550-acre farm situated six miles northeast of Burkesville, and about half a mile to the river”. [...]

#Kentucky #Republicans #Christian nationalists #far-right #extremists

[odinsblog]

Republicans and religious cults go together like dogshit and flies

👉🏿 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/03/fbi-people-of-praise-amy-coney-barrett-faith-group-abuse-allegations

#politics #scotus #amy coney barrett #people of praise #religious reich #federalist society #cults #evangelical christians #christian nationalists #white nationalists

[tomorrowusa]

Extremist fundamentalists of different religions seem to have more in common with each other than they do with moderates of the same faith. They are invariably intolerant control freaks who feel they have the right to impose their wills on others. MAGA Mike Johnson would fit in well with Iran's theocrats.

Since his fellow Republicans made him their leader, numerous articles have reported Johnson’s religiously motivated, far-right views on abortion, same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ rights. But that barely scratches the surface. Johnson was a senior lawyer for the extremist Alliance Defending Fund (later the Alliance Defending Freedom) from 2002 to 2010. This is the organization responsible for orchestrating the 303 Creative v Elenis legal arguments to obtain a ruling from the supreme court permitting a wedding website designer to refuse to do business with gay couples. It also played a significant role in annulling Roe v Wade. The ADF has always been opposed to privacy rights, abortion and birth control. Now Roe is gone, the group is laying the groundwork to end protection for birth control. Those who thought Roe would never be overruled should understand that the reasoning in Dobbs v Jackson is not tailored to abortion. Dobbs was explicitly written to be the legal fortress from which the right will launch their attacks against other fundamental rights their extremist Christian beliefs reject. They are passionate about rolling back the right to contraception, the right to same-sex marriage and the right to sexual privacy between consenting adults. Johnson’s inerrant biblical truth leads him to reject science. Johnson was a “young earth creationist”, holding that a literal reading of Genesis means that the earth is only a few thousand years old and humans walked alongside dinosaurs. He has been the attorney for and partner in Kentucky’s Creation Museum and Ark amusement park, which present these beliefs as scientific fact, a familiar sleight of hand where the end (garnering more believers) justifies the means (lying about science). For them, the end always justifies the means. That’s why they don’t even blink when non-believers suffer for their dogma.

There was recently a big experiment in rejecting science with the far right campaigning against COVID-19 vaccinations. That may have cost hundreds of thousands of lives in the US. MAGA Mike would like to apply that to all sectors of life in the US.

Setting aside all of these wildly extreme, religiously motivated policy preferences, there is a more insidious threat to America in Johnson’s embrace of scriptural originalism: his belief that subjective interpretation of the Bible provides the master plan for governance. Religious truth is neither rational nor susceptible to reasoned debate. For Johnson, who sees a Manichean world divided between the saved who are going to heaven and the unsaved going to hell, there is no middle ground. Constitutional politics withers and is replaced with a battle of the faithful against the infidels. Sound familiar? Maybe in Tehran or Kabul or Riyadh. But in America?

By doing anything other than voting Democratic in an election (i.e. voting Republican, wasting a vote on a loser third party, writing in a dead gorilla, not voting at all) people help pave the way for a fascist theocracy in the US.

Speaker MAGA Mike Johnson is already second in line for the presidency. That is WAY too close.

Voting may not always be convenient but theo-fascism is far less convenient.

#maga mike johnson #us house of representatives #republicans #the far right #theocracy #theo-fascism #christian nationalists #scriptural originalism #young earth creationism #pseudoscience #extremist fundamentalist christians #abortion #reproductive freedom #dobbs v. jackson women's health organization #register and vote #election 2023 #election 2024

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

New Rule: The Truth About Christmas | Real Time with Bill Maher

Finally, New Rule: Praise Jesus, it's a Christmas miracle. For the first time in the 21 year history of this show we are on in December, which gives me a chance to explain to everyone something I've always wanted to expound upon in this show.

You know that whole thing about Jesus being born on December 25th? Well it's a crock of shit. Now, this is not an attack on Jesus. Although, he was a nepo baby. But also a revolutionary philosopher with a beautiful message. As to whether he's a God, that's up to you.

But if the subject is "Gods born on December 25th," we have enough of those for an entire Jeopardy category.

He was the Egyptian god who took the form of a falcon. Who is Horus?

He is the god from ancient Persia born bearing a torch. Who is Mithra?

He is the Greek god of rebirth. Who is Adonis?

He was the fertility god in Cleopatra's time. Who is Osiris?

This Greek deity was known for having a good time. Who is Dionysis?

So you may be asking - those are all real by the way, I think that was the problem, they think I'm making this up but I'm not - why do all the gods want the same birthday? Well, because December 25th was a pagan holiday coming a few days after the shortest day of the year, when primitive peoples noticed that the days were starting to get longer again, and so a cause for celebration.

Cut to:

And that's the story of Christmas. A holiday I love by the way. The tree, the presents, the music, the Christmas memories with my sister and our cousins filling the bong with eggnog. It's the only time of the year it's okay to put alcohol in milk. Christmas is fun if you just accept it's pretend time. Like a Hollywood wedding.

Yes, I love Christmas and always have. Just don't try to make me take it seriously.

And that is what has been going on a lot lately here in America. We have a new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, who says America is actually a Biblical Republic and that he's even got a flag picked out that hangs outside his office, and which also could be seen in the mob on January 6th. Mike also says, "the separation of church and state is a misnomer," and congresswoman Lauren Boebert concurs saying she's, "tired of this separation of church and state junk." So too Marjorie Taylor Green, who says, "I say it proudly, we should all be Christian nationalists."

Now I know it may seem like this is just a few crazies, but I gotta tell you, dumbass Republicans who believe horrible ideas are like ants: there's always more that you can't see.

And in in fact, these ideas are no longer the fringe. According to a recent survey, over half of Republicans are either adherents of Christian nationalism or sympathetic to it. And they agree with statements like: "The US government should declare America a Christian Nation," and "Being Christian is an important part of being truly American," and "God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society."

I'm sorry but I don't want anyone exercising their dominion over me unless I pay them and we've established a safe-word.

Boebert says, "The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church." Well, no and no. Neither one is supposed to direct the other. That's what separation of church and state means.

Republicans, Jesus fucking Christ. First you stop believing in democracy - Senator Mike Lee said it, among others. Trump lives the idea every day, and here we have the Speaker of the House saying it. And now Republicans also don't believe in the separation of church and state? Does anyone in that party remember what fucking country you're living in?

We're the place that stakes so much of our greatness on being the first to specifically prohibit having a state religion. There are dozens of countries that have an official religion. There's 13 where being an atheist is punishable by death. Four have "Islamic" right in the title of the country.

And maybe that warms the hearts of the TikTok crowd who lately have found heroes in Hamas and Osama Bin Laden. But that's not us. That's not what we do here. I get it you kids like to switch things up. But I can only handle one side at a time being ridiculous about religious fanaticism, and right now I've got my hands full with Mike Johnson.

Because Mike Johnson has the power to actually make laws. And I don't want my global warming policy decided by someone who is rooting for the end of the world so we can get on with the Rapture. And who once filed a legal brief before the Supreme Court arguing that what he called "deviant same sex intercourse" should be a crime. Even the lesbian stuff?

Mike thinks God personally chooses, raises up our leaders, which is a very dangerous thought, because then when you lose an election you think it's just another of God's tricks to test your faith. Like fossils. Mike says, "We began as a Christian nation." We didn't. Did you miss that day in home school, Mike? If you don't know that the pilgrims came here to get away from the Church of England then you don't know, literally, the first thing about our country. Mike says, being a Christian nation is, "our tradition," and, "it's who we are as a people."

It's not. We're the people who have a First Amendment which says, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." And we have an Article Six which says, "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office."

So, I take these people at their word when they say that they think we should be Christian nationalists. But then they have to take John Adams at his word when he wrote, "the government of the United States of America is not an any sense founded on the Christian religion."

But I still love Christmas!

--

Introduction The rising influence of Christian nationalism in some segments of American politics poses a major threat to the health of our democracy. Increasingly, the major battle lines of the culture war are being drawn between a right animated by a Christian nationalist worldview and Americans who embrace the country’s growing racial and religious diversity. This new PRRI/Brookings survey of more than 6,000 Americans takes a closer look at the underpinnings of Christian nationalism, providing new measures to estimate the proportion of Americans who adhere to and reject Christian nationalist ideology. The survey also examines how Christian nationalist views intersect with white identity, anti-Black sentiment, support of patriarchy, antisemitism, anti-Muslim sentiments, anti-immigrant attitudes, authoritarianism, and support for violence. Additionally, the survey explores the influence Christian nationalism has within our two primary political parties and major religious subgroups and what this reveals about the state of American democracy and the health of our society.

==

Freedom of religion and freedom from religion are the same thing.

#Bill Maher #Real Time with Bill Maher #Christmas #separation of church and state #secularism #christianity #christian nationalism #christian nationalists #mike johnson #christian nation #John Adams #First Amendment #Article Six #democracy #religion #freedom of religion #freedom from religion #religious authoritarianism #religion is a mental illness

[truthdogg]

This article is from 2018, but it’s extremely relevant today, because of how influential David Barton has been over the past five years since it was written. The change in tone from the right has shifted in that time as more and more of Barton’s followers have taken office and implemented his ideas.

One of the key elements of his phony mythology, for starters, is that the founders were divinely inspired evangelicals, and that they cannot be criticized whatsoever. From the article:

“It's also telling that so much of this revisionist American history is about blending Christianity with a very specific form of American (usually white) nationalism. Figures like Barton blend the idea that America is a "Christian country" with the idea that the only critiques of the Founding Fathers - that, say, they owned slaves or contributed to racial inequality - come from "politically correct" historians seeking to discredit America's great history for political ends.

“The founders double as hero-saints to Barton. Central to the idea that America was founded as a Christian nation is the idea that America was founded unproblematically; that only a return to this mythologized past will somehow solve perceived problems of structural inequality. "Real" America, in other words, is above criticism.”

This is the entire basis of DeSantis and others’ “anti-woke” and “anti-CRT” philosophy.

Further, watch out for any elected official claiming the US Constitution is divinely inspired. Whenever you hear it, you’re hearing a Barton-following Dominionist who should not hold political office.

And here the article explains just why so many Republicans are no longer hiding their complete & utter disdain for democracy itself:

“…Barton is among those who believe the ultimate goal for American government should be a Christian theocratic state, which is necessary to properly usher in the apocalyptic End Times. Dominionism takes many forms, …(n)evertheless, its fundamental principle is the same: Christians must work toward a theocratic state in which Christians are in control. Or, as current congressional candidate (and fellow Barton enthusiast) Rick Saccone said in an interview last year with Pastors Network of America, God wants Christians “who will rule with the fear of God in them, to rule over us.” ”

If you don’t recall, Saccone fortunately lost that election as well as the one after. (Thank you, Pennsylvania!) But others like him continue to win. Ron DeSantis and Ted Cruz are notable Dominionists, and even Donald Trump has publicly embraced these ideas. This worldview they share isn’t undermining their support; it’s why they have any. Republicans’ strongest supporters are with them because of these views, while so-called moderates like Mitt Romney, Adam Kinziger & others continue to lose party support. This is exactly why influential pastors like Robert Jeffress and David Jeremiah are such avid Trump campaigners, because they believe in Christian authoritarianism and believe that Trump can (and will) make it happen.

We need to be very clear about this. Today’s Republicans are mostly Barton-inspired fanatics at all levels, especially locally. This is why after Tennessee Republicans ejected Reps. Justin Jones and Justin Pearson, they were caught on tape claiming that they were personally at the forefront of a “war” for control of the nation.

Base Republicans believe this nonsense. That’s why the very next thing the Tennessee legislature did after that recording was made was vote to allow unlicensed concealed carry, because they want their soldiers armed if and when they are voted out of office. If you look at the collateral damage of their war—our now-daily mass murders—it’s easy to see what impact their belief is having. The fear and distrust these killings create serve their goals as well, as those are critical ingredients for any authoritarian regime.

If we don’t start paying attention to this poisonous religious & racist rhetoric, we will not be able to stop not only our daily violence, but the coming violence as well. January 6th is going to look like the tourist visit Republicans claim it was. This is urgent. The change in right-wing rhetoric from this 2018 article to today’s full-throated endorsement and implementation of its ideas should make that very clear.

#us politics #republicans #dominionism #white nationalists #Christian nationalists #woke #ron desantis

[misagenda]

I’m minding my own business in the dentist’s waiting room while wearing a tshirt with an image of a skeleton giving the ok sign. A lady sitting across from me began pointedly scoffing and eventually said “that shirt is satanic, you’re disrespecting jesus.”

I don’t know what possessed me in that moment (probably satan) but I immediately retorted “I don’t want to alarm you, but you’ve also got a skeleton.”

She was offended I would even imply she had a skeleton.

Y’all this bitch invertebrate.

#religious trauma #skeleton #agnostic #atheist #christian nationalists #dentist #monotheism #are teeth technically part of your skeleton? #invertebrates

[zenosanalytic]

This is a good video for those wondering who Mike Johnson is. Also: a nice little preview of the bonkers Christian Panopticon Republicans want to force us all into.

Also Rebecca Watson's been queer-friendly feminist and atheist for, like, 20 years now. If you're looking for short(this one's 9 1/2 minutes), empirical video-essays on science, politics, and current events, you could definitely do worse than giving her channel a sub.

#Rebecca Watson #Skepchick #Video #Mike Johnson #Covenant Eyes #Republicans #Christian Nationalists #White Nationalists #Conservative Christians #US Politics #No Nut November #Video Essays #Youtube #informative reblogs #appreciative reblogs

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

I Signed Up For Mike Huckabee's Christian Nationalist Homeschooling Program

Conservatives love to accuse liberals of indoctrinating children but did you know Mike Huckabee has a Christian nationalist homeschool program? I signed up for it.

And it's WILD.

#us politics #youtube #2023 #videos #kat abu #mike huckabee #christian nationalists #homeschooling #conservatives #republicans #gop #grifters #indoctrination #education #the kids guide

[geezerwench]

#the rapture #solar eclipse #end times #end times again #rapture those fuckers out of here already #total eclipse #Nineveh #evangelicals #christian nationalists #maga

[meandmybigmouth]

America allowing history to repeat itself!

#donald trump #republicans #congress #religion #christian nationalists

[gwydionmisha]

#‘He Gets Us’ Ad #Religion #Christian Nationalists #News

[odinsblog]

If you’ve gotten a free flu shot, mammogram or diabetes screening lately, there’s a good chance you can thank the Affordable Care Act (ACA), aka Obamacare. Unfortunately, a recent court decision may take that coverage away from millions of Americans.

Some 20–40 percent of U.S. deaths from cancer, heart disease and other leading causes of mortality are preventable. Preventive health services can ward off disease entirely, or detect a condition early when interventions are most effective. Before the ACA passed in 2010, insurance companies didn’t always cover preventive services, and, if they did, they could make enrollees pay deductibles, co-payments or other out-of-pocket cost sharing. So Congress required most private health insurance plans to cover a set recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and several other expert bodies. Most Americans with private health insurance—estimated at over 150 million people—are enrolled in plans that have had to meet these coverage requirements. And as the ACA’s drafters had hoped, expanding no-cost coverage led millions more people to use many of these important services.

Unfortunately, two ongoing crusades—one to weaken the ACA and the other to impose certain religious views on other people’s health care—might roll back this health care success. In late March, federal judge Reed O’Connor, whose courtroom is a popular venue for anti-Obamacare plaintiffs, issued a ruling in Braidwood v. Becerra that blocked a portion of the act’s prevention services provision nationwide.

O’Connor’s order, if upheld, will have antiscientific and deeply discriminatory effects on Americans’ access to health care.

(continue reading)

#politics #religion #republicans #healthcare #religious reich #religious freedom #freedom from religion #christian nationalists #evangelical christians #insurance #aca #affordable care act #science #reed oconnor #reed o’connor #braidwood v becerra #preventative healthcare

[tomorrowusa]

Extremist Christian fundamentalists in Hell still spouting that "imperfect vessel" bit about Trump.

I'm no theologian, but false god seems like a more accurate description than imperfect vessel regarding Trump's place in the religious universe.

#fundamentalists #christian nationalists #religious extremists #ba'al #donald trump #'imperfect vessel' #the trump cult #the far right #the devil made them do it #election 2024 #pat byrnes

[bigdadskypilot]

#anti trump #fuck republicans #republicans are trash #republicans are evil #separation of church and state #atheist #atheism #religion #Christian #Christian nationalists #Christian nationalism #anti conservative #anti christianity #anti christian #anti religion #constitution #bill of rights #Instagram

[trmpt]

“At every stage of his career, as an attorney and a state and a federal lawmaker, Johnson has immersed himself more deeply in a world where reality doesn’t matter and any wild belief is plausible. Hate thrives in that world, and so it was a relatively simple matter for it to embrace Trump’s drive to stay in power after he lost the 2020 election. The science denier became an election denier. When Johnson urged fellow House Republicans to oppose the results of the election, he did so in religious terms, Politico reported. “This is a very weighty decision. All of us have prayed for God’s discernment. I know I’ve prayed for each of you individually,” he allegedly told them. That is who Mike Johnson is: a polite extremist, who is no less radical than anyone who stormed the Capitol on January 6. The disciple of Christ is now a disciple of Trump.”

Sarah Jones

#mike johnson #christian nationalists #misogynist #seditionist #trump disciple #trump cult #maga cult