evangIIIbak2
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">evang3bak20
520 no teads
end Tel Aviv to Jerusalem
</font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">519 really evang 3 but i'm curious about megachurch as phenom (size matters?)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">see magical thinking</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>broke format see bak 3 [teads 520]</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>see drollinger, bible study senate, house CABINET PENCE, ~ everything left</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>see theocracy</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>xian nat'lism...</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">1/20 new tag PPP pence, pompeo perry, ie high ranking trump dominionist/ paleo-catholic
</font><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 520</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div https="https" www.alternet.org="www.alternet.org" trump-demanded-churches-re-open-after-polls-found-staggering-decline-in-support-from-christian-conservatives="trump-demanded-churches-re-open-after-polls-found-staggering-decline-in-support-from-christian-conservatives" trump="Trump" demanded="demanded" churches="churches" re-open="re-open" after="after" polls="polls" found="found" staggering="staggering" decline="decline" in="in" support="support" from="from" christian="Christian" conservatives="conservatives"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/trump-demanded-churches-re-open-after-polls-found-staggering-decline-in-support-from-christian-conservatives/" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">
</font></a><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/trump-demanded-churches-re-open-after-polls-found-staggering-decline-in-support-from-christian-conservatives/" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" /></span></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/david-badash/" title="Posts by David Badash" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; text-align: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">David Badash</a><span style="text-align: right;"> </span><span style="text-align: right;">/</span><span style="text-align: right;"> </span><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/the-new-civil-rights-movement/" title="Posts by The New Civil Rights Movement" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; text-align: right; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">The New Civil Rights Movemen</a>t</font></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"></font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/why-religious-freedom-stokes-coronavirus-protests-in-the-u-s/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/why-religious-freedom-stokes-coronavirus-protests-in-the-u-s/</font></a></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/pamela-e-klassen-1034804" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Pamela E. Klassen</a>, <span style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-toronto-1281" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">University of Toronto</a></span></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Religious freedom, cherished as an American ideal, has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/05/coronavirus-churches-florida-social-distancing" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">frequently invoked in the United States</a> during protests against COVID-19 public health measures.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b style="">In Canada,</b> forms of protests — including by churches — are more likely to focus on the systemic underfunding of long-term care and <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/church-program-hands-out-tents-to-people-in-need-of-shelter-amid-pandemic-1.4898313?cache=" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">homeless shelters</a> or the lack of sufficient medical and water infrastructure in <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-indigenous-communities-and-covid-19-the-virus-may-not-discriminate/" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Indigenous communities</a>.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Why the difference?</font></font></font></p><div class="alt_ad_block true_ad_free story-page-in-content-graph-4" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="alt_ad_msg" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 10px; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><div class="header" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">AD REMOVED FOR SUBSCRIBED USER</font></font></div></div></div><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Across the U.S., conservative Christians flouted state and municipal social distancing orders as late as March 31, sometimes by overtly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/31/florida-megachurch-pastor-arrested-for-breaching-covid-19-health-order" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">breaking the law</a>, claiming that <b>God, not the state, will protect the people.</b></font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During the Christian Holy Week, evangelical and Pentecostal church leaders, often backed by Republican politicians, <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/04/11/coronavirus-easter-kansas-kentucky-restrict-religious-gatherings-church/2975593001/" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">brought lawsuits</a> against state and municipal governments, arguing that curtailing religious gatherings for the sake of limiting the spread of COVID-19 was a breach of religious freedom.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">With lightning speed, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2020/04/14/us/14reuters-health-coronavirus-usa-religion.html" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">federal</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/12/832644243/kansas-supreme-court-upholds-governors-order-limiting-the-size-of-easter-service" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">state</a> lawyers weighed in on the balance between public health measures and religious liberty.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">By contrast, the story in Canada is largely one of <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pandemic-religion-islam-jewish-christian-1.5515588" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">religious organizations</a> of all varieties <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-faith-communities-are-responding-to-the-coronavirus-pandemic-135281" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">co-operating</a> with public health measures. To date, there is no equivalent in Canada of these high-profile COVID-19 legal battles in which churches reject both public health directives and state legislation.</font></font></font></p><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.3em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Suspicion of science, government</font></font></font></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Religiously based suspicion of scientific and government authority is not unique to conservative Christians; Hasidic Jewish communities share these suspicions and constitute a significant number of those infected with COVID-19 in <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-hasidic-jews-rabbi-funeral-brooklyn-social-distancing/" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">New York state</a>.</font></font></font></p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{" tweetid="tweetId" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even in the case of Hasidic Jews, however, the border might make a difference: Hasidic communities <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-hasidic-jewish-community-north-of-montreal-placed-under-14-day/" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">in Québec</a> have been praised for their diligence in adhering to social distancing, in contrast to those <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/09/opinion/hasidic-jews-covid-distancing.html" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">in New York</a>, where some rabbis have mocked public health recommendations.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The contrasting responses to COVID-19 in Canada and the United States are rooted in very different national attitudes about individual and collective responsibility for public health.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the United States, Democratic front-runner Joe Biden may come to embrace Bernie Sander’s plan for “<a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/04/what-biden-can-do-about-pressure-to-embrace-medicare-for-all.html" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Medicare for All</a>,” but even the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/13/opinion/protest-social-distancing-covid.html" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">devastating reality</a> of being the country hardest hit so far by COVID-19 has not seemed to turn the tide of public opinion on the need for universal medicare.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In Canada, by contrast, leaders across the political spectrum are throwing their support behind public health care, with even <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-seniors-care-home-neglect-is-our-national-shame/" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">some conservative politicians</a> calling for more funding, especially for long-term care</b>. While Donald Trump tweeted a call to anti-public health protesters to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/17/us/politics/trump-coronavirus-governors.html" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">“liberate” their states</a>, in Ontario, Conservative Premier Doug Ford dismissed a scattering of such protesters in Toronto as <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-covid-19-cases-long-term-care-staff-1.5545042" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">selfish “yahoos.”</a></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Invoking religious freedom in an attempt to opt out of health-care legislation is much more common in the U.S. than Canada. Both countries protect religious freedom, dating back to 1791 in the United States with the <a href="https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/amendment-1/" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">First Amendment</a> of the constitution guaranteeing the “free exercise” of religion, while in Canada, <a href="https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/const/page-15.html" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms</a> has protected the “freedom of conscience and religion” since 1982.</font></font></font></p><h2 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.3em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Religious freedom as a rallying cry</font></font></font></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These parallel guarantees, however, stem from <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Varieties-of-Religious-Establishment-1st-Edition/Beaman-Sullivan/p/book/9781409452416" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">very different histories</a> of using religious freedom as a rallying cry, including to resist public health care. I’ve discussed this in my research, especially in relation to <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/secular-bodies-affects-and-emotions-9781350065239/" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">women’s reproductive health</a>.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In the wake of former U.S. president Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, for example, Catholics and evangelical groups used a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/01/us/hobby-lobby-case-supreme-court-contraception.html" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">religious freedom argument</a> to contest the new mandate that their health insurance plans provide access to contraception for women employees.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In Canada, the less frequent citing of <a href="https://www.bloomsburyprofessional.com/uk/religion-and-the-exercise-of-public-authority-9781849467155/" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">religious freedom rights in the courts to curtail health-care access</a> may be related to a wider acceptance of health care as a public good and a basic human right.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In both Canada and the U.S., the struggle for publicly funded health care in the mid-20th century depended on coalitions of politicians, medical professionals and religious leaders. In Canada, a Baptist minister-turned-politician, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/history/EPISCONTENTSE1EP15CH2PA4LE.html" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Tommy Douglas</a>, galvanized the country with a vision that public health care for all was a human right and, for some, also a <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520270992/spirits-of-protestantism" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">religious obligation</a>.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Similarly, in the U.S., when <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/13/podcasts/1619-slavery-healthcare.html" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Dr. Montague Cobb</a>, leader of the National Medical Association, successfully argued for Medicare before Congress in 1965, he concluded his testimony with a Christian hymn.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Canadian version of public health care, however, now serves a much wider range of the population than Medicare does in the U.S., and has become a cornerstone of Canada’s national identity, with minimal overt connections to religion.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But in the United States, public health care remains a source of profound national and religious division. The current Republican administration regularly uses religious freedom legislation, including conscientious objection rules for health-care providers, to <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/what-the-new-religious-exemptions-law-means-for-your-health-care" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">chip away at Medicare</a>, limiting access to health care for women, LGBTQ, poor and rural people.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A time of reckoning is coming when public health measures and public and private health-care delivery will be assessed for their effectiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic. The role of religious communities and the ideals of religious freedom in supporting or impeding public health must be included in this reckoning, especially in the United States.<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/136557/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" style=": border-box; outline: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important; border: none !important; max-width: 1px !important; vertical-align: top; height: auto; box-shadow: none !important; max-height: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;" /></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/pamela-e-klassen-1034804" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Pamela E. Klassen</a>, Professor of the Study of Religion, <em style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-toronto-1281" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">University of Toronto</a></em></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com/" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-religious-freedom-stokes-coronavirus-protests-in-the-u-s-but-not-canada-136557" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">original article</a>.</font></font></font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/the-most-horrifying-aspects-of-capitalism-to-the-ultra-rich-the-coronavirus-pandemic-is-a-trial-run-for-apocalypse/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/05/the-most-horrifying-aspects-of-capitalism-to-the-ultra-rich-the-coronavirus-pandemic-is-a-trial-run-for-apocalypse/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> coronavirus pandemic is a present-day dystopia. Unfortunately, it is not the stuff of a science fiction novel set in the near future or an alternate reality. If not stopped, <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/05/03/trumps-world-leadership-trophy-the-winners-prize-in-the-virus-killer-race_partner/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">this pandemic threatens to become a new type of normal</a>, one where the pain and misery are chronic, and therefore gradually seen as acceptable. The damage is ongoing, and will only get worse with time.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This pandemic has already killed more than 70,000 people in the United States. A million or more are infected. The Trump administration — in what may well be an intentional undercount — <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/04/health/us-coronavirus-monday/index.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">now reportedly projects that by June 1 at least 3,000</a> people <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/05/04/trumps-desperate-april-34-days-of-fumbling--and-it-was-worse-than-we-thought/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">will die of COVID-19 every day</a>.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The economic devastation has also been significant: At least 20 percent of Americans are out of work. Trillions of dollars in wealth and income have also been destroyed. <a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/04/28/pulitzer-winner-chris-hedges-these-are-the-good-times--compared-to-whats-coming-next/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">The harm caused by this catastrophe</a> will be intergenerational in ways not yet understood or imagined.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But for some people the coronavirus pandemic is a type of utopian dream. Many right-wing Christians see the combination of the pandemic and President Trump as good things. Why? Because in their mythology these events are <b>harbingers of the apocalyptic “end times,” a titanic battle between good and evil during which true Christians who are “saved” will be raptured away to paradise.</b> Writing at Rolling Stone, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-evangelicals-apocalypse-coronavirus-981995/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Bob Moser describes the power of this deranged fantasy over the Trump administration</a>:</font></font></font></p><blockquote style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the media typically just uses the euphemism “Christian” to describe such beliefs, these folks are Christian nationalists, who view the second coming of Christ as an event in which America will play a leading role, thanks to its founding as a “Christian” nation and its Judeo-Christian principles. They’re also known as <a href="https://qz.com/1270516/jerusalem-embassy-trumps-foreign-policy-looks-like-rapture-christians-plan-to-trigger-apocalypse/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Rapture Christians</a>, thanks to their conviction that before things start to get <span style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">really </span>ugly on the earth, with God-sent wars and plagues far worse than COVID-19, they’ll be wafted up to heaven <span style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">en masse</span>, to live in eternal peace, bliss, and moral superiority while everyone else — including lesser Christians — suffers years’ worth of unspeakably gruesome torments prior to the final, earth-destroying battle between Warrior Jesus and Satan at Armageddon, and the Final Judgment in which Jews and others who refuse to convert are condemned to eternal torture in hell…. <b>Now, their pagan king is leading us through an actual Biblical-sized plague — with the guidance of End-Time Christians.</b></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>As a class, the gangster capitalist plutocrats view the coronavirus pandemic as another opportunity to make money from human misery and expand their power over America and the world.</b></font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><a href="https://www.salon.com/2020/05/04/anti-lockdown-movement-powered-by-racism/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Many neo-fascists</a> and other members of the Global Right are “accelerationists” who want to bring about the destruction of multiracial democracy in North America and Europe so that they can rebuild Western society as a white-only or white-dominated autocracy.</span> Nonwhite people, Jews, Muslims and other “undesirables” will be killed, enslaved or exiled through an apocalyptic “race war.”</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mark O’Connell is the author of the new book “<a href="https://amzn.to/2W8tlg7" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Notes From an Apocalypse: A Personal Journey to the End of the World and Back</a>.” His essays and other writing have been featured in the New York Times Magazine and the Guardian.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In our conversation, O’Connell reflects on the strangeness of publishing a book about the end of the world just as the world is confronting the coronavirus pandemic. He explains how disasters are an opportunity for right-wing extremists, as well as plutocrats and oligarchs, to advance their antisocial agenda — and how such people plan to survive the apocalypse. O’Connell also argues that this pandemic may provide an opportunity for the best of humanity to assert itself, rather than devolving into barbarism as many doomsday preppers, survivalists, one-percenters and others have both predicted and, perhaps, hoped.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><strong style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Given the coronavirus pandemic, your new book is either very well-timed or very horribly timed.</font></strong></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I suppose that it is both. But I can’t really decide. I was being interviewed recently and I was asked if “Notes From an Apocalypse” is prophetic. The book is actually the exact opposite. The timing is sheer coincidence. The prospect of a pandemic coinciding with the launch of my book seemed so far-fetched. Who could have predicted it? There is a great deal of dramatic irony around the timing for my book in a moment people are talking about nothing other than how apocalyptic everything feels.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Moreover, the prospect that the coronavirus pandemic could just become part of how children normally experience reality is quite sobering for me. I hope that these children, when they are adults, do not look back on this moment with the coronavirus as that singular event where everything went to hell. I hope they remember it as some type of weird, strange interlude that we all had to live through.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The apocalypse is never the end of the world. It is an idea that people reach for and use as a way to make sense of incomprehensible and challenging times. The apocalypse is a way to manage uncertainty and chaos and sudden change. Those are the times when the idea of the apocalypse rears its head, and I think this moment with the pandemic is definitely one of those moments.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><strong style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In making sense of this moment, it’s very important to highlight how one person’s dystopia or apocalypse is another’s utopia and dream. Some people have been waiting for a disaster such as the coronavirus pandemic, in order to remake the world.</font></strong></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the things that has kept me going throughout this uniquely horrible experience is the idea that things are going to change in society because of this, and that those changes might be beneficial for a large number of people. The truths that are revealed by a global catastrophe cannot be easily ignored. The catastrophe shines a light on how societies are fundamentally structured. There will be those people who want to create positive change and there will be bad actors who are using the pandemic to advance a less hopeful and more negative vision of the future and society.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the scariest things about the coronavirus pandemic is that there are people, right now, for whom this disaster is an opportunity.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><strong style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The coronavirus and its destruction strike me as a metaphor for Trumpism. You live in Britain. Is the coronavirus viewed as a metaphor for Brexit in the U.K. and Europe more broadly?</font></strong></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In terms of metaphor, for some time here in the United Kingdom and Europe everything seemed to present itself as a stand-in for Brexit. But I do not see the coronavirus as a metaphor for anything. Yes, there are ways in which it absolutely reveals so much about the way we live in the West and elsewhere at this moment in history. But how can the coronavirus pandemic be a metaphor for something else when it is the dominant subject of conversation — really the only thing that most people are talking about?</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You are correct to say that the virus itself, in a U.S. context, is a huge society-wide problem. But the virus is not the central, fundamental core problem in your country. The problem is the radical inequalities in your society, the insane approach to health care, Trumpism and other issues which make the coronavirus’ impact much worse in your country than in most others.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><strong style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In philosopher Fredric Jameson’s book “Archaeologies of the Future,” he argues that science fiction may focus on the future, but in fact all writing about the future is really an exploration of the present.</span> How do you negotiate that tension?</font></strong></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a way both of my books have been about “the future.” “To Be a Machine” is about people who are obsessed with a fantasy version of the future. “Notes From an Apocalypse” is also about some version of the future. But I am not interested in making predictions about what life will be like in the future, or thinking about various permutations of technology or politics, or how are we going to live in the year 2065 or what have you. That topic is not interesting to me.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I am interested in the present and the near past. For me the future is really a way to think through the complexities of the present. The ways that we imagine the future always have as much to do with the past as they do with anything else. The future is not a real thing. It is just an idea.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><strong style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In terms of the way crises present a type of opportunity for some people, how are plutocrats and mega-rich individuals like Peter Thiel preparing for the apocalypse? </font></strong></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">For me,<b> Peter Thiel</b> almost operates as a metaphor, a way for me to invest all of my anxieties and loathing about the extreme manifestations of capitalism. In that way, Peter Thiel is a kind of gift that just keeps on giving. A good portion of my first book, “To Be a Machine,” focuses on Peter Thiel’s quest for eternal life and the various companies he’s investing in as a way of accomplishing that goal.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In my new book, Thiel is a metaphor for the most horrifying aspects of capitalism, the moral void at the heart of the whole ideology and system. The way that he imagines surviving the collapse of civilization is extremely interesting insofar as it’s a way of thinking about how, in the present, with late-stage capitalism there is an increasing drift away from any kind of investment in democracy. <b>What Thiel represents is the idea of the future as belonging to a very small number of extremely intelligent, far-sighted, radically self-interested individuals.</b></font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><strong style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the responses to the coronavirus pandemic and economic collapse here in the United States has been the suggestion by Donald Trump and his followers that elderly and vulnerable people should be willing to die for “the economy.” It’s almost a form of human sacrifice.</font></strong></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Civilizations fall. And they fall quite suddenly. In fact, some of the most elaborate and sophisticated former civilizations practiced some type of human sacrifice as central to their culture. A classic example would be the Aztecs. They were convinced that human sacrifice was necessary for the continuation of their way of life. Such cultures genuinely believed that they had to kill to appease the gods and to ensure a good harvest or some other type of prosperity.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now, it just so happens that they were wrong. Modern society has convinced its subjects that we have moved beyond such behavior. Human sacrifice seems too barbaric to us at present. But in reality, our own modern civilizations are based on human sacrifice in various forms.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><strong style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The rich are building luxury bunkers to survive the “end of days” and to ensure their social and political power in the future. What does that reveal about Western society and culture?</font></strong></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Those bunkers are a classic, overblown, extreme metaphor for capitalism in the present, not in some imagined future. The rich are building luxury survival bunkers with private cinemas, DNA vaults, wine cellars and other lavish ways of surviving the end of the world. As the saying goes, “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.”</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">What do these luxury bunkers reveal about how the global one percent and other oligarchs imagine society? Do they simply reject the obligations and responsibilities that human beings should have to one another?</strong>Whether it is doomsday preppers who are stockpiling guns and freeze-drying food, or billionaires buying chunks of the South Island in New Zealand, the approach is to look after yourself first and survive at the cost of other people, or survive outside of the context of other people. In all these cases it is civilization as both an idea and structure that is considered a very fragile thing. From their point of view, society is a weak construct, a very thin layer of societal norms which hangs over an abyss of chaos and violence.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The preppers, as with the very rich who are building these luxury bunkers, have a sense that people are going to quickly revert to some type of animalistic savagery once a severe enough crisis comes along. This idea animates so many of these right-wing apocalyptic thinkers. It is capitalism to the extreme. The heavily fortified, luxurious bunker is just a logical conclusion of the gated community and of capitalism itself.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But such a conclusion is also wrong. During the pandemic, from what I have been seeing, people have mostly been pulling together. Community and society are much more resilient than we have been led to believe. That is something which is not accounted for in the worldview of the apocalyptic people, the preppers and so on. For them, this is not what is supposed to happen. They believed that the pandemic was supposed to create a state of mass civil unrest.</font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/an-amped-up-war-on-christmas-why-trumps-evangelical-fans-think-god-wants-them-to-defy-lockdowns/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/an-amped-up-war-on-christmas-why-trumps-evangelical-fans-think-god-wants-them-to-defy-lockdowns/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rAW STORY</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Many of President Donald Trump’s evangelical Christian supporters believe that it is their God-given duty to defy lockdown orders during the coronavirus pandemic, as they believe obeying restrictions will result in the establishment of an anti-Christian dictatorship.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumpist-true-believers-see-coronavirus-as-part-of-gods-plan" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><b><span style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Daily Beast</span> columnist Eleanor Clift </b>writes</a> that pandemic restrictions have become yet another heated culture war for evangelicals who distrust scientists and who believe it’s part of a<b> broader conspiracy to take away their religious freedom.</b></font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“This is an amped-up version of the War on Christmas theme that conservatives trot out every year,” Clift explains. “Trump gave voice to it recently when he said without any evidence that Muslims celebrating Ramadan, which which begins on Thursday, would not be facing the same restrictions that Christians did on Easter.”</b></font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In fact, notes Clift,<b> Liberty Counsel</b> Founder and Chairman Matt Staver this week compared Christians living under stay-at-home orders to Jews living in Nazi Germany</span>.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This happened before in history,” he said. “We’ve seen people being targeted with a particular symbol that you have to wear. And then you get targeted with your business, you get terminated from your job, and eventually you <b>get ghettoized.</b>”</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Peter Montgomery, a senior fellow at People for the American Way, tells Clift that <b>Trump-loving evangelicals see Trump’s potential loss this fall as an existential threat to their livelihoods, and they want to do everything in their power to deflect attention from his bungling of the crisis.</b></font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They’re concerned about this crisis and his mismanagement of it and they’re going to do everything they can to support his efforts to deflect attention from his failings, to smear his critics and shift blame to governors and elsewhere — and re-elect the guy God put in charge for this moment,” he said.</font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">VP refuse mask</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/a-phantom-plague-evangelical-fundamentalists-who-openly-defied-social-distancing-guidelines-are-dying-of-coronavirus-in-frightening-numbers/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/a-phantom-plague-evangelical-fundamentalists-who-openly-defied-social-distancing-guidelines-are-dying-of-coronavirus-in-frightening-numbers/</a></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">quite good, guy on nihilism --> attractor/bubble?</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.c-span.org/video/?471142-1/the-power-worshippers"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.c-span.org/video/?471142-1/the-power-worshippers</font></a></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span class="time" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-transform: uppercase; display: block; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><time style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">APRIL 14, 2020</font></time></span></font></font><h1 class="video-page-title" itemprop="name" style="margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 0px 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">The Power Worshippers</font></span></font></font></h1><div class="initial" style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3em; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Journalist Katherine Stewart argued that religious nationalists are waging political war on American democracy and institutions. This was a virtual author program.</font></p></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/tactics-from-the-right-wing-playbook-on-covid-19/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/tactics-from-the-right-wing-playbook-on-covid-19/</font></a></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">pfaw peter montgomery</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="mce-content-body" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; line-height: 1.5;"><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">During this extremely challenging time, when the spread of the coronavirus threatens people’s lives and the nation’s well-being, Americans should be able to count on their leaders for honest and accurate information. But Americans who trust right-wing media, political, and religious leaders have too often gotten the opposite.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald Trump himself has been a steady <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/11/politics/fact-check-trump-administration-coronavirus-28-dishonest/index.html" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">source</a> of dishonesty, disinformation, and wildly mixed signals about the coronavirus outbreak. And his supporters in right-wing media, the religious-right political movement, and Republican Party leadership have employed a range of messaging strategies and tactics designed to mask administration failures, smear its critics, and promote narratives that serve to distract and misinform Americans about the crisis and the public health measures being taken to address it.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Here, briefly, are some of the ways Americans are being ill-served by conservative leaders, activists, and media.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><u style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Dismissing and Downplaying the Threat</font></u></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the early days of the spread of the virus, Trump and members of his administration downplayed the seriousness of the threat the virus posed to Americans. Trump’s allies and <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-federalists-coronavirus-coverage-is-a-dangerous-joke/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">right-wing media</a> have decried what they described as a <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/ron-paul-suggested-coronavirus-was-a-big-hoax-then-his-son-caught-it/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">hoax</a>, <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-supporters-fuel-dangerous-election-year-coronavirus-claim" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">hype</a>, and fearmongering designed to harm Trump’s reelection prospects. Even now, as new cases and deaths continue to spike, Trump and his supporters send mixed messages about the threat and the importance of social distancing.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><u style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Distracting Americans with Conspiracy Theories and Finger-Pointing</font></u></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A wide range of <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rodney-howard-browne-used-his-sunday-service-to-spread-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">conspiracy theories</a> about the virus and its spread have been promoted not only by fringe activists in online spaces but also by <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rep-peter-king-entertains-conspiracy-theory-that-coronavirus-is-chinese-bioweapon/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">members of Congress</a> and religious leaders with large audiences. Many of the conspiracy theories are meant to deflect accountability from U.S. officials’ decision-making by diverting attention and blame elsewhere. COVID-19 has been portrayed as a weapon of war launched by the <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/covid-19-is-chinese-bio-warfare-says-trump-allied-megachurch-pastor-jack-hibbs/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Chinese</a> or <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rodney-howard-browne-used-his-sunday-service-to-spread-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">North Korean</a> governments and as a plot by <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/lou-engle-calls-for-three-day-fast-to-stop-coronavirus-and-save-stadium-prayer-rallies/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Satan</a>, the <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/josh-bernstein-the-coronavirus-outbreak-is-a-democratic-and-chinese-conspiracy-against-trump/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Democratic Party</a>, <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rodney-howard-browne-used-his-sunday-service-to-spread-coronavirus-conspiracy-theories/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">globalists,</a> <a href="https://banned.video/watch?id=5e675a2412f790009b69bfa4" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">big pharma</a>, and other habitual enemies of the right-wing imagination. Others who promote the <a href="https://washingtonmonthly.com/2020/03/18/the-coronavirus-is-conspiracy-theory-gold-for-qanon/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">QAnon</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/mark-taylor-the-coronavirus-is-a-cover-to-carry-out-the-mass-arrests-long-promised-by-qanon/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">conspiracy theory</a> popular in some corners of Trump’s base say the virus and social distancing measures are cover for <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/liz-crokin-the-coronavirus-is-cover-for-the-military-to-make-mass-arrests/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump to make mass arrests</a> of a deep-state pedophile ring. A new wave of hoax conspiracy-mongering is <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/tactics-from-the-right-wing-playbook-on-covid-19/A%20new%20wave%20of%20hoax%20conspiracy-mongering%20is%20spreading%20on%20social%20media%20using%20hashtags%20like%20#coronavirustruth%20and" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">spreading on social media</a> using hashtags like #coronavirustruth and #FilmYourHospital.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><u style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Pushing the Team Trump Line, Whatever It Is</font></u></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The extent to which right-wing activists, leaders, and <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/oan-reporter-chanel-rion-asks-incredibly-bonkers-softball-question-at-trump-coronavirus-presser" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">media</a> have become public relations vehicles of the White House is evident in the ways that they have followed the Trump administration’s own dramatic shifts from dismissing fears of the virus as hype generated by the media to belatedly recognizing the seriousness of the situation and the need for strong public health measures. Trump’s supporters have learned from him not to bother acknowledging or explaining their abrupt shifts in position. One religious-right activist even <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/prayer-warriors-rally-around-trump-prophesy-quick-end-to-pandemic-predict-great-awakening/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">defended Trump’s misinformation</a> as a strategy for sowing confusion in the “enemy camp.”</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><u style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Making the Most of It / Shameless Opportunism</font></u></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some right-wing leaders are taking advantage of the crisis to push preexisting agendas. Among them: promoting hostility to immigrants and immigration; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/26/opinion/covid-abortion-ohio-texas.html" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">shutting</a> <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/490169-planned-parenthood-aclu-sue-iowa-governor-for-suspending-abortions-amid" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">down</a> <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kentucky-ag-calls-for-halt-on-abortions-during-coronavirus-crisis" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">access </a>to abortion; promoting <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2020/03/29/devos-leaving-students-behind-and-launching-national-school-vouchers/#52a899456b4a" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">school vouchers</a>; <a title="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-trump-administration-epa-suspends-environmental-protection-laws/" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-trump-administration-epa-suspends-environmental-protection-laws/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">undermining </a><a title="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27032020/coronavirus-covid-19-EPA-API-environmental-enforcement" href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27032020/coronavirus-covid-19-EPA-API-environmental-enforcement" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">environmental </a><a title="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/29/21198674/coronavirus-epa-trump-regulations" href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2020/3/29/21198674/coronavirus-epa-trump-regulations" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-auth="NotApplicable" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">protections</a>; fomenting nationalism and <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/trump-uses-coronavirus-fears-to-advance-bannons-far-right-agenda/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">disparaging international institutions</a>; <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/candace-owens-throws-jabs-at-conservatives-advocating-government-response-to-coronavirus/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">disparaging</a> federal aid to <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-the-coronavirus-is-an-end-times-plague-sent-by-god-to-purge-the-world-of-sin/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">struggling individuals</a> and promoting libertarian <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-federalist-asks-is-america-better-off-letting-people-die-from-coronavirus/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">social darwinism</a>; and weakening the separation of church and state. Others have used it to enrich themselves by <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/missouri-ag-sues-jim-bakker-over-fake-coronavirus-cure/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">selling bogus “cures.”</a></font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><u style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Playing God and Portraying Trump’s Actions as Part of a Divine Plan</font></u></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservative evangelicals are Trump’s most loyal supporters. Many have followed his shifts, urging their followers to adopt the administration’s social distancing guidelines. But some have <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/roy-moore-says-closing-churches-is-tyranny-tells-pastors-they-have-duty-to-assemble/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">resisted</a> restrictions on large gatherings, portraying them as attacks on religious liberty and telling supporters that believers have <a href="https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1237761136507981824" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">divine protection</a>. Some have portrayed <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/christians-should-be-more-concerned-about-hell-bound-neighbors-than-coronavirus-says-revivalist-john-burton/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">attending church</a> as <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/megachurch-pastor-mockes-people-who-stayed-home-over-coronavirus-fear/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">a test of their faith</a> in God’s power to heal. Some have called the virus a sign of God’s punishment for <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/perry-stone-claims-americas-coronavirus-outbreak-is-a-reckoning-for-allowing-abortion-and-gay-marriage/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">abortion</a> or <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-says-coronavirus-death-of-lgbtq-lawyer-is-a-sign-of-gods-judgment/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">homosexuality</a>, and others have said it’s God’s way to focus attention on the church.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some “prophetic” leaders have declared that God will bring <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/prayer-warriors-rally-around-trump-prophesy-quick-end-to-pandemic-predict-great-awakening/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">swift and miraculous resolution</a> to the crisis: one asserted that the <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/prophet-claimed-tide-is-turning-on-coronavirus-two-weeks-ago/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">tide was turning in mid-February</a>; others decreed that <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/steve-strang-and-cal-pierce-decreed-that-coronavirus-would-leave-earth-today/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">the virus would leave Earth on March 23</a>; and others have predicted divine intervention around <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/prayer-warriors-rally-around-trump-prophesy-quick-end-to-pandemic-predict-great-awakening/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Passover</a> or Easter, when Trump himself has said he would like to see churches full. Some are depicting current events as evidence that we are living in the <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/rick-wiles-the-coronavirus-is-an-end-times-plague-sent-by-god-to-purge-the-world-of-sin/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">End Times</a> and that believers should therefore expect “pestilence” and other events prophesied for the last days.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><span style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">This post has been updated.</font></span></font></font></p><div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/tactics-from-the-right-wing-playbook-on-covid-19/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;"><div class="tags" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; border-top: 5px solid rgb(239, 243, 243); margin-bottom: 2em; padding-top: 1em;"><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; font-weight: 700;">Tags:</span> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/conspiracy-theories/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">conspiracy theories</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/coronavirus/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Coronavirus</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/disinformation/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">disinformation</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/trump-administration/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump Administration</a></font></font></font></p></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/an-amped-up-war-on-christmas-why-trumps-evangelical-fans-think-god-wants-them-to-defy-lockdowns/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/an-amped-up-war-on-christmas-why-trumps-evangelical-fans-think-god-wants-them-to-defy-lockdowns/</font></a></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘An amped-up War on Christmas’: Why Trump’s evangelical fans think God wants them to defy lockdowns</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Brad Reed / Raw Story April 24, 2020</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many of President Donald Trump’s evangelical Christian supporters believe that it is their God-given duty to defy lockdown orders during the coronavirus pandemic, as they believe obeying restrictions will result in the establishment of an anti-Christian dictatorship.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Daily Beast columnist Eleanor Clift writes that pandemic restrictions have become yet another heated culture war for evangelicals who distrust scientists and who believe it’s part of a broader conspiracy to take away their religious freedom.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This is an amped-up version of the War on Christmas theme that conservatives trot out every year,” Clift explains. “Trump gave voice to it recently when he said without any evidence that Muslims celebrating Ramadan, which which begins on Thursday, would not be facing the same restrictions that Christians did on Easter.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In fact, notes Clift, Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Matt Staver this week compared Christians living under stay-at-home orders to Jews living in Nazi Germany.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“This happened before in history,” he said. “We’ve seen people being targeted with a particular symbol that you have to wear. And then you get targeted with your business, you get terminated from your job, and eventually you get ghettoized.”</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Peter Montgomery, a senior fellow at People for the American Way, tells Clift that Trump-loving evangelicals see Trump’s potential loss this fall as an existential threat to their livelihoods, and they want to do everything in their power to deflect attention from his bungling of the crisis.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“They’re concerned about this crisis and his mismanagement of it and they’re going to do everything they can to support his efforts to deflect attention from his failings, to smear his critics and shift blame to governors and elsewhere — and re-elect the guy God put in charge for this moment,” he said.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/cnn-host-grills-louisiana-pastor-for-asking-poor-parishioners-to-hand-over-their-stimulus-money-in-fiery-interview/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/cnn-host-grills-louisiana-pastor-for-asking-poor-parishioners-to-hand-over-their-stimulus-money-in-fiery-interview/</font></a></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">spell blackwell tony</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LA NO hard hit early covis, many poor POC</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">l<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/louisiana-pastor-who-held-packed-services-during-pandemic-arrested-for-allegedly-threatening-protester-with-church-bus/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline !important;">ouisiana pastor who held packed services during pandemic arrested for allegedly threatening protester with church bus</a></font></font></font></p><div class="mag-header" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/marissa-higgins/" title="Posts by Marissa Higgins" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Marissa Higgins</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/daily-kos/" title="Posts by Daily Kos" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Daily Kos</a></font></span></font></font></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pastor Tony Spell has previously been arrested on misdemeanor charges for holding crowded church services in spite of Louisiana’s stay-at-home orders.</font></font></font></p></div><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></font></font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> i am trying to aVOid anecdotal nut cases and scahdenfreude, but </font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">LA NO hard hit early covis, many poor POC</font></font></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">l<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/louisiana-pastor-who-held-packed-services-during-pandemic-arrested-for-allegedly-threatening-protester-with-church-bus/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline !important;">ouisiana pastor who held packed services during pandemic arrested for allegedly threatening protester with church bus</a></font></font></font></p><div class="mag-header" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/marissa-higgins/" title="Posts by Marissa Higgins" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Marissa Higgins</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/daily-kos/" title="Posts by Daily Kos" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Daily Kos</a></font></span></font></font></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pastor Tony Spell has previously been arrested on misdemeanor charges for holding crowded church services in spite of Louisiana’s stay-at-home orders.</font></font></font></p></div><p class="print-title"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"> </font></font></font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">420 an</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ah, the hits</font></font></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/pat-robertson-blames-coronavirus-pandemic-on-wicked-same-sex-marriage/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/pat-robertson-blames-coronavirus-pandemic-on-wicked-same-sex-marriage/</font></a></font></font></p><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><nobr></nobr></font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/heres-how-the-evangelical-tradition-offers-trump-a-firewall-of-protection-from-his-critics-cultural-historian"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/heres-how-the-evangelical-tradition-offers-trump-a-firewall-of-protection-from-his-critics-cultural-historian</font></a></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">good review overview HNN</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/the-gop-has-become-a-death-cult"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/the-gop-has-become-a-death-cult</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The GOP has become a death cult</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">March 4, 2017 </font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">// About 700 people gathered at the Minnesota capitol building to show support for Republican President Donald Trump. This was part of "March 4 Trump events around the country. Around 100 people were also there protesting against Donald Trump. // This man was yelling, "TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMP! TRUMMMMMP!" // 2017-03-04 ]</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Mike Lofgren / Common Dreams April 17, 2020</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A decade ago, in my first public writing since leaving Capitol Hill, I warned that the Republican Party, in its evolution towards an extremist conservative movement allied with extremist Christian fundamentalism, was becoming like “one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe.” After Donald Trump’s enthronement as the decider of our fate, I analyzed the GOP’s descent into a nihilism that belied every one of its supposed “values.” They value only absolute power or ruin.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>It is now long past time to cast off highfalutin’ Latinisms and simply call the Republicans and their religious and secular conservative allies what they are, and in unadorned English: a death cult</b>. As the country reels from the coronavirus pandemic, our national government might just as well be run by the infamous People’s Temple of Jonestown.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By now we are benumbed by the all-pervasive arguments over relaxing workplace shutdowns and stay-at-home orders due to coronavirus. In any sane society, the issue would be how to institute the most efficient measures to defeat the pandemic in the shortest time and with the lowest loss of life. Instead, Trump and his merry band of lunatics have hijacked the national debate into a faux-serious discussion of when, oh, please, how soon, can we “reopen the economy?” Naturally, the media gamely continue to play along with this calculated bit of dezinformatsiya.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This has led to extreme callousness, like that shown by Texas lieutenant governor Dan Patrick, who opined that grams and gramps should be eager to shuffle off this mortal coil for the sake of their grandchildren.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is abundant empirical evidence against this notion: voters in Florida, known as “God’s waiting room” for its geriatric population, are notoriously averse to paying one cent in state income tax to fund education or child health, let alone lay down their lives. In any case, the 69-year-old Patrick, who claims he’s willing to die for his proposition, did not relinquish the burdens of his office to volunteer as an emergency room orderly.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>There’s also Congressman Trey Hollingsworth of Indiana, who put a patriotic gloss on his Malthusianism, decreeing that “it is always the American government’s position to say, in the choice between the loss of our way of life as Americans and the loss of life, of American lives, we have to always choose the latter.”</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Then, striking the pose of the Serious Adult in the Room correcting mischievous children, he intoned: “It is policymakers’ decision to put on our big boy and big girl pants and say it is the lesser of these two evils.” This encapsulates the stereotype of the economic conservative: Dickens’s Thomas Gradgrind, the rigid, condescending, and heartless pedagogue.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But some pronouncements from the Trump coalition offer more ethereal rationalizations than the mere pursuit of lucre. The news is replete with stories about evangelical ministers packing their megachurches like sardine cans in defiance of state orders for social distancing, as well as contempt for common sense.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">We all know about that harebrained medicine man in Louisiana, Tony Spell, already arrested for violating the state’s prohibition of large gatherings, who continues his antics nonstop. Spell, who sounds as socially responsible as a blood tick, is proclaiming his parishioners ought to choose death: “Like any revolutionary, or like any zealot, or like any pure religious person, death looks to them like a welcome friend. True Christians do not mind dying. They fear living in fear.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">So much for fundamentalists’ vaunted “culture of life,” a slogan which the prestige media never presume to critique.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">For a more socially upscale version of this sentiment, let us turn to <b>First Things, a pretentious journal of alleged theology that dresses up its non-stop shilling for the GOP</b> with high-toned words like “numinous” and references to the philosopher Erasmus.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last month, its editor, R.R. Reno, wrote a piece called, “Say No to Death’s Dominion.”</span> It is an extraordinary performance. Contrary to the title, he actually argues that death should be embraced. He does this by weaving an imbecilic theology that includes falsifying the history of the 1918 flu epidemic to make his basic point:</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In our simple-minded picture of things, we imagine a powerful fear of death arises because of the brutal deeds of cruel dictators and bloodthirsty executioners. But in truth,<b> Satan prefers sentimental humanists</b>. We resent the hard boot of oppression on our necks, and given a chance, most will resist. How much better, therefore, to spread fear of death under moralistic pretexts.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oh, I get it! So Mother Teresa and Dorothy Day were more depraved than Josef Stalin! Reno ends with this:</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Fear of death and causing death is pervasive—stoked by a <b>materialistic view of survival</b> at any price and unchecked by Christian leaders who in all likelihood secretly accept the materialist assumptions of our age. “</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This insane rant against materialism would seem to contradict the crassly materialistic assumptions underlying economic conservatives’ advocacy for letting a deadly virus “wash over” the population, as Trump would say. But these views, at first sight blatantly opposed, can be reconciled.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>And who better to reconcile God and Mammon than a grifter like Jerry Falwell, Jr.,</b> ringmaster of Liberty University and testifier to Donald Trump’s status as an emissary of the Almighty? Not only has Falwell continued the school year, virtually alone among American universities, and despite pleading from students and parents to close, he has now been sued for failing to refund fees for student activities that have been suspended.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fundamentalist preachers’ love of money is no secret: it is only by packing churches that the collection plate will yield a bounteous harvest so that their missionary work can continue – perhaps logistically aided by the purchase of a<b> $65-million Gulfstream executive jet. </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And why not? It would upstage Pat Robertson, who had a mere Learjet, and a rental at that.</span></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Political observers often wonder about the bizarre conservative coalition of plutocrats and theocrats, believing it to be unstable. But the intersection of the heartless pecuniary motives of religious and economic conservatives is no coincidence. And beneath the Ebenezer Scrooge façade of economic conservatives is the same kind of perverted idealism that we see in Tony Spell or R.R. Reno.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The most cost-efficient industrial process is one that wastes the fewest resource inputs. Likewise, internal combustion engines have evolved to get better mileage even as they pollute less. And electric motors are even more fuel efficient and less polluting.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>So how do we explain conservatives’ perverse hatred of the environment, even when there are no profits at stake, as well as their tenacious denial of climate change in the face of irrefutable data? Is it not much the same as the Bible thumper who bitterly condemns stewardship of the environment as Gaia worship?</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">There are other similarities. Since the 1970s, oil shocks (and coincident with the rise of the New Right) an abiding feature on the American scene has been the survivalist, hoping for the national Götterdämmerung that will vindicate his having stockpiled 10,000 rounds of ammunition and a horde of Krugerrands. This dovetails with fundamentalists’ weird enthusiasm for the prospect of world annihilation that animates belief in the Rapture, the only difference being the technique by which the elect avoid the mass slaughter.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Firearms fetishism and a fascination with violence, war, and armed insurrection are also mainstays of right-wing ideology, hardly distinguishable from Jerry Falwell Sr.’s, proclamation that God is Pro-War. </b>And how about the Ultimate Fighting Jesus? The NRA neatly intersects with “muscular Christianity,” revealing both ideological kinship and some very embarrassing gender insecurities that frequently irrupt in misogyny and homosexual panic.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>There is no longer the slightest doubt in any sane person’s mind that not only are the GOP’s fundamentalist-extremist religious allies a death cult disguised as 501(c)3 tax-exempt charitable organizations.</b> The whole extremely well-funded edifice of “economic conservatism” is equally a death cult, worshiping Mammon so fervently that it is eager to make human sacrifice upon its altar, just like the Mayans and Carthaginians.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“¡Viva la Muerte!”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“Long live death!” That was the defiant cry of José Millán-Astray y Terreros, a general in Francisco Franco’s fascist army during the Spanish civil war. </b>It could just as well suit Trump’s foot soldiers.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Mike Lofgren is a former congressional staff member </b>who served on both the House and Senate budget committees. His books include: “The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government” and “The Party is Over: How Republicans Went Crazy, Democrats Became Useless, and the Middle Class Got Shafted.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">some an covid stories neglected</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">t<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/trumps-evangelical-supporters-want-him-to-punish-chinese-authorities-for-the-coronavirus-pandemic-even-though-he-once-praised-their-transparency/" style="font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" border-box="border-box" outline="outline" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" padding="padding" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" color="color" rgb="rgb" transition="transition" all="all" s="s" ease="ease" cursor="cursor" pointer="pointer" font-size="font-size" letter-spacing="letter-spacing">rump’s evangelical supporters want him to punish Chinese authorities for the coronavirus pandemic — even though he once praised their ‘transparency’</a></font></font></font></div><div class="header-list-style" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="grid-post-box-meta" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 12px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/alex-henderson/" title="Posts by Alex Henderson" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Alex Henderson</a></span><span style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">April 8, 2020</span></font></font></font></div></div><div class="item-content entry-content" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 18px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In recent weeks, some far-right white evangelicals in the United States have been bombarded with criticism for defying social distancing measures and continuing to hold large gatherings. Moreover, they have…</font></font></font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">so <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/so-much-for-church-state-separation-us-government-to-pay-pastors-salaries-with-relief-funding/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline !important;">much for church-state separation: US government to pay pastors’ salaries with relief funding</a></font></font></font></div><div class="mag-header" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/kerry-eleveld/" title="Posts by Kerry Eleveld" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Kerry Eleveld</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/daily-kos/" title="Posts by Daily Kos" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Daily Kos</a></font></span></font></font></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Well, here’s something we didn’t know was part of the $2 trillion federal relief package: a provision that makes it possible for some of that relief money to be directed…</font></font></font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">an 420</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">l<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/louisiana-pastor-grilled-bt-cnn-for-plan-to-pack-27-buses-full-of-worshipers-and-haul-them-to-church-during-coronavirus-crisis/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline !important;">ouisiana pastor grilled by CNN for plan to pack 27 buses full of worshipers and haul them to church during coronavirus crisis</a></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/tom-boggioni/" title="Posts by Tom Boggioni" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="text-align: right; : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Tom Boggioni</a><span style="text-align: right;"> </span><span style="text-align: right;">/</span><span style="text-align: right;"> </span><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/raw-story/" title="Posts by Raw Story" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="text-align: right; : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Raw </a></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/god-dont-like-stupid-louisiana-church-shamed-for-defying-pandemic-rules-with-tuesday-night-service/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/04/god-dont-like-stupid-louisiana-church-shamed-for-defying-pandemic-rules-with-tuesday-night-service/</a></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">va rev rip?</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">an 420</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /></font></font><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">no lnx</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>Here’s why conservatives really oppose federal aid for the ‘undeserving’</b></div><div>
</div><div>Written by Daniel Schultz / Religion Dispatches March 31, 2020</div><div>
</div><div>There is a singular and profound question that tugs at the sleeve of even the most sober analyst pondering the federal response to coronavirus. To wit, what the hell is it with these people? Although he’s since backed off the proposal Michael Gerson couldn’t figure out why Trump would decide to re-open the nation on Easter:</div><div>
</div><div>To be sacrilegious requires some recognition of what is actually sacred — a type of knowledge Trump has never displayed. To him, choosing Easter must have been like selecting Independence Day or Arbor Day or Groundhog Day — a useful date on which to hang a ploy.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Likewise, Paul Waldman is baffled by Lindsey Graham’s attacks on nurses:</b> “You know, the ones who right now are risking their lives to treat coronavirus patients, and are in some cases forced to wear trash bags because their hospitals have run out of protective gear.”</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">John Stoehr is equally befuddled by Graham, who was joined by Rick Scott, Tom Scott, and Ben Sasse in attacking the third coronavirus relief bill because it had the audacity to toss in a measly $600 extra in unemployment compensation. John has a theory about conservative ideology behind the senators’ performative opposition:</span></div><div>
</div><div><b>That interpretation is this: The rich can be trusted with public money, but not so everyone else.</b> It’s OK to give Boeing tens of billions of dollars in relief aid. It’s OK to give corporations access to unlimited and cheap money from the Federal Reserve. But it’s not OK to give normal people an extra $600 a week, people who are at the same time being <b>coaxed by billionaires into going back to work even at the risk of death.</b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It goes almost without saying that there’s more than a little connection between conservative economic ideology and conservative racial ideology. Part of the performance in modern conservatism is opposition to the undeserving receiving federal largesse, with “undeserving” being more or less explicitly defined by skin tone, depending on who’s talking at the moment.</span></div><div>
</div><div>It’s possible to read the senators’ rear-guard action as nothing more than an attempt to signal to the Trump-hoodooed base that their white bona fides were all in place, despite their inability to limit the bill’s direct relief to white working-class domestic automobile-driving Red Man chewers. You can’t win ’em all, sometimes you gotta help those big city folks too, you know.</div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As deep as the scar of racism runs in American society, though, there’s something even deeper at work here. Stoehr is right to point out the economic hierarchicalism that pervades this attitude. Somewhere along the way, Republicans went from Reagan’s belief that maybe the government should step off the necks of the wealthy a little, to Trump’s brag that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it, to the more up-to-date proclamation that the economy should reopen to save the stock market, even if it meant potentially hundreds of thousands of deaths. Some of them really seem to believe that rich people are better than everybody else.</span></div><div>
</div><div>I suppose the “to be fair” part of this is to say that Congressional Republicans believe it’s important to fuel industries that employ thousands directly or provide the economic underpinnings of those who do, but this is a paper-thin rationalization. The trade-off for taking care of average working people was always going to be shoveling large stacks of cash at the rich. It doesn’t take much to work that out.</div><div>
</div><div><b>But where does the instinct for class warfare come from? I think Stoehr is right to frame his argument in religious terms: heavenly import, sacrilege, faith and ideology, which is faith’s steely cousin.</b></div><div>
</div><div>A number of years ago, I was chatting with the theologian Walter Brueggemann’s then-wife Mary on a Sunday morning. She told me she’d been bemoaning some bit of racial egregiousness or another to her husband, and asked him why he thought people had to be this way. <b>“There are two kinds of people in the world,” he replied. “Those who don’t see an order to the universe, and those who really want to see one.”</b></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That’s about the size of it. Some people just want to know the names of all those they’re better than, to paraphrase a singer. And some of them, like the current occupant of the Oval Office, see the world as a <b>profoundly zero-sum game: either you’re on top, or you’re a loser. There are no alternatives.</b></span></div><div>
</div><div>This kind of domination play runs counter to the stated teachings of most of the religions Americans subscribe to, but let’s not kid ourselves. You can find elements of social and economic hierarchalism in all the major faiths, despite their loving concern for the neighbor. For as long as humans have pondered God or gods, there have been those who have been willing to invoke the sacred to justify their position at the top of the social heap.</div><div>
</div><div><b>In fact, as Brueggemann points out in his most famous book, faith in a god who doesn’t guarantee the social order is forever an anomaly. This is where religion turns the corner into ideology, just at the cusp of moving from gratitude for the blessings one has received to thinking the less fortunate deserve to be that way.</b></div><div>
</div><div>I’ll leave it to readers to decide if this is a necessary development of faith, or a form of idolatry. The truly interesting thing about it is how naked it is. Graham, the two Scotts, and Sasse have simply abandoned anything but the thinnest fig leaf of moral justification, and a mighty incoherent fig leaf at that. It’s as if the good Lord found them in the garden chomping away on an apple and without bothering to stop chewing they responded, “Buzz off, old man. We’re worried about our donor base.”</div><div>
</div><div>What is wrong with these people? God knows.</div><div>
</div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">an has a few of these on base:</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/some-trump-supporters-delight-in-defying-pandemic-protocols-to-own-the-liberals-report/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/some-trump-supporters-delight-in-defying-pandemic-protocols-to-own-the-liberals-report/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/pro-trump-evangelicals-response-to-the-coronavirus-pandemic-shows-their-utter-moral-bankruptcy-former-fundamentalist/" rel="bookmark" title="Pro-Trump evangelicals’ response to the coronavirus pandemic shows their ‘utter moral bankruptcy’: Former fundamentalist" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="font-weight: normal;">Pro-Trump evangelicals’ response to the coronavirus pandemic shows their ‘utter moral bankruptcy’: Former fundamentalist</font></a><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/pro-trump-evangelicals-response-to-the-coronavirus-pandemic-shows-their-utter-moral-bankruptcy-former-fundamentalist/" rel="bookmark" title="Pro-Trump evangelicals’ response to the coronavirus pandemic shows their ‘utter moral bankruptcy’: Former fundamentalist" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style="font-weight: normal;">---</font></a><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/pro-trump-evangelicals-response-to-the-coronavirus-pandemic-shows-their-utter-moral-bankruptcy-former-fundamentalist/" rel="bookmark" title="Pro-Trump evangelicals’ response to the coronavirus pandemic shows their ‘utter moral bankruptcy’: Former fundamentalist" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px;" /><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/how-the-pro-life-movements-true-colors-were-exposed-in-the-face-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/how-the-pro-life-movements-true-colors-were-exposed-in-the-face-of-the-coronavirus-pandemic/</font></a><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">no lnx</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;"><b>How the pro-life movement’s true colors were exposed in the face of the coronavirus pandemic</b></font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Written by Alex Henderson March 30, 2020</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Appearing on MSNBC’s “AM Joy” on Sunday morning, former Christian Right evangelical Frank Schaeffer vehemently slammed the movement he was once a part of and its response to the deadly coronavirus pandemic — a response that, according to Schaeffer, underscores the movement’s “utter moral bankruptcy.” Schaeffer has had much to say about how those who stridently identify as “pro-life” generally show little or no regard for human life, and he isn’t the only person who has noted how irresponsible anti-abortion zealots have been during the pandemic. From evangelist Robert Jeffress to talk show host Glenn Beck, so-called “pro-lifers” have been the first to promote large gatherings, downplay the severity of coronavirus and encourage potentially deadly behavior.</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Beck has a long history of railing against abortion on his show. But on Tuesday, March 24, Beck called for an end to social distancing in the United States — stressing that if that killed a lot of older Americans, so be it.</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">“I would rather have my children stay home and all of us who are over 50 go in and keep this economy going and working,” Beck told listeners. “Even if we all get sick, I would rather die than kill the country. Because it’s not the economy that’s dying, it’s the country.”</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Jeffress (a major supporter of President Donald Trump) preaches at Dallas’ First Baptist Church, where on Sunday, March 15, he insisted on holding a large gathering even though countless health officials were warning against that type of thing. Jeffress, who has a long history of railing against abortion, has since discontinued large in-person gatherings at his megachurch, encouraging worshippers to watch his sermons online instead. But he refused to cancel his March 15 event and didn’t care if he put the lives of megachurch members at risk.</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, an anti-abortion Republican who is popular with the Christian Right, has called for an end to social distancing — even if people in his state die as a result.</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Patrick asserted, “My message is: let’s get back to work. Those of us who are 70-plus, we’ll take care of ourselves, but don’t sacrifice the country. Don’t do that. Don’t ruin this great American Dream.”</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Andrew Lawrence</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">@ndrew_lawrence</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Tx Lt Gov Dan Patrick says grandparents would be willing to die to save the economy for their grandchildren</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Embedded video</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">After downplaying the severity of coronavirus back in January and February, Trump has changed his tone and now supports social distancing — although it remains to be seen for how long. Trump was calling for social distancing restrictions to be eased by Easter (April 12), although he is now saying the restrictions should remain until the end of April.</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Christian Right blogger/author and anti-abortion extremist Lori Anderson has even celebrated the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that it will promote family values by encouraging mothers not to work outside the home. On March 10, Alexander posted, “Many of the things going on in our culture — abortion, children being allowed to change genders, pornography, sex trafficking of children, and so on — are (much) more destructive to our culture than this virus or the stock market crashing. Maybe God will use this virus for good. Our culture needs a good wake-up call.”</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">College campuses all over the U.S. are shut down in response to the pandemic, but in Lynchburg, Virginia, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. has made it clear that he has no intention of closing the campus — and on March 22, Falwell told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that perhaps more than 5000 students would be living in dorms on campus following spring break. Marybeth Davis Baggett, a member of Liberty University’s board of trustees, has been vehemently critical of Falwell’s actions.</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Baggett, in a March 22 op-ed for the Religious News Service, wrote, “Many students, faculty and staff have health conditions that would make COVID-19 difficult to fight. And of course, Liberty is not a bubble where the virus would be contained. Instead, its population comes into regular contact with those in the Lynchburg community, putting their health and lives at risk as well.”</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">In Des Moines, Iowa, the Christian Right store Hobby Lobby remained open on March 27 despite Gov. Kim Reynolds’ social distancing guidelines.</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">By March 12, the World Health Organization (WHO) had declared COVID-19 to be a global pandemic. But that day, the New Life Christian Center in Austin, Indiana proudly declared that it had no intention of practicing social distancing and even encouraged touching at a gathering that was held the following day.</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">On Facebook, the New Life Christian Center declared, “Due to the recent outbreak of fear — and the resulting raw, unmitigated stupidity — regarding the perceived threat of the ‘corona virus,’ etc., tomorrow night, Friday, March 13th, 2020, we WILL be having a church service here at the New Life Christian Center in Austin, Indiana. Anyone who is sick, you are welcome to come to church. We will lay hands on the sick, and the sick shall recover.”</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">In Tampa, Florida, Rodney Howard-Browne (pastor at the River Tampa Bay Church) has vowed to continue holding services and insisted that God will protect worshippers from coronavirus.</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Right Wing Watch</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">@RightWingWatch</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Rodney Howard-Browne will continue to hold services because his church is the most sterile building in America, as it contains 13 machines that can instantaneously kill any virus: "If they sneeze, it shoots it down at like 100 mph. It'll neutralize it in split seconds."</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Embedded video</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">Of course, a variety of Christians — from Catholics to Mainline Protestants — have encouraged social distancing and are worshipping online instead of in person. In a March 27 article for the website First Things, writer Matthew Schmitz noted, “Now, many churches have gone from conducting masses as if nothing were amiss to holding no masses at all. As people crowd supermarkets and big-box stores, churches are closed.”</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">
</font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;">But the New Life Christian Center, Glenn Beck and other so-called “pro-life” social conservatives have demonstrated that defying social distancing is a badge of honor with them — and if Americans die needlessly as a result, they are perfectly OK with that.</font><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/pro-trump-evangelicals-response-to-the-coronavirus-pandemic-shows-their-utter-moral-bankruptcy-former-fundamentalist/" rel="bookmark" title="Pro-Trump evangelicals’ response to the coronavirus pandemic shows their ‘utter moral bankruptcy’: Former fundamentalist" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;" /><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/pro-trump-evangelicals-response-to-the-coronavirus-pandemic-shows-their-utter-moral-bankruptcy-former-fundamentalist/" rel="bookmark" title="Pro-Trump evangelicals’ response to the coronavirus pandemic shows their ‘utter moral bankruptcy’: Former fundamentalist" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">
</font></a><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/pro-trump-evangelicals-response-to-the-coronavirus-pandemic-shows-their-utter-moral-bankruptcy-former-fundamentalist/" rel="bookmark" title="Pro-Trump evangelicals’ response to the coronavirus pandemic shows their ‘utter moral bankruptcy’: Former fundamentalist" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">
</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="mag-header" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/christian-pastor-who-thought-covid-19-is-just-mass-hysteria-among-the-first-in-virginia-to-die-from-virus/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">pastor who thought COVID-19 is just ‘mass hysteria’ among the first in Virginia to die from virus</font></a></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/skypalma/" title="Posts by Sky Palma" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Sky Palma</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/raw-story/" title="Posts by Raw Story" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Raw Story</a></font></span></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the first deaths in Virginia from coronavirus was a 66-year-old Christian “musical evangelist” who fell ill while on a trip to New Orleans with his wife. As the…</font></p></div></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/the-christian-rights-perverse-hostility-to-science-is-definitely-going-to-get-people-killed/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/the-christian-rights-perverse-hostility-to-science-is-definitely-going-to-get-people-killed/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Christian right’s perverse hostility to science is definitely going to get people killed</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Amanda Marcotte / Salon March 26, 2020</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scientists and health experts largely agree on the steps needed to fight COVID-19, the rapidly spreading new coronavirus: Widespread testing, if possible. Widespread and often stringent social distancing protocols in communities where it’s taken root, to slow the spread. Hygienic practices like frequent hand-washing and sterilizing commonly touched surfaces. Protective gear, like masks in medical settings, to keep health care professionals from catching it and spreading it.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But when it comes to conservative evangelical Christians, who are already hostile to science on many levels, advice from health experts is all too often being treated as something that can be dismissed out of hand, if it threatens the political or theological goals of their movement.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To be clear, Christian right leaders aren’t denying that coronavirus is a real problem (at least not anymore). If anything, the bevy of snake oil salesman who call themselves ministers sees the panic around the virus as a marketing opportunity to make money from selling dangerous supplements, to declare the virus can be beaten with the power of prayer and to declare that the pandemic is a divine punishment inflicted on sinners.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Christian right leaders are also not about to let medical science supersede their authority, much less get in the way of their quest for power and cold, hard cash. Because of this, the Christian right has become a vector of bad advice, misinformation and dreadful business decisions that are directly threatening the health not just of their followers, but the public at large.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Jerry Falwell Jr., the shamelessly greedy president of Liberty University, has spent weeks downplaying the coronavirus threat, accusing the media of wildly exaggerating it to “destroy the American economy” and of course to damage Donald Trump. While nearly every university and college in the country has shut down their campuses and moved to online teaching to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Falwell seems determined to keep Liberty open.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Falwell is already allowing students back on campus, claiming it’s more imporant “to give [students] the ability to be with their friends, to continue their studies, enjoy the room and board they’ve already paid for and to not interrupt their college life.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roy Moore, the Christian right figurehead and twice-failed Senate candidate brought low by multiple accusations of sexual misconduct, is similarly defiant of the calls for social distancing that threaten to disrupt in-person church activities.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I am writing a letter to pastors on the duty to continue church assemblies, even in the midst of these trying times,” Moore wrote in an open letter, adding on Twitter that “churches are closed by tyrants who pander fear in the place of faith in God.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Moore invoked the example of Dr. Benjamin Rush, the Declaration of Independence signer who stayed in Philadelphia and caught yellow fever during an epidemic in the 1790s. Of course, Rush risked his life to save people with his medical expertise, an entirely different situation than a pastor insisting that people must come to church.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To be clear, most churches, especially mainline Protestant and Catholic churches, are prioritizing the health of members and closing their doors for the duration the crisis, often pointing believers to online services. But the pressure to keep the doors open, when it comes from someone like Moore, is no small thing. He may seem like an offensive joke to many liberals, but Moore has immense influence in the world of evangelical Christianity, which often favors megachurches that gather hundreds or even thousands of people at once, and whose pastors have been reluctant to close their doors. Reports suggest many of these churches are defiantly refusing to cancel services.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Along with pastors who want those collection plates to keep flowing, at least one wealthy and prominent Christian right family is determined to keep its business open to the public. David Green, the owner of Hobby Lobby, is keeping most of his stores open during the pandemic, except those actually forced to shut down by local governments.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>His reason? His wife, Barbara Green, prayed about it and decided to focus instead on “profound words to remind us that He’s in control.” Those words were “Guide, Guard and Groom,” though the P-word, “profit,” may also play a role.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Green family, let’s remember, was behind a recent lawsuit in which the Supreme Court granted privately held corporations the right to block their employees from using health insurance plans to pay for contraception. The case was presented by the Greens and their religious right allies as a relatively minor question of balancing reproductive rights against religious freedom. In reality, the case was about opening the door, both legally and culturally, to Christian right demands that arbitrary religious beliefs should trump human rights, public health, science and government authority.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The presumption undergirding the Hobby Lobby case — that Christian conservatives should be able to defy the laws that the rest of us are bound by — wasn’t taken seriously by many people in mainstream politics at the time, perhaps because the victims were low-income female employees who wanted access to contraception. But post-Hobby Lobby, the Christian conservative belief that they’re entitled to exempt themselves from any laws or public health regulations they disagree with is shaping the reaction to the coronavirus — and threatening the health of everyone in the country.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ilyse Hogue of NARAL pointed this out on Twitter Wednesday night, writing that Republicans have been co-opted by “a radical right for whom fundamentalism [has] completely supplanted any rational thought or science and data-based policy approaches.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We’ve seen them use disinformation” to block access to contraception, suppress LGBT rights and close abortion clinics, she noted, adding that “now they’re doing it at a national scale during a global pandemic.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indeed, the power the religious right now wields through the White House only amplifies the dangerous impact of its anti-science views on the coronavirus response. Vice President Mike Pence — a Christian conservative with a long history of anti-science views, including both denying that condoms are safe and cigarettes are dangerous — is running the White House coronavirus task force, which is no doubt one of the big reasons the U.S. has one of the worst responses to the pandemic in the world. Pence is also wasting time on conference calls with religious right leaders who are more interested in exploiting this crisis to force women to give birth against their will than in preventing thousands or millions of people from dying.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump himself has surrounded himself with a phalanx of Christian right pastors who are eager to lie to their flocks about what a great leader he is and to amplify his relentless drumbeat of lies and misinformation. This includes Dave Kubal</b>, the head of Intercessors for America, who told an audience on a prayer call last week that coronavirus “testing has limited value.” This is flat-out untrue — testing has been a critical element in every country that’s been able to get the virus under control — but it suits Trump’s approach to the disease, which has been to minimize testing access in hopes of keeping the official number of cases artificially low.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Christian right has always been a threat to public health. They were a threat during the AIDS crisis, when they successfully exerted pressure on Republican leaders to minimize the disease, which conservative Christians saw as a punishment for sinful behavior. They have contributed to the spread of all manner of STIs, in fact, by convincing schools to replace sex education with programs meant to discourage the use of condoms. They’ve encouraged fear of vaccinations, especially the HPV vaccine that prevents cervical and other forms of cancer, for no other reason except that HPV is an STI and therefore viewed, sigh, as punishment for sinners. They’ve blocked access to contraception and abortion to punish women for having sex, even though unwanted childbirth is linked to poorer health outcomes for women and children.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But this renegade right-wing movement has been allowed to run rampant because their cruelty and hostility to science primarily affected marginalized people, especially low-income women and LGBTQ people. Now their attitudes are a threat to everyone, rich or poor, of every race or gender or faith (including no faith). But the sad truth is that as long as Christian right leaders keep on shilling for Republicans, the party will close its eyes and embrace them, no matter how many people have to die.</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Moloch!</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/restart-the-economy-is-a-prayer-to-a-conservative-god-who-demands-human-sacrifice/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/restart-the-economy-is-a-prayer-to-a-conservative-god-who-demands-human-sacrifice/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">‘Restart the Economy’ is a prayer to a conservative God who demands human sacrifice</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">GDANSK, POLAND - APRIL 10, 2009: Anonymous actors play Mystery of the Passion of Jesus Christ. April 10, 2009. Gdansk, Poland.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Stephen Young / Religion Dispatches March 25, 2020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to classic interpretations of the Jewish and Christian Bibles, a Canaanite deity named Moloch demanded the sacrifice of children. There is a long history of writing about this bloodthirsty god spanning the ancient world to John Milton’s Paradise Lost to Allen Ginsberg’s “Howl” to modern social commentators. One recurring point is that the depravity of Moloch was reflected in his insatiable lust for innocent flesh. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How could anyone worship such a monster? </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Readers have drawn further connections: human sacrifice marks not only Moloch as evil, but also the population who offers their children to him. This is the biblical justification given for why Israelites should exterminate Canaanites, the worship of their gods, and their customs from the Promised Land. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But although the prevalent understanding of Moloch as a rapacious child-consuming god falls short in the minds of many scholars,* some deep truth remains. We should absolutely judge a deity by the offerings and piety it demands! Furthermore, what people are willing to sacrifice for their god should likewise be a commentary on their deepest values. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Let us call this an ethics of religious responsibility: we are responsible for the deities we follow. Many people tacitly accept this point when they opine that folks who follow other gods, or at least not their God, deserve to burn in hell. So, if one’s deity demands things like human sacrifice, genocide, or partiality to rapists and autocrats, then this should give some pause. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a society founded partly on the concept of religious liberty people can, in theory, choose to worship such deities. But in a society also founded on the concept of free speech, shouldn’t people who follow these gods at least have to answer uncomfortable questions about their sociopathic deities? Why should it be bad manners to question people who worship such gods instead of bad manners to promote those gods in the first place?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You can see where this is going. At the moment an influential contingent of conservative leaders and commentators are advocating that we put a stop to measures meant to suppress the spread of COVID-19. Most of these measures fall under the category of social distancing, which has deeply impacted corporations by restricting us from our usual purchasing and employment movements. Combined with broader uncertainties brought by the pandemic, the Stock Market has likewise been tanking. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The developing cry to end social distancing predictably centers on reversing these obstacles. “Restart the economy” is becoming a refrain. President Trump has already tweeted in this direction: “WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF.” </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WE CANNOT LET THE CURE BE WORSE THAN THE PROBLEM ITSELF. AT THE END OF THE 15 DAY PERIOD, WE WILL MAKE A DECISION AS TO WHICH WAY WE WANT TO GO!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 23, 2020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">His top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, has spelled-out things further: “The economic cost to individuals is just too great … we’re going to have to make some difficult trade-offs.” And one conservative talk radio host went still further, declaring that “If given the choice between dying and plunging the country I love into a Great Depression, I’d happily die.” Better for a whole lot more people to suffer and die than for the free market to be stifled any further. It’s the economy, stupid!</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Given the prevalence of religious voices among support for Trump, perhaps we could think about our situation with the ethics of religious responsibly as outlined above. A simple translation of “restart the economy” suggests itself: the economy or the free market is God. It rules over and defines reality. And this God demands human sacrifice to rescue us from Coronavirus.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those who know our history will not be surprised. The God of the Economy has long subsisted on human sacrifice in ways that reveal his character. When the Cotton Gin was invented, enslavers needed to increase cotton picking output to feed the machines in order to realize their profits. As Edward Baptist has vividly documented, they didn’t hire more workers or even invest in the large scale acquisition of additional slaves. Instead they intensified their system of slavery into an even more brutal form that exponentially multiplied suffering as a technology to increase production. The God of the Economy got his fill of human flesh.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If the blood of human sacrifice was the seed of the free market, its god remains hungry as ever today. As historians such as Kim Phillips-Fein, Kevin Kruse, and Lawrence Glickman have shown, wealthy followers of this god have been successfully proclaiming their gospel as the exclusive path to freedom for generations. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Their message now seems obvious and their god feels like the only option. These disciples are sick of losing wealth to social distancing, even if it saves lives. They want their economy of the pre-Coronavirus status quo back. It’s the economy that made them rich. </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The surprise is not that this god’s followers are eager to offer human sacrifices, but that anyone is still shocked they would offer the rest of us to him or try to sell us on this approach by warning against the “the false god of ‘saving lives.’” </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We should, at the least, stop tiptoeing around this god’s followers as though it’s bad manners to identify him as evil or un-civil to make them own that he is the real Moloch. And if their economy is Moloch, why don’t we demand that our leaders serve a new god, or replace them with leaders who aren’t Moloch’s disciples? Surely there are gods to whom we can turn now whose values are health and human flourishing as opposed to bloodthirsty greed. It doesn’t take a biblical scholar to figure it out.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> As biblical scholars such as Francesca Stavrakopoulou and Heath Dewrell have argued, there was no Moloch deity in ancient Canaan. The biblical passages traditionally thought to name him instead refer to a kind of sacrificial offering (mlk). Biblical writers delegitimized this offering—and the idea that their God had commanded it!—by rendering it foreign and evil. Ancient interpreters transformed the mlk offering into a depraved foreign deity, Moloch or Molech. And readers have been off to the races ever since.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">covid lick floor? an 320</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/far-right-evangelical-robert-jeffress-slammed-for-hold-large-gathering-on-march-15-despite-widespread-calls-for-social-distancing/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/far-right-evangelical-robert-jeffress-slammed-for-hold-large-gathering-on-march-15-despite-widespread-calls-for-social-distancing/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">an 320</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">f<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/far-right-christian-fundamentalist-blogger-applauds-deadly-coronavirus-pandemic-for-encouraging-women-to-stay-home-with-their-children/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline !important;">ar-right Christian fundamentalist blogger applauds deadly coronavirus pandemic for encouraging women to stay home ‘with their children’</a></font></div><div class="mag-header" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/alex-henderson/" title="Posts by Alex Henderson" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Henderson</font></a></span></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">Despite it’s rising death toll, the deadly coronavirus pandemic has a positive side. According to evangelical fundamentalist Lori Alexander (author of the 2016 book “The Power of a Transformed Wife”),…</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">an 320</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">fr<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/from-licking-floors-to-praying-for-an-inept-government-americas-churches-react-to-the-coronavirus/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline !important;">om licking floors to praying for an inept government: America’s churches react to the coronavirus</a></font></div><div class="mag-header" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/daniel-schultz/" title="Posts by Daniel Schultz" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Daniel Schultz</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/religion-dispatches/" title="Posts by Religion Dispatches" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Religion Dispatches</a></font></span></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">It’s particularly important for churches that continue to meet during the COVID-19 pandemic to follow the guidelines laid out by health experts given that worship services are among the largest regular gatherings in…</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/how-the-coronavirus-has-exposed-the-religious-rights-racism/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/how-the-coronavirus-has-exposed-the-religious-rights-racism/</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=": border-box; outline: currentcolor none medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;">=</span></font></div><div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/s-the-christian-right-now-in-charge-of-public-health-inside-the-trump-administration"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/03/s-the-christian-right-now-in-charge-of-public-health-inside-the-trump-administration</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Inside Mike Pence’s secret Christian empire</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jim Domen, founder of Church United, and VP Mike Pence, </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Heather Digby Parton March 9, 2020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you’ve been following the latest news on the coronavirus outbreak, you probably saw at least some snippets of President Trump’s visit to the CDC last Friday. It will stand as one of the most astonishing appearances by this or any other president — and that’s saying something. When asked if he regretted firing the entire staff of the Office of Pandemic Preparation, <b>Trump said, “This is something that you can never really think is going to happen.” He said that everyone who wants to be tested for this virus can get tested, which is not even close to true. He called Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington state, who is on the front lines dealing with this epidemic, a “snake.”</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He made it clear that he wants to cook the numbers so it doesn’t look as if the nation is in the midst of an epidemic. This has been obvious from the outset, but for the president to come out and say it is something else again:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mostly, however, he patted himself on the back:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You know, my uncle was a great person. He was at MIT. He taught at MIT for, I think, like a record number of years. He was a great super genius. Dr. John Trump. I like this stuff. I really get it. People are surprised that I understand it. Every one of these doctors said, “How do you know so much about this?” Maybe I have a natural ability. Maybe I should have done that instead of running for President.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Wired science reporter Adam Rogers wrote:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As a reporter, in general I’m not supposed to say something like this, but: The president’s statements to the press were terrifying. That press availability was a repudiation of good science and good crisis management from inside one of the world’s most respected scientific institutions.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Let’s put that another way: The CDC was considered one of the world’s most respected scientific institutions. It has not been covering itself in glory during this crisis.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The most unnerving aspect of the government response so far has not been Trump’s gibberish. He’s in over his head and it shows, as usual. And we know from his response to Hurricane Maria and other natural disasters that his only concern in a crisis is for his own political well-being.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> But I wouldn’t have expected to hear the director of the CDC, Robert Redfield, laud Trump like a Fox News pundit:</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It’s a full-blown ritual at this point for members of the Trump cabinet and Republicans in Congress to genuflect to the president as if he were a 15th-century pope. And we know that public health experts have had to tread very softly in order not to upset him.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Still, it was surprising to hear such a slavering tribute from a scientist in the midst of a global health crisis. Likewise, it was strange to hear the highly esteemed U.S. global AIDS coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, make similar comments when she was introduced as part of the coronavirus task force back on March 2:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It is clear the early work of the president over travel restrictions and the ability quarantine has bought us the time and space to have this task force be very effective. I have never worked with such incredible scientists and thoughtful policy leaders…</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It seemed just a bit over the top. But these two weren’t the only ones:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There’s something important happening under the surface here. It may not simply be that these health policy professionals are trying to keep the kooky president happy so they can do their work on behalf of the country. They may be Trump true believers.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, for instance, is a Mike Pence crony who previously served as the Indiana state health commissioner. </b>He was intimately involved in the horrific HIV outbreak in that state, where Pence refused to authorize a needle exchange program until a number of people had died unnecessarily. Naturally, Trump appointed him surgeon general.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Redfield and Birx are both evangelical Christians who have been associated with HIV research for many years, going back to the 1980s.</b> Birx runs PEPFAR, George W. Bush’s global AIDS initiative, and both she and Redfield have been involved with Children’s AIDS Fund International, which lobbies for abstinence-only sex education around the world.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Washington Post reported back in 2018 that they belong to a network run by an important power broker in the evangelical world:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Evangelical activist Shepherd Smith has spent more than three decades cultivating relationships with leading AIDS researchers and policymakers to promote abstinence-only sex education and other programs. Those connections now could influence government programs and funding within the Trump administration. Among the most prominent: Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[His wife] Anita Smith is now a consultant within PEPFAR to Deborah Birx, a physician and ambassador at large who oversees the program’s estimated $5 billion annual budget. Birx is also a former board member of Children’s AIDS Fund International and served until she was hired by the CDC in 2005, a PEPFAR spokesman said.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Anita Smith was hired by Birx to “improve prevention programs aimed at preteen girls.” I’m pretty sure we know what she recommended.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Redfield and Birx both served in the military doing AIDS research in the mid-1980s. Redfield is well-known for recommending measures that were considered extreme even within the Reagan administration, including the forced quarantine of AIDS patients</b>. He later had a financial interest in an HIV vaccine that didn’t work, but which he continued to push. Birx, on the other hand, has maintained a stellar reputation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">To be clear, none of this means that these people aren’t qualified for the jobs they hold. They both have medical degrees and relevant experience. But they seem to be part of a conservative subculture of evangelical Christians who have found a foothold in the Trump administration clustered around Mike Pence’s office. Along millions of other evangelicals, it appears they really believe in Donald Trump.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Setting ideology aside, however, what Trump wants these people to do — cover up his own ignorance and incompetence — is totally at odds with what they must know is best for the health of the American public. Is their worshipful admiration for this man blinding them to the need to communicate honestly with the American people about this crisis? Because that would explain a lot.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style=": border-box; outline: currentcolor none medium; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px;"></span></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/how-the-religious-vote-in-2020-could-tip-6-swing-states/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/how-the-religious-vote-in-2020-could-tip-6-swing-states/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How the religious vote in 2020 could tip 6 swing states</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Daniel Schultz / Religion Dispatches February 29, 2020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Let’s look at the bad news from this Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) tracking survey first: despite remarkably lousy-but-stable favorability numbers (41% approve, 55% disapprove), Pres. Trump has a strong chance of being re-elected in November, unless the situation changes significantly between now and then.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To understand why from a religious perspective, consider three factors: partisanship, race, and region. Republicans, whites, and residents of the South and Midwest are most likely to support Trump. White evangelicals tend to be conservative, giving the president a strong base in the South—this much is not surprising. Less obvious is that after Mormons, white Catholics and white mainline Protestants are Trump’s strongest supporters in the religious economy.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As it happens, there’s a lot of voters like this in Pennsylvania and the industrial Midwest. In short, southern white evangelicals and northern Catholics and mainliners made it possible for Trump to swing Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania just enough to take the election in 2016.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Meanwhile, Trump falters in the Northeast and West, which are more secular, but also have more adherents of smaller religions: Jews, Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists. The first part of that equation—the secular part—is probably the most important, given just how small those smaller religions are. Race also plays a part, with coastal Catholics being generally more diverse, and white evangelicals playing a smaller role.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I would caution anyone who wants to take all of this as evidence of religious faith’s inherent conservatism. It’s difficult, if not impossible, to separate faith out from all of the other social strands included in this report. For example, men are more likely to support Trump no matter what the religious tradition, with the starkest divide in Mormon households, of all places, in which 64% of Mormon men hold a favorable view as opposed to 45% of Mormon women who do.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mainline Protestants are often lampooned as half-communist barking moonbats by conservative Christians, but in fact, they offer fairly strong support for Pres. Trump (48%). But mainliners are also older and whiter than most Americans, and generally speaking, the lower their level of education, the more conservative they tend to be. By the same token, white Catholics in the Midwest are well-represented among rural residents and members of the white no-college working class, both of which are firmly in the Trump column. So which matters more, religion, race, or social location? The point is they all tend to go together.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That being said, it can’t be denied that religion plays some role in these outcomes. White evangelicals of any age or any location in the nation tend to be more conservative than their unaffiliated counterparts. In fact, so do Black evangelicals, even compared to other Black voters. So there must be something about hanging around in the pews that prompts some people to shift to the right.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Can Trump pull it off again in 2020? The short answer is yes, he’s got a pretty good shot of it. According to PRRI, he has decent numbers among the white suburbanites who will make up the swing vote of the election (to the extent that the “swing vote” is a meaningful category). That’s far from a guarantee, however, especially with a candidate this volatile. Democrats also have a realistic opening to deny Trump re-election.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Let’s play faith outreach director in the six states PRRI mentions as toss-ups, in reverse order of their support for Trump:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Michigan: with an overview approval of 42%, this is Trump’s most likely state to see shift back to the Democratic column.</b> Urban residents hate him (30% approval), and so do the religiously unaffiliated (32%). On the flip side, 60% of white evangelicals are behind the president here. That leaves white mainline Protestants (48%) and white Catholics (46%) at the dividing line. I’ve often scoffed at the value of religious outreach in presidential campaigns, but not here. If I were working for a campaign, I’d make sure to find a way to get the candidate to a union rally and a mass, and not necessarily in that order.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Florida is the black hole of campaign strategies, so closely divided and so filled with natural potholes and man-made land mines that it’s almost impossible to predict what’s going to happen. Nonetheless, smart money’s on white evangelicals going for Trump, probably along with white mainliners (52%) and white Catholics (51%). A better bet would be to connect with Hispanic Catholics (35%) and the sizable religiously unaffiliated (34%). Spotlight the Catholic congregations assisting Puerto Rican refugees and highlight Mike Pence’s threat to reproductive rights and education.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Pennsylvania: With its highly religious—and highly conservative—central region balancing Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a tough nut to crack.</b> For a faith outreach director it would probably be best to do little more than the ordinary outreach to keep things close in the York-Lancaster-Harrisburg corridor, and try like hell to turn out the Philadelphia suburbs. Expect a lot of stops at mainline churches on the Main Line.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>North Carolina: Second only to Florida on this list for social complexity, but one thing is for certain: at 73% approval for Trump, North Carolina’s white evangelicals aren’t going anywhere.</b> Religiously, the most likely scenario for a Trump loss is an exceptional GOTV effort by William Barber’s Poor People’s Campaign—North Carolina being his old stomping ground, of course. In a secular sense, it will come down to whether Democrats could motivate the highly-educated voters of the Research Triangle. If they could keep the Baptists at home and turn out students on the numerous college campuses, Trump would be in trouble.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Arizona: Like Florida, Arizona has a high percentage of religiously unaffiliated citizens: nearly half say they belong to no faith, or are “nothing in particular.” Combined with a low approval among Catholics (36%), this leaves an opening for Democrats. If they’re smart, Democratic organizers will spend a lot of time organizing Latino Catholics and reminding the unaffiliated of Trump’s love for the authoritarian former Sheriff Joe Arpaio.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Wisconsin: You don’t know how much it pains me to report that of all the swing states, my own is the one with the highest support for the president (45%)</b>. Wisconsin has been balanced on a knife’s edge in recent years with the urban cores in Madison and Milwaukee falling into the Democratic column, and the conservative suburban WOW (Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington) counties going Red. Some of those heavily Catholic suburbs have been hesitant in their embrace of Trump, however. The trick here will be to drive Trump’s negatives up in those areas while keeping his opponent’s positives up in the cities. Best case scenario for Dems would be fore Bernie Sanders to win the nomination, thereby automatically scooping up the Prius vote in Madison, followed by a visit with the liberal Archbishop Cupich in Chicago. Trump would be infuriated and pick a fight with Cupich; Pope Francis would come to his defense, Waukesha voters would be disgusted, and that would be that.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That’s a silly scenario, of course, but the serious point is that none of these states is a sure thing for Trump; 45% approval is enough to win re-election, but it’s not great. For what it’s worth, my thoroughly unscientific prediction is that Democrats will take back Michigan and Pennsylvania, with a good shot at North Carolina and Arizona. Florida and Wisconsin? Maybe God knows. I sure don’t.</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/white-christians-are-becoming-more-republican-how-worried-should-democrats-be/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/white-christians-are-becoming-more-republican-how-worried-should-democrats-be/</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/trump-spiritual-adviser-tells-followers-to-skip-paying-monthly-electric-bills-so-they-can-send-her-church-more-cash/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/trump-spiritual-adviser-tells-followers-to-skip-paying-monthly-electric-bills-so-they-can-send-her-church-more-cash/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/authoritarian-paranoid-and-patriarchal-the-dark-roots-of-christian-nationalism-gave-us-trump/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/authoritarian-paranoid-and-patriarchal-the-dark-roots-of-christian-nationalism-gave-us-trump/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>‘Authoritarian, paranoid, and patriarchal’: The dark roots of Christian nationalism gave us Trump</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald J. Trump joins members of his Cabinet in a prayer led by Secretary of Energy Rick Perry during a Cabinet Meeting Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2019, in the Cabinet Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Nancy LeTourneau / Washington Monthly February 17, 2020</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Katherine Stewart is the writer who first introduced me to the term “<b>Christian nationalists” </b>almost a year ago. I had previously referred to the group that has shown unwavering support for Trump as “white evangelicals.” But that is a bit of a misnomer, primarily because, as we saw with the article in Christianity Today calling for the president’s removal from office, there are pockets of white evangelicals who aren’t part of the movement. There are also members of other religious groups that espouse the same beliefs. For example, Catholic leaders like Attorney General William Barr and Federalist Society President Leonard Leo are major players in the Christian nationalist movement.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Bringing some clarity to the make-up of the Christian nationalist movement is just one of the myths Stewart busts in her upcoming book titled: The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, set to be released on March 3rd. <b>Equally important for us to understand is that this movement isn’t simply about culture wars.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>It is not a social or cultural movement. It is a political movement, and its ultimate goal is power.</b> It does not seek to add another voice to America’s pluralistic democracy but to replace our foundational democratic principles and institutions with a state grounded on a particular version of Christianity answering to what some adherents call a “biblical worldview” that also happens to serve the interests of its plutocratic funders and allied political leaders…This is not a “culture war.” It is a political war over the future of democracy.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When it comes to that “biblical worldview,” we often hear about the fact that Christian nationalists oppose abortion and LGBT rights. But as Stewart explains, the movement is actually based on the idea that “the Bible is very clear about the right answers to the political issues American voters face in the twenty-first century.” For example, <b>they also believe that the Bible:</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">opposes public assistance to the poor as a matter of principle—unless the money passes through church coffers;</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">opposes environmentalism and, as a matter of theology, denies the science that human contributions to greenhouse gases causes global warning;</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>opposes gun regulation;</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>supports strong national borders;</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>favors the privatization of schools;</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">favors a gender hierarchy in both the home and church, with women being submissive to men;</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">favors the use of corporal punishment when discipling children;</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">favors government deregulation of business and minimal workers rights; and</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>favors capitalism and property rights.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To illustrate the Christian nationalist commitment to that biblical worldview, Stewart examined the writings and teachings of<b> Ralph Drollinger,</b> the founder of Capitol Ministries, who leads a weekly Bible study in the White House for cabinet secretaries and other officials. However, those views are also incorporated into churches by groups like the Family Research Council, which promotes “Cultural Impact Teams” and arms them with manuals that outline a biblical worldview.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Perhaps that helps explain why a host of uber-wealthy elites have signed on to the Christian nationalist movement and provide funding for the vast network of everything from non-profits to legal advocacy groups that promote their cause.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For me personally, the major myth about Christian nationalists that Stewart busted was to provide some history of where this movement came from. In this case, I have to disagree with my colleague Martin Longman. Trump hasn’t corrupted his Christian supporters, he is the apex of decades of work that led up to his election. Here are just a few of the men who laid the groundwork for where we are today.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Robert Lewis Dabney</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dabney was a Presbyterian minister and theologian who was born in 1820. He was an anti-abolitionist, who argued that opposing slavery was “tantamount to rejecting Christianity.” After the Civil War, Dabney, who referred to democracy as “mobocracy,” took up the cause of his “oppressed white brethren of Virginia and neighboring states to the south.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Their oppression consisted in, among other things, having to pay taxes to support a “pretended education to the brats of black paupers.” These unjustly persecuted white people, as Dabney saw it, were also forced to contend with “the atheistic and infidel theories of physical science.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Stewart notes, “Christian nationalism came of age in the American slave republic” due to the proslavery theology of men like Dabney, who fused religion with a racialized form of nationalism.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rousas Rushdoony</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The importance of Dabeny can be seen from the fact that Rushdoony, whose writings provided the core of today’s Christian nationalism, considered him a role model.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The views of the theologian who lies at the center of so much influence are not hard to state simply and clearly: Rushdoony advocated a return to “biblical” law in America. The Bible, says Rushdoony, commands Christians to exercise absolute dominion over the earth and all of its inhabitants. Women are destined by God to be subordinate to men; men are destined to be ruled by a spiritual aristocracy of right-thinking, orthodox Christian clerics; and the federal government is an agent of evil. Public education, in Rushdoony’s reading of the Bible, is a threat to civilization, for it “basically trains women to be men,” and represents “primitivism,” “chaos,” and “a vast integration into the void.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two of the themes that are critical for today’s Christian nationalists emerged from Dabney and Rushdoony: (1) the fight against government (ie, public) schools, and (2) the disdain for democracy in favor of a hierarchy of authoritarianism. As Stewart wrote: “the new generation of leaders promoted a theological vision that emphasized the divine origins of the existing order, which invariably involved domination and subordination.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Paul Weyrich</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Weyrich wasn’t a particularly religious man. Instead, he was a Goldwater Republican who was passionate about “anticommunism, economic libertarianism, and a distrust of the civil rights movement.” It was Weyrich’s genius to meld those commitments with Christian nationalists in order to form a new radical right.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Initially, Weyrich joined with leaders like Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Bob Jones to rally around the cause of fighting against federal attempts to desegregate their schools. In that effort, we can see the groundwork that was laid by Dabney and Rushdoony.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But they had a problem. As Weyrich understood, building a new movement around the burning issue of defending the tax advantages of racist schools wasn’t going to be a viable strategy on the national stage. “Stop the tax on segregation” just wasn’t going to inspire the kind of broad-based conservative counterrevolution that Weyrich envisions. They needed an issue with a more acceptable appeal.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That is when, several years after the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v Wade was actually embraced by most conservative Christians, they decided to focus on the issue of abortion. The rest, as they say, is history.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the most important moments of the so-called “Reagan revolution” was the fact that he launched his presidential campaign in Philadelphia, Mississippi with a dog-whistle shout-out to states rights. But equally important was the speech the not-so-religious presidential candidate gave at the Reunion Arena in Dallas, Texas to a crowd of 15,000 pastors and religious activists.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I know that you can’t endorse me,” he declared, but “I want you to know that I endorse you and what you are doing.” The pastors went wild. Reagan went on to air his personal doubts about the theory of evolution. Then he offered a homespun hypothetical: if he were to be trapped on an island with only one book, he said, he would take the Bible. “All of the complex questions facing us at home and abroad,” he said, “have their answer in that single book.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">With his speech in Mississippi, Reagan secured the support of southern white racists. But it was his speech in Dallas that married Christian nationalists to his candidacy and forged the bond with the Republican Party that lasts to this day. Weyrich’s vision came to fruition.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>David Barton</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In today’s political arena, the number of Christian nationalist influencers is too great to capture. But Stewart suggests that Barton is the “where’s Waldo” of the movement—showing up everywhere.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Barton got a bachelor’s degree in Christian education from Oral Roberts University and, until his early 30s, was a math teacher and principal at a Christian high school. Then he became convinced that the whole idea of the founder’s commitment to a wall of separation between church and state was a myth. Here is how Stewart describes Barton’s historiography.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American was once a single nation with a single God. It goes on to describe a fall and a cause for grievance as the righteous lose their hold, thanks to the actions of secular liberals. The story of the past thus leads inexorably to a political prescription for the future, which for the most part involves retaking the court system and the rest of government and turning it over to Bible believers.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those are some of the historical highlights that led Stewart to this conclusion.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">America’s conservative movement, having morphed into a religious nationalist movement, is on a collision course with the American constitutional system. Though conservatives have long claimed to be the true champions of the Constitution — remember all that chatter during previous Republican administrations about “originalism” and “judicial restraint” — the movement that now controls the Republican Party is committed to a suite of ideas that are fundamentally incompatible with the Constitution and the Republic that the founders created under its auspices.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Trump’s presidency was not the cause of this anti-democratic movement in American politics. It was the consequence. He is the chosen instrument, not of God, but of today’s Christian nationalists, their political allies and funders, and the movement’s legal apparatus.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To outsiders, the question often arises about why this religious movement would remain loyal to such an amoral president. But that fails to take into account the fact that Christian nationalism is “authoritarian, paranoid, and patriarchal to its core…In Mr. Trump, they have found a man who does not merely serve their cause, but also satisfies their craving for a certain kind of political leadership.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reading Stewart’s book is certainly enlightening, but it can also be depressing. She ends, however, on a note that harkens back to Barack Obama’s most important speech: the one he gave at the 50th anniversary of the Selma march where he talked about what it means to be an American. Stewart emphasized the same theme.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If we want to guard against demagogues and theocrats who wish to “redeem” America, we don’t need a new theory of American democracy. We just need to recover and restore the vision of a nation dedicated to the proposition that all men and women are created equal.</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 220</font></div><div style=""><div class="mag-header" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/decoding-the-christian-paradox-evangelical-historian-explains-how-right-wingers-ignore-jesus-to-support-a-corrupt-and-greedy-president/" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; : border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Decoding the Christian paradox: Evangelical historian explains how right-wingers ignore Jesus to support a corrupt and greedy president</font></a></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/chauncey-devega/" title="Posts by Chauncey DeVega" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; : border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Chauncey DeVega</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/salon/" title="Posts by Salon " class="author url fn" rel="author" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; : border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Salon</a></font></span></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="margin: 0px; : border-box; outline: none; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Historian and author of “Believe Me” on his struggle to reach the embattled evangelicals who oppose Trump.</font></p></div></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/trump-admin-grant-to-christian-supporters-ignites-twitter-firestorm-over-taxpayer-funded-religious-coercion/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/trump-admin-grant-to-christian-supporters-ignites-twitter-firestorm-over-taxpayer-funded-religious-coercion/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hookers for j</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/cnn-exposes-controversial-trump-associates-reportedly-buying-rally-attendance-and-votes-for-cash"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/cnn-exposes-controversial-trump-associates-reportedly-buying-rally-attendance-and-votes-for-cash</font></a></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>CNN exposes controversial Trump associates reportedly buying rally attendance and votes for cash</b></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Tom Boggioni / Raw Story February 16, 2020</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On Sunday morning, CNN took a deep dive into reports that groups allied with President Donald Trump are funneling cash to potential voters in the hopes that they will turn out in November in what is expected to be a close presidential election.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The report centers on Darrell Scott, a pastor from Cleveland who is a prominent ally of the president and has been running a possibly illegal program designed to win over black voters for the president that literally involves handing them envelopes stuffed with cash at mini-rallies.</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“At the center of the controversy is a new charity called the Urban Revitalization Coalition led by Ohio Pastor Darrell Scott,</span>” the report states which has, “Raised red flags saying the cash events may violate tax laws that bar nonprofits from engaging in political campaign activities and could jeopardize the group’s tax-exempt status. In an interview, Scott said he’s careful to follow the law., but groups like the NAACP accuse him of trying to buy support for President Trump.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">CNN shared clips from the rallies where the envelopes were handed out and, in one, a rally organizer can be seen exhorting attendees to attend the next rally by saying, “Come back in February when we give you $50,000.”</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">You can watch the video below:</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div style=""><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/christian-nationalist-david-lane-seeks-22-million-to-win-2020-battleground-states-and-eradicate-secularism" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="4">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/christian-nationalist-david-lane-seeks-22-million-to-win-2020-battleground-states-and-eradicate-secularism</font></a></div><div style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style=""><section style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><div class="mce-content-body" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; line-height: 1.5;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Christian nationalist political operative David Lane is seeking $22 million for a campaign to boost conservative Christian turnout in 10 battleground states</b>—Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Missouri, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, and Iowa—this year. In a <a href="https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/renewing-america/79760-why-america-s-culture-war-isn-t-about-democrats-and-republicans-mdash-it-s-spiritual" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; background-color: transparent; : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">column</a> published by Charisma<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, Lane claims that his American Renewal Project increased “Christian turnout” by 5 to 7 percent in half a dozen key states in 2016.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="4"><b>Lane has a much bigger vision than just helping put President Donald Trump back in the White House. Lane views politics as spiritual warfare necessary to defeat secularists and pagans and make America the Christian nation he says it was founded to b</b>e. He teaches that the U.S. has a national mandate to promote the Christian faith and calls the separation of church and state a lie.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">In recent years, Lane has <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/david-lane-is-mobilizing-1000-pastors-to-run-for-office-because-this-is-our-appointed-time-of-god/" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">recruited </a>conservative pastors to run for office and mobilize their congregations as election volunteers</span>. In his new column in Charisma, he imagines hundreds of conservative evangelical pastors running for office in the next few election cycles, “triggering a third great awakening” and “bringing about a full-impact collision between the two rival religions in America of Christianity and secularism.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" color="#000000" size="4">“Since each worldview is expansive and evangelistic, there will be no reconciliation of opposites with God; one will ultimately end in the eradication of the other,” Lane adds.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">As Right Wing Watch has <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/david-lane-republican-presidential-hopefuls-favorite-christian-nation-extremist/" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">noted</a> <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/meet-david-lane-the-anti-gay-christian-nation-extremist-of-the-rnc/" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">repeatedly</a> over the years, Lane’s divisive Christian nationalist extremism hasn’t prevented Republican officials at all levels from embracing him and supporting his work. They don’t seem to be bothered by his anti-LGBTQ extremism either; he once <a href="https://www.patheos.com/blogs/dispatches/2013/06/11/wingnut-calls-for-martyrdom-to-stop-marriage-equality/" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">urged</a> conservative Christians to prepare for martyrdom in their fight to “save the nation from the pagan onslaught” of marriage equality and legal abortion. <b>As a presidential candidate in 2016, Donald Trump <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/donald-trump-to-address-extremist-anti-lgbt-summit-in-orlando/" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">attended</a> one of Lane’s organizing events in Florida.</b></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);" size="4">Here’s some more background on Lane from Right Wing Watch <a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/christian-nationalists-dominionists-set-their-sights-on-california/" data-auth="NotApplicable" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em;">reporting</a> in 2018, when Lane teamed up with California-based dominionists to try to “turn California around”:...</font></p></div></div></section></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> =</font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">c<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/christian-activist-plans-to-sue-nfl-for-867-trillion-because-shakira-and-j-lo-performances-endangered-his-eternal-soul/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline !important;">hristian activist plans to sue NFL for $867 trillion because Shakira and J-Lo performances endangered his eternal soul</a></font></p><section class="home-featured-cat mag-cat-style-1" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; clear: both; width: 779.986px;"><div class="home-featured-cat-content style-1" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px -15px 40px; padding: 0px; display: table; width: calc(100% + 30px); vertical-align: top;"><div class="cat-right" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 15px; width: 404.545px; float: left; display: inline-block;"><div class="mag-post-box hentry" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 374.545px; overflow: hidden; display: table; border-bottom: none;"><div class="magcat-detail" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/matthew-chapman/" title="Posts by Matthew Chapman" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Matthew Chapman</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/raw-story/" title="Posts by Raw Story" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Raw Story</a></font></span></div></div></div></div></div></section><section class="home-featured-cat mag-cat-style-1" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; clear: both; width: 779.986px;"><div class="penci-border-arrow penci-homepage-title penci-magazine-title style-5 pcalign-left" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 30px; padding: 0px; position: relative; clear: both; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 1.3; border-bottom: 2px solid rgb(11, 13, 101); border-top-color: rgb(11, 13, 101); border-right-color: rgb(11, 13, 101); border-left-color: rgb(11, 13, 101);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></section></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/heres-how-trumps-state-of-the-union-address-was-a-white-christian-nationalist-dog-whistle/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/heres-how-trumps-state-of-the-union-address-was-a-white-christian-nationalist-dog-whistle/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Here’s how Trump’s State of the Union address was a white Christian nationalist dog whistle</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Andrew L. Seidel / Religion Dispatches February 8, 2020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Amid the ripping paper and misbegotten medals, Trump’s State of the Union address promised nationalism with a distinctly Christian bent.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Trump wants to steal $5 billion from public schools (which he decried as “failing government schools”) to give to private, i.e., Christian, schools. </b>Trump wants to roll back reproductive rights and ban abortion. But more than anything, Trump wants to weaponize religious freedom. If he is successful there, it will be a win for his war against abortion and public schools too. He said:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">My administration is also defending religious liberty, and that includes the constitutional right to pray in public schools. In America, we don’t punish prayer. We don’t tear down crosses. We don’t ban symbols of faith. We don’t muzzle preachers and pastors. In America, we celebrate faith, we cherish religion, we lift our voices in prayer, and we raise our sights to the Glory of God.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Constitution already protects students’ right to pray in public schools. What Trump actually wants is to use the machinery of the state to impose religion on students.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The allusion to tearing down crosses is a nod to the Supreme Court’s recent decision to allow the 40-ft tall Bladensburg cross to remain on government land and be maintained at government expense. Justice Alito’s opinion was full of irreconcilable contradictions and it bought in to the idea that curing First Amendment violations would show “hostility toward religion.” Until last summer, that was a claim that the Supreme Court had repeatedly rejected going all the way back to its very first state-church decision.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The placement of this passage, with its Christian nationalist dog whistles, belies its true meaning. It came immediately after he touted the Federalist Society’s “pipeline” set up to get conservative lawyers—many patently unqualified—lifetime appointments as federal judges:</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“Working with Mitch McConnell — thank you, Mitch — and his colleagues in the Senate, we have recommended 180 new judges to uphold our Constitution as written. This includes Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.”</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Those aren’t Trump judges, they’re McConnell/Federalist judges. And they’re the ones who will make Trump’s religious freedom subtext a legal reality.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>It’s also worth noting that immediately following this nod to Christian nationalism Trump claimed to be “defending national security and combating radical Islamic terrorism.”</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, in fact, the speech may have been edited to drop an even more blatant call to Christian Nationalism. Politico’s transcript includes the following line (emphases mine):</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In reaffirming our heritage as a free nation, we must remember that<b> America has always been a Christian nation.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Time magazine’s transcript, meanwhile, reflects what the president actually said:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In reaffirming our heritage as a free Nation, we must remember that America has always been a frontier nation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s entirely possible that the speech wasn’t deliberately edited; that Trump, who’s famous for ad-libbing, simply misread or decided to deviate from the speech as written, but it’s meaningful that the speech appears to have been toned down.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Even so, the message is out in the open: These judges will make Christian nationalism the law. They will redefine the Constitution so that it creates two classes of people: conservative Christians and everyone else.</b> That is and has been the goal of Christian nationalism—to codify Christian privilege and elevate Christians to a special, favored class. All others will be second-class citizens.<b> As Chrissy Stroop noted in her Religion Dispatches piece on the SOTU, these ideas have been mainstreamed due to the influence of the radical Christian Reconstructionist movement.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right now, Christian nationalists are raging against the dying of their privilege. Trump’s State of the Union encapsulated this rage. And, as America nears the tipping point at which conservative Christianity’s power and privilege are reduced to equality for all, the Christian nationalist myths will be spouted more often and more loudly. But the end is near for this movement. That is the true state of our union.</font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since late December, 2019, when retiring editor-in-chief of <em style="">Christianity Today </em>Mark Galli published his infamous “Trump Should Be Removed from Office” <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/december-web-only/trump-should-be-removed-from-office.html" style="">editorial,</a> there’s been a great deal of buzz in the pundit class over whether Trump, after a highly publicized impeachment trial, needs to be concerned with possible defections in his white evangelical base. From an analytical standpoint, the buzz is mere noise, horse race politics nonsense from people who don’t understand that most white evangelicals have long since come to regard <em style="">CT </em>as “too liberal.” <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/christianity-today-pro-impeachment-editorial-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-means/" style="">As John Stoehr observed</a> on <em style="">RD </em>back in December, “It’s not going to change much.”</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And, what many failed to notice or recall, is that the editorial itself was entirely milquetoast, attacking only Trump’s “gross immorality and ethical incompetence,” while agreeing with Trump-supporting evangelicals that “his Supreme Court nominees, his defense of religious liberty, and his stewardship of the economy” are among “the president’s positives.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although this editorial was never going to make a dent in the unflagging support Trump counts on from his white evangelical base, he seems to have been scared enough by the furor around it to start <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/03/trump-florida-evangelical-rally-king-jesus" style="">ramping up</a> his evangelical outreach. It’s probably no coincidence that Trump recently became the <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/a-pro-life-buttigieg-ambush-trumps-corrupt-counsel-and-more/" style="">first U.S. president to address</a> the radical anti-choice “March for Life” event in person.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Given that the vast majority of white evangelicals, America’s <a href="https://religionandpolitics.org/2019/01/22/we-are-all-evangelicals-now-race-politics/" style="">single most right-wing demographic</a>, are <a href="https://academic.oup.com/socrel/article/79/2/147/4825283" style="">Christian nationalists</a>, we should have expected a substantial presence of Christian nationalist rhetoric in yesterday’s State of the Union Address, along with coded nods to specific evangelical concerns about abortion, schooling, and “religious freedom.”</font></b></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Indeed, all these elements were present in a speech packed chock-full of “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/04/fact-checking-president-trumps-2020-state-union-address/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most" style="">lies, damned lies, and statistics</a>,” along with reality-show gimmicks including a surprise reunion of Trump guest Amy Williams and her husband, Sgt. 1st Class Townshend Williams, and awarding the Presidential Medal of Freedom to right-wing radio charlatan Rush Limbaugh, whose advanced lung cancer diagnosis does nothing to erase his substantial contributions to the destruction of America’s information ecosystem.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s appreciation for post-truth bluster and militarism are certainly among the characteristics that endear him to the Christian Right. And while he remains most in his element with the jingoistic rhetoric of borders, “heroes,” economic protectionism, and “criminal” immigrants, over the last few years Trump has become visibly more comfortable using language that more directly appeals to the conservative, mostly white evangelicals and radical traditionalist Catholics who represent his base, and with whom he has surrounded himself.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To those with “eyes to see,” Trump’s first clear appeal to the Christian Right came in his use of the phrase “failing government schools” in the midst of his calling for the expansion of “school choice” voucher policies. As a few observers on Twitter pointed out, notably religious studies professor <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/author/julie-ingersoll/" style="">Julie Ingersoll</a>, the pejorative term <b>“government schools” is a hallmark of Christian Reconstructionism, a radical theocratic ideology whose exponents believe that public education should be abolished in favor of homeschooling and/or Christian schools.</b></font></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 18px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/building-gods-kingdom-9780199913787?cc=us&lang=en&" style="">Ingersoll’s research</a> demonstrates, such ideas have been mainstreamed in evangelicalism precisely through the spread of Christian schooling and the deregulation of homeschooling, thanks to Christian Reconstructionist influence on curricula....</font></p></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div style="clear: both;"><div class="gwt-HTML" aria-hidden="false"><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3em; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-style: inherit;"></span></font></p></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3em; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-style: inherit;">
</span></font></p></div><div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.3em; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/nihilism-on-meth-this-is-the-surprising-key-to-understanding-trump-and-his-christian-enablers/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/nihilism-on-meth-this-is-the-surprising-key-to-understanding-trump-and-his-christian-enablers/</font></a></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">np lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Nihilism-on-meth: This is the surprising key to understanding Trump and his Christian enablers</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Daniel Schultz / Religion Dispatches February 5, 2020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last night President Trump gave his State of the Union address, the night before his expected acquittal in a sham impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate. To paraphrase Dylan, you gotta belong to somebody, and I at least would like it to be someone better than a walking avatar of nihilism.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I’m not kidding. Nihilism in its most common philosophical sense means that nothing really matters in the end, and certainly Trump has given us no reason to think that he thinks anything beyond his own whims and appetites have any kind of meaning or value. Burnt steak with ketchup, golf, getting even with enemies, self-enrichment, sexualizing his daughter and ignoring his wife—these are the things that make Trump’s world go around, not any sense of history, purpose, or calling.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">M<b>eanwhile, Trump’s Republican enablers practice a kind of Randian political nihilism, in which nothing matters more than the constant struggle of all-vs.-all for dominance and self-realization</b>. Alex Pareene pointed to one form of this nihilism last year in the transactionalist politics perfected by Mitch McConnell, who would set your dog on fire or enact Medicare for All, depending on the highest bidder. But of course, McConnell has plenty of help in the Senate from people like Lisa Murkowski, who boldly proclaimed that she would vote against witnesses in Trump’s impeachment because she was convinced a fair trial couldn’t be held.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And as <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Mike Lofgren argued in 2018 (far better than I ever could), Trump is, as always, a symptom of the Republican party’s rot, not its cause. The GOP, Lofgren says, has slid through its own contradictions and overlapping consensus of hostility to the civic sphere, into the sort of nihilism Thomas Hobbes would recognize. Nothing really matters more to modern conservatism than the increase of the movement’s own power; or at the very least, of keeping the cold, dead grip of nostalgia for the “good old days” on the levers of social control, safely away from liberals, African Americans, women, and other undesirables.</span></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Peter Wehner picks up the thread, if not the language, in considering an evangelical Trump defender. And what a defender Wayne Grudem is! The distinguished evangelical theologian pushes back on Christianity Today’s call for Trump’s removal from office:</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I see nothing wrong with the president doing things that will bring him personal, political benefit. In fact, I expect that every president in the history of the United States has done things that bring him personal political benefit every day of his term. It is preposterous to claim that it is unconstitutional for the president to act in a way that is politically beneficial. In addition to that, when someone announces that he is running for political office, that does not mean he can no longer be investigated for prior wrongdoing. The opposite should be true.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I’ll let Wehner explain all the ways this is a deeply boneheaded argument. What stands out to me about it is the first sentence: “I see nothing wrong with the president doing things that will bring him personal, political benefit.” Really? If the president decided to eat a live puppy at his next rally, there would be nothing wrong with it? If there are no limits to a president’s self-seeking, then nothing can be more important than that self-seeking, and just like that, we have achieved nihilist reduction.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">N<b>one of this exactly squares with the Christian faith Wayne Grudem and others proclaim</b>. For one thing, to put a political leader beyond accountability introduces a sort of practical atheism into the conversation—not in the sense of belief or non-belief—but in that “God’s not watching, so who cares what we do?” Scripture has a thing or two to say about that.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Worse in some ways is what the nihilistic perspective does to a human sense of purpose. Mike Lofgren quotes<b> Richard Hofstadter:</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The paranoid spokesman sees the fate of conspiracy in apocalyptic terms—he traffics in the birth and death of whole worlds, whole political orders, whole systems of human values. He is always manning the barricades of civilization. He constantly lives at a turning point. Like religious millennialists he expresses the anxiety of those who are living through the last days and he is sometimes disposed to set a date for the apocalypse.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Peter <b>Wehner agrees, citing “a deep sense of fear” among the president’s supporters, and “the belief that they are facing an existential threat and, therefore, can’t concede any ground, lest they strengthen those they consider to be their enemies.</b>” But of course, Christianity teaches exactly the opposite: that there are worse things than dying (chief among them the hardening of one’s heart), and that life can only be properly lived by surrendering it compassionately to others. That’s what it means for Christians to belong to Jesus. It isn’t remotely radical to say that we believe that Christ gave up his life for God and for the community of people who followed him; Christians give up their lives for Christ, and for one another. (In theory, anyway. Practice is another thing.)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I don’t expect anyone reading this to agree with these theological assertions, of course. The point is that the nihilism-on-meth displayed in the Trump years doesn’t line up with the stated Christian beliefs of many of its practitioners. Not for the usual reasons given about liberal Jesus commanding us to be kind to the poor, the widow, and the orphan, but because Christian faith involves a sweep of purpose and meaning far beyond seeking power for no better end than to stay on top of the social heap.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to the Heidleberg Catechism, our bodies and our souls, our births and our deaths, matter because they are caught up in the important work of reconciling the world to itself. Again, feel free to disagree or agree. I just hope we can all be of one mind on the idea that there has to be some reason to live our lives beyond what we can stuff in our pockets and shove down our throats. Otherwise, the nihilists have won.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thanks for your support! This article was paid for by reader donations to Raw Story Investigates.</font></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000"></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/the-christian-right-is-both-anti-semitic-and-stridently-pro-israel-heres-why/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/the-christian-right-is-both-anti-semitic-and-stridently-pro-israel-heres-why/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">no lnx</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Christian Right is both anti-Semitic and stridently pro-Israel — here’s why</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald J. Trump, joined by Vice President Mike Pence, welcomes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday, March 25, 2019, to the South Portico entrance of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead)</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Alex Henderson January 31, 2020</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the most bizarre characteristics of the Christian Right has been its ability be anti-Semitic and stridently pro-Israel at the same time. On the surface, it seems like a contradiction: how can far-right evangelical groups such as Focus on the Family, the Christian Coalition of America and the Family Research Council (FRC) be passionate supporters of Israel and anti-Semites at the same time? But when one delves into the End Times ideology that is so prominent among white evangelicals, it makes perfect sense to them.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Certainly, not all Christians are anti-Semitic; in fact, the vast majority of Catholics and Protestants are not. The Christian Right embraces a severe form of fundamentalist Protestant Christianity that is separate from what non-fundamentalist Christians believe — and in Christian Right ideology, Jews will be condemned to eternal hell unless they convert to fundamentalist Protestant Christianity. In contrast, numerous Catholics and Mainline Protestants (non-fundamentalist Protestants such as Lutherans, Episcopalians, Presbyterians and the African-Methodist Episcopal Church) are happy to join forces with synagogues for charitable events and agree to disagree about some elements of scripture. Catholics and Mainline Protestants, as a rule, aren’t interested in trying to turn Jews into Christians; their bottom line is that Jews, Christians and Muslims all believe in the Ten Commandments.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But to the Christian Right, Judaism is a one-way ticket to eternal hell — and that includes Jews they claim to consider allies, such as White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Far-right white evangelicals will insist that they aren’t anti-Semitic yet claim that President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump (a convert to Judaism) is going to hell unless she returns to Christianity (the president was raised Presbyterian). So why does the Christian Right consider itself supportive of those it believes deserve eternal punishment? They view it as a marriage of convenience, and this marriage underscores their obsession with Armageddon and the End Times.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>On January 23, Mother Jones published an excellent, highly informative article by journalist Stephanie Mencimer that described one of the Christian Right’s most disturbing reasons for being so fond of President Trump: they believe he will escalate a catastrophic war in the Middle East (which Israel will be a key part of), and that war will speed up Jesus Christ’s return to the Earth</b>.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among End Times evangelicals, one book that is considered essential reading is “Left Behind: A Novel of the Earth’s Last Days,” which was published in 1995 and written by Jerry B. Jenkins and the late Rev. Tim LaHaye (a highly influential Christian Right evangelist). According to Mencimer, that 25-year-old book addresses “the war of Gog and Magog, a biblical conflict prophesied in the Book of Ezekiel. In the Bible, Gog is the leader of Magog, a ‘place in the far north’ that many evangelicals believe is Russia. According to Ezekiel’s prophecy, Gog will join with Persia — now Iran — and other Arab nations to attack a peaceful Israel ‘like a cloud that covers the land.’ LaHaye, like many evangelicals, believed this battle would bring on the Rapture, the End Times event when God spirits away the good Christians to heaven before unleashing plagues, sickness and other horrors on the unbelievers remaining on Earth. Meanwhile, the Antichrist reigns supreme.”</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Christian Right views Netanyahu as a hell-bound sinner who deserves eternal punishment because he has refused to bathe himself in the blood of Jesus Christ, who Jews and Muslims don’t consider the Messiah. But if the Israeli prime minister can play a role in the End Times and the Rapture, they’re happy to ally themselves with him.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s important to understand that the anti-Semitism of the Christian Right is quite different from the anti-Semitism of white supremacists and neo-Nazis, who are bitterly anti-Israel. While groups like the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and the Aryan Nations view Israel as an enemy of Aryans, the Christian Right view Israel as an ally that will play a crucial role in the End Times and the Rapture — even though Israeli Jews will go to hell when they are killed in the catastrophic Middle East war that End Times evangelicals long for.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To fully understand just how twisted the Christian Right is, one needs at least a basic understanding of how diverse Christianity is. There are plenty of non-fundamentalist Protestants who flatly reject the Christian Right’s extremist interpretation of Christianity, including the Rev. Al Sharpton (the liberal civil rights activist who hosts “Politics Nation” on MSNBC) and Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg (an openly gay Episcopalian). And the decidedly left-of-center Chris Hedges, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School, has spent a lot of time explaining why he considers the Christian Right so dangerous. Hedges’ 2007 book “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America,” pulls no punches and describes far-right white evangelicals as the extremist lunatic fringe of Christianity — a fringe that the Republican Party has been embracing for decades.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The Christian Right is not only anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim —</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>it is also contemptuous of non-fundamentalist Catholics and Mainline Protestants it considers insufficiently radical</b>. But if a Presbyterian like President Trump can support their theocrat agenda, the Christian Right will embrace him. President Trump is wildly popular among far-right white evangelicals even though his daughter, Ivanka Trump, is a convert to a religion they don’t believe offers salvation.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For neo-Nazis, meanwhile, the Christian Right’s support for Israel is a deal breaker. The Christian Identity movement, which is separate from right-wing white evangelicals, believe that only WASPs — an Aryan Anglo Saxon race — are true Christians. The Christian Right will feature token blacks in its megachurches; neo-Nazis and white supremacists won’t even associate with either Jews or African-Americans.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although End Times evangelicals are likely to hold racist views and applaud President Trump’s white nationalist rhetoric, they won’t be marching with the KKK or the Aryan Nations — as they see it, white supremacists’ contempt for Israel gets in the way of the Rapture. But rejecting the KKK, neo-Nazis and flat-out white supremacists doesn’t make the Christian Right any less anti-Semitic.</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">as impeach goes So for trump, big push to keep base</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="mag-post-box hentry" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px 0px 15px; width: 374.545px; overflow: hidden; display: table; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(236, 236, 236);"><div class="magcat-detail" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/trump-expected-to-give-anti-abortion-extremists-huge-gift-in-an-unprecedented-move-at-the-march-for-life/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Trump expected to give anti-abortion extremists huge gift in an unprecedented move at the ‘March for Life’</font></a></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/david-badash/" title="Posts by David Badash" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">David Badash</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/the-new-civil-rights-movement/" title="Posts by The New Civil Rights Movement" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">The New Civil Rights Movement</a></font></span></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></p><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">the <a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/the-christian-right-is-both-anti-semitic-and-stridently-pro-israel-heres-why/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline !important;">Christian Right is both anti-Semitic and stridently pro-Israel — here’s why</a></font></p><div class="mag-header" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/alex-henderson/" title="Posts by Alex Henderson" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Henderson</font></a></span></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the most bizarre characteristics of the Christian Right has been its ability be anti-Semitic and stridently pro-Israel at the same time. On the surface, it seems like a…</font></p></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">120 an</font></p><section class="home-featured-cat mag-cat-style-1" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; clear: both; width: 779.986px;"><div class="home-featured-cat-content style-1" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px -15px 40px; padding: 0px; display: table; width: calc(100% + 30px); vertical-align: top;"><div class="cat-right" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 15px; width: 404.545px; float: left; display: inline-block;"><div class="mag-post-box hentry" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: 374.545px; overflow: hidden; display: table; border-bottom: none;"><div class="magcat-detail" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/the-choice-lie-the-school-voucher-scotus-case-isnt-about-giving-students-options-its-about-coerced-support-for-religion/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">The ‘choice’ lie: The school voucher SCOTUS case isn’t about giving students options. It’s about coerced support for religion</font></a></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/andrewlseidel/" title="Posts by Andrew L. Seidel" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Andrew L. Seidel</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/religion-dispatches/" title="Posts by Religion Dispatches" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Religion Dispatche</a>s</font></span></div></div></div></div></div></section><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/far-right-white-evangelicals-love-trump-for-many-reasons-including-their-terrifying-obsession-with-the-end-times-report" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/far-right-white-evangelicals-love-trump-for-many-reasons-including-their-terrifying-obsession-with-the-end-times-report</font></a></p><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0.4em 0px 0.5em; line-height: 19.2px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">=</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/religion-scholar-referring-to-the-cult-of-trump-isnt-helpful/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/religion-scholar-referring-to-the-cult-of-trump-isnt-helpful/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">120 an c de v</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">...</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Like other dictators, authoritarians, autocrats and political thugs, Donald Trump believes he is above the law. With the support of Attorney General William Barr, this appears increasingly true.</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The obscenities continue.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump has suggested he is “the chosen one” and God’s messenger on earth. White Christian evangelicals believe this to be true and have pledged themselves to his cult.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Writing at USA Today, historian John Fea described the first event of Trump’s “Evangelicals for Trump” campaign, which occurred in Florida two weeks ago:</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">His evangelical supporters loved every minute of it. That night, </span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Christians who claim to be citizens of the Kingdom of God went to church, cheered the depraved words of a president and </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">warmly embraced his offer of political power.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> </span></font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Such a display by evangelicals is unprecedented in American history.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I usually get angry when members of my tribe worship at the feet of Trump. This time, I just felt sad.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump and his allies label Democrats, liberals, progressives and anyone else opposing him as traitors and enemies of the United States. The most recent example: at a rally last Thursday in Toledo, Trump said that Democrats were “vicious horrible people.”</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">120 an</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">r<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/religious-historian-strongman-trumps-evangelical-event-proved-hes-incapable-of-expressing-anything-close-to-christian-humility/" rel="bookmark" title="Religious historian: ‘Strongman’ Trump’s evangelical event proved ‘he’s incapable of expressing anything close to Christian humility’" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px" font-weight="font-weight" display="display" inline="inline" important="important" color="color" rgb="rgb">eligious historian: ‘Strongman’ Trump’s evangelical event proved ‘he’s incapable of expressing anything close to Christian humility’</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/logic-versus-emotion-understanding-the-mass-psychology-of-the-christian-right/">https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/logic-versus-emotion-understanding-the-mass-psychology-of-the-christian-right/</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">r<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/religion-scholar-referring-to-the-cult-of-trump-isnt-helpful/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4; display: inline !important;">eligion scholar: Referring to the ‘cult of Trump’ isn’t helpful</a></font></div><div class="mag-header" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/the-conversation/" title="Posts by The Conversation" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Conversation</font></a></span></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">The recent events in Iran have led many to rail against a supposed “Trump cult.” But suggestions that supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump are exhibiting cult-like behaviour isn’t helpful…</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">no lnx</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Religion scholar: Referring to the ‘cult of Trump’ isn’t helpful</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Written by The Conversation January 11, 2020</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The recent events in Iran have led many to rail against a supposed “Trump cult.”</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But suggestions that supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump are exhibiting cult-like behaviour isn’t helpful in an era of significant political polarization.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">As those of us who study new religious movements often say, a cult is just a religion that you don’t like — and that pertains to political parties too.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Since Benjamin Zeller, an American scholar of new religious movements, published “The Cult of Trump? What ‘Cult Rhetoric’ Actually Reveals” last fall, allegations that Trump has spawned a cult are appearing more frequently in the media.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">One journalist called upon his peers to “to realize that when political parties and leaders begin behaving like a cult, we should think about reporting on them as such.”</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">There’s a #TrumpCult hashtag on social media platforms.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">And Steven Hassan, a former member of Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church who is now a self-described cult deprogrammer, argues in a new book that Trump is a cult leader.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">What does it accomplish to allege a Trump cult?</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Generally, it substitutes a value judgment in place of a sorely needed argumentative analysis of how voters generate their own political feelings, fantasies and attachments. And this feeds the cycle of polarizing political identities and political institutions.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">‘Brainwashed’</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Examples from Twitter, the media and in Hassan’s The Cult of Trump highlight instructive differences in how the cult concept is being used — and its impact.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Hassan argues that Trump supporters have been “brainwashed” by a charismatic leader. He sees them as deluded zealots who need his help to “wake up from the Cult of Trump.”</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Hassan’s approach ignores their agency as well as decades of public education from organizations like INFORM, an independent educational charity that provides information about minority religions and has done important work on discrediting concepts of “brainwashing,” “deprogramming” and “cults.”</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">It’s worth remembering that the suggestion that Republican leaders were “chosen by God,” as former energy secretary Rick Perry recently described Trump, is nothing new. It was all the rage under George W. Bush and other Republican politicians who have catered to evangelicals.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Read more:</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Rick Perry’s belief that Trump was chosen by God is shared by many in a fast-growing Christian movement]</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Without question, Trump’s insistence that “we have God on our side” in the upcoming 2020 presidential election poses a problem for journalists and for public life.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But to describe the entire party as a cult lead by Trump is problematic. If journalists are going to heed calls to refer to the party as a cult and its supporters as cultists, they must define what cult means. Otherwise, they are assuming that a cult is some obvious phenomenon and everyone knows what the word means.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The term cult is used frequently by Trump critics on social media. As he criticized former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley’s defence of the Confederate flag, one commentator tweeted:</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“Pretty telling that it’s a rite of passage into the Cult of Trump and the modern Republican Party that you have to publicly legitimize the Confederacy, a racist, treasonous, nightmarish dystopia founded on white supremacy and stark economic hierarchies.”</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In this example, the cult comparison is incidental to the commentator’s argument about Republican ideology and partisanship. He isn’t arguing that Trumpism is a cult in any serious sense. Cult serves as shorthand for Trump’s base that simply adds a rhetorical flourish to a condemnation of Trump supporters on the grounds of their political beliefs.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Moral denunciation</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">But whether literal or figurative, cult discourse hurts critics’ ability to understand Trump’s appeal. The cult diagnosis isn’t a reasoned argument, or even an objective description: it’s moral denunciation.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">There’s no question Trump policies that hurt people and endanger the world should be denounced. But the cult epithet doesn’t speak to those policies; it draws a line between Trump opponents and Trump supporters. And it oversimplifies the way people think and feel about their own beliefs and those on the other side of that line.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">So why is it used so often?</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">It turns out that avoiding the temptation to make in-groups and out-groups — meaning dividing social groups into those who believe what we believe and those who don’t — is very difficult.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">U.S. politics professor and author Lilliana Mason recently argued that it takes very little to activate a sense of group identity in people, and lead them to become hostile towards the out-group.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Indeed, the fact that we’re all susceptible to this kind of in-group/out-group thinking shows that politics is not just about reason, it is also about emotion. Political emotions are often layered with religion for Trump-supporting evangelicals who believe in a tough love that will lead to salvation for America.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Faith leaders pray with Trump during an ‘Evangelicals for Trump Coalition Launch’ in Miami on Jan. 3, 2020.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">(AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">To dismiss such people as being under the sway of a cult misses what Trumpism offers them. It therefore makes it harder to understand Trump’s power. It also makes it more difficult to understand the circumstances of Trump supporters’ lives. It makes other people’s feelings seem foreign, when they may be fundamentally common.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In conclusion, while there are many legitimate ways to critique Trump, demonizing his voters doesn’t help us understand why they are attracted to him, how their worldview has developed and how to do something about it.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">[ Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.]The Conversation</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Sharday Mosurinjohn, Assistant Professor, Cultural and Religious Studies, Queen’s University, Ontario</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/an-affront-to-gods-agenda-christian-minister-calls-out-the-distorted-moral-narrative-of-evangelicals-who-support-trump-but-explains-the-long-history-of-us/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An affront to God’s agenda’: Christian minister calls out the ‘distorted moral narrative’ of evangelicals who support Trump</font></a><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/an-affront-to-gods-agenda-christian-minister-calls-out-the-distorted-moral-narrative-of-evangelicals-who-support-trump-but-explains-the-long-history-of-us/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></a><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/an-affront-to-gods-agenda-christian-minister-calls-out-the-distorted-moral-narrative-of-evangelicals-who-support-trump-but-explains-the-long-history-of-us/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;" /></font></font><div style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/alex-henderson/" title="Posts by Alex Henderson" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="text-align: right; : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;" /><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/alex-henderson/" title="Posts by Alex Henderson" class="author url fn" rel="author" style="outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Hend</font></a></font></font></div></h3></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/october-2018-church-state/cover-story/all-the-presidents-men-and-women-members-of">https://www.au.org/church-state/october-2018-church-state/cover-story/all-the-presidents-men-and-women-members-of</a></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> The Presidents' Men And Women: Members Of President Trump's Evangelical Advisory Board Are Hard At Work Changing Public Policy - But They'd Rather You Not Know About It</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">October 2018 Church & State | Cover Story</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by Rob Boston</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In late July 2017, President Donald Trump abruptly tweeted that under a new policy, transgender individuals would not be allowed to serve in the U.S. military.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The directive surprised a lot of people – including Pentagon officials and military advisers who were clearly taken aback. Trump had apparently not consulted with them first. So what sparked the new policy?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It turned out that just weeks before the tweet was issued, White House staffers had met with Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board, a body composed chiefly of leaders of Religious Right organizations, TV preachers and conservative pastors. The issue of the transgender ban was discussed during the meeting.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Emily McFarland Miller and Jack Jenkins, reporters with Religion News Service (RNS), wrote that the Rev. Johnnie Moore, spokesman for the board, noted that while the issue of transgender troops wasn’t on the agenda of the July 10 meeting, it came up and was “briefly discussed.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Board members decided to press the issue. Days later, they followed up with a letter asking Trump to reverse a policy put into place by President Barack Obama that ended discrimination against transgender people in the military. Trump apparently decided to bypass military leaders, most of whom don’t support the ban, and follow the advisory board’s advice.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The incident is a telling example of the reach and power of the Evangelical Advisory Board. And it’s far from the only one. It has also come to light that two board members, Moore and Paula White, helped shape a Trump executive order establishing the White House Faith and Opportunity Initiative.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Advisory board members crow about their influence in Washington, D.C. end no lnx]</font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"There is a long list of progress we have made with this administration because we took our seat at the table,” Moore told RNS. “We’ve provided consequential feedback on policy and personnel decisions particularly affecting religious liberty, judges, the right to life and foreign policy. We are also actively at work on issues like criminal justice reform, and when we’ve disagreed, we’ve had every opportunity to express our point of view.”</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Moore has also boasted on C-SPAN that the board “pays regular visits to the White House, which can start with policy briefings from West Wing staff and agency officials and end with impromptu visits to the Oval Office.” The advisory board, Moore said, has a “pretty significant” hand in “directing or affecting” administration policy.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Administration officials agree that the board plays a significant role. In July 2017, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, then the White House deputy press secretary, said of the advisory board, “They meet from time to time to speak about issues that are important to that community.”</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>All of this indicates that the president’s Evangelical Advisory Board is not merely ceremonial; it has had substantial input on administration policies that have in turn affected all Americans. And that’s a problem because, according to a recent complaint filed by Americans United, the advisory board is not in compliance with federal law.</b></font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In an Aug. 30 letter to government officials, Americans United points out an inconvenient truth: Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board is in violation of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), a 1972 law Congress enacted to “ensure that advice by the various advisory committees formed over the years is objective and accessible to the public.”</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Under FACA, all meetings of a presidential advisory committee must be open to the public, and a timely notice of each meeting must be published in the Federal Register. In addition, interested parties must be permitted to attend meetings, appear before the committee and file statements with it. Detailed minutes of each committee meeting must be kept, and various records related to committee meetings must be made available to the public.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Evangelical Advisory Board, Americans United notes, has not met any of these conditions – yet its members openly brag about the important work they’re doing with the president to formulate policies.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AU says that has to stop.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“President Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board has significant influence over public policy, yet it is operating in the shadows,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. “It’s time to throw open the curtains and shine some light on this subject.”</font></font></font></p><blockquote style=": border-box; line-height: 26px; position: relative; margin: 55px 70px 40px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[President Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board has significant influence over public policy, yet it is operating in the shadows. It’s time to throw open the curtains and shine some light on this subject.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United</font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AU’s letter, written by Associate Legal Director Alex J. Luchenitser, was sent to Donald F. McGahn II, counsel to the president; Justin R. Clark, director of the Office of Public Liaison; the Federal Advisory Committee Management Secretariat of the General Services Administration; and Moore, the spokesman for the Evangelical Advisory Board.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It is clear that the President’s Evangelical Advisory Board is doing substantive work with the Trump Administration behind closed doors – without any sunlight for the public to understand how and why decisions are being made,” reads the letter. “We respectfully request that the Board cease meeting and providing advice to the President unless and until it fully complies with FACA, and that you produce to us certain documents relating to the Board.”</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Americans United also sent Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to 10 federal agencies in an attempt to determine how much interaction they’ve had with the board.</b> The departments are: Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Treasury, Education, Labor, Defense, State, Office of Personnel Management and Office of Management and Budget.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">FOIA, a federal law passed in 1966, requires that government officials make certain documents available to the public. The law is designed to ensure transparency in government and prevent secrecy in matters of public interest.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Despite his frequent boasting about having access to Trump and input on public policy, Moore quickly shifted gears when asked about the advisory board by The Washington Post: He asserted that the board doesn’t really exist!</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The truth is, there actually isn’t a board,” Moore said. “This is slang language that has carried over from the campaign into the administration. There is no formal faith advisory board of any sort at the White House.”</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But AU asserts that such a claim simply is not tenable. While it’s true that the Evangelical Advisory Board was an outgrowth of Trump’s campaign, it clearly still exists, meets regularly and offers advice to Trump, much of which he has translated into public policy.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Americans United has compiled a timeline of Trump assaults on church-state separation. (See “Trying Times,” page 12.) AU’s contention is that many of these attacks spring from Trump’s collaboration with the advisory board.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Advisory boards composed of faith leaders are nothing new in the White House. Obama had one. But as AU Legislative Director Maggie Garrett noted in a “Wall of Separation” blog post, the three Faith-based and Neighborhood Advisory Councils formed during the Obama years were nothing like Trump’s advisory board.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Most notably, Obama’s councils abided by FACA. After Joshua DuBois, Obama’s first director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, had been made aware that the councils fell under FACA, he made sure their meetings were open to the public, and that the proper notices about them were published.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition, the reports the councils produced were made public.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Furthermore, Obama’s councils were broadly based and included representatives from a wide array of religious and non-religious groups, including people who didn’t necessarily agree with Obama’s approach to faith-based programs. Obama’s councils were also non-partisan. Trump’s advisory board, by contrast, is composed of sycophants who push his political agenda.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump’s advisory board also represents a very narrow slice of the Christian community. Its members tend to be far-right evangelicals or fundamentalists who hold extreme positions on “culture war” issues such as the meaning of religious freedom and the role of religion in public life.</b></font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">None of this is surprising, given that the advisory board has roots in Trump’s campaign. While some Religious Right leaders were initially wary given Trump’s unconventional personal life and often coarse behavior, they began coming around after he vowed to do away with the Johnson Amendment, a federal law that protects the integrity of houses of worship and other non-profits by ensuring that they do not become entangled in partisan electoral politics.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump met with several right-wing evangelical figures during the campaign, winning endorsements from a few (most notably Jerry Falwell Jr.). Once in office, Trump moved to solidify conservative evangelical support in several ways. He shifted federal policy on access to contraceptives, implemented a number of executive orders designed to chip away at legal abortion and ordered the Justice Department and other federal agencies to review policies he claimed infringed on “religious freedom.”</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump even began claiming, falsely, to have repealed the Johnson Amendment. He did issue an executive order against the amendment, but it was mostly verbiage. The Johnson Amendment, as a federal law, can’t be nullified by an executive order.</b></font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In speeches to Religious Right groups, Trump loves to kowtow. He often asserts that under his tenure more Americans are saying “Merry Christmas,” or implies that people were afraid to utter the phrase before he took office – even though there never was any kind of directive or policy from the government ordering people not to say it and Obama himself said it many times.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During an Aug. 27 White House dinner for Religious Right leaders, including several members of the Evangelical Advisory Board, Trump repeated many of these false claims as he celebrated his support from this community.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[pix paula white and djt]</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“America is a nation of believers,” Trump told the crowd of about 100. “And tonight we’re joined by faith leaders from across the country who believe in the dignity of life, the glory of God and the power of prayer. Everybody agree with that?”</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Later he said, “We’re here this evening to celebrate America’s heritage of faith, family and freedom. As you know, in recent years, the government tried to undermine religious freedom. But the attacks on communities of faith are over. We’ve ended it. We’ve ended it. Unlike some before us, we are protecting your religious liberty.”</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those were Trump’s official remarks. But some of his later comments that were caught on tape were clearly not meant for the public record. During these remarks, a recording of which was turned over to The New York Times, Trump made it clear that he expects advisory board members and others to deliver for his party in November and possibly break the law by advocating for candidates from the pulpit.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“This Nov. 6 election is very much a referendum on not only me, it’s a referendum on your religion, it’s a referendum on free speech and the First Amendment. It’s a referendum on so much,” Trump said.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He added, “It’s not a question of like or dislike, it’s a question that they will overturn everything that we’ve done and they will do it quickly and violently. And violently. There is violence. When you look at Antifa, these are violent people.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“You have tremendous power,” T</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">rump continued. “You were saying, in this room, you have people who preach to almost 200 million people. Depending on which Sunday we’re talking about. You have to hopefully get out and get people to support us. If you don’t, that will be the beginning of ending everything that you’ve gotten. … </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> I just ask you to go out and make sure all of your people vote. Because if they don’t … we’re going to have a miserable two years and we’re going to have, frankly, a very hard period of time. You’re one election away from losing everything that you’ve gotten.”</span></font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That last line is significant – it’s more proof that the advisory board, despite its claims to the contrary, has exercised significant influence over public policy.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Americans United’s exposure of the advisory board’s failure to abide by FACA made quite a splash. The Washington Post ran a story on AU’s letter, and follow-up pieces appeared in Religion News Service, the D.C. paper The Hill and Bustle, a popular news/lifestyle site aimed at women.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wing media took notice as well. TV preacher Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network and PJ Media, a site that puts a far-right spin on stories, ran items attacking Americans United. In addition, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and a member of Trump’s advisory board, derisively called Americans United “Americans Divided” and claimed there was nothing to the story.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Other observers disagreed.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The White House is the people’s house,” said Melissa Rogers, who chaired one of Obama’s faith-based councils. “The public is right to expect visibility into a White House’s engagement with individuals and organizations, including its engagement with religious leaders and faith-based organizations. Citizens should be able to access information and make their own evaluations about whether their interests are being well served.” </font></font></font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/author-of-anti-trump-christianity-today-editorial-says-his-piece-revealed-hidden-group-of-evangelicals-opposed-to-the-president/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/01/author-of-anti-trump-christianity-today-editorial-says-his-piece-revealed-hidden-group-of-evangelicals-opposed-to-the-president/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">more patented AN wishful think cherrypick silver lining glass half full?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Author of anti-Trump Christianity Today editorial says his piece revealed hidden group of evangelicals opposed to the president</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Cody Fenwick January 2, 2020</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It’s become a cliché to say a piece of viral news “broke the internet,” but when Mark Galli published an editorial for the evangelical outlet “Christianity Today” calling for President Donald Trump’s removal from office, he really did break the magazine’s website.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Not only did this crash the site almost immediately, but when it came back on, there were between 15 and 17,000 people on our site for hours,” Galli told the New York Times in a new interview about the Dec. 19 piece. “I’ve kind of gotten in trouble with my IT department because they said, ‘Why didn’t you give us a heads up?’ and I said, ‘I had no idea.’”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The piece indeed caused shockwaves, as we covered on AlterNet. When I wrote about the piece on the day it was published, I had trouble getting the site to load — a common sign of heavy web traffic.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Galli said that the most surprising part of the overwhelming reaction was not just the criticism, which was to be expected, but the people within his community who reached out to express their appreciation.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I suppose the thing that was most surprising, and which I’m still trying to wrap my head around, was the positive response,” he explained. “People wrote to me and said they had felt all alone and were waiting for someone in the evangelical leadership to say what the editorial said. I wish I could tell you that I had noticed that and wanted to respond to it, but I didn’t see that. There were a lot of people who were feeling alone and they’re not feeling that way now.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump was among those who lashed out about the editorial:</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald J. Trump</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@realDonaldTrump</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> · Dec 20, 2019</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A far left magazine, or very “progressive,” as some would call it, which has been doing poorly and hasn’t been involved with the Billy Graham family for many years, Christianity Today, knows nothing about reading a perfect transcript of a routine phone call and would rather.....</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald J. Trump</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@realDonaldTrump</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">....have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President. No President has done more for the Evangelical community, and it’s not even close. You’ll not get anything from those Dems on stage. I won’t be reading ET again!</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">66K</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4:12 AM - Dec 20, 2019</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">47.8K people are talking about this</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald J. Trump</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@realDonaldTrump</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I guess the magazine, “Christianity Today,” is looking for Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, or those of the socialist/communist bent, to guard their religion. How about Sleepy Joe? The fact is, no President has ever done what I have done for Evangelicals, or religion itself!</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">117K</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10:18 AM - Dec 20, 2019</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">66.5K people are talking about this</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Trump didn’t seem to recognize that, if the Senate followed Galli’s advice, it would make Vice President Mike Pence the next president and, in all likelihood, the next GOP presidential nominee.)</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many have argued that Galli’s editorial will have no influence on Trump’s strong evangelical support. And indeed, white evangelicals have largely maintained their overwhelming backing of the president, which Galli attributes in part to “ethical naïveté” and “widespread ignorance.” But there has been some indication of a softening of support in the polls for this key group of backers, as Politico reported in October:</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A much-discussed Fox News poll found that nearly three in 10 white evangelicals want the president impeached and removed from office — a figure that startled some officials on Trump’s 2020 campaign, according to an outside adviser. And in the NPR/Marist survey, which was taken after House Democrats began their impeachment inquiry, only 62 percent of white evangelicals said they definitely plan to vote for Trump next fall.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And Galli pointed out in the New York Times interview that Trump himself seems nervous.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I was a little surprised that Donald Trump and then Franklin Graham thought it was worth commenting on,” he said, referring to the son of the late Rev. Billy Graham. “And it did strike me as a bit ironic that they both said that it wasn’t significant or going to make any difference. It makes you immediately think that they do think it’s significant, or they wouldn’t comment on it.”</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/the-evangelical-meeting-that-convinced-trump-he-is-the-chosen-one-and-why-i-believe-it-to-be-true/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/the-evangelical-meeting-that-convinced-trump-he-is-the-chosen-one-and-why-i-believe-it-to-be-true/</font></a></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The evangelical meeting that convinced Trump he is the Chosen One, and why I believe it to be true</b></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by DemSem / <b>Daily Kos December 31, 2019</b></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No matter how hard the rightwing media is trying to spin the upcoming Evangelicals for Trump rally in Miami as a good thing, everyone outside the cult knows it’s a scream of panic. I can’t describe how desperate this all is: it would be like Hillary Clinton forced to hold a “Feminists for Hillary” rally. If you don’t have your base locked up by now, you are in real trouble. You can always sense Trump’s desperation by the quality and quantity of his tweets. (Lots of misspellings, strange capitalization, tons of retweets, and healthy doses of “!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”)</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The latest twitterstorm was brought to you by the good folks at Christianity Today, which helpfully pointed out to stupid people that Trump is 1) guilty and 2) the antithesis of Christianity. This was soon followed by an editor quitting the Christian Post over pro-Trump propaganda. Trump is mortified because he cannot afford to lose even a little bit of the evangelical vote for 2020 since they make up a core of his coalition. It’s the entire reason Trump picked the well-hated Mike Pence for his ticket.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although there are several evangelicals who are, pardon me, starting to “see the light,” many of them can’t budge, no matter what. These are the ones we need to discuss. Partially, these lost souls can’t move because of the “Sunk Cost Fallacy” and are not capable of extracting themselves out of this very bad situation. Others, however, have deceived themselves that this obviously evil man is the Second Coming—which, by the way, Trump literally tweeted about himself.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It wasn’t all that long ago that self-professed Christians were horrified at having their flag-bearer be Trump. What changed? If you are looking to point fingers, it can be traced, according to Rolling Stone, to a meeting with Trump and several mega-Church/televangelist con artists near the end of September in 2016.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The meeting and other events like it, spread the word, sending radio talk-show hosts and pastors and educators out into the world to preach the gospel of Donald Trump.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>They didn’t just promote Trump to their flocks, but they spread the false message that Trump was divinely chosen—“ordained” even. In return, Trump was to do their bidding in a way no president had before. Trump was to give them everything.</b></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And do their bidding the puppet-god did: he fought and repealed discrimination laws, fought the contraception mandate, fought to take money from the public and put into private Christian schools, and argued that churches should get tax-exempt status even if they promote the GOP from the pulpit. Most important to them, however, is that he would reshape the judiciary in their image. Trump and Mitch McConnell would pick severely unqualified, rightwing judges to cement their power.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In return, Trump received, as Tony Perkins put it, a “mulligan” for his serious transgressions. He would be a god-king, and their flocks would be told to treat him as such. Sickeningly, they followed through on this. Jerry Falwell Jr. said it is “immoral” to oppose Trump. Franklin Graham said any opposition comes from “the Devil and his kingdom of darkness”. (So it’s the Devil who wants the migrant children freed from cages in disease-ridden conditions?)</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>James Dobson excused Trump’s behavior because he is a “baby Christian”.</b> B<b>ut the worst one is Paula White</b>, who has an official role in the White House as an adviser to the president’s Faith and Opportunity Initiative in the White House’s Office of Public Liaison. Like many of these con artists, she preaches that the gospel is about attaining wealth and power in a twisted interpretation of Scripture known as the “Prosperity Gospel.”</font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>White says the news media is “demonic” and those who oppose Trump “operate in sorcery and witchcraft”. Just like Trump, Paula is a grifter. She promised quid pro quo to her followers: if you give her two grand, you will get a vision from God. Cash or charge? She’s the worst of the worst.</b></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump, who already suffers from malignant narcissism, now actually believes that he is a prophet. This is no longer just a role for him, and I can’t stress enough just how dangerous this is to have a leader who believes that everything he does is divinely inspired. It didn’t help at all that Trump surrounded himself with sycophants, like Rick Perry, that repeat to him that he is a prophet. But Donald Trump truly believes that he is, as he calls himself, the “Chosen One.”</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The problem is that many weak-minded followers believe this to be true. There is literally nothing Trump can do to convince many evangelicals that he is evil. They openly call for him to be a dictator.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To some, he is even greater than Jesus:</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Let me tell you,” he continued. “If Jesus Christ gets down off the cross and told me Trump is with Russia, I would tell him, hold on a second, I need to check with the president if it is true. That is how confident I feel in the president.”</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">–Mark Lee, Trump supporter</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No matter how many affairs or divorces he’s had, no matter his extensive history of scamming the poor and elderly, and no matter how many charities he’s stolen from, they believe that he’s divinely sent. Alleged sexual assault, adultery with porn stars, pornography, profanity, extreme greed, corruption, and worst of all, the sociopathic inability to ask for forgiveness—a core tenet of Christianity—are the qualities God apparently looks for in picking a prophet now. Trump is essentially David Koresh, and the duped evangelicals are the Branch Davidians. It’s so painfully obvious to everyone who’s not sucked into this cult.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I can’t argue logic with them, although it’s fun to try. When they tell me I shouldn’t ever question our “ruler,” I remind them that they never said that when Obama was president—and his victory was unquestionably legitimate. Using their stupid logic, you would have to also admit that the Founding Fathers were all sinners for revolting against King George. He was not just the ruler, but Great Britain decreed that all of their kings spoke for God.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No, the argument I use with them isn’t logic, but religion. When they tell me that they believe Trump is divinely inspired, or even “the Chosen One”—and they do—I agree with them. However, the Bible speaks of the Chosen One in two contexts. The first is the Messiah. But there is another, which is prophesized by several of the apostles in the New Testament.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There will be a “man of sin” who is such a “wicked liar” that he will deceive millions of followers that he is a prophet, and will declare himself sent by heaven. He will declare himself a “Chosen One,” but he will be the opposite of Christ.</font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/scientists-establish-ink-between-religious-fundamentalism-and-brain-damage/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/scientists-establish-ink-between-religious-fundamentalism-and-brain-damage/</font></a></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Scientists establish link between religious fundamentalism and brain damage</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Bobby Azarian / Raw Story December 30, 2019</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">A study published in the journal Neuropsychologia has shown that religious fundamentalism is, in part, the result of a functional impairment in a brain region known as the prefrontal cortex. The findings suggest that damage to particular areas of the prefrontal cortex indirectly promotes religious fundamentalism by diminishing cognitive flexibility and openness—a psychology term that describes a personality trait which involves <b>dimensions like curiosity, creativity, and open-mindedness.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Religious beliefs can be thought of as socially transmitted mental representations that consist of supernatural events and entities assumed to be real. Religious beliefs differ from empirical beliefs, which are based on how the world appears to be and are updated as new evidence accumulates or when new theories with better predictive power emerge. <b>On the other hand, religious beliefs are not usually updated in response to new evidence or scientific explanations, and are therefore strongly associated with conservatism. They are fixed and rigid, which helps promote predictability and coherence to the rules of society among individuals within the group.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Religious fundamentalism refers to an ideology that emphasizes traditional religious texts and rituals and discourages progressive thinking about religion and social issues. Fundamentalist groups generally oppose anything that questions or challenges their beliefs or way of life. For this reason, they are often aggressive towards anyone who does not share their specific set of supernatural beliefs, and towards science, as these things are seen as existential threats to their entire worldview.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since religious beliefs play a massive role in driving and influencing human behavior throughout the world, it is important to understand the phenomenon of religious fundamentalism from a psychological and neurological perspective.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To investigate the cognitive and neural systems involved in religious fundamentalism, a team of researchers—led by Jordan Grafman of Northwestern University—conducted a study that utilized data from Vietnam War veterans that had been gathered previously. The vets were specifically chosen because a large number of them had damage to brain areas suspected of playing a critical role in functions related to religious fundamentalism. CT scans were analyzed comparing 119 vets with brain trauma to 30 healthy vets with no damage, and a survey that assessed religious fundamentalism was administered. While the majority of participants were Christians of some kind, 32.5% did not specify a particular religion.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Based on previous research, the experimenters predicted that the prefrontal cortex would play a role in religious fundamentalism, since this region is known to be associated with something called ‘cognitive flexibility’. This term refers to the brain’s ability to easily switch from thinking about one concept to another, and to think about multiple things simultaneously. Cognitive flexibility allows organisms to update beliefs in light of new evidence, and this trait likely emerged because of the obvious survival advantage such a skill provides. It is a crucial mental characteristic for adapting to new environments because it allows individuals to make more accurate predictions about the world under new and changing conditions.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Brain imaging research has shown that a major neural region associated with cognitive flexibility is the prefrontal cortex—specifically two areas known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Additionally, the vmPFC was of interest to the researchers because past studies have revealed its connection to fundamentalist-type beliefs. For example, one study showed individuals with vmPFC lesions rated radical political statements as more moderate than people with normal brains, while another showed a direct connection between vmPFC damage and religious fundamentalism. For these reasons, in the present study, researchers looked at patients with lesions in both the vmPFC and the dlPFC, and searched for correlations between damage in these areas and responses to religious fundamentalism questionnaires.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to Dr. Grafman and his team, since religious fundamentalism involves a strict adherence to a rigid set of beliefs, cognitive flexibility and open-mindedness present a challenge for fundamentalists. As such, they predicted that participants with lesions to either the vmPFC or the dlPFC would score low on measures of cognitive flexibility and trait openness and high on measures of religious fundamentalism.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The results showed that, as expected, damage to the vmPFC and dlPFC was associated with religious fundamentalism.</b> Further tests revealed that this increase in religious fundamentalism was caused by a reduction in cognitive flexibility and openness resulting from the prefrontal cortex impairment. Cognitive flexibility was assessed using a standard psychological card sorting test that involved categorizing cards with words and images according to rules. Openness was measured using a widely-used personality survey known as the NEO Personality Inventory. The data suggests that damage to the vmPFC indirectly promotes religious fundamentalism by suppressing both cognitive flexibility and openness.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">These findings are important because they suggest that impaired functioning in the prefrontal cortex—whether from brain trauma, a psychological disorder, a drug or alcohol addiction, or simply a particular genetic profile—can make an individual susceptible to religious fundamentalism. And perhaps in other cases, extreme religious indoctrination harms the development or proper functioning of the prefrontal regions in a way that hinders cognitive flexibility and openness.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">...</font></font></font></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">salon? via an 1219 see hope</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Chrissy Stroop, co-editor of the new anthology, “Empty the Pews: Stories of Leaving the Church,” was perhaps the most pessimistic respondent. She was deeply disturbed by the rise of a budding theocracy under Trump, and how few in the media take it seriously as a threat to democracy.</font></b></font></font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“It feels like all of America is turning into the kinds of authoritarian Christian schools I attended as a child and graduated from,</b>” Stroop said. She is “deeply disappointed in America’s pundit class, which, as a whole, has failed to understand why the support of white evangelicals and other mostly white, right-wing Christians for an authoritarian strongman like Donald Trump was entirely predictable. In my view, only if we can get the gatekeepers of our major news outlets to take seriously the theocratic threat to democracy and human rights do we have a shot at saving American democracy.”</font></font></font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet she bristles with ideas about how to be effective. “Individually, some evangelicals and Trump supporters are reachable,” Stroop said, “so of course we should all be talking to those we have pre-existing relationships with, if it’s possible and safe to do so.” But mass outreach to white evangelicals, she believes, is misguided.</font></span></font></font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></font></font></div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Democratic efforts at ‘faith outreach’ and other projects directed at peeling off some of these voters are for the most part a waste of resources that would be better spent on get-out-the-vote initiatives,”</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Stroop continued. “My public work is engaged not toward reaching authoritarian evangelicals, but rather toward exposing them.” Hence the rationale behind “Empty the Pews,” which Stoop called “an intervention aimed … at elevating the voices of those of us who know toxic Christianity from the inside and are now trying to sound the alarm.”</span></font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">an 1219</font></font></font></div><div><div class="mag-header" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 1px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/heres-how-christian-fundamentalism-is-turning-people-away-from-religion-and-toward-science/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">here’s how Christian fundamentalism is turning people away from religion — and toward science</font></a></font></font></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/sarah-k-burris/" title="Posts by Sarah K. Burris" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Sarah K. Burris</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/raw-story/" title="Posts by Raw Story" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Raw Story</a></font></span></font></font></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Christianity is on the way out, according to surveys Americans who identify as Christian have dropped by 12 percent in the last decade, and those who identify as having no religion have…</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">no lnx</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><b>Here’s how Christian fundamentalism is turning people away from religion — and toward science</b></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Written by Sarah K. Burris / Raw Story December 29, 2019</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Christianity is on the way out, according to surveys Americans who identify as Christian have dropped by 12 percent in the last decade, and those who identify as having no religion have increased 9 percent.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Daily Beast cited multiple researchers who have examined the evolution of religion and the turn toward science. Christian fundamentalism is adding to the problem as some sects devolve back to the 1600s when science and religion were mutually exclusive.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Those who have remained faithful are more fundamentalist than ever,” said the Beast. “Moderate Protestantism has declined, while conservative evangelical religion has increased as a percentage of America’s religious, with immediate political consequences: Donald Trump would not be president had conservative evangelicals and Catholics not rallied to his side, despite his many personal transgressions and evident lack of faith.”</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Science, by contrast, has provided answers for those who hear “voices of the Devil” or who say they literally hear “the voice of God.” As neurology advances, doctors can pinpoint the source of delusion and use medication to aid in mental and emotional healing. Still, the well-known Bible stories persist in culture, which Pascal Boyer explained in his 1994 book is due to their simplicity.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">“Religious stories, in another irony, have survived human history’s version of natural selection. They are the ones that have stuck around, and they’ve done so not because of their truth or value, but because they are the kinds of stories that human brains understand, and want to repeat,” The Beast paraphrased.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Robert McCauley argued in his 2011 book that religion is “cognitively natural” and reflects how humans think after millions of years of evolution. The brain processes things “fast, (mostly) unconscious, automatic, effortless, intuitive thought.” It makes sense for the early years of human life when those who couldn’t think fast were often killed by larger animals.</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Science, McCauley shows, is actually very unnatural and counterintuitive. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">For example, we ‘naturally’ look for agents who take actions in the world; we look for quasi-people, not impersonal forces. But science has shown that impersonal forces—the laws of physics and natural selection, for example— actually are responsible for most of the world around us,” explained The Beast.</span></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Essentially, the big questions humans have always asked like, “where did we come from?” and “are we alone?” are also questions our brains want to find easy explanations to.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">For fundamentalists, whose brains are not accustomed to thinking critically, rational arguments don’t make a dent with entrenched belief systems. McCauley explains, “people are rarely argued out of beliefs that they were not argued into in the first place.”</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">When confronted with evidence that conflicts their worldviews, fundamentalists blame the sciences.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Beast went on to cite Antony Alumkal’s 2017 book, Paranoid Science: The Christian Right’s War on Reality, which explains how conservative Christians not only don’t trust science, they then create conspiracy theories about scientists to justify their beliefs.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Alumkal’s examples are familiar: climate denial, intelligent design, ‘gay conversion therapy,’ and opposition to stem cell research. In each case, drawing on Richard Hofstadter’s classic The Paranoid Style in American Politics, Alumkal shows how rather than simply state that their faith disagrees with the scientific evidence, <b>Christian Right figures have created a fake scientific discourse to compete with the real one, which they allege to be a conspiracy,” </b>the report explained.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The example they used was the evangelical group, the “</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Cornwall Alliance,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">” which takes a large portion of its funds from oil companies and oil executives</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. Naturally, the group doesn’t believe that climate change is real. It’s akin to a corrupt politician taking funds from an industry lobbyist and voting to support that industry. The main difference, however, is that religion uses God to justify their corruption and emotionally manipulate followers to believe the same.</span></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Cornwall has resorted to creating conspiracy theories about the 97 percent of climate scientists who believe in the science.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">The Beast compared it to atheists, whose militantism isn’t exactly comparable to fundamentalist Christianity. Atheists don’t burn people at the stake for being a witch, put scientists under house arrest for believing the Earth is round or perform exercises to remove demons. There are atheist activists like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins and the late Christopher Hitchens, The Beast recalled. they want to rid the world of religion, but most non-believers just want to be left alone. None are taking up a flaming sword to crusade against religious leaders.</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to Jerome Baggett’s 2019 book, The Varieties of Nonreligious Experience: Atheism in American Culture, Atheists have positive values based on the goodness of humanity. The value integrity, “open-mindedness, and the importance of progress.”</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Read more about the conflicting beliefs and the ways right-wing fundamentalist Christianity is pushing people away from religion at The Daily Beast.</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-scientific-explanation-for-the-enduring-appeal-of-religious-fundamentalist-beliefs">https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-scientific-explanation-for-the-enduring-appeal-of-religious-fundamentalist-beliefs</a></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">$</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">t here is no War on Christmas—it’s been more like a surrender.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Overall, Christianity is in steep decline. We are witnessing what Dr. Robert P. Jones has accurately described as “the end of white Christian America.” The percentage of Americans who identify as Christian has dropped 12 points in the last decade, while that of the “nones” (atheist, agnostic, spiritual-but-not-religious) has increased 9 points.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the same time, those who have remained faithful are more fundamentalist than ever. Moderate Protestantism has declined, while conservative evangelical religion has increased as a percentage of America’s religious, with immediate political consequences: Donald Trump would not be president had conservative evangelicals and Catholics not rallied to his side, despite his many personal transgressions and evident lack of faith....</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p></div></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/christianity-today-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-american-christians-are-on-a-collision-course-thanks-to-trump/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/christianity-today-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-american-christians-are-on-a-collision-course-thanks-to-trump/</font></a></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Christianity Today just the tip of the iceberg: American Christians are on a collision course thanks to Trump</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Tom <b>Boggioni / Raw Story</b> December 29, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to a report from Reuters, the editorial calling for Donald Trump’s ouster published in Christianity Today — which rocked the evangelical world and provoked a furious response from the president — exposed a growing rift within the evangelical movement that is forcing many followers to question their faith.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The editorial, written by chief editor Mark Galli and published by the venerable magazine founded by Bill Graham, stated: “Consider how your justification of Mr. Trump influences your witness to your Lord and Savior. Consider what an unbelieving world will say if you continue to brush off Mr. Trump’s immoral words and behavior in the cause of political expediency. If we don’t reverse course now, will anyone take anything we say about justice and righteousness with any seriousness for decades to come?”</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reuters reports those words, and the resulting furor, laid bare a movement at the crossroads.</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Dec. 19 editorial sparked a Christmas holiday debate over religion in U.S. politics, and posed new questions about the close alignment between white evangelical voters and Trump, who has given their beliefs strong political support,” the report states, adding, “There has been a big drop-off in white evangelical church participation among adults under 40, and publications such as Christianity Today and religious leaders are struggling to engage ‘Gen Z,’ or those born after 1996.”</font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to Greg Carey, a professor at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania, “One of the major factors is that the church is too tied up in right-wing politics.”</font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Napp Nazworth, who resigned as politics editor of the Christian Post, after agreeing with the op-ed, explained, “Having to go out and defend this guy day after day, as many of these Trump evangelicals are doing, they’re just destroying their credibility.”</font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Evangelicalism, like all forms of Christianity in the United States, is struggling to attract younger members, amid an unprecedented surge in recent years of the number of people identifying as religiously unaffiliated,” the report states. “White evangelical protestants declined as a proportion of the U.S. population between 2006 and 2018, falling to 15% from 23%, according to analysis by the Public Religion Research Institute.”</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“Younger evangelicals are put off by church leaders’ seemingly unconditional support for Trump despite his ‘cruel’ treatment of migrants and deregulation that could damage the environment,</b> said Marlena Graves, a Christian author on faith, culture and justice, who signed the petition,” Reuters reports, with Graves explaining, “No political party embodies Jesus’s teaching closely. You can’t depend on government to do what Jesus says because, oftentimes, you have to go against the government.”</font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/trump-faces-evangelical-criticism-heres-how-hes-trying-to-control-the-damage/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/trump-faces-evangelical-criticism-heres-how-hes-trying-to-control-the-damage/</font></a></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump faces evangelical criticism — here’s how he’s trying to control the damage</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Alex Henderson December 27, 2019</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although President Donald Trump was raised Presbyterian and has never been a Christian fundamentalist, far-right white evangelical Protestants have been a key part of his base. Trump obviously realizes that if the 2020 presidential race is close, he is going to need a heavy evangelical turnout — and journalist Rashaan Ayesh, in Axios, outlines the steps he is taking to keep his far-right evangelical supporters energized.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump was recently the target of a scathing op-ed by a white evangelical fundamentalist: Christianity Today Editor-In-Chief Mark Galli, who is retiring in January. Regardless, he is generally quite popular among white evangelicals, some of whom are furious with Galli for that op-ed. A group of almost 200 evangelicals signed a letter condemning the op-ed and voicing their support for Trump. And according to Ayesh, Trump is doing everything he can to keep it that way.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald J. Trump</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@realDonaldTrump</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A far left magazine, or very “progressive,” as some would call it, which has been doing poorly and hasn’t been involved with the Billy Graham family for many years, Christianity Today, knows nothing about reading a perfect transcript of a routine phone call and would rather.....</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald J. Trump</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@realDonaldTrump</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">....have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President. No President has done more for the Evangelical community, and it’s not even close. You’ll not get anything from those Dems on stage. I won’t be reading ET again!</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">66.1K</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last week, Ayesh notes, Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign announced that he will be present on Jan. 3 for an event in Miami celebrating the launch of the coalition Evangelicals for Trump. And on Christmas Eve, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attended holiday services at a fundamentalist church in West Palm Beach, Florida — not the Episcopal church they were married in.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Ayesh cites some Pew Research Center data to illustrate Trump’s popularity among white evangelicals: according to Pew, about 81% of evangelicals in the U.S. voted for Trump in 2016. In contrast, Jews and Latino Catholics were, Pew reported, “strong” supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton</b>. It should also be noted that Mainline Protestants such as Presbyterians, Episcopalians and Lutherans represent a non-fundamentalist form of Protestant Christianity, and that Trump had a non-evangelical upbringing; so his decision to court evangelicals in 2016 was — like many things Trump does — motivated by self-interest. Trump may not embrace evangelicals’ view of the world, but he wants their votes.</font></font></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1219 schism on djt?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/white-evangelicals-still-view-support-for-trump-as-spiritual-warfare-against-the-demonic-forces-pushing-for-his-impeachment"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/white-evangelicals-still-view-support-for-trump-as-spiritual-warfare-against-the-demonic-forces-pushing-for-his-impeachment</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>White evangelicals still view support for Trump as ‘spiritual warfare’ against the ‘demonic forces’ pushing for his impeachment</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Alex Henderson December 23, 2019</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although President Donald Trump has plenty of critics in Christianity — some Catholics, some Mainline Protestants — he is still quite popular among far-right white evangelical fundamentalists. So when Mark Galli, the retiring editor-in-chief of the evangelical Christianity Today, wrote a scathing anti-Trump op-ed last week, many of Trump’s white evangelical supporters were furious — including Franklin Graham, son of the late Christianity Today founder Billy Graham. And journalist Ed Kilgore, in a December 23 article for New York Magazine, stresses that Trump’s critics shouldn’t think white evangelical support for him is softening — they still view Trump as their champion.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White evangelical support for Trump, Kilgore observes, goes beyond Trump putting so many far-right judges on the federal judiciary: as they see it, fighting Trump’s impeachment and getting him reelected in 2020 is a form of spiritual warfare.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Many Christian Right leaders and members of their flocks view political battles involving Trump as spiritual warfare between holy and demonic forces, with the crude, self-idolizing and heathenish POTUS treated as unquestionably the champion of the Prince of Peace,” Kilgore explains.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kilgore points to a December 19 article by Sarah Posner for Type Investigations as having some of the best reporting in recent days on the amount of unwavering support Trump still enjoys among far-right white evangelicals.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Posner reported, “Trump’s evangelical base is a sprawling, interconnected network of political advocacy groups, megachurches, White House advisers, televangelists and prayer warriors. It also includes a formidable, data-driven get-out-the-vote operation.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Posner’s article cites some of the well-known Christian Right extremists who remain committed to helping Trump win a second term in 2020, and they range from the Faith and Freedom Coalition’s Ralph Reed to the Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins. Another is Jim Bakker.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Posner, “Inside this ecosystem, impeachment is, at best, a partisan sideshow concocted by Democrats to distract the public from Trump’s many important accomplishments. At worst, it is a satanic scheme to upend God’s plan for America — which was to install Trump in office in order to ensure the nation is governed by Christians who espouse ‘biblical’ values.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of Trump’s top allies in his Christian Right outreach, Kilgore observes, is Florida-based evangelist Paula White — who preaches an ideology called the Prosperity Gospel. In contrast to all the Catholics and Mainline Protestants who equate greed, materialism and avarice with sinfulness, the Prosperity Gospel associates a fat bank account with being a good Christian and poverty with moral failings. So when Republicans go out of their way to hurt the poor, proponents of the Prosperity Gospel see that as righteous Christian behavior.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Kilgore warns, “No, these people are not going to abandon Donald Trump. They are now so complicit in his presidency that to question him is to condemn themselves to a judgement too terrible to contemplate.”</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">C<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click1.e.alternet.org/hqnmwlfjfgnznwppzsbffzfppszpjchdmgfnbvlbssms_nyfyqkjknqdrrywfqtd.html?a=&b=3304&c=21989&d=2" style="font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" color="color" rgb="rgb">hristian Post journalist quits over pro-Trump editorial attacking Christianity Today: ‘Everything has escalated’</a></font></font></font></div><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" font-style="font-style" italic="italic" color="color" rgb="rgb" margin="margin" padding="padding"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Christian Post journalist quit over the outlet’s editorial slamming…</font></font></font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref 1 <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/christian-right-fighting-impeachment-as-spiritual-warfare.html">https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/christian-right-fighting-impeachment-as-spiritual-warfare.html</a></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">kilgore</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><p class="clay-paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="nymag.com/intelligencer/components/clay-paragraph/instances/ck4glrf4z003pzyyewdbqf4i0@published" data-word-count="83" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 20px; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When the conservative evangelical publication <em style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Christianity Today</em> <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2019/december-web-only/trump-should-be-removed-from-office.html" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; box-shadow: rgb(0, 0, 0) 0px 1px 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">called</a> for the president’s removal from office last week, it sent a familiar thrill through secular circles where there’s always a willingness to believe that the Christian Right is dying or divided. As my colleague Sarah Jones <a href="http://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/12/christianity-today-doesnt-speak-for-most-evangelicals.html" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; box-shadow: rgb(0, 0, 0) 0px 1px 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">pointed out</a>, however,<em style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> CT </em>is not all that influential these days in conservative politico-religious precincts, and in addition, the op-ed in question narrowly focused on Trump’s behavior in the Ukraine scandal and not on the immorality of his policies.</font></font></font></p><p class="clay-paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="nymag.com/intelligencer/components/clay-paragraph/instances/ck4gm02da00183g62smzfy4sq@published" data-word-count="108" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 20px; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you doubt white Evangelicals are still on Team Trump in a big way<b>, I recommend you read a <a href="https://www.typeinvestigations.org/investigation/2019/12/19/the-army-of-prayer-warriors-fighting-trumps-impeachment/" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; box-shadow: rgb(0, 0, 0) 0px 1px 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">recent investigative piece</a> from Sarah Posner</b> that demonstrates how the abiding loyalty so many of them have to the president is not just a matter of him “keeping his promises” on judges, opposition to reproductive and LGBTQ rights, and support for “religious liberty” (interpreted as broad exemptions from anti-discrimination laws). Many Christian Right leaders and members of their flocks view political battles involving Trump as spiritual warfare between holy and demonic forces, with the crude, self-idolizing, and heathenish POTUS treated as unquestionably the champion of the Prince of Peace.</font></font></font></p><blockquote data-uri="nymag.com/intelligencer/components/blockquote/instances/ck4goxtz0001m3g62pthqaljq@published" class="blockquote" data-editable="text" data-word-count="196" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 40px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; position: relative;"><p style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In mid-October, less than a month into the House <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/democratic-party" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; box-shadow: rgb(74, 74, 74) 0px 1px 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">Democrats</a>’ formal impeachment inquiry into <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/news/topic/donald-trump" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; box-shadow: rgb(74, 74, 74) 0px 1px 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">President Donald Trump</a>, Jim Bakker, the televangelist and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1989/10/25/us/bakker-sentenced-to-45-years-for-fraud-in-his-tv-ministry.html" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; box-shadow: rgb(74, 74, 74) 0px 1px 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">convicted</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1994/12/02/us/ex-television-evangelist-bakker-ends-prison-sentence-for-fraud.html" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; box-shadow: rgb(74, 74, 74) 0px 1px 0px; text-decoration-line: none;">fraudster</a>, was in front of a studio audience at his Morningside Church complex in Blue Eye, Missouri, a remote village of less than 200 people in the Ozarks. As the crew prepared the semicircular desk where the 79-year-old conducts freewheeling interviews with evangelical celebrity guests, Bakker took a moment to deliver an important message to the hundred or so people who had come to watch the taping: “God’s sending judgment.”</font></font></font></p><p style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" /></font></font></font></p><p style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>God, Bakker continued, “anointed your president.” Anyone who crosses the divinely chosen leader, he implied, is risking God’s wrath.</b></font></font></font></p><p style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" /></font></font></font></p><p style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That morning, news had broken of the unexpected death of Democratic Congressman and House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, who aggressively investigated Trump and who would have played a key role in impeachment proceedings. But there would be no prayers or condolences for the civil rights advocate from Bakker, who would only call Cummings “that man.” Instead, Bakker concluded with satisfaction, “one of the number-one enemies of our president fell dead last night. A man who insists on impeaching the president of the United States, he fell dead.”</font></font></font></p></blockquote><p class="clay-paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="nymag.com/intelligencer/components/clay-paragraph/instances/ck4gmctad001f3g628j8qs57a@published" data-word-count="53" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 20px; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This isn’t an unusual attitude, at all. As Trump has tweeted and raged and blustered his way through the impeachment crisis, conservative Evangelical leaders are mobilizing to support him, right through 2020, when they plan an even more impressive turnout on his behalf than the remarkable numbers they posted in 2016, Posner reports:</font></font></font></p><blockquote data-uri="nymag.com/intelligencer/components/blockquote/instances/ck4gp5oky001u3g628ocherfv@published" class="blockquote" data-editable="text" data-word-count="145" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 40px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; position: relative;"><p style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump’s evangelical base is a sprawling, interconnected network of political advocacy groups, megachurches, White House advisers, televangelists and prayer warriors. It also includes a formidable, data-driven get-out-the-vote operation. Top names in this circle include Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Ralph Reed of the Faith & Freedom Coalition</b>. The two are part of a group of about two dozen Christian leaders who meet regularly at the White House and who blast out full-throated defenses of the president through their organizations’ mailing lists, radio shows, podcasts and television programs.</font></font></font></p><p style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" /></font></font></font></p><p style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Inside this ecosystem, impeachment is, at best, a partisan sideshow concocted by Democrats to distract the public from Trump’s many important accomplishments. At worst, it is a <b>satanic scheme to upend God’s plan for America</b>, which was to install Trump in office in order to ensure the nation is governed by Christians who espouse “biblical” values.</font></font></font></p></blockquote><p class="clay-paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="nymag.com/intelligencer/components/clay-paragraph/instances/ck4gp6c2300213g620kum2fbt@published" data-word-count="64" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 20px; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>At the apex of the army marching to Zion for Trump is his top Evangelical adviser, Florida televangelist and prosperity-gospel prophet Paula White</b>,<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> who is also his chief ambassador to the less conventional Evangelicals who are comfortable with bringing apocalyptic visions into daily political life. Posner describes White directly invoking divine power in a recent conference call designed to mobilize prayer warriors for Trump:</span></font></font></font></p><blockquote data-uri="nymag.com/intelligencer/components/blockquote/instances/ck4gpnmi700283g62tkkp5k0k@published" class="blockquote" data-editable="text" data-word-count="130" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 40px 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; position: relative;"><p style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On the [One Voice Prayer Movement launch] call, White prayed for 10 minutes, during which she asked God to protect Trump and deliver him from his enemies.</span> “Lord, we ask you to deliver our president from any snare, any trap, any setup of the enemy according to Ephesians 6:12,” a verse in the Bible that forms the core of the “<b>spiritual warfare” that Trump’s prayer warriors </b>say they are engaged in on his behalf. (“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”)</font></font></font></p><p style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><br style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" /></font></font></font></p><p style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">… “<b>Any persons, entities, that are aligned against the president,” she said on the [call,] “will be exposed and dealt with and overturned by the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">superior blood of Jesus.”</span></b></font></font></font></p></blockquote><p class="clay-paragraph" data-editable="text" data-uri="nymag.com/intelligencer/components/clay-paragraph/instances/ck4gpp0nf002f3g6271ivcpo0@published" data-word-count="33" style=": inherit; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.5; margin: 0px 0px 20px; position: relative;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No, these people are not going to abandon Donald Trump. They are now so complicit in his presidency that to question him is to condemn themselves to a judgement too terrible to contemplate.</font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">kilgore ref</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.typeinvestigations.org/investigation/2019/12/19/the-army-of-prayer-warriors-fighting-trumps-impeachment/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.typeinvestigations.org/investigation/2019/12/19/the-army-of-prayer-warriors-fighting-trumps-impeachment/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">posner</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In mid-October, less than a month into the House Democrats’ formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, Jim Bakker, the televangelist and convicted fraudster, was in front of a studio audience at his Morningside Church complex in Blue Eye, Missouri, a remote village of less than 200 people in the Ozarks. As the crew prepared the semicircular desk where the 79-year-old conducts freewheeling interviews with evangelical celebrity guests, Bakker took a moment to deliver an important message to the hundred or so people who had come to watch the taping: “God’s sending judgment.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">God, Bakker continued, “anointed your president.” Anyone who crosses the divinely chosen leader, he implied, is risking God’s wrath.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That morning, news had broken of the unexpected death of Democratic Congressman and House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings, who aggressively investigated Trump and who would have played a key role in impeachment proceedings. But there would be no prayers or condolences for the civil rights advocate from Bakker, who would only call Cummings “that man.” Instead, Bakker concluded with satisfaction, “one of the number-one enemies of our president fell dead last night. A man who insists on impeaching the president of the United States, he fell dead.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">KEY FINDINGS</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Trump faces impeachment challenges, white evangelicals have dug in as his most loyal defenders; two-thirds believe he did nothing wrong in Ukraine.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The president has secured the loyalty of the evangelical base by handing the movement control over personnel and policy at a level they’ve never seen before.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Evangelical leaders talk about Trump as divinely anointed, and call impeachment a satanic scheme to upend God’s plan to have Trump lead a Christian nation.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Evangelical leaders across the country are laying the groundwork for a historic effort to support Trump’s reelection campaign.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Trump faces increasingly grim polling numbers over impeachment, white evangelicals have dug in as his most loyal defenders. According to a Washington Post/ABC News poll conducted in late October, about a month after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the official launch of the impeachment probe, 80% of white evangelicals opposed impeaching Trump and removing him from office (compared to just 47% of the public at large). Two-thirds of white evangelicals believed Trump did nothing wrong in his dealings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Among white evangelicals who identify as Republican, 99% of them opposed impeachment, according to an October analysis by the Public Religion Research Institute.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This unwavering support is consistent with white evangelical voters’ attitude toward Trump in general. In 2016, 81% of them voted for him, and over the course of his tumultuous presidency, polling has consistently shown white evangelicals to be unfazed by Trump’s scandals and corruption — from pussy grabbing to Stormy Daniels to family separations to Russian election interference. Moreover, white evangelicals approve of Trump’s job performance more than any other demographic does ? a rate 20 and 30 points higher than those of white mainline Protestants and white Catholics, respectively. These numbers have remained static even in the face of House Democrats’ probe into Trump’s efforts to shake down Zelensky for the public announcement of a corruption probe against Joe Biden and his son.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In early December, as the House Judiciary Committee held impeachment hearings, Mark Meadows, the Republican congressman from North Carolina, accepted an award at the Impact Luncheon, hosted by Ginni Thomas, a conservative activist and the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Speaking at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, Meadows drew enthusiastic applause for his shoutout to his “two buddies,” Jim Jordan of Ohio and Andy Biggs of Arizona, who were “fighting the impeachment fight as we speak.” With Thomas at his side, Meadows said he wanted to figure out how “to compete with mainstream media, when they’re out there each and every day trying to form a narrative that would suggest that this president should be impeached.” He then credited grassroots activists for retweeting his and Jordan’s tweets enough times that they received 163 million impressions, “which is more than the viewership of all the networks combined.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As impeachment moves to the Senate, where a Republican majority will control the trial, GOP lawmakers are acutely aware of the clout wielded by the Christian right ? not only in the upcoming elections, but in the Trump White House. For them, crossing Trump does not just mean facing his wrath, but also, by extension, the wrath of his most devoted base in the voting booth.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>An Evangelical Bubble</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s evangelical base is a sprawling, interconnected network of political advocacy groups, megachurches, White House advisers, televangelists and prayer warriors. It also includes a formidable, data-driven get-out-the-vote operation. Top names in this circle include Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Ralph Reed of the Faith & Freedom Coalition. The two are part of a group of about two dozen Christian leaders who meet regularly at the White House and who blast out full-throated defenses of the president through their organizations’ mailing lists, radio shows, podcasts and television programs.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Inside this ecosystem, impeachment is, at best, a partisan sideshow concocted by Democrats to distract the public from Trump’s many important accomplishments. At worst, it is a satanic scheme to upend God’s plan for America, which was to install Trump in office in order to ensure the nation is governed by Christians who espouse “biblical” values.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Just before Thanksgiving, as the House Intelligence Committee completed its crucial round of public hearings, Reed made a plea for donations, promising that “while we fight to defend the President from the Democrats’ ongoing political assassination attempt, we’re also laying the groundwork for a historic effort that will secure his reelection next year.” In December, as the House Judiciary Committee began a new phase of the impeachment proceedings, Perkins warned followers that “the radical Left is rallied around a single goal: impeaching this president to stop his pro-life, pro-family values, pro-religious liberty agenda, so they can force their radical, anti-American agenda onto voters.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This rear guard has been poised at every turn of the impeachment investigation to defend Trump. The Family Research Council’s marquee annual event, the Values Voter Summit, came this year in October, just days after FBI agents arrested Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, associates of presidential attorney Rudy Giuliani, as they were attempting to leave the country. The two were charged in a scheme to violate election laws by funneling foreign money to Republicans including then-Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, who in turn pressed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to recall the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. (Both men have pled not guilty.) As the Values Voter Summit got underway, Yovanovitch testified that she had been told by a top State Department official that she was recalled from her post prematurely due to “a concerted campaign against me, and that the Department had been under pressure from the President to remove me since the Summer of 2018.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[TOM PENNINGTON/GETTY IMAGES</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pastor Robert Jeffress leads the Pledge of Allegiance before President Trump speaks during a "Keep America Great" Rally on October 17, 2019 in Dallas, Texas.]</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To Values Voter Summit attendees, however, this tumble of calamitous news was only evidence of a partisan attack against a divinely anointed president. Carly Eli, an attendee from Atlanta, said in an interview that God has told her that Trump is “chosen” and “anointed,” and that she believes God has placed a “hedge of protection” around Trump. Eli claims to have received visions of God placing a crown on Trump’s head twice — something she interprets as a prophecy that Trump will serve two terms.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another attendee, Jason Farris, came from Colorado, where he is a volunteer with the Truth & Liberty Coalition, a new political advocacy group that is based on 7 Mountains theology, which holds that Christians must take control of the seven major spheres of society — religion, family, education, government, media, arts and entertainment, and business. When Farris read the July 25 call summary, he said it was “easy for me to see he [Trump] didn’t do anything wrong.” Echoing an increasingly common GOP talking point, Farris claimed that the impeachment proceedings were instigated by Democrats who are disappointed that “the Mueller report didn’t give them what they wanted. ... Even since before the inauguration, the progressive left has wanted to undermine and remove him from office,” he said.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another attendee, Eric Swanson, a graduate of Liberty University and host of a podcast called All-In America, called the impeachment probe “disgusting” and “the biggest witch hunt in American history.” Instead, he insisted, Joe Biden should be investigated for bribery, echoing a widespread conspiracy theory that Biden “confessed” to bribery in a 2018 appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations — a claim that has been repeatedly debunked.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In this evangelical bubble, the Republican lawmakers who disrupt the impeachment investigation and confuse the public about both the process and the facts of the case are heroes. On Oct. 23, Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz a</b>nd other Republican lawmakers stormed the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility where a closed-door deposition was about to take place. That same day, former Arkansas Gov. and onetime Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee was taping his flagship weekly television program for Trinity Broadcasting Network. In a segment Huckabee calls “Facts of the Matter,” during which he tries “to make sense of some of the certified Washington, D.C., insanity,” a viewer named Carlos asked whether Gaetz had accomplished anything with his stunt.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In response, Huckabee, who is the father of former Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, proceeded to spout disinformation about what had happened. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, Huckabee claimed, “was so frightened by” the Republicans’ entry “that he shut the meeting down, got up and he walked out.” (In fact, the room had to be swept for security reasons after the Republican lawmakers broke security rules by bringing their cellphones inside.) Huckabee further misled his audience that “this was all happening behind closed doors, where only one side even got to call witnesses, one side got to hear the full testimony.” (This also was not true; Republicans could and did attend the depositions and ask questions.) To applause, Huckabee declared that such proceedings might take place “in North Korea, maybe in China, maybe in Iran, but not in America.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s evangelical base is a sprawling, interconnected network of political advocacy groups, megachurches, White House advisers, televangelists and prayer warriors.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the eyes of evangelical loyalists, Trump is a salvific figure who must be defended to save Christian America from a catastrophic downfall at the hands of overweening Democrats. After 25 evangelical advisers met with him at the White House in late October, participants, including the Christian public relations guru Johnnie Moore, whom Trump appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, pushed out photographs of them praying with the president on social media. (Moore did not respond to interview requests for this article.) In an interview the day after the meeting, evangelical adviser Robert Jeffress, the Dallas megachurch pastor and Fox News personality, said that most evangelicals “believe this impeachment is an attempt to overthrow the 2016 election and therefore negate the votes of millions of evangelical Christians.” These voters, he went on, “see it as a war for the soul of our nation.” Jeffress predicted that evangelicals would react “very poorly” to Republican senators voting to convict Trump in an impeachment trial.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump’s evangelical boosters have also mobilized their foot soldiers into a spiritual army of prayer warriors who fervently believe their intercession will aid Trump against demonic enemies. This effort fans out far beyond leading Beltway players like Perkins or Reed, or popular television stars like Huckabee or Jeffress</b>.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> In fact, Trump’s validation has meant greater celebrity for a proliferating network of “prophets” and televangelists, like Lance Wallnau, a speaker and author known for comparing Trump to the biblical King Cyrus, who restored Jerusalem</span>. Wallnau claims to receive divine revelations about Trump, his power, and the attacks on him from a demonic left. Bakker’s Prophetic Encounter conference also featured the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">evangelist Jeremiah Johnson, who claims to have received many visions from God about Trump, and wrote a book called “Trump, 2019, & Beyond,” in which he claims, among other things, that God warned him about Hillary Clinton in 2012, telling him to “take careful notice of the secrecy that she operates in,” and warning, “The Church must resist her. She has plans to control, plans to influence. Beware!”</span></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the impeachment probe intensified and the House approved a resolution laying out its procedures, Trump actively sought to reward powerful evangelical figures for their support. In late October, for example, he elevated controversial Florida televangelist Paula White to an official White House post as the adviser to his Faith and Opportunities Initiative, a reinvention of George W. Bush’s Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. White, Trump’s top spiritual adviser and friend, hails from the world of the prosperity gospel, where God is portrayed as blessing believers with finances and good health, and where prophecies from God — about Trump and otherwise — are commonplace. <b>She has long been a key emissary between Trump and this world, elevating his profile in this community while he in turn has expanded theirs.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, called White “unfit” for her new position, and denounced the appointment as “yet another example of President Trump pandering to his evangelical Christian supporters as he scrambles to secure his base amidst an impeachment investigation.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Forming A Defense</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The blueprint for the evangelical defense of Trump against impeachment was crafted during special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian election interference and obstruction of justice by Trump and his associates.</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In early May, a few weeks after Mueller released his report, Trump assembled his closest evangelical supporters for a Rose Garden ceremony for the National Day of Prayer. There, White declared the White House “holy ground” and prayed that Trump would “fulfill all the will of the Lord and do the assignment God has carried him to do.” Later that month, <b>Franklin Graham organized a group of more than 250 pastors to make June 2 a special day of prayer for the president because his “enemies continue to try everything to destroy him, his family, and the presidency.” </b>(White did not respond to interview requests for this article.)</span></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>While the Christian right has, since Ronald Reagan’s presidential run in 1980, rallied around GOP nominees, the tenor and nature of the mobilization for Trump’s reelection is markedly new.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Evangelical leaders also freely weighed in on the substance of the Mueller report itself. <b>“No collusion,” Jeffress told me in June during the Faith & Freedom Coalition Road to Majority Conference in Washington</b>. “I’ve said to the president several times … unless Bob Mueller can produce a photograph of you holding the flashlight while the Russians were breaking into a voting machine — anything short of that he won’t need to worry about,” Jeffress said.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At the Faith & Freedom Coalition Road to Majority Conference in June, attended by a thousand grassroots activists from around the country, administration officials and evangelical activists portrayed Washington as a bubble disconnected from reality and obsessed by the “phony Russian collusion scandal.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch <b>McConnell accused Democrats of having “Trump derangement syndrome.” Marsha Blackburn, the Republican senator from Tennessee, told the audience, “Fewer and fewer people believe what they hear on the evening news. They listen to it with skepticism and doubt.” </b>But this conference will “shore you up and give you the information you need to talk to your friends and neighbors,” Blackburn said, because the “most important name in news is you and your circle of friends.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Conference attendees also heard from John Solomon, the Fox contributor and former opinion writer for The Hill, who reportedly was at the center of spreading disinformation about Joe Biden and his son Hunter.</b> His articles fomented the recall of Ambassador Yovanovitch based on a false claim by a Ukrainian prosecutor who later recanted it, and they promoted the conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election to help Hillary Clinton. At the Faith & Freedom conference, Solomon took aim at his mainstream media peers, lamenting that they had lost their neutrality in reporting the news. “If the media had been neutral, it would have taken a deep breath at the beginning of this Russia scandal and they would have had reason to pause, and say, some of this doesn’t add up, it’s too easy, it doesn’t make sense,” Solomon told the audience. “Instead they just went on this bandwagon and drove off. They eventually drove off a cliff, and they have a story that today is overtly wrong.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>David Brody, political correspondent for the Trump-cheerleading Christian Broadcasting Network,</b> who was moderating the panel on which Solomon spoke, left that comment unchallenged — even though the intelligence community had concluded that Russia interfered in the election to help Trump</span>. After Mueller gave a press conference about his report in late May, stating, “If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” Brody’s network ran a story headlined, “Case Closed: Special Counsel Mueller Says Russia Investigation Is Over, Nothing More to Say.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Unprecedented Power</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Whether Trump’s evangelical boosters actually believe he is anointed by God or that the evidence really does exonerate him, they have one powerful motive for their unflagging support: Trump has given evangelicals unprecedented power. With him in the White House, Christian right ideologues have virtual carte blanche to run his administration, as he has handed them control over personnel and policy at a level they could have only dreamed of, even under admired presidents like George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Trump has handed them conservative judicial nominees, from the Supreme Court down to federal trial courts, and also has installed longtime evangelical allies at key Cabinet posts, including Mike Pompeo at the State Department, Bill Barr at the Department of Justice, Ben Carson at Housing and Urban Development, and Betsy DeVos at Education. <b>Ralph Reed</b> has told his followers, “There are more Christians serving” in the Trump administration “than all previous presidents combined.”</span></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At the Faith & Freedom conference in June, Mercedes Schlapp, who at the time served in the White House but later moved over to the Trump reelection campaign, described her office as “<b>the West Wing Chapel.” Derek Kan, a political appointee at the Office of Management and Budget, recounted how the books of Leviticus, Joshua and Genesis shape his views on regulation and taxes.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Health and Human Services has been ground zero for Trump administration efforts to scale back reproductive and LGBTQ rights, and eroding church-state separation and framing it as “religious freedom” for Christians. <b>HHS Secretary Alex Azar then delivered a speech enumerating “many of the ways that under President Trump HHS has protected life, conscience and faith.</b></span>” The department, he said, has “never fought more fiercely to protect life at all stages, from conception until natural death. That is thanks above all to the work, the leadership and the courage of President Trump, the most pro-life president in American history.” At the Values Voter Summit, two <b>officials from HHS — Shannon Royce, the head of the department’s Office of Faith and Opportunity Initiatives, and Roger Severino, the head of the Office of Civil Rights, which in 2018 launched a Conscience and Religious Freedom Division — were given front-row seats and a shoutout from Tony Perkins.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In turn, evangelical organizations provide top Trump deputies a platform to tout their Christian credentials to the base ? and shield them from the glare of mounting scandals. The same day that Yovanovitch testified in her closed-door deposition, <b>Pompeo delivered a speech, “Being a Christian Leader,” to the American Association of Christian Counselors, which is led by Tim Clinton, another top evangelical ally to Trump</b>. (Clinton did not respond to a request for comment.) A week and a half later, Pompeo touted religious freedom initiatives carried out by the State Department to a Heritage Foundation President’s Club Meeting in Washington, D.C., joking that the gathering had provided him “shelter from the storm.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reelecting A ‘Christian’ President</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the Christian right has, since Ronald Reagan’s presidential run in 1980, rallied around GOP nominees, the tenor and nature of the mobilization for Trump’s reelection is markedly new. While many of the expressed fears — that a Democratic president would nominate pro-Roe v. Wade judges or take away Christians’ religious freedom — are familiar, the motivation now is not just to avert liberal judges and policies. It is much more deliberately an imperative to reelect a singularly “Christian” president. As Ralph Reed reportedly will argue in a book to be published this spring, evangelicals “have a moral obligation to enthusiastically back” Trump in 2020.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">With Trump’s reelection once again hinging on slim margins in a few key states, a multifaceted get-out-the-vote operation is getting underway. Reed’s Faith & Freedom Coalition is aiming to raise $42.7 million for its 2020 Project, aimed at bolstering its “unparalleled values-voter database, supporting field offices, and coordinating volunteers and staff to get out the vote.” It will be, Reed promised supporters, the <b>“largest Christian Get Out The Vote (GOTV) effort in history,”</b> necessary because “the left is already turning the re-election of Donald Trump into a three-ring circus, aimed at impeaching our president and reversing all progress for voters of faith.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Reed’s organization is not alone. United In Purpose, an organization that provides polling and voter data to Christian right organizations, helped organize a pivotal 2016 meeting between a thousand evangelical leaders and Trump, during which he sealed an alliance by promising to nominate judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate the Johnson Amendment, </b>which prohibits churches from using tax-exempt resources to endorse political candidates. Although his organization is “still in the planning stages” for the 2020 election cycle, UIP’s president, Bill Dallas, said in an interview that the conservative Christian get-out-the-vote operation ? as well as its opposition’s ? will exceed 2016 in terms of “the sophistication, not just the data mining, using every technique to get the votes out.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Maximizing white evangelical turnout for Trump will be key in Michigan and Wisconsin, two states he won in 2016 by narrow margins. White evangelicals made up 27% and 28% of the electorate in those states, respectively, according to exit polling data. Other closely watched states with high percentages of white evangelical turnout in 2016 include North Carolina (38%), Iowa (34%) and Ohio (33%).</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to Dallas, the views driving Trump’s support among the Christian voters that United in Purpose targets have already begun to solidify. “The reason why Trump has such a strong support base is because he did what he said he would do,” said Dallas. “I don’t see that [impeachment] turning off Christian voters. What would turn off Christian voters is if he didn’t fulfill his promises and commitments that he said he would do if he was elected.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>For the 2020 cycle, My Faith Votes, an organization that boasts Huckabee as its honorary national chairman, has also been organizing voter registration drives</b>. “As Christians,” Jason Yates, the group’s CEO claims, “we must always look to elect leaders who defend our values and believe that God is the ultimate authority in this nation.” (Yates did not respond to interview requests.) In an email to My Faith Votes supporters, Huckabee described the group’s efforts in more detail. Over the course of the year, he wrote, <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“TV and radio PSAs will be running around the country reaching millions; millennials and Generation Z will be reached on Christian campuses; hundreds of thousands of Christians will be mobilized using peer-to-peer texting and door-to-door outreach, all in an effort to motivate and equip Christians with everything they need to take action.”</span></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In November, Yates announced a partnership with Intercessors for America, an organization based in Purcellville, Virginia, that hosts weekly prayer calls and enlists supporters to engage in prayer against supposed deep-state and George Soros-led schemes against Trump and his allies.</b> In a webcast, Yates and Dave Kubal, Intercessors for America’s president, announced they were <b>developing a phone app to identify Christian voters with a “low propensity” to vote. But apps and microtargeting of voters are not the only way to keep evangelical voters in the Trump camp. T</b>he next day, Kubal was on a conference call with Paula White, her chief of staff, Todd Lamphere, and the evangelists Jon and Jolene Hamill announcing the launch of the One Voice Prayer Movement, carrying out, according to Kubal, White’s “vision to see the church of Jesus Christ come together, and pray for this administration and pray for our country.” (Kubal did not respond to an interview request. The Hamills, who are hosting a “Revolution” conference on New Year’s Eve at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, also did not respond to interview requests.)</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On the call, White prayed for 10 minutes, during which she asked God to protect Trump and deliver him from his enemies. “Lord, we ask you to deliver our president from any snare, any trap, any setup of the enemy according to Ephesians 6:12,” a verse in the Bible that forms the core of the “spiritual warfare” that Trump’s prayer warriors say they are engaged in on his behalf. (“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”)</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But White has a plan to protect Trump from those dark forces, vanquish his enemies, and to defend the “biblical” government that has elevated Christian right personnel and policy priorities. And she left no doubt that the multiple roles she plays — presidential personal pastor, White House employee and defender of Trump against his enemies — have merged into a single message of God’s wrath against anyone who dares criticize him. “Any persons, entities, that are aligned against the president,” she said on the One Voice Prayer Movement launch call, “will be exposed and dealt with and overturned by the superior blood of Jesus.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sarah Posner is a reporting fellow with Type Investigations.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ABOUT THE REPORTER</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">SARAH POSNER</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sarah Posner is a reporting fellow with Type Investigations and <b>author of God's Profits: Faith, Fraud, and the Republican Crusade for Values Voters</b></font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><p class="yiv4773312873headline3" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" margin="margin" padding="padding"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click1.e.alternet.org/phfdlrvwvsfbflkkbyjvvbvkkybkwmcgdsvfjhrjyhyh_vfjvfymynfhjgmhgjjp.html?a=&b=3282&c=21989&d=2" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Christianity Today editor defiant in face of angry Trump response: ‘He’s no longer fit to serve’</font></a></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" font-style="font-style" italic="italic" color="color" rgb="rgb" margin="margin" padding="padding"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One day after his editorial in Christianity Today called for…</font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">C<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/cnns-michael-smerconish-explains-why-christianity-todays-anti-trump-op-ed-is-unlikely-to-move-the-needle-among-evangelicals/" style="font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" border-box="border-box" outline="outline" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" padding="padding" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" color="color" transition="transition" all="all" s="s" ease="ease" cursor="cursor" pointer="pointer" display="display" inline="inline" important="important" font-size="font-size" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" line-height="line-height">NN’s Michael Smerconish explains why Christianity Today’s anti-Trump op-ed is unlikely to move the needle among evangelicals</a></font></font></font></div><div class="mag-header" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/alex-henderson/" title="Posts by Alex Henderson" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alex Henderson</font></a></span></font></font></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Thursday, Christianity Today — an evangelical Protestant fundamentalist publication founded by the late Rev. Billy Graham — published a blistering op-ed denouncing President Donald Trump.</font></font></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div><h2 style=": border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; line-height: 1; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="headline" href="https://boingboing.net/2019/12/18/christian-influencer-couple-wa.html" style=": border-box; text-decoration-line: none; margin-bottom: 0.25em;">Christian influencer couple asks for prayers from global church to resurrect young daughter who died</a><a class="byline" href="https://boingboing.net/author/mark_frauenfelder_1" style=": border-box; text-decoration-line: none; text-transform: uppercase;"><br style=": border-box;" />MARK FRAUENFELDER</a></font></font></font></h2></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">boing</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/conservative-evangelicals-arent-hypocrites-its-worse-than-that/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/conservative-evangelicals-arent-hypocrites-its-worse-than-that/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">rorty</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">cruelty is the pt atlantic</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">DOH! ct pack not just scotus</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/paula-whites-one-voice-prayer-movement-praises-god-for-trump-judges-republican-courts/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/paula-whites-one-voice-prayer-movement-praises-god-for-trump-judges-republican-courts/</a></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/why-christian-nationalism-is-an-existential-threat-to-democracy/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/why-christian-nationalism-is-an-existential-threat-to-democracy/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Why Christian nationalism is an existential threat to democracy</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Nancy LeTourneau / Washington Monthly November 26, 2019</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It probably shouldn’t surprise us that, after hearing from witnesses who testified consistently that the president attempted to bribe a foreign head of state in order to get dirt on a political opponent, the needle hasn’t moved on those who oppose impeachment. We’ve been here before. On several occasions, hopes have been raised that this is the moment Trump’s enablers will finally abandon him. But it has never happened.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Given that the president’s base of support comes primarily from white evangelicals, it is important to understand Christian nationalism in order to explain their loyalty. One of the court evangelicals, Franklin Graham, recently gave us a window into that world.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During his November 21 interview with Graham, Metaxas, a Salem Radio Network talk-show host, asked the son of the late evangelist Billy Graham, “What do you think of what is happening now? I mean, it’s a very bizarre situation to be living in a country where some people seem to exist to undermine the president of the United States. It’s just a bizarre time for most Americans.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, responded, “Well, I believe it’s almost a demonic power that is trying—”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">At which point Metaxas interjected, “I would disagree. It’s not almost demonic. You know and I know, at the heart, it’s a spiritual battle.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Graham agreed…</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As Peter Wehner summarized, the message is that, in this “spiritual battle,” we all have to chose sides.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For Graham and Metaxas, it appears that agreeing with them equates to agreeing with God—and disagreeing with them, at least when it comes to Donald Trump, means doing the work of the evil one.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>For these Christian nationalists, it’s not enough to say, “God is on our side.” If you don’t agree with them, you are engaged with a demonic power. There is no <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">authoritarian </span>tool more controlling than the one that wields the power to define the playing field like that</b>. It is a pronouncement that leaves no room for debate or nuance. You’re either all in or all out. Anyone who buys into what they’re saying has no choice but to defend Trump. To do otherwise is a pathway to eternal doom with the devil.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To further the argument that God is on Trump’s side, Rick Perry recently opined about how the president is the “chosen one.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Courtney Hagle</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@CourtneyHagle</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fox & Friends preview an interview with Rick Perry, where he says that Trump is "the chosen one" and "sent by God to do great things"</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Pete Hegseth: "God has used imperfect people forever,"</b> but what Trump "has withstood is unlike what really any other mortal could understand"</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Embedded video</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Apparently, Perry also said that Obama was chosen by God.</b> It’s funny how we never heard that when Obama was actually president. But what Perry was articulating is a theological argument for the omnipotence of God, who has unlimited power to control everything. Leaving that one aside for the moment, it is worth examining the rhetoric Perry used.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I actually gave the president a little one-pager on those Old Testament kings about a month ago, and I shared it with him,” he continued. “I said, ‘Mr. President, I know there are people that say you said you were the chosen one, and I said, ‘You were.’”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I said, ‘If you’re a believing Christian, you understand God’s plan for the people who rule and judge over us on this planet in our government,’” he added.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He was comparing Trump to kings in the Old Testament and referred to God’s plan for those who rule over us. That goes to the heart of something Katherine Stewart wrote about Christian nationalists.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The great thing about kings like Cyrus, as far as today’s Christian nationalists are concerned, is that they don’t have to follow rules. They are the law. This makes them ideal leaders in paranoid times…</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">I have attended dozens of Christian nationalist conferences and events over the past two years. And while I have heard plenty of comments casting doubt on the more questionable aspects of Mr. Trump’s character, the gist of the proceedings almost always comes down to the belief that he is a miracle sent straight from heaven to bring the nation back to the Lord. I have also learned that resistance to Mr. Trump is tantamount to resistance to God.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">This isn’t the religious right we thought we knew. The Christian nationalist movement today is authoritarian, paranoid and patriarchal at its core. They aren’t fighting a culture war. They’re making a direct attack on democracy itself.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As you can see, Graham wasn’t the first one to claim that “resistance to Trump is tantamount to resistance to God.” Stewart has been hearing that one for a few years.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We have to grapple with the fact that Christian nationalists are launching a “direct attack on democracy itself.” That is because real democracy poses a threat to the kind of authoritarianism they embrace. The roots of that were explained by William Barr during his speech to the law school at Notre Dame. He began by articulating his own view of human nature.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Men are subject to powerful passions and appetites, and, if unrestrained, are capable of ruthlessly riding roughshod over their neighbors and the community at large.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No society can exist without some means for restraining individual rapacity.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Barr goes on to suggest that, when the founders talked about self government, they didn’t mean what we think they did.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the words of Madison, “We have staked our future on the ability of each of us to govern ourselves…”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is really what was meant by “self-government.” It did not mean primarily the mechanics by which we select a representative legislative body. It referred to the capacity of each individual to restrain and govern themselves.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But if individual rapacity is the problem, what is the source of those restraints?</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>[T]o control willful human beings, with an infinite capacity to rationalize, those moral values must rest on authority independent of men’s will – they must flow from a transcendent Supreme Being.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In short, in the Framers’ view, free government was only suitable and sustainable for a religious people – a people who recognized that there was a transcendent moral order antecedent to both the state and man-made law and who had the discipline to control themselves according to those enduring principles.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When you combine that with the belief among Christian nationalists that the only true religion is Christianity, you have the antithesis of democratic pluralism. Instead, you hav<b>e authoritarian theocracy.</b> That loops us back to Franklin Graham and the rest of the court evangelicals, who take it upon themselves to define who is on God’s side and who is doing the work of the devil.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Years ago, Sara Robinson captured what it takes to leave that kind of authoritarian mindset.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We must never, ever underestimate what it costs these people to let go of the beliefs that have sustained them…Externally, it always means the loss of your community; and often the loss of jobs, homes, marriages, and blood relatives as well. Internally, it requires sifting through every assumption you’ve ever made about how the world works, and your place within it; and demands that you finally take the very emotional and intellectual risks that the entire edifice was designed to protect you from. You have to learn, maybe for the first time, to face down fear and live with ambiguity.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the loss of community can be traumatic, the prospect of “sifting through every assumption you’ve ever made about how the world works” is overwhelming. As she points out, the entire edifice is designed to protect you from fear and the threat of ambiguity. For most people, scaling that one is too much to ask.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I’m not going to suggest that it is impossible for Trump’s supporters to change their minds. But when we watch them reject one rational case after another, it is important to understand the depths of what binds them, as well as the threat that poses to our democracy.</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/far-right-white-evangelicals-despite-impeachment-and-the-ukraine-scandal-still-see-trump-as-the-chosen-one/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/far-right-white-evangelicals-despite-impeachment-and-the-ukraine-scandal-still-see-trump-as-the-chosen-one/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Far-right white evangelicals — despite impeachment and the Ukraine scandal — still see Trump as ‘the Chosen One’</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Alex Henderson November 27, 2019</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the 1980s, the late Sen. Barry Goldwater — who was considered an arch-conservative in his day — famously asserted that the Republican Party was making a huge mistake by embracing the Christian Right, which he described as a “terrible damn problem” for the conservative movement. But President Donald Trump, on the other hand, enthusiastically welcomes the support of far-right white evangelicals — some of whom are declaring that the impeachment inquiry he is facing is against God’s will and that demonic forces are trying to remove the president from office.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">On November 21, evangelist Franklin Graham (son of the late Rev. Billy Graham and a strident Trump supporter) discussed impeachment when he appeared on fellow wingnut Eric Metaxas’ radio show. Graham told Metaxas that it’s “almost a demonic power that is trying” to remove Trump from office — to which Metaxas responded, “I would disagree. It’s not almost demonic. You know and I know, at the heart, it’s a spiritual battle.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When far-right evangelicals speak of a “spiritual battle,” they typically mean one between God and Satan — and clearly, Graham and Metaxas believe that Trump is working for God, while his political opponents are working for Satan.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republican Rick Perry, secretary of energy in the Trump Administration and former governor of Texas, has also claimed that Trump is on a mission from God. Perry, during a recent appearance on Fox News, described Trump as “the chosen one” and claimed he has been “sent by God to do great things.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many of Trump’s critics have had a hard time understanding why he is so popular with the Christian Right, which wanted to see President Bill Clinton impeached in the late 1990s for having an extramarital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Trump, according to his former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, had extramarital affairs with a porn star (Stormy Daniels) and a Playboy model (Karen McDougal) and paid them hush money to keep quiet. But the Christian Right is extremist tribalist in its thinking; so, even though <b>Trump has never been especially religious (he’s a non-practicing Presbyterian) and former President Barack Obama has a long history of going to church, far-right white evangelicals view Trump as an ally and Obama as an enemy.</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Similarly, white Christian fundamentalists detest South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, a churchgoing Episcopalian and Democratic presidential candidate who often talks about his faith. Buttigieg is obviously more religious than Trump, but he is a non-fundamentalist Mainline Protestant — and the Christian Right doesn’t see him as part of their tribe. In fact, the Christian Right view Obama and Buttigieg as infidels, not unlike Islamic fundamentalists who view non-jihadist Muslims as infidels.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Journalist Chris Hedges, a non-fundamentalist Christian who has written a lot about the role that faith can play in left-wing politics, uses the term “<b>Christian fascists” to describe the Christian Right. Hedges considers the Christian Right a dangerous authoritarian movement</b>, often stressing that Trump appeals to the Christian Right’s authoritarian tendencies.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Such tendencies were evident in October after the death of Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, who chaired the House Oversight Committee. Cummings was quite religious: his association with the New Psalmist Baptist Church in Baltimore spanned at least 40 years, and the Maryland Democrat would sing the Christian hymn “This Little Light of Mine” at civil rights marches. Yet some far-right evangelicals celebrated his death, insisting that God struck him down for opposing Trump.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Christian fundamentalist Stacey Shiflett, for example, said of Cummings, “Everything that he’s done has been nothing but trying to take this president out. I believe that God had had enough, and God moved.”</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hanna Selinger, in a November 26 article for The Independent, delves into the Christian Right’s unwavering adoration of Trump and explains why white Christian fundamentalists hold him in such high regard despite his not-so-Christian behavior.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“For evangelicals,” Selinger explains, “Donald Trump offers deliverables. The conservatives who follow the letter of the law when it comes to the Bible count among their most important issues ‘family values’: abortion, gay marriage, and so on. On these issues, Trump has offered a far-right tack. Despite who he actually is as a person, he checks the boxes — enabling evangelicals to look the other way and toward a perceived ‘greater good.’”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Christian Right voters, Selinger observes, “are willing to separate morals in a president from morals in a country. These voters will pull the lever for a man who prevaricates daily, who has had multiple wives and even more affairs. That’s because they believe that those characteristics outweigh the things they want done in Washington.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Selinger adds, “Rick Perry is no different. He too is willing to overlook gross misconduct, of which he was part, simply because he likes the president’s policies.”</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If a Democratic president had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate a political revival and made that investigation a condition of military aid, far-right theocrats like Graham, Perry, Metaxas and Liberty University’s Jerry Falwell, Jr. would be demanding his impeachment. But because Trump become an honorary member of the Christian Right, he gets a pass.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Christian Right, Selinger asserts, is unlikely to turn against Trump.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“This is the problem with Trump and his allies, and it begins with religion: what it means to follow God has been lost in a political game that places legislative wins over moral losses,” Selinger writes. “Will evangelicals ever see the light? As Rick Perry demonstrates in his ruthless sycophancy, the odds are slim.”</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/trumps-base-is-a-cult-rick-perry-slammed-after-saying-donald-trump-is-the-chosen-one-during-fox-news-interview/" rel="bookmark" title="‘Trump’s base is a cult’: Rick Perry slammed after saying Donald Trump is ‘the Chosen One’ during Fox News interview" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 6px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; line-height: 1.4; display: block;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px" font-weight="font-weight" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" color="color" important="important"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Trump’s base is a cult’: Rick Perry slammed after saying Donald Trump is ‘the Chosen One’ during Fox News interview</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">11/27 perry: trump sent by god, imperfect vessel, 1 pg cheat sheet of old test heroes; pompeo or someone //? line from The Family doc netflix?!</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/evangelical-leaders-who-support-trump-are-only-speaking-for-flatlining-white-christians-and-their-worldview-is-dying-religious-scholar/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/evangelical-leaders-who-support-trump-are-only-speaking-for-flatlining-white-christians-and-their-worldview-is-dying-religious-scholar/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Evangelical leaders who support Trump are only speaking for ‘flatlining’ white Christians — and their worldview is dying: religious scholar</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Tom Boggioni / Raw Story November 26, 2019</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Addressing recent comments by supporters of Donald Trump who maintain that the three-time divorced, the non-church-going president is the “chosen one,” MSNBC contributor Eddie Glaude stated with some certainty the assertion is “nonsense,” and that Trump’s evangelical enablers are speaking for a dying faction of white rightwing Christianity.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Speaking with host Stephanie Ruhle, Glaude — who chairs the Department of African American Studies at Princeton — said, “This is dangerous in so far as when you try to yolk politics to God talk, you’re trying to<b> sacralize politics. You’re trying to insulate that from criticism </b>because you’re taking it out of human doing and you’re saying that God sanctioned what you’re doing. whether or not you’re Donald Trump or Martin Luther King Jr.</span>”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After explaining that he’s a religious scholar, Glaude was asked about recent comments made by evangelist Franklin Graham that “the impeachment fight is a spiritual battle.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Yeah, to hear Franklin Graham or Paula White is to, in some ways hear the voices of a particular segment of white Christianity that I think has flatlined,” he explained. “It’s not growing in terms of its demographics. you look at the arguments within Liberty University itself. We see these folks desperately clinging to Donald Trump because I think the writing is on the wall’”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Even young evangelicals,” host Ruhle suggested.</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We saw those debates at Liberty itself,” Glaude continued. “So part of what we have to kind of wrap our mind around, Stephanie, is this: white Christianity has always been in some ways the adjective overturning the noun. The church right next to the slave auction block. Preachers and ministers leading mobs to destroy communities in Wilmington and Tulsa.”</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“There’s a way in which people have reconciled the gospel with evil, to justify their practices with the gospel,” he elaborated. “What we’re seeing from the mouths of folks like Franklin Graham and Paula White and others is the use of the gospel to justify their wanton and craven desire to walk the corridors of power.”</b></font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch below:</font></font></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">---</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ref</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.rawstory.com/2019/11/trump-loving-franklin-graham-says-extorting-a-foreign-country-to-investigate-political-opponents-is-a-good-thing/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.rawstory.com/2019/11/trump-loving-franklin-graham-says-extorting-a-foreign-country-to-investigate-political-opponents-is-a-good-thing/</font></a></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">f<a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/?s=Franklin+Graham" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; opacity: 1; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset; background: rgb(221, 175, 175);"><strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">ranklin Graham</strong></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, a top and influential supporter of Donald Trump, is once again rushing to defend the embattled President, as usual by twisting morality into a pretzel. Graham, who uses his famous late father’s reputation to portray himself as an icon of morality, now is now suggesting that extortion is OK and sidelining diplomacy and acceptable law enforcement methods to manufacture dirt on a political opponent “</span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/FranklinGraham/posts/2808567915866038?xts[0]=68.ARAZEuFvLnTN7fNu46sCOWLinNVGnPiuargwfiT08owds0O_pm0Phq0A-vMpAfxl4bJufq_jdNif9dq-2Cwk6XV8WL9pCuNJfdpwbqqW15xIwTYIahM5-yfUhsF8TSRbAaaCj9rJ71B_AjqPv5AKx-4LN-pLV9rS2WaP1ek8gydn8RxHibfpqvwTXv7c21BEIlrJouubGjN8DxsWEHXombe7nPpJEVH7j7XEHH4ZtTa9gWqB1ji7Es8imyy8yDyeLoCndYvX8P2ytn8akyzl4P2y7od9_6rX_ggaiUR7NHxMw59fBLtUV7WrYAKTjt-1n7dU-a6kEym57RwPpy727g&xts[1]=68.ARBk31YkJ1OpcsTLxIHZp8Y8sTMLMZFUvJm2yLgzKOzVrkYVmKyCDCqiP0OXd81mQM5qftNJio7s1WgncnWy50Tx_co-LjzMecsPHyHLGNGXi9N7lsgTyZgIRb68aq0x-A75YIQQC49kbeDFqDveh6s74y5UC-J6wywX12BqSmRG0k2MqNxN_sT18rVf3SVMra_7YlPZuEQPwkqIDh1C_5pdMMVPf27_2zRgyv2PPvbwXTd6oXBcsNED27tHw9gdK1MuuRArkQjnQEGBe6e6BlewLXbn6ZhXbOC4rtkrTKQUWrcxhjxnaNOQRlD97KKfqMo2D4wi3YXR187SULKXxg&tn=-R" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; opacity: 1; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset;">is a good thing</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.”</span></font></font></font></div><div class="rs_ad_block story_page_incontent_p2" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: center; max-width: 728px;"><div class="rs_ad_block story_page_incontent_p2_google" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 728px;"><div id="story_page_incontent_p2_target" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 0px 86px 20px 60px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.55; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 86px 20px 60px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.55; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If that’s weren’t enough, Graham, who ministers via Facebook, is comparing the House’s legal and constitutionally-based impeachment inquiry – one that has been validated by a federal chief judge – to an “inquisition.” Inquisition is certainly a hot-button word, especially when used by those who work in the business of religion, given its association with the Inquisition, a medieval Catholic Church torturous war on science and truth, or, as the Pope called those virtues, “heresy.”</font></font></font></p><div class="story_page_incontent_instagram_container story_page_incontent_ig" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 60px 0px 86px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-weight: bold; max-width: 490px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a id="incontent_ig_login_link" href="https://www.rawstory.com/2-a-week-holiday-season-discount-join-raw-story-investigatessupport-progressive-journalism-and-get-three-ad-free-sites/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; opacity: 1; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.25s ease 0s, background 0.25s ease 0s, opacity 0.25s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Happy Holidays! As a special thanks for your support this year, you can get Raw ad-free for just $2 a week. Now until Dec. 31.</font></a></font></font></div></div><p style="margin: 0px 86px 20px 60px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.55; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 86px 20px 60px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.55; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Thursday, barely hours after the House voted to pass impeachment inquiry procedures, Graham declared it was “a sad day for America.”</font></font></font></p><div class="rs_ad_block story_page_incontent_p3" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: center; max-width: 600px;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 0px 86px 20px 60px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.55; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 86px 20px 60px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.55; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Our politics in this country has hit a new low,” he wrote. “Nancy Pelosi and her followers in Congress have weaponized the impeachment process,” said Graham, falsely, while disrespectfully ignoring Speaker Pelosi’s title and that she and every Member of Congress are duly-elected representatives of the people of the United States.</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 86px 20px 60px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.55; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In my opinion, asking another country to investigate corruption is a good thing—not a bad thing,” Graham claimed, contrary to law. “This is just another attempt to tarnish and embarrass the President before the next election. We have so many problems in this nation that need to be addressed. Instead the Democrats are fixated on only one thing—removing President Donald J. Trump from office.”</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 86px 20px 60px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.55; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Pray for President Trump today, for God to give him wisdom, protection, and guide each and every step he takes. I pray that he and Melania will sense the presence of the Lord through this unjust inquisition.”</font></font></font></p><div class="rs_ad_block story_page_incontent_p5" style="margin: 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-align: center; max-width: 550px;"><div class="1" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="margin: 0px 86px 20px 60px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.55; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 86px 20px 60px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.55; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Unjust inquisition.”</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 86px 20px 60px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1.55; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Note, by the way, that Graham vigorously <a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2018/05/franklin-grahams-astonishing-ungodly-hypocrisy/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; opacity: 1; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.25s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgb(221, 175, 175) 0px -4px 0px inset;">advocated for the impeachment of then-President Bill Clinton</a>, writing a 1998 Wall Street Journal op-ed titled, “Clinton’s Sins Aren’t Private.”</font></font></font></p><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/the-unbearable-wrongness-of-william-barr-professor-of-secular-studies-explains-why-secularism-doesnt-destroy-moral-order/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/the-unbearable-wrongness-of-william-barr-professor-of-secular-studies-explains-why-secularism-doesnt-destroy-moral-order/</font></a></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The unbearable wrongness of William Barr: Professor of secular studies explains why secularism doesn’t destroy moral order</b></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">William Barr image by U.S. Department of Justice</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Phil Zuckerman / Salon November 10, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last month, in what Jeffrey Toobin called “the worst speech given by an Attorney General of the United States in modern history,” Attorney General William Barr offered a lecture at Notre Dame Law School in which he denounced secularism as a “social pathology” that destroys the “moral order.</span>” After blaming secularists for a host of contemporary problems — including depression, drug overdosing, and violence — Barr explained that without belief in a “transcendent Supreme Being” and adherence to “God’s eternal law,” the “possibility of any healthy community life crumbles.” Unless we follow “God’s instruction manual,” he sermonized, there will be “real-world consequences for man and society” — consequences that are not pretty, but quite grim. For without religion, there can be no “moral culture” and society will inevitably fall prey to humanity’s “capacity for great evil.”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Such hackneyed assertions are not new. Pious people of power have been scapegoating the non-religious for centuries, characterizing non-believers as threats to the nation, and declaring that without religion, there can be no moral social order. And like those before him who have made such claims — from Newt Gingrich to the prophet Muhammed — William Barr is wrong.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">When lots of people in a given society stop being religious of their own accord, such organic secularization does not result in the evaporation of morality in society, nor national decay. For instance, the most secular countries in the world today fare much better on nearly every measure of peace, prosperity, and societal well-being — including infant mortality, life expectancy, educational attainment, economic prosperity, freedom, levels of corruption, and so forth — than the most religious countries. </span>In fact, those <b>countries with the highest murder rates — such as Jamaica, Honduras, Guatemala, Colombia, and Brazil — are extremely religious, while those countries with the lowest murder rates — such as Iceland, Canada, Slovenia, Norway, and the Netherlands — are among the most secular nations in the world</b>. Heck, Singapore and the Czech Republic are among the least religious nations on earth, while Brazil and the Philippines are among the most God-worshipping, yet the latter’s murder rates are over ten times higher than the former’s, and the crime rate of never-been-Christian, strongly secular Japan is 80 times lower than El Salvador’s, a Catholic nation neck-deep in worship of Barr’s “Supreme Transcendent Being.”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Similar correlations hold within our own country: on almost every measure of societal well-being — from poverty rates to STD rates to DUIs — the most secular states tend to fare the best, while the most religious tend to fare the worst.</span> <b>For example, among the states with the highest gun violence and murder rates, many are among the most religious — e.g., Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Arkansas — while among those with the lowest gun violence and murder rates, many are among the least religious states, such as New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, New York, Washington, Massachusetts, and Minnesota.</b></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, such correlations don’t prove that secularism causes these more positive outcomes experienced by less religious societies. But they do knock the knees out of Barr’s thesis that secularism is a destructive force. For if secularism resulted in moral deterioration, then highly secular societies would be decaying bastions of crime and misery, while the strongly religious would be shining beacons of liberty and harmony. But we find just the opposite reality: the nations with the best overall quality of life are among the most secular countries in the world. And while numerous factors account for the differing degrees of societal well-being — factors that have nothing to do with religion or secularism — that’s exactly the point. Societies thrive or fail because of their social policies, laws, economic opportunities, civil institutions, and government regulations — not because of their faith in God, or lack thereof.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Historical analysis is also relevant. The so-called “rise of the nones” has occurred over the last five decades, with both God-belief declining and the percentage Americans claiming no religious affiliation skyrocketing, from less than 5% up to 26% today. And yet, over the course of those same decades, America’s poverty rate has precipitously declined, and the national violent crime rate has gone down by 51%! Clearly, secularism isn’t the hindrance to moral social progress Barr would have us believe.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the individual level, while religiously-active people do volunteer and donate more money to charity than their secular peers — at least in the US, if not elsewhere — secular people are notably moral in other ways; they are, on average, less racist, less ethnocentric, less homophobic, less militaristic, less authoritarian, and less likely to hit their children than their religious peers; they are also more likely to support women’s equality, reproductive rights, sane gun control, death with dignity, animal welfare and efforts to fight climate change. Finally, atheists are significantly under-represented in prison.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>But how can secular people be moral if they don’t believe in God? Easy. Contrary to Barr’s perspective, morality did not start with the Bible. Human communities began constructing ethical codes of conduct long before the world’s major religions arrived on the scene</b>. And that’s because morality first developed during our long evolutionary past, when cooperation, honesty, and altruism increased group survival. Concomitantly, our brains long ago developed neurological pathways and peptides that enhanced our ability to be empathetic and compassionate — the two fundamental cornerstones of a moral orientation. We’ve also learned how to treat others through socialization and enculturation. And our innate ability to think, reflect, and reason has consistently led most of us to the basic, universal ethical principle that we ought to treat people the way we ourselves would like to be treated.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although religion preaches many moral precepts, it by no means holds a monopoly on them. Ethical life abounds well beyond the confines of church, Bible, and belief in gods. Those who actively scapegoat the secular as pathologically immoral are purposefully spreading fear, and division — and in so doing, violate the very moral orientation they claim to champion.</font></font></font></div></div><div><p style="text-align: left; margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></p></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/christian-leaders-lay-hands-on-and-pray-for-donald-trump-ahead-of-impeachment-vote/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/11/christian-leaders-lay-hands-on-and-pray-for-donald-trump-ahead-of-impeachment-vote/</font></a></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">n o lnx</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Christian leaders lay hands on and pray for Donald Trump ahead of impeachment vote</b></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by David Badash / The New Civil Rights Movement November 1, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald Trump’s evangelical Christian supporters laid hands on and prayed for the president this week in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, just days before the House of Representatives voted to pass impeachment inquiry procedures.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Among those in attendance, hate group head Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council; Former GOP Congresswoman and failed presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann; Fox News contributor, and anti-Muslim, anti-Catholic, and Judaism Dallas megachurch pastor Robert<b> Jeffress;</b> Focus On The Family and Family Research Council founder Dr. James Dobson; American Values President Gary Bauer; Prosperity Gospel pastor Paula White Cain; and others.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Christian Post reports Dr. Jeffress “told CBN News that the main purpose of the Roosevelt Room gathering was for Trump to inform the religious leaders of ‘the continuing, remarkable accomplishments of this administration — especially in areas that are important to evangelicals.’”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of the participants posted these tweets:</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Glad to visit with @realDonaldTrump to discuss how this administration is advancing conservative policies. It is clear to me the impeachment is less about the president and more about his pro-life, pro-family policies.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Official White House Photo by Joyce Boghosian) pic.twitter.com/MQScq3GKgF</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Tony Perkins (@tperkins) October 31, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A privilege to meet with & pray w/ @POTUS.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This week we discussed achievements like: criminal justice reform, defending religious freedom, reducing abortion, combatting the opioid crisis & trafficking, the end of ISIS & Baghdadi</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Official White House Photos by Joyce Boghosian) pic.twitter.com/m0VJnUS6jR</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Johnnie Moore ? (@JohnnieM) October 31, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I just had the great privilege to join other faith leaders at the White House to pray with President Trump. No President has done more to defend religious liberty! He is a bulwark against socialist/left.#realDonaldTrump #PrayerWarriors #GodBlessAmerica #GodBlessPresidentTrump</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Gary L Bauer (@GaryLBauer) October 30, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Enjoyed visiting with @VP Pence today</b> who gave permission to share that the “untold story” about the Al-Baghdadi raid was extent of @POTUS’s involvement in planning and executing the mission. America is blessed to have such a strong leader in President @realDonaldTrump!</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Dr. Robert Jeffress (@robertjeffress) October 28, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We had a great day @WhiteHouse with faith leaders. We talked & prayed with President @realDonaldTrump in the Roosevelt Room. I’m thankful that we are given the opportunity to discuss important policy issues and always the President ask us to lay hands on him and pray. pic.twitter.com/Jua6jouqgp</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>— Jentezen Franklin </b>(@Jentezen) October 29, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Honored to pray for @realDonaldTrump and our nation! Also discussed the many great accomplishments under the leadership of President Trump. He continues to work tirelessly on behalf of the American people</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(Official White House Photo by Joyce Boghosian) #prayer #potus #nation pic.twitter.com/rJ6ExahYXN</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Paula White-Cain (@Paula_White) October 31, 2019</font></font></font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/american-evangelicals-rejected-a-reality-based-world-so-trump-was-able-to-reshape-them-in-his-own-image"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/american-evangelicals-rejected-a-reality-based-world-so-trump-was-able-to-reshape-them-in-his-own-image</font></a></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><p style="text-align: left; : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hl. Mencken’s reputation has suffered in recent years as people have realized that his <a title="bigotry" href="https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2016/04/20/the-h-l-mencken-show/" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">bigotry</a> extended far beyond his famous contempt for Biblical literalists, but no one has revoked his reputation as a wordsmith. When he arrived in Dayton, Tennessee in 1925 to cover the Scopes “Monkey” Trial, he <a title="claimed" href="https://famous-trials.com/scopesmonkey/2132-menckenaccount" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">claimed</a> to be pleasantly surprised by the inhabitants:</font></font></font></p><blockquote style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;"><p style="text-align: left; : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">The town, I confess, greatly surprised me. I expected to find a squalid Southern village, with darkies snoozing on the horse blocks, pigs rooting under the houses and the inhabitants full of hookworm and malaria. What I found was a country town of charm and even beauty….</font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left; : border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But this didn’t mean he had any respect for their point of view on the teaching of evolution. Remarking on the influence of prosecuting lawyer <a ti="ti" he="he" has="has" these="these" hillbillies="hillbillies" locked="locked" up="up" in="in" his="his" pen="pen" and="and" knows="knows" it="it" brand="brand" is="is" on="on" them="them" at="at" home="home" among="among" since="Since" earliest="earliest" days="days" indeed="indeed" chief="chief" strength="strength" been="been" the="the" folk="folk" of="of" remote="remote" hills="hills" forlorn="forlorn" lonely="lonely" farms="farms" now="Now" with="with" political="political" aspirations="aspirations" all="all" gone="gone" to="to" pot="pot" turns="turns" for="for" religious="religious" consolations="consolations" they="they" understand="understand" peculiar="peculiar" imbecilities="imbecilities" nonsense="nonsense" their="their" ideal="ideal" sense="sense" when="When" deluges="deluges" theologic="theologic" bilge="bilge" rejoice="rejoice" like="like" pilgrims="pilgrims" disporting="disporting" river="river" jordan="Jordan" other="other" words="words" donald="Donald" trump="Trump" not="not" first="first" american="American" politician="politician" hold="hold" folks="folks" thrall="thrall" but="But" former="former" bush="Bush" speechwriter="speechwriter" nbsp="nbsp" /><a title="Michael Gerson" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/evangelicals-have-been-reshaped-into-the-image-of-trump-himself/2019/10/28/f37f5154-f9c0-11e9-ac8c-8eced29ca6ef_story.html" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Michael Gerson</a>, Trump’s influence is far more problematic. His most recent concern arose after he spent some time perusing the results in the Public Religion Research Institute’s <a title="2019 American Values Survey" href="https://www.prri.org/research/fractured-nation-widening-partisan-polarization-and-key-issues-in-2020-presidential-elections/" target="_blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">2019 American Values Survey</a> and discovered some things that trouble him.</font></font></font></p><blockquote style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; font-style: italic; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;"><p style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Republicans who are WEPs [white evangelical protestants] are the most likely group to say that immigrants are invading America and changing its culture. More than 90 percent of WEPs favor more restrictive immigration policies. They support the policy of family separation at the border more strongly than other religious groups and more strongly than Americans as a whole.</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">How have we come to the point that American evangelicals are significantly crueler in their attitude toward migrant children than the national norm? The answer is simple enough. Rather than shaping President Trump’s agenda in Christian ways, they have been reshaped into the image of Trump himself.</font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here are some more findings that make Gerson uncomfortable:</font></font></font></p><div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-4" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="lightbox-inline-form-b00052c7-64de-4049-944f-8160479112fb" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 10px 20px 10px 24px; position: relative; line-height: 1.7; overflow: hidden; background: rgb(245, 245, 245); border: none !important;"><p class="font--body font-copy color-gray-darkest ma-0 pad-bottom-md undefined" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">According to the PRRI poll, nearly two-thirds of WEPs deny that Trump has damaged the dignity of his office. Ponder that a moment. Well over half of this group is willing to deny a blindingly obvious, entirely irrefutable, manifestly clear reality because it is perceived as being critical of their leader. Forty-seven percent of WEPs say that Trump’s behavior makes no difference to their support. Thirty-one percent say there is almost nothing that Trump could do to forfeit their approval. This is preemptive permission for any violation of the moral law or the constitutional order. It is not support; it is obeisance.</font></font></font></p><p class="font--body font-copy color-gray-darkest ma-0 pad-bottom-md undefined" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.7;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">An extraordinary 99 percent of Republican WEPs oppose the impeachment and removal of the president — which probably puts me in the smallest political minority I have ever had the honor of occupying.</font></font></font></p></blockquote><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the Scopes Trial, William Jennings Bryan’s political heyday was behind him. He had tried and failed three times to become the president of the United States, and he would ultimately die six days after the conclusion of the case. But, for Mencken, he was still a powerful and charismatic spokesman who commanded the obeisance of his followers:...
...;that President Donald Trump is a modern-day Neville Chamberlain for abandoning Syria, predicting that though he’ll be re-elected in 2020, America will find itself struggling to survive as the nation fights off attacks from Russia, China, North Korea, and Turkey.</font></font></font></p><li style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-bottom: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ted Baehr <a href="https://onenewsnow.com/culture/2019/10/23/anti-trump-poetry-reveals-actors-disconnect-with-middle-america" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">knows</a> why Hollywood dislikes Trump: <span class="spanwrap nopad" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">“He’s one of the last bulwarks to say we need religion, we need faith, we need values.”</span></font></font></font></li><li style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-bottom: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rick Wiles <a href="https://youtu.be/nkmlvQBzED8?t=741" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">says</a> that “America is a military occupied country” that is under “Israeli-Zionist control.”</font></b></font></font></li><li style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-bottom: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="css-901oao css-16my406 r-1qd0xha r-ad9z0x r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wayne Allyn Root is <a href="https://twitter.com/RightWingWatch/status/1187453062002200577" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">threatening</a> to move to Utah to run for the Senate because “Mike Lee and Mitt Romney are frauds” and “Democrat assets.”</font></span></font></font></li><li style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-bottom: 1em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Finally, Dave Kubal <a href="https://www.ifapray.org/blog/why-is-ifa-always-on-trumps-side/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">explains</a> why evangelicals continue to support Trump: “When I see<b> clear demonic activity</b>—arbitrary distortions of processes, illegal leaking of information, and known evil sources being utilized—my discernment tells me this activity is a demonic attack on someone being used to accomplish God’s purposes. The watchman watches for God’s activity, and also the enemy’s.”...>Ted Baehr<a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/wayne-allyn-root/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Wayne Allyn Root</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/leftovers/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Leftovers</a><a href="https://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/intercessors-for-america/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Intercessors for America</a></font></font></font></li></div></div></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">=</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">omg</font></font></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/mike-pompeos-state-department-homepage-advocates-being-a-christian-leader/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/mike-pompeos-state-department-homepage-advocates-being-a-christian-leader/</font></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Mike Pompeo’s State Department homepage advocates ‘being a Christian leader’</b></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by David Badash / The New Civil Rights Movement October 14, 2019</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The website of the U.S, Department of State currently features a photograph of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the words, “Being a Christian Leader.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The link on the State Dept. homepage goes to a video and the text of Pompeo’s speech to the American Association of Christian Counselors in Nashville, Tennessee on October 11.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Is separation of church and state dead?</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The website of the U.S, Department of State currently features a photograph of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the words, “Being a Christian Leader.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The link on the State Dept. homepage goes to a video and the text of Pompeo’s speech to the American Association of Christian Counselors in Nashville, Tennessee on October 11.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Secretary Pompeo’s speech focuses on how he leads the Dept. of State as a devout Christian. He says he keeps a Bible open on his desk and refers to it during the day.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That in its self would not be exceptionally disturbing except that Pompeo, an evangelical Christian, has said the Bible “informs everything I do.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">He has said it’s “possible,” when asked if <b>God made Trump president “to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace.”</b></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And he has said the wars in the Middle East are a “never-ending struggle” until “the rapture.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Here’s how The New York Times explained Pompeo’s biblical views just this past March:</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Studies show that white evangelicals are much more likely than other Americans to believe that Israel fulfills a biblical prophecy. Known as Christian Zionists, they believe God promised the land to the Jews, and that the gathering of Jews in Israel is foretold in the prophecy of the rapture — the ascent of Christians into the kingdom of God.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Pompeo talks about the rapture. “We will continue to fight these battles,” he said at a “God and Country Rally” in 2015, because there is a “never-ending struggle” until “the rapture.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An L.A. Times opinion piece, referring to those remarks, said Pompeo “has his eye on an End Times cleansing.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The State Dept. advertised Pompeo’s speech and even broadcast it live on the State Dept.’s website:</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On October 11, @SecPompeo addresses the 2019 American Association of Christian Counselors World Conference in Nashville. Watch live on https://t.co/58Uc9lIgDz or https://t.co/O2lYyHUIHa at 12:00 PM EDT/ 11:00 AM CDT. pic.twitter.com/Ns5e0TyBXa</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Department of State (@StateDept) October 11, 2019</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A few responses via Twitter:</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Why are Republicans such as William Barr “willing to destroy the norms of both justice &… democracy…? To this observer, it seems it is the overwhelming desire to impose…a theocratic cultural agenda coupled w/ a..brand of capitalism rapidly devolving into a new feudalism.</span>” https://t.co/NwJQu8g92R</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Jennifer Cohn (@jennycohn1) October 14, 2019</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Holy Hell. This is the home page of https://t.co/sfyrXv8tpo. pic.twitter.com/FsE3IJBPlf</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Derek DelGaudio (@derek_del) October 14, 2019</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Once again, anybody want to dispute my suggestion of an “evangelical caliphate?”https://t.co/hcdYOIZoHq</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— I.M Hydrogen (@ChuckGore2) October 14, 2019</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">separation of church and state uh what https://t.co/uJL0tHlEx5 pic.twitter.com/UIRjsGZzco</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— James K. Yu (@jyu_pdx) October 14, 2019</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The home page of the State Department right now. If you believe in the separation of church and state, make sure you leave them a comment. https://t.co/bgEKT4oI0a pic.twitter.com/jOCet0avnh</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Juliana Aldous (@jaldous) October 14, 2019</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What fresh hell is this?? I do not want religion in my government and I do not want the government in my religion. Separation of church and state protects both. https://t.co/FQdXxdfURW</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">— Carly B (@carly__bird) October 14, 2019</font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div></div><div><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> =</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">catholic?</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/god-help-us-nobel-laureate-paul-krugman-explains-how-trump-and-barr-are-using-religious-bigotry-to-distract-from-presidents-unsuitability-for-high-office/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/god-help-us-nobel-laureate-paul-krugman-explains-how-trump-and-barr-are-using-religious-bigotry-to-distract-from-presidents-unsuitability-for-high-office/</font></a></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>‘God help us’: Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman explains how Trump and Barr are using ‘religious bigotry’ to distract from president’s ‘unsuitability for high office’</b></font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Alex Henderson October 16, 2019</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald Trump’s presidency has brought one scandal after another, and this week, he is coping with a growing impeachment inquiry as well as widespread criticism over his decision to withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria and abandon the United States’ Kurdish allies. But according to liberal economist and veteran New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, Trump has a way of coping with multiple scandals — resorting to “religious bigotry” — and he is doing it with the help of Attorney General William Barr.</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Last week, Krugman notes, Barr gave a “fiery speech” at the Notre Dame University Law School in which he railed against “militant secularists” who are out to destroy the “traditional moral order” and are to blame for everything from violence to drug addiction in the United States. And according to Krugman, such speeches are meant to distract Americans from Trump’s corruption.</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Pardon my cynicism, but I seriously doubt that Barr, whose boss must be the least godly man ever to occupy the White House, has suddenly realized to his horror that America is becoming more secular,” Krugman asserts. “No, this outburst of God-talk is surely a response to the way the walls are closing in on Trump — the high likelihood that he will be impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors.”</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump, Krugman writes, is “taking shelter behind bigotry — racial, of course, but now, religious as well.”</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Krugman emphasizes:</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump’s response to his predicament has been to ramp up the ugliness in an effort to rally his base. The racism has gotten even more explicit, the paranoia about the deep state more extreme. But who makes up Trump’s base? The usual answer is working-class whites, but a deeper dive into the data suggests that it’s more specific: it’s really evangelical working-class whites who are staying with Trump despite growing evidence of his malfeasance and unsuitability for high office.</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Not only was Barr’s speech at Notre Dame a cynical effort to shelter Trump from all the terrible headlines that have come from the Ukraine scandal, Krugman writes — it was also horribly misleading in its critique of secular societies. The Times journalist explains, “Barr’s claim that secularism is responsible for violence happens to be empirically verifiable nonsense.”</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">No matter how much Trump and Barr play the Culture War card, Krugman stresses, the Ukraine scandal won’t be any less repulsive.</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The efforts of Trump’s henchmen to use the specter of secularism to distract people from their boss’ sins probably won’t work,” Krugman asserts. “But I could be wrong. And if I am wrong — if religious bigotry turns out to be a winning strategy — all I can say is, God help us.”</font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div><p class="yiv0050581985headline3" style="text-align: left; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click1.e.alternet.org/fhbrncytyfqwqnllwbhyywyllbwltjgprfyqhdcsjsgd_cqhdtmqmftcjthlpcqh.html?a=&b=1717&c=21989&d=2" style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Trump’s support by far-right white evangelicals seemed unshakable — but that was before he turned his back on Kurdish allies</font></a></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; font-style: italic; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald Trump has been wildly popular among far-right white…</font></font></font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">'<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/losing-the-mandate-of-heaven-how-trump-betrayed-the-court-evangelicals/" style="font-family: " open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" border-box="border-box" outline="outline" none="none" margin="margin" px="px" padding="padding" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" color="color" transition="transition" all="all" s="s" ease="ease" cursor="cursor" pointer="pointer" display="display" inline="inline" important="important" font-size="font-size" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" line-height="line-height">Losing the mandate of heaven’: How Trump betrayed the court evangelicals</a></font></font></font></div><div class="mag-header" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/nancy-letourneau/" title="Posts by Nancy LeTourneau" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Nancy LeTourneau</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/washington-monthly/" title="Posts by Washington Monthly" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Washington Monthly</a></font></span></font></font></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The people that have been most loyal to Donald Trump are the court evangelicals and their followers. While that support hasn’t completely ruptured, it has been strained by the president’s decision to…</font></font></font></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/fundamentalism-turns-100-a-landmark-for-the-christian-right/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/fundamentalism-turns-100-a-landmark-for-the-christian-right/</font></a></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fundamentalism turns 100: A landmark for the Christian right</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, Wikipedia</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by The Conversation October 8, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These days, the term “fundamentalism” is often associated with a militant form of Islam.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the original fundamentalist movement was actually Christian. And it was born in the United States a century ago this year.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Protestant fundamentalism is still very much alive. And, as Susan Trollinger and I discuss in our 2016 book, it has fueled today’s culture war over gender, sexual orientation, science and American religious identity.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Roots of Fundamentalism</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Christian fundamentalism has roots in the 19th century, when Protestants were confronted by two challenges to traditional understandings of the Bible.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Throughout the century, scholars increasingly evaluated the Bible as a historical text. In the process they raised questions about its divine origins, given its seeming inconsistencies and errors.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In addition, Charles Darwin’s 1859 book “On the Origin of Species” – which laid out the theory of evolution by natural selection – raised profound questions about the Genesis account of creation.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many American Protestants easily squared their Christian faith with these ideas. Others were horrified.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservative theologians responded by developing the doctrine of biblical inerrancy. Inerrancy asserts that the Bible is errorless and factually accurate in everything it says – including about science.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This doctrine became the theological touchstone of fundamentalism. Alongside inerrancy emerged a system of ideas, called apocalyptic or “dispensational premillennialism.”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Adherents of these ideas hold that reading the Bible literally – particularly the Book of Revelation – reveals that history will end soon with a ghastly apocalypse.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">All those who are not true Christians will be slaughtered. In the wake of this violence, Christ will establish God’s millennial kingdom on Earth.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Setting the stage</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A series of Bible and prophecy conferences spread these ideas to thousands of Protestants across the United States in the late 19th century.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But two early 20th-century publications were particularly key to their dissemination.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The first was author Cyrus Scofield’s 1909 Reference Bible. Scofield’s Bible included an overwhelming set of footnotes emphasizing that the errorless Bible predicts a violent end of history which only true Christians will survive.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The second was “The Fundamentals,” 12 volumes published between 1910 and 1915 which made the case for biblical inerrancy while simultaneously attacking socialism and affirming capitalism.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Fundamentals” provided the name of the future religious movement. But there was not yet a fundamentalist movement.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That came after World War I.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The birth of the Fundamentalist Movement</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After Woodrow Wilson’s April 1917 declaration of war on Germany, the government mobilized a huge propaganda campaign designed to demonize the Germans as barbarous Huns who threatened Western civilization. Many conservative Protestants traced Germany’s devolution into depravity to its embrace of Darwinism and de-emphasis of the Bible’s divine origins.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Six months after the war’s end, William Bell Riley – pastor of Minneapolis’ First Baptist Church and a well-known speaker on the Bible’s prophecies regarding the end of history – organized and presided over the World’s Conference on Christian Fundamentals in Philadelphia.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This five-day May 1919 meeting attracted over 6,000 people and an all-star lineup of conservative Protestant speakers. It produced the World’s Christian Fundamentals Association, which birthed a movement that influences American political and social life today.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In summer and fall of 1919 Riley sent teams of speakers to spread the fundamentalist word across the U.S. In addition to promoting biblical inerrancy and apocalyptic premillennialism, they attacked socialism and Darwinism.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Soon, Riley and his newly minted fundamentalists began trying to capture control of major Protestant denominations and eliminate the teaching of Darwinian evolution from American public schools.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The anti-evolution crusade had some success in the South. Five states passed laws banning the theory of evolution from classrooms.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In March 1925 Tennessee made it illegal to teach “that man has descended from a lower order of animals.” Four months later a science teacher named John Scopes was tried and convicted of violating the statute.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fundamentalism after Scopes</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though the Scopes Trial brought ridicule by the national media, fundamentalism did not wither away.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Instead, it continued to advance during the 20th century. And it remained remarkably consistent in its central commitments of biblical inerrancy, apocalyptic premillennialism, creationism and patriarchy – the idea that women are to submit to male authority in church and home.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fundamentalists also embraced political conservatism. This commitment grew more intense as the 20th century progressed.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fundamentalists despised President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. They saw welfare to the poor and increased taxes on the rich as an indefensible expansion of government powers.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When the Cold War brought the United States into conflict with the Soviet Union, their concerns about the all-encompassing, anti-Christian state intensified.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then came the 1960s and 1970s.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fundamentalists bitterly opposed the civil rights and feminist movements, the Supreme Court’s rulings prohibiting school-sponsored prayer and affirming a woman’s right to an abortion, and President Lyndon Johnson’s programs that sought to eliminate poverty and racial injustice.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fundamentalists go political</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Understanding Christian America to be under deadly assault, in the late 1970s these politically conservative fundamentalists began to organize.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The emergent Christian Right attached itself to the Republican Party, which was more aligned with its members’ central commitments than the Democrats.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the vanguard was Baptist preacher Jerry Falwell Sr. His “Moral Majority” sought to make America Christian again by electing “pro-family, pro-life, pro-Bible morality” candidates.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since the 1980s, the movement has become increasingly sophisticated. Christian Right organizations like Focus on the Family and Concerned Women of America push for laws that reflect the fundamentalist views on everything from abortion to sexual orientation.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By the time Falwell died, in 2007, the Christian Right had become the most important constituency in the Republican Party. It played a crucial role in electing Donald Trump in 2016.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">After one century, Protestant fundamentalism is still very much alive in America. William Bell Riley, I wager, would be pleased.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">William Trollinger (with co-author Susan Trollinger) is the author of: Righting America at the Creation Museum.The Conversation</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Johns Hopkins University Press provides funding as a member of The Conversation US.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">William Trollinger, Professor of History, University of Dayton.</font></font></font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/these-right-wing-evangelicals-are-frantically-rushing-to-trumps-defense-as-impeachment-moves-along/"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2019/10/these-right-wing-evangelicals-are-frantically-rushing-to-trumps-defense-as-impeachment-moves-along/</font></a></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These right-wing evangelicals are frantically rushing to Trump’s defense as impeachment moves along</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Franklin Graham/Wikimedia Commons</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Alex Henderson October 4, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To critics of President Donald Trump — whether they’re liberals and progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Elizabeth Warren or right-wing Never Trump conservatives such as MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and GOP strategists Rick Wilson and Ana Navarro — an impeachment inquiry is an example of the United States’ checks and balances system at work. But to the Christian Right, an impeachment inquiry on the part of House Democrats amounts to an attempted coup d’etat. Trump, regardless of his blatant corruption, is still quite popular among far-right Christian fundamentalists — who have been rushing to his defense and sounding very melodramatic in the process. The fact that Trump, during a July 25 phone conversation, tried to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky into investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden is irrelevant to Trump’s Christian Right supporters. And no matter how much information comes out about Trump’s July 25 conversation with Zelensky, they are unwavering in that support.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here are some far-right white evangelicals who have been warning that if Trump’s impeachment continues, there will be hell to pay.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">ADVERTISING</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">1. Robert Jeffress</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Robert Jeffress, pastor of a Southern Baptist megachurch in Dallas and a prominent activist on the Christian Right, would no doubt have been crying out for vengeance if a Democratic president had asked a foreign president to dig up dirt on a political rival and offered military aid as the reward for doing so. But to fanatics like Jeffress, Trump was sent by God Himself to help the far-right white evangelical movement. And when Jeffress appeared on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” on Sunday, September 29, he warned, “I do want to make this prediction this morning: if the Democrats are successful in removing the president from office, I’m afraid it will cause a Civil War-like fracture in this nation from which this country will never heal.”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Trump irresponsibly repeated Jeffress’ rhetoric on Twitter, and the well-armed militia group the Oath Keepers — responding to Trump’s tweet — posted, “We ARE on the verge of a HOT civil war. Like in 1859. That’s where we are. And the Right has ZERO trust or respect for anything the left is doing. We see THEM as illegitimate too.”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald J. Trump</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@realDonaldTrump</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> · Sep 29, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Replying to @realDonaldTrump</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">....Election, and negate the votes of millions of Evangelicals in the process. They know the only Impeachable offense that President Trump has committed was beating Hillary Clinton in 2016. That’s the unpardonable sin for which the Democrats will never forgive him.....</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald J. Trump</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@realDonaldTrump</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">....If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.” Pastor Robert Jeffress, @FoxNews</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">75K</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">6:11 PM - Sep 29, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">65.4K people are talking about this</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oath Keepers</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@Oathkeepers</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Here’s the money quote from that thread. This is the truth. This is where we are. We ARE on the verge of a HOT civil war. Like in 1859. That’s where we are. And the Right has ZERO trust or respect for anything the left is doing. We see THEM as illegitimate too.@StewartRhodesOK https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1178477539653771264 …</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Donald J. Trump</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@realDonaldTrump</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Replying to @realDonaldTrump</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">....If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.” Pastor Robert Jeffress, @FoxNews</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">181</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">10:59 PM - Sep 29, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Twitter Ads info and privacy</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">923 people are talking about this</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">2. Franklin Graham</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Franklin Graham, son of the late Billy Graham and an ardent Trump supporter, is insisting that House Democrats are pushing for impeachment because they refuse to accept the results of the 2016 presidential election — a tired GOP talking point. In an early October interview with the Religious News Service, Graham warned, “Our country could begin to unravel if an elected president is thrown out of office because of lies and the media. It could be a devastating thing.”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Graham has no problem with Trump offering a foreign leader military aid in exchange for dirt on Joe Biden and Hunter Biden — an action so egregious that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after months of being the Democratic Party’s most prominent impeachment opponent, finally changed her mind.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This is nothing about nothing,” Graham insisted during the interview. “It’s just a huge distraction. The Democratic Party has refused to accept that (Trump) won the election. All the media and the polls showed he was going to lose, and he won. He should be treated fairly, and he hasn’t been.”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3. Tony Perkins</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, was very pro-impeachment when Barack Obama was president and attacked a GOP-controlled House for not impeaching him. But Perkins, a staunch Trump supporter, is singing a very different tune now that a GOP president is facing an impeachment inquiry. Interviewed on the Family Research Council’s “Washington Watch” radio program recently, Perkins warned that impeachment against Trump “does damage to our system of government that, quite frankly, may never be fixed.”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On a recent blog post, Perkins wrote, “If you want to remove Donald Trump from office, do it the old-fashioned way: win an election.” But when Obama was president in 2014, Perkins criticized the GOP-controlled House for being “too fearful, too politically-minded to impeach this president.” So much for Perkins accepting the presidential election results of 2008 and 2012.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">4. Jack Graham</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For decades, the Christian Right have been insisting that they have a mandate from God to govern the United States — and even though Trump, according to his former attorney and fixer Michael Cohen, allegedly had extramarital affairs with an adult film star (Stormy Daniels) and a Playboy model (Karen McDougal) and paid them hush money to keep quiet, they view Trump as a staunch ally. One of Trump’s buffoonish white evangelical defenders is Jack Graham, pastor of the Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas and a member of Trump’s Religious Advisory Council.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Graham (who formerly served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention) appeared to be weighing in on impeachment and the Ukraine scandal when, on September 29, he tweeted, “When it’s all said and done in this current political attack from the leftists socialists,,,,,, God rules over the affairs of man and government. Who is on the Lord’s side?”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jack Graham was drawing a line in the sand: good Christians oppose Trump’s impeachment, heathens and heretics support it.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Jack Graham</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">?</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">@jackngraham</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When it’s all said and done in this current political attack from the leftists socialists,,,,,,God rules over the affairs of man and government. Who is on the Lord’s side?</font></font></font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">==</span></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a title="Christian pastors praise Trump for speech on ‘religious persecution’ — and ditching UN Summit on ‘imaginary’ climate crisis" href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/christian-pastors-praise-trump-for-speech-on-religious-persecution-and-ditching-un-summit-on-imaginary-climate-crisis/">Christian pastors praise Trump for speech on ‘religious persecution’ — and ditching UN Summit on ‘imaginary’ climate crisis</a></font></font></font></h3><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two well-known Christian pastors appeared on “<a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/?s=Fox+Friends" target="blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Fox & Friends</strong></a>”
Monday morning to praise President Donald Trump’s decision to deliver a
speech Monday at the United Nations on “religious persecution” – while
snubbing a climate change summit to do so.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hate ground head <a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/?s=Tony+Perkins" target="blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Tony Perkins</strong></a> was joined by <a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/?s=Robert+Jeffress" target="blank" rel="noopener"><strong>Dr. Robert Jeffress</strong></a>,
a Fox News contributor who had plenty of praise for the President. Both
men are among America’s top anti-LGBTQ activists and both are closely
tied to Trump and his administration.</font></p><div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-2">
</div>
<p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dr. Jeffress called climate change an “imaginary problem” while
heralding Trump’s “guts” for ignoring today’s UN summit on the crisis.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This is the first time any leader of a nation has addressed the UN
on religious persecution,” Jeffress said excitedly. “A third of the
world is living under religious persecution. 80 percent of it is against
Christians,” Jeffress claimed. “It is a remarkable thing that this
president would skip a UN climate change summit on an imaginary problem
to address the very real problem of global persecution of believers.”</font></p><div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-4">
</div>
<p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I mean, think about it: what president in history would have the
guts to do what President Trump is doing?” Jeffress asked, laughing
because, he said, “it’s absolutely infuriating” Trump’s “enemies” while
“energizing his base.”</font></p></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mayor pete scolds evang, calls for leftist xian?</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">mirroring?</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/prodding-the-irreligious-left-to-vote-if-atheists-and-agnostics-participated-more-strongly-in-elections-americas-moral-climate-would-improve/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/prodding-the-irreligious-left-to-vote-if-atheists-and-agnostics-participated-more-strongly-in-elections-americas-moral-climate-would-improve/</a></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Prodding the irreligious left to vote: If atheists and agnostics participated more strongly in elections, America’s moral climate would improve</b></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Common Dreams<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>September 9, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Progressives hope for an America where healthcare is a human right for everyone—and women’s right to choose remains secure—and gays are safe from cruelty—and people of all sorts are welcome equally in a multicultural society—and college is affordable without crushing debt—and marijuana no longer brings jail terms—and safety measures curb gun massacres—and sensible steps to reduce global warming—and hidebound religion isn’t forced onto unwilling people—and extreme incarceration doesn’t outstrip the rest of the world—and science prevails over superstition—etc., etc.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The best way to attain these advances is to boost voting by the swelling ranks of young Americans who say their religion is “none.” More than any other population segment, “nones” tend to have liberal, tolerant, humanistic, modern views.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">If they could be induced to participate more strongly in elections, America’s moral climate would improve. But there’s the rub: churchless Americans often don’t vote. They shun politics as much as they shun supernatural religion. So their potential power lags.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In contrast, white evangelicals—although fading—are intense voters who form the core of the Republican Party. These fundamentalists have shrunk to just 15 percent of the population (down from 20 in 2012), yet they’re so politically active they provided 26 percent of the 113 million votes cast in the 2018 election. Three-to-one, they supported GOP candidates.</b></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But figures for the nonreligious are sad: They’ve climbed to one-fourth of the adult population, but they were just 17 percent of 2018 voters. Almost three-to-one, they backed Democratic candidates. It’s too bad their turnout was so poor.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>American politics reveals a travesty among white evangelicals. Jesus actually was a liberal who taught followers to help the poor, heal the sick, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, uplift the underdog, etc. His “social gospel” matches the public safety net supported by left-leaning Democrats. But white evangelicals overwhelmingly back the GOP, which tries to slash the safety net. In effect, they oppose Jesus.</b></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even worse, those fundamentalists laud President Trump, a much-divorced vulgarian whose view of women was expressed in his notorious “grab ’em by the pussy” recording. It’s ludicrous for people calling themselves Christian to rally behind such a crass leader, and help his party hurt less-privileged families.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What can be done to persuade more “nones” to vote, to counter the overblown political power of white evangelicals? Could America’s widespread secular movement unite in a get-out-the-vote drive?</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some efforts alreay are afoot. The Secular Coalition for America operates Secular Values Voter, publicizing the rising power of the irreligious. Similarly, other groups support Secular America Votes, which declares:</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Showing politicians that atheists, agnostics, freethinkers and other secular people are a powerful (and growing) voting bloc requires getting out the vote and demonstrating that we are a force to be reckoned with at election time.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But this isn’t enough, because the secular turnout remains weak. The ratio of “none” voters doubled from 8 percent in 2002, but they still fail to vote in full force.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Atheist Alliance International President Gail Miller wrote:</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There are 1.2 billion religiously unaffiliated people in the world…. more than there are Hindus. The sad fact is that atheists punch well below their weight…. Atheists love to exchange memes and engage in online discussions, but precious few of us do more….</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When religious folk have a cause, they mobilize. They have established leadership, they get organized and they get out and help and donate generously. But we are keyboard warriors. The hard truth is: religious folk are better at this than we are.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">During the 2018 campaign, the fundamentalist Faith & Freedom Coalition of Ralph Reed spent $18 million “to micro-target 125 million social conservative voters across 19 different states through door-to-door interactions, digital ads, phone calls and mailers,” The Christian Post reported. The Family Research Council and Watchmen on the Wall mobilized thousands of born-again pastors to push their congregations for the GOP. The New York Times called this blitz “God’s Red Army.”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Obviously, secular groups can’t spend $18 million on electioneering. But they need to do more.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Could many freethought organizations team up to appoint a volunteer task force to plan low-cost get-out-the-vote tactics for 2020 and beyond? One tactic might consist of a rousing message to be e-mailed to hundreds of skeptic outfits, who could send it to their member lists—and the members could resend it to like-minded friends.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Democratic Party itself should launch an effort to mobilize the churchless as a large potential progressive voting bloc. David Niose of the American Humanist Association helped the Massachusetts Democratic Party pass a resolution praising the irreligious, saying: “The ‘nones’ are a group that, as much as any other, advocates for rational public policy based on sound science and universal humanistic values.”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Why can’t the entire Democratic Party see the looming power of this growing cohort?</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It isn’t easy to corral “nones,” because they aren’t gathered in well-marked congregations like white evangelicals. They’re free spirits, scattered almost invisible through society.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">However, America’s future will be brighter if more of the churchless can be induced to wield the power of the ballot.</font></font></font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/what-megachurches-tell-us-about-evangelicals">https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/what-megachurches-tell-us-about-evangelicals</a></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>What megachurches tell us about evangelicals</b></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Ashlie D. Stevens / Salon September 2, 2019</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Brother pastors?” Kelvin Gemstone (Adam Devine) says as he smiles to a group of four men waiting in his church lobby. He leads them into the auditorium, a massive structure that looks more like an NBA arena, packed with navy blue folding chairs, flanked by two-story balconies.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“How many do you pack in here on Sundays?” asks one of the nameless pastors trailing Kelvin. He replies, “Honestly, I can’t even count.”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Finally, the group reaches the pulpit, but you wouldn’t really know it. There is no religious iconography: no crosses, no saints, no stained glass. The only hint that this is a church is the lectern — a sleek, glass number that glistens under the stage lights.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This auditorium, which is revealed about 15 minutes into the first episode of the <b>new HBO comedy “The Righteous Gemstones,</b>” is an obvious metaphor for the main point of contention in the series: the performative nature of the Gemstones’ gospel, preached by a dynastic family of televangelists (John Goodman and Danny McBride, alongside Devine) who are increasingly obsessed with glitz and excess.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The show doesn’t place the characters inside the church all that often — which, as I wrote about in my earlier review of the series, is a weak point — but the details of the physical space help tell the story: bland walls, back hallways that look like the corridors that maze through the basement of stadium venue, the lobby devoid of any depiction of Christ (though there is a coffee stand).</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Gemstone church is striking in its lifelessness, especially when compared to the houses of worship overseen by the small-town “Brother Pastors,” who all run churches in nearby Locust Grove. These men are concerned that the planned Gemstone satellite campus will cut into their attendance and kill their churches; the Gemstones don’t care, though they do visit the church of Johnny Seasons — a country church complete with wooden pews and a modest white steeple.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the architectural design of the Gemstone Foundation Center is actually pretty common when surveying the Christian landscape today, especially considering how evangelical megachurches have grown — in volume as well as literal size — over the last 20 years.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">In the mid-’90s, mainstream publications began taking notice. As the New York Times’ Paul Goldberger wrote in “The Gospel of Church Architecture, Revised,” “The Gothic cathedral was designed to inspire awe and thoughts of transcendence. <b>Megachurches celebrate comfort, ease and the very idea of contemporary suburban life.”</b></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He continued: “This is ‘I’m O.K., you’re O.K.’ architecture: friendly and accessible, determined to banish the sense of mystery and otherworldliness that has long been at the very heart of the architecture of Christianity. If megachurches, sprawling structures that often resemble arenas or community centers, evoke any sense of wonder, it is over the notion that they are churches at all.”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He goes on to describe Willow Creek Community Church; at the time, the church was a single sprawling 352,000 square-foot structure located on 141 acres in South Barrington, Ill. Today, it averages 24,000 attendees each weekend at seven locations. Goldberger pointed out that from the road, it could double as a corporate headquarters or a prosperous junior college.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Within the church, there was a gym, fast-food counters and a spacious seating area<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">. </span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to Lee Strobel, one of Willow Creek’s founding pastors, he wanted the church to be more “user friendly” than buildings like London’s storied Sir Christopher Wren-designed St. Paul’s Cathedral.</span></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The lighting is bad, you can’t hear the guys up front, and it’s uncomfortable,” he said. “We wanted Willow Creek to be more functional.”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The idea being that non-denominational evangelicalism was not something that was separate from daily life, which is reflected in their architectural choices. This continues today, as captured by California-based photographer Lisa Anne Auerbach.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When Auerbach found out that of the 75% of Americans who identify as Christian, between 2 and 5 million regularly attend a megachurch, she was perplexed. To her knowledge, she had never seen a megachurch.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">She was wrong.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Most megachurches are located outside city centers, camouflaged into suburban sprawlscapes,” wrote Hyperallergic’s Carey Dunne in response to Auerbach’s photo collection. “Their architecture often mimics that of warehouses, shopping malls, or dome-shaped stadiums. Sometimes, the only thing distinguishing a megachurch from a defunct K-Mart is a spindly cross on its facade.”</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Auerbach traveled across Florida, Arizona, Michigan, Illinois, North Carolina, and South Carolina collecting images, and when surveying her work, the similarities between these structures become apparent. The predominant colors are white, gray and beige. With names like Life Changers International, Pilgrim Rest and Love International Ministries, the<b> churches look like big box stores.</b></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">To be fair, sometimes they are; as the Wall Street Journal reported in 2017, “for some struggling malls, churches offer second life.” At least 111 malls and open-air centers now have churches in them</span>, according to an analysis of August 2017 data from the Directory of Major Malls, which tracks 8,200 retail centers in the U.S.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>This potentially unsettling blend of capitalism and Christianity is on full display in “The Righteous Gemstones,” as well.</b> The satellite campus that threatens the livelihoods of the Locust Grove pastors? It’s located in an abandoned Sears, pastored by Baby Billy Freeman ( played by Walton Goggins, with all the smarmy swagger of a Southern televangelist preacher). While people wander the mall with their Orange Julius and try on new sneakers, a flock of congregants sings “Amazing Grace” behind closed doors.</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Through her work, Auerbach put her finger on a trend embodied in this particular flavor of religious architecture. “Notre Dame is a cathedral in the center of the city,” she told the Guardian. “Whereas these churches, although they’re very powerful, are hidden.” They’re camouflaged in the places you’d least expect to find them, much like the corruption and sin that the Gemstone family is frantically trying to conceal.</font></font></font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">blast from the past/ roots?</font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Tom Delay: "biblical worldview" </b> ( RFK 30) TDelay: DDT</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div 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</div><div style="text-align: left;">as safe as aspirin", ~ESA; Columbine because schools teach evolution.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
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</div><div style="text-align: left;">1/95 Delay?) invites 350 lobbyists to dismantle regs 30 learned from Watt</div><div style="text-align: left;">disaster PR, so plant tree foto op and used free mkt rhet to hide; Luntz</div><div style="text-align: left;">did PR (wrote Contract for Am[Armey?]) snuck riders on key bills, "supermandate"</div><div style="text-align: left;">regulatory reform, ~ unfunded mandates etc but PIRG etc caught them, 1</div><div style="text-align: left;">mil signatires, so moderate gop opposed; after gov't shutdown Newt lost public</div><div style="text-align: left;">support. TD: “we lost the debate on the environment" (how?)</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/trumps-new-labor-rule-would-allow-massive-discrimination-by-for-profit-companies-broadest-protection-of-religious-exercise/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/trumps-new-labor-rule-would-allow-massive-discrimination-by-for-profit-companies-broadest-protection-of-religious-exercise/</a></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Trump’s new labor rule would allow massive discrimination by for-profit companies: ‘Broadest protection of religious exercise’</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Written by David Badash / The New Civil Rights Movement<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>August 15, 2019</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">President Donald Trump’s Labor Department on Wednesday announced a new rule that not only would codify the “right” to discriminate into practice, but would help corporations do so. The new rule applies to federal contractors, who employ up to one quarter of all employees. As NCRM reported earlier, it would allow any company, corporation, or organization with a federal contract that claims it is either religious or faith-based or follows any sort of belief system – so-called “religion-exercising organizations” – to discriminate based on those beliefs.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The word “religion” appears 241 times in the 46-page draft document.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">The draft rule says “religious employers can condition employment on acceptance of or adherence</div><div style="text-align: left;">to religious tenets,” and “should be construed to provide the broadest protection of religious exercise permitted by the Constitution and other laws.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The ACLU calls it ” taxpayer-funded discrimination in the name of religion. Period.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Buzzfeed calls it “Trump’s latest move to let religious people sidestep civil rights policies,” and says it allows federal contractors to “cite religious objections as a valid reason to discriminate against their workers on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sex, LGBTQ status, and other characteristics.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The new rule would not apply only to, say, churches, Catholic hospitals, or even a privately-held company like Hobby Lobby – if Hobby Lobby were a federal contractor. It would allow discrimination at literally any federal contractor that can show it has a “religious purpose,” but makes clear: “This need not be the contractor’s only purpose.”</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The National Center for Transgender Equality says the new rule “would allow federal contractors to apply for broad exemptions to civil rights law after engaging in discriminatory behavior, including firing or refusing to hire someone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. It could also lead to federal contractors refusing to hire women or unmarried workers who are pregnant or parents, or even discrimination on the basis of race.”</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">anec wishful think?</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/evangelicals-revolt-against-trump-as-his-rallies-increasingly-spiral-into-profane-rants-i-might-just-stay-home-this-time/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/evangelicals-revolt-against-trump-as-his-rallies-increasingly-spiral-into-profane-rants-i-might-just-stay-home-this-time/</a></font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/coalition-of-church-leaders-warn-against-christian-nationalism-and-its-connection-to-white-supremacy/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/coalition-of-church-leaders-warn-against-christian-nationalism-and-its-connection-to-white-supremacy/</a></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">O<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ne need only spend some time listening to Sister Mary Scullion (a liberal/progressive Catholic nun and activist in Philadelphia), Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg or members of an African Methodist Episcopalian (AME) congregation to realize that not all Christians identify with the brand of far-right Christian fundamentalism that President Donald Trump has been pandering to. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">And a group of at least 17 church leaders, united under the name Christians Against Christian Nationalism, has issued a dire warning about the dangers of far-right “<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/news/455157-interfaith-group-warns-against-creating-second-class-faiths-in-us" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">Christian nationalism</a>.”</span></font></div><div class="p1_6" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">In an <a href="https://www.christiansagainstchristiannationalism.org/statement" target="blank" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">official statement</a>, the church leaders took issue with the Christian Right’s incessant attacks on other faiths and efforts to bring about a Christian fundamentalist theocracy in the United States.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://theconversation.com/understanding-christians-climate-views-can-lead-to-better-conversations-about-the-environment-115693">https://theconversation.com/understanding-christians-climate-views-can-lead-to-better-conversations-about-the-environment-115693</a></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">bloomfield</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">their second round of debates, Democratic presidential candidates called for</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01082019/2020-presidential-debate-climate-change-question-democrats-green-new-deal-global-warming" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">aggressive measures to slow climate change</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. As Washington Gov. Jay Inslee</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jay-inslee/story?id=61305329" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">has said</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, “We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, and we are the last generation that can do something about it.”</span></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</span></font></div><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Politicians realize that many voters care about this issue. <b>A 2018 survey conducted by <a href="http://climatecommunication.yale.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Climate-Change-American-Mind-December-2018.pdf" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Yale and George Mason Universities</a> categorizes 69% of Americans as at least “somewhat worried” about climate change, the highest level these programs had recorded since 2008.</b></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But climate is still an uncomfortable subject for many people. I study <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Li4FgBUAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">environmental communication</a> and the obstacles people encounter when discussing climate change. My new book, “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Communication-Strategies-for-Engaging-Climate-Skeptics-Religion-and-the/Bloomfield/p/book/9781138585935" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Communication Strategies for Engaging Climate Skeptics: Religion and the Environment</a>,” considers Christians and the variety of ways they incorporate the environment into their faith.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Studying Christianity provides important insights into how to talk productively about climate change with a variety of audiences. I interviewed Christians from many different denominations and found that they don’t all think alike when it comes to the environment. Some reject environmentalism, some embrace it, and others modify it to fit their beliefs.</font></p><h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Christianity and the environment</font></h2><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 1967, historian Lynn White Jr. <a href="http://humanities.exeter.ac.uk/theology/research/projects/beyondstewardship/blame/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">argued</a> that Christian beliefs promoted the domination and exploitation of nature, and therefore were incompatible with environmentalism. Almost half a century later, polls showed that <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2015/10/22/religion-and-views-on-climate-and-energy-issues/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">fewer than 50% </a> of all U.S. Protestants and Catholics believe the Earth is warming as a result of human actions.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">There are notable exceptions,</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> such as Pope Francis, who called for action to slow climate change in his 2015 </span><a href="https://catholicclimatecovenant.org/encyclical" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">encyclical, “Laudato Si’</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.” Another prominent advocate for action is U.S. climate scientist and evangelical Christian </span><a href="https://climateone.org/video/katharine-hayhoe-climate-change-christianity-and-evangelicals" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Dr. Katharine Hayhoe</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> A growing number of Christians are joining the <a href="https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/topics/c/creation-care/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Creation Care</a> movement, which combines Christianity and the environment. But as recently as early 2018, they were <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/christianity-is-not-getting-greener1/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">outnumbered by Christian climate skeptics</a>.</span></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Christians hold a diverse <b>range of attitudes about the environment. I divide them into three categories – separators, bargainers, and harmonizers –</b> based on my study of religious organizations (<a href="https://cornwallalliance.org/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">The Cornwall Alliance</a>, <a href="https://acton.org/learn/collections/environment" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">The Acton Institute</a>, and <a href="https://www.creationcare.org/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">The Evangelical Environmental Network</a>), and interviews I conducted. I chose these three groups because they exhibit primary characteristics of the three categories.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Separators</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> believe that faith and the environment are at odds. They tend to think environmentalism threatens their faith. One separator who I interviewed argued that climate scientists use “good causes to further evil <b>agendas</b>.” This person thought environmentalism was an evil force.</span></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Bargainers</b> <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">adopt some aspects of environmentalism, but reject or modify others. One bargainer I interviewed said, “The climate is changing. It’s been changing for millions of years and will continue to do so.” This person changed the definition of climate change to fit the belief that climate change is natural and nothing needs to be done to address it.</span></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Harmonizers</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> see environmentalism as an important part of being a good Christian. Although they are not climate skeptics, they may or may not actively engage in the environmental movement. One harmonizer I interviewed said that environmentalism “begins on an individual basis.” Another argued that you only “have control over your individual actions.”[libtard, recycle, buy green?]</span></font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Harmonizers sometimes limit their environmentalism to personal behaviors. Most of the harmonizers I interviewed did not call for political or public action to solve climate change.</font></font></p><h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Communication strategies</font></h2><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In my book I explain tailored ways to engage with Christians about climate, and offer the following three strategies as starting points for all climate conversations. I advocate that conversations with separators and bargainers should focus on changing environmental beliefs, while discussions with harmonizers should encourage them to take more environmental actions.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">– Strategy 1: Treat conversations as dialogues</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since there is overwhelming evidence that climate change is real, it may be tempting to act confident and even arrogant when discussing it with skeptics. But our conversation partners will pick up on those nonverbal cues. Communication scholar Richard Johannesen asserts that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10510977409367774" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">audience members can tell</a> whether a speaker sees them as equal, inferior, or superior. People who expect to receive trust, good will, and attention should <a href="https://jeangoodwin.net/2013/12/03/earning-trust-in-climate-change-debates/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">offer those qualities themselves</a>, even when they disagree with perspectives of others.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">– Strategy 2: Locate common values</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Research shows that connecting climate change to people’s values is an effective way to gain their attention. For example, there is evidence that using <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1086026611404336" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">“broker categories</a>” – topics that are distinct from but related to the environment, such as technology and the economy – fosters positive attitudes toward the environment.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For example, instead of arguing that people should support pro-environmental policies because they will protect natural resources, it may be more effective to argue that such policies create jobs.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">– Strategy 3: Avoid relying on science</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scientific evidence can strengthen an argument, and some studies show that people largely change their views on climate change due to what the <a href="https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2017/04/changing-minds-on-a-changing-climate/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">science</a> says. But other studies have found that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0166140" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">this is not always true</a>.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In some cases, exposure to scientific facts causes people to double down on their previous held beliefs – a response also known as a <a href="https://bigthink.com/age-of-engagement/study-warns-of-boomerang-effects-in-climate-change-campaigns" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">boomerang effect</a>. Accordingly, I encourage people not to rely solely on science in climate conversations.</font></p><h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The importance of engaging</font></h2><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Every Christian I spoke to for my research, even the separators, said that they valued the environment, even if they disagreed on specific policies. And <a href="https://rightingamerica.net/when-the-juice-is-not-worth-the-squeeze-distinguishing-between-productive-and-unproductive-conversations/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">for the most part</a>, they were willing to speak with me about climate change even though it was a controversial topic.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While my book considers only Christians, I hope the strategies that I propose will help many people have better climate conversations. I argue that people who support climate change action should be ready to have difficult conversations. With the right tools, strategies and attitudes, people can feel ready to speak to each other about climate change and the Earth’s future.</font></p><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/how-the-christian-rights-efforts-to-transform-society-extend-beyond-the-u-s-border/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/how-the-christian-rights-efforts-to-transform-society-extend-beyond-the-u-s-border/</a></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>How the Christian right’s efforts to transform society extend beyond the US border</b></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by The Conversation<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>July 26, 2019</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">André Gagné, Concordia University</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The battle now raging in several American states over women’s reproductive rights is a direct result of the Christian right’s efforts to impose its religious values on the family and in politics.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The polarization around abortion in the United States is at such a level that some of the leaders of these conservative religious groups are promoting the idea of an impending second American Civil War.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We should not assume that the debates generated by the Christian right in the United States will not have any impact in Canada. Indeed, the recent release of the film Unplanned shows that this politico-religious coalition seeks to change attitudes in Canada too.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That’s why it’s so important to be vigilant about the fight being waged by some anti-abortion lobby groups in this country. The Campaign Life Coalition, with its 200,000 members, and RightNow are tirelessly working to elect candidates who oppose abortion. They successfully supported the recently elected candidates of provincial Conservative parties in Ontario and Alberta.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These lobbies frame the abortion debate as a human rights issue. Like Sam Oosterhoff, a 21-year-old member of the Ontario legislature for Niagara West in Premier Doug Ford’s Conservative government, many want to make the very idea of having an abortion unthinkable in Canada in the next 30 years or so.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While criminalizing abortion in Canada could be a challenge, it is nevertheless possible for a provincial government to eliminate funding for institutions that offer women the choice to terminate unwanted pregnancies.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Evangelical support for Trump</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Christian right had an impact on the 2016 U.S. election, securing Donald Trump’s presidency.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Indeed, part of Trump’s success stemmed from the fact that 81 per cent of white evangelicals voted for him</b>. According to Pew Research, Trump still receives his highest support from white Christians heading into the 2020 election, with 69 per cent of evangelicals poised to endorse him along with white Protestants at 48 per cent and white Catholics at 44 per cent.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Comparatively, Trump only garners the support of 12 per cent of black Protestants and 26 per cent of non-white Catholics, according to the Pew poll.</b></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The U.S. president’s racist comments on Twitter recently have likely further contributed to the polarization of the religious electorate in the United States. But even if some evangelical leaders condemned the tone of Trump’s tweets, some have nonetheless denied the racist nature of his comments.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Such Christian right leaders will still vote for Trump against any Democratic candidate. One, Michael Brown, has even clearly stated why he will vote for Trump in 2020. It’s all about the agenda:</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In the same way, when it comes to the economy, if it’s Trump vs. a socialist, he has my vote. The same when it comes to religious liberties. Or standing with Israel. Or pushing back against radical LGBT activism. Trump gets my vote, and the liberal media won’t shame me out of it.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Transforming society</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">What exactly is the Christian right?</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is a religious coalition with political aims that is mainly comprised of evangelicals and conservative Catholics and Protestants. It also sometimes attracts the support of politically conservative Mormons and Jewish groups.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The coalition unites around common causes such as anti-abortion activism, opposition to the rights of LGBTQ people and sex education classes. They also speak out in favour of the promotion of prayer in schools and the teaching of creationism (or intelligent design), the fight against euthanasia and the safeguarding of what they call religious freedom.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>The agenda of the Christian right can be summed up essentially as promoting the idea of a Christian nationalism in which the establishment of Judeo-Christian “values” is the foundation of the country’s law.</b></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">To achieve its objectives, the Christian right has adopted what is called a “dominionist” strategy, where Christians are called to exercise power and dominate the world, according to their interpretation of a passage from the book of Genesis (1:26-28).</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This idea is framed in terms of “social transformation” and presented as the Seven Mountains Mandate (also referred to as the seven moulders or spheres of culture).</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">According to their plan, a social “change of attitude” can be effected by influencing the seven “spheres” or “mountains” of culture: religion, education, economics, politics, arts and entertainment, media and the family.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But why the need for “social transformation?” The end goal is “dominion,” the establishment of God’s Kingdom on Earth. It is the fulfilment of Jesus’ prayer: “Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For many Christian leaders who embrace dominionist ideas, social transformation will not be achieved through massive religious conversions. In fact, one key proponent of the Seven Mountains Mandate believes that:</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The business of shifting culture or transforming nations does not require a majority of conversions… We need more disciples in the right places, the high places. Minorities of people can shape the agenda, if properly aligned and deployed… The world is a matrix of overlapping systems or spheres of influence. We are called to go into the entire matrix and invade every system with an influence that liberates that system’s fullest potential… The battle in each sphere is over the ideas that dominate that sphere and between the individuals who have the most power to advance those ideas.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Support for Scheer</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This all requires the mobilization of people belonging to groups rallied to the goals of the Christian right. For example, charismatic dominionist groups succeed in such mobilization by forming what they call “apostles in the workplace” — people who aim to penetrate the seven spheres of culture in order to effect the desired change.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As we approach the federal election in Canada, groups associated with the Christian right are also seeking to gradually insert themselves into the various “spheres of culture” and influence the political agenda.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some Canadian evangelicals have formed coalitions aligned to Christian right ideas. One recent initiative is the West Coast Christian Accord, a group of evangelical leaders seeking to mobilize Christians across Canada to vote for candidates they believe will safeguard their religious values in the upcoming federal election.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Clearly, the current political climate influenced by white evangelicals in the United States has also emboldened similar religious groups ahead of the Canadian election.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Such groups will likely give their support to<b> Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, </b>the candidate who best represents their own socio-conservative values.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Even if Scheer says he has no plans to reopen the abortion debate in Canada, is he speaking the truth? We may have the answer in the near future.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[ Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter. ]The Conversation</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">André Gagné, Associate Professor, Department of Theological Studies; Full Member of the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance, Concordia University</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.</font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">pompeo hu rights</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/not-a-straight-white-male-us-religious-conservatives-are-coming-for-you/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/not-a-straight-white-male-us-religious-conservatives-are-coming-for-you/</a></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Not a straight white male? US religious conservatives are coming for you</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> CPAC is hosted by the American Conservative Union. Image via Wikimedia Commons / Michael Vadon.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by OpenDemocracy.Net August 4, 2019</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">by Jessica Stern, Yifat Susskind</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Any schoolchild in the United States knows that the US Declaration of Independenceguarantees individuals’ rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Now, imagine what these principles mean for right-wingers and religious fundamentalists: where “life” refers to fetuses; “liberty” includes the prerogative to discriminate against LGBTIQ people; and “the pursuit of happiness” is reserved for straight, white patriarchs.</b></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">For more nightmare fuel, look no further than the new government body that Secretary of State<b> Mike Pompeo announced earlier this month: The Commission on Unalienable Rights</b>. For the uninitiated: this project’s name might sound progressive, but it’s most definitely not.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Everything we’ve heard about this Commission is full of coded language that’s about as subtle as a brick through a window. This isn’t business as usual – even for the Trump administration. It represents an acceleration of a longstanding fundamentalist agenda.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to its statement of intent, the <b>Commission is needed as human rights “discourse has departed from our nation’s founding principles of natural law and natural rights”.</b></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In case you’re wondering how to distinguish “natural” rights, they’re the ones bestowed by God (at least according to Pompeo’s commissioners). One of them, Peter Berkowitz, argues that Christianity is the source of all human rights. Another, Shaykh Hamza Yusuf Hanson, sees marriage equality for LGBTIQ people as a sign of the “End Times”.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In typical fundamentalist fashion, this project seeks to impose the same interpretation of law and rights used for generations to uphold slavery, genocide, categorical disenfranchisement, marital rape, domestic violence, and the criminalisation of LGBTIQ lives. Turning the clock back 200 years: this is how Pompeo proposes to make America great again.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal, the<b> Secretary of State attacks “politicians and bureaucrats [who have created] new rights”, and thus “blur the distinction between unalienable rights and ad hoc rights granted by governments”. He also asserts that “rights claims are often aimed more at rewarding interest groups and dividing humanity into subgroups”.</b></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But people whose rights are in danger because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other real or perceived identity are not “interest groups”. We are the majority of the world. And we’ve fought for generations to ensure that human rights frameworks are truly inclusive of all people. Now, this Commission wants to undo our gains.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Commission chair, former US Ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon, says it will “work at the level of principle, not policy”. This should set off alarm bells. Policies, after all, can be reversed. But principles set the parameters of what kinds of policies are even possible. That’s their real aim: to circumscribe the range of acceptable ideas, scale back hard-won universal rights, and thus limit our possibilities.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>We expect they’ll start with foreign policy, taking a page from a tried-and-true playbook.</b> For decades, what American ultra-conservatives couldn’t get away with at home, they’ve exported abroad – through such heinous policies as the so-called Global Gag Rule, and the Helms Amendment, for instance, which have limited women’s access to safe abortion services around the world.</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And once these right-wing policies are established – and legitimated – in foreign policy, they’re brought home to roost. Recently, a US court of appeals ruled that Trump’s Domestic Gag Rule can go into effect (further limiting abortion access here as well).</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As the directors of international organisations for women and LGBTIQ people, OutRight Action International, and MADRE, we’re working to create a world of human rights and gender justice, where all people live free from violence and discrimination.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This work threatens the aims of ultra-conservatives, whose worldview depends on women being subservient within societies and LGBTIQ people disappearing altogether.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Their frontal assault is against abortion and the rights of LGBTIQ people, but that’s only their opening salvo. Unless you are part of the narrow demographic of rich, white men deemed to have rights in 1776, they’re coming for you too. In fact, their ideology threatens the vast majority of people – which is one reason it must be justified as “natural” and God-given.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The right’s concerted attack on reproductive rights and LGBTIQ people reflects the centrality of gender as a system for asserting the control and domination they seek. They target us because we’re upending that system. But allying feminist and LGBTIQ rights movements is more than a mutual defense pact: it’s a strategy to defeat the right.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Just last month, our organisations won a major victory after a year-long campaign around a pending international treaty on crimes against humanity. We ensured that this draft treaty dropped an outdated definition of gender, affirming the rights of all people.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In that campaign, we saw many of the same attacks that are now embedded in Pompeo’s new Commission – including claims that we were assaulting the ‘natural order’ and that our advocacy threatened traditional conceptions of rights.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One right-wing organisation C-FAM even claimed that our victory represented an attack by homosexual men on “our mothers and our sisters and our daughters”. That might seem a strange charge against an effort led jointly by LGBTIQ and women’s organisations, but they see the threat represented by our unified efforts and seek to drive a wedge between us.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the greatest successes of human rights advocates over generations is this: When our own governments and constitutions fail us, we can turn to international human rights to seek justice and reparation. We can share our testimonies about the abuses we’ve endured and, perhaps most importantly, change the global conversation. In doing so, we’ve influenced policies and practices at home and around the world.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Attacks on human rights, gender protections, and the multilateral system are a transparent attempt to close down that channel of progressive change-making. But by aligning our efforts as women’s and LGBTIQ rights organisations, and making common cause with other progressive movements, we can face down this latest assault.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Right-wingers are not coming after us because we’re weak. They’re coming after us because they’re afraid, we’re strong, and we know how to take them on.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div></div><div><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/how-betsy-devoss-department-of-education-props-up-for-profit-educational-companies-and-help-financially-troubled-colleges-rip-off-veterans/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/08/how-betsy-devoss-department-of-education-props-up-for-profit-educational-companies-and-help-financially-troubled-colleges-rip-off-veterans/</a></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>How Betsy DeVos’s Department of Education helps financially troubled colleges rip off veterans</b></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Jillian Ambroz <b>/ DC Report</b><span style="white-space: pre;"> </span>August 2, 2019</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s move to reverse Obama-era restrictions on for-profit colleges and reinvigorate the shady industry has backfired spectacularly.</b></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Since DeVos and team greenlighted the accreditation of one of the nation’s largest chains of for-profit colleges, Dream Center Education Holdings, and its purchase of schools, thousands of students have been affected by school closures and conversion to nonprofit status. One group of students that have been greatly affected are military veterans, who have racked up useless credits and massive debts that can become the burden of taxpayers and the federal government to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The deregulation efforts of the for-profit college sector began back in 2017, soon after </font><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Dream Center—a charity affiliated with a<b style=""> Los Angeles-based megachurch with no higher-education experience—acquired some colleges from a major for-profit player in bankruptcy</b>. DeVos had made it a priority to bolster for-profit schools</font><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">, according to an article by The New York Times. In addition to relaxing oversight on the sector, DeVos also allowed for-profit schools to convert to non-profit status by loosening the rules of that process.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>School closures also cost taxpayers and our federal government hundreds of millions of dollars in financial losses in discharged federal student loans.</b></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It’s also come to light that a DeVos aide, Diane Auer Jones, a former lobbyist and executive for for-profit colleges, was granting personal favors to help Dream Center, which controls more than 100 campuses with 50,000 students, to help the company gain accreditation. DeVos, before becoming Education secretary, had invested in companies with ties to for-profit schools.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Back in 2016, Dream Center had its eyes on the failing ITT Technical Institutes but the Obama administration astutely blocked that acquisition as part of its crackdown on the for-profit college sector</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> And ITT ultimately shuttered its doors. But Dream Center found a new deal that would be blessed and moved forward by DeVos and team to purchase three large for-profit chains, the Art Institutes, Argosy University and South University from the bankrupt Education Management Corp.</span></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Fast forward to the present. Dozens of Dream Center’s campuses are out of money and set to close, more than a dozen more campuses have already been sold—some to a New York private equity firm in a deal arranged by DeVos and team—and more than 40 other schools are under the control of a court-appointed receiver. In total, some 26,000 students have been affected by the demise of Dream Center Education Holdings.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thousands of those students left scrambling to salvage their education plans are Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients, who are hard targets of the predatory for-profit schools because they can use the GI Bill funds to collect up to 100% in federal aid. For-profit schools must pull in at least 10% of their funding from sources outside of federal aid, the so-called 90/10 rule. But Congress wrote a big loophole, excluding GI Bill funding from the 90% limit, and for-profit schools actively seek-out veterans as students.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“For-profit schools really aggressively target veteran students and spend a ton on marketing, but spend little on instruction,</b>” Walter Ochinko, research director at Veterans Educations Services, told DCReport. “They have large marketing teams that do robocalls all the time and use lead generators to reach out to veterans.”</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">With the closures of ITT Technical Institutes schools and the failing of Corinthian Colleges Inc., another 12,000 GI Bill students were affected by the failings of the for-profits in the past few years.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Deregulation efforts have created a situation where vets are being harmed, they don’t have much recourse,” Ochinko said. “When a school closes, there’s only a partial restoration of benefits for veterans. Essentially they are left out in the cold.”</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When these schools close, students transferring from for-profit to public schools could lose an estimated 94% of their credits. And if they retain their credits, they often don’t apply toward fulfilling their degree requirements toward their majors, according to a report filed in June by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). For many veteran students, school closures and transfers can exhaust their GI Bill benefits.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>School closures also can cost the federal government and taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in financial losses due to discharged federal student loans.</b></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lax Oversight</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For GI Bill beneficiaries, the Department of Education works with the Veterans Business Affairs agency and State Approving Agencies (SAA), known as “the triad.” State Approving Agencies, state employees under contract with the VA, have the authority to shut down schools and remove GI Bill benefits, the VA does not. But DeVos’ deregulation efforts would undermine protections for GI Bill beneficiaries by making it more difficult for state approving agencies to hold schools accountable, according to a report by Veterans Education Success, which works with military service organizations to educate federal and state policymakers to ensure the success of the GI Bill and its beneficiaries.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) conducted an audit of the Veterans Business Affairs and state approving agencies oversight of all programs for military veterans from February 2015 through January 2016, and estimated 44 of the 51 state agencies “did not adequately oversee the education and training programs to ensure only eligible programs participated in the Post-9/11 GI Bill program.”</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The report, published in December 2018, found that out of an estimated $585 million paid for these “improper payments,” a staggering 81% or $473.8 million went to for-profit schools. If the Veterans Business Affairs agency does not implement oversight and better recommendations to the SAAs about $2.5 billion in related improper payments will go to potentially ineligible programs over the next five years, “putting billions of dollars at risk for fraud and waste and hindering efforts to provide quality education to eligible students,” according to the audit.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Poor Performance</b></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Then there’s the problem of performance at these schools. The for-profit colleges examined in the GAO report showed the lowest graduation percentage of any type of college, at 22% for a four-year program, compared with 73% for public schools and 66% at nonprofit schools. Retention rates for full-time students also lagged, at 56%, compared with 88% for public schools and 85% for nonprofit schools.</font></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Department of Education recently filed a regulation in June stating plans to </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">loosen requirements and oversight of accreditation agencies</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, which will only create more incentives for the Dream Centers of the nation.</span></b></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Essentially, they are up a creek,” Ochinko said. He and his organization, Veterans Education Success, recommend that Congress restore full benefits to GI Bill students in these circumstances.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Rep. Donna Shalala (D-Fla.) recently introduced a bill to close the 90/10 loophole at for-profit colleges, a small step in the right direction.</b></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 5px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 5px 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/coalition-of-church-leaders-warn-against-christian-nationalism-and-its-connection-to-white-supremacy/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/coalition-of-church-leaders-warn-against-christian-nationalism-and-its-connection-to-white-supremacy/</a></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">merge Am and xian ID</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Christian Right, which has been an integral part of the Republican Party since President Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign, is known for its strident support of Israel as well as its belief that fundamentalist Christianity is the only way to escape eternal hellfire and damnation. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">It’s a bizarre contradiction: far-right white Protestant evangelicals believe that Jews will receive a one-way ticket to hell unless they become fundamentalist Christians, yet they profess to be unwavering supporters of Israel — even going so far as to denounce others as anti-Semitic for not being pro-Israel enough. Journalist Peter Beinart takes a close look at the Christian Right’s supposed love affair with Israel in a thought-provoking piece for The Forward, and he concludes that their obsession with Israel is not rooted in a love of Judaism, but in a white nationalist viewpoint.</span></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Beinart opens his article by discussing President Donald Trump’s racist assertion that four congresswomen of color — Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York City and Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts — should leave the United States and return to “the places from which they came” (three of them were born and raised in the U.S., while Omar was born in Somalia but has been a U.S. citizen since 2000). A recurring theme among Republicans, Beinart notes, is that all of the congresswomen are anti-American because they “hate Israel.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“Republicans no longer talk about Israel like it’s a foreign country,” Beinart asserts. “They conflate love of Israel with love of America because they see Israel as a model for what they want America to be: an ethnic democracy.”</b></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Beinart adds, “Israel is a Jewish state. Trump and many of his allies want America to be a white Judeo-Christian state.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The “Judeo” part is questionable: fundamentalist Christian Right groups like Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council believe that Christianity is the only true faith, and ultimately, they hope to convert Jews — including those living in Israel. And as Beinart notes, “Evangelical Christians, most of whom vote Republican, see Jewish control of the holy land as necessary to bring about the second coming of Jesus.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, there are plenty of card-carrying Democrats who are very pro-Israel. But they aren’t motivated by fundamentalist evangelical Christianity. And their religious belief system could be anything from Judaism to Catholicism to non-fundamentalist Mainline Protestantism to Hinduism to non-fundamentalist Islam. The Democratic Party is a very big tent when it comes to religion.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Republican support for Israel…. isn’t driven by American Christians as a whole,” Beinart explains. “It’s driven by conservative white Christians, whose political identity sits at the intersection of religion and race. In the Trump era, conservative white Christians have grown increasingly obsessed with preserving America’s religious and racial character, and they see Israel as a country that’s doing just that.”</font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Beinart wraps up his piece by stressing that white fundamentalist Republican Christians are not really concerned about Judaism when they proclaim themselves to be pro-Israel — their motivation is making the U.S. as white as possible.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Republican attacks on Omar and her colleagues as anti-Israel and anti-Semitic aren’t ultimately about Israel or Jews,” Beinart asserts. “They’re an effort to use Israel and Jews to further the central goal of the Trump-era right: maintaining white Christian dominance in the face of demographic change.”</font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/how-the-christian-rights-efforts-to-transform-society-extend-beyond-the-u-s-border/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/how-the-christian-rights-efforts-to-transform-society-extend-beyond-the-u-s-border/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New 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</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div style="text-align: left;">no lnx</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>How the Christian right’s efforts to transform society extend beyond the U.S. border</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Written by The Conversation<span style="white-space:pre"> </span>July 26, 2019</div><div style="text-align: left;">André Gagné, Concordia University</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The battle now raging in several American states over women’s reproductive rights is a direct result of the Christian right’s efforts to impose its religious values on the family and in politics.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">The polarization around abortion in the United States is at such a level that some of the leaders of these conservative religious groups are promoting the idea of an impending second American Civil War.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>We should not assume that the debates generated by the Christian right in the United States will not have any impact in Canada. Indeed, the recent release of the film Unplanned shows that this politico-religious coalition seeks to change attitudes in Canada too.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">That’s why it’s so important to be vigilant about the fight being waged by some anti-abortion lobby groups in this country. The Campaign Life Coalition, with its 200,000 members, and RightNow are tirelessly working to elect candidates who oppose abortion. They successfully supported the recently elected candidates of provincial Conservative parties in Ontario and Alberta.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">These lobbies frame the abortion debate as a human rights issue. Like Sam Oosterhoff, a 21-year-old member of the Ontario legislature for Niagara West in Premier Doug Ford’s Conservative government, many want to make the very idea of having an abortion unthinkable in Canada in the next 30 years or so.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">While criminalizing abortion in Canada could be a challenge, it is nevertheless possible for a provincial government to eliminate funding for institutions that offer women the choice to terminate unwanted pregnancies.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Evangelical support for Trump</div><div style="text-align: left;">The Christian right had an impact on the 2016 U.S. election, securing Donald Trump’s presidency.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Indeed, part of Trump’s success stemmed from the fact that 81 per cent of white evangelicals voted for him. According to Pew Research, Trump still receives his highest support from white Christians heading into the 2020 election, with 69 per cent of evangelicals poised to endorse him along with white Protestants at 48 per cent and white Catholics at 44 per cent.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Comparatively, Trump only garners the support of 12 per cent of black Protestants and 26 per cent of non-white Catholics, according to the Pew poll.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The U.S. president’s racist comments on Twitter recently have likely further contributed to the polarization of the religious electorate in the United States. But even if some evangelical leaders condemned the tone of Trump’s tweets, some have nonetheless denied the racist nature of his comments.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Such Christian right leaders will still vote for Trump against any Democratic candidate. One, Michael Brown, has even clearly stated why he will vote for Trump in 2020. It’s all about the agenda:</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">“In the same way, when it comes to the economy, if it’s Trump vs. a socialist, he has my vote. The same when it comes to religious liberties. Or standing with Israel. Or pushing back against radical LGBT activism. Trump gets my vote, and the liberal media won’t shame me out of it.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Transforming society</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>What exactly is the Christian right?</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">It is a religious coalition with political aims that is mainly comprised of evangelicals and conservative Catholics and Protestants. It also sometimes attracts the support of politically conservative Mormons and Jewish groups.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The coalition unites around common causes such as anti-abortion activism, opposition to the rights of LGBTQ people and sex education classes. They also speak out in favour of the promotion of prayer in schools and the teaching of creationism (or intelligent design), the fight against euthanasia and the safeguarding of what they call religious freedom.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The agenda of the Christian right can be summed up essentially as promoting the idea of a Christian nationalism in which the establishment of Judeo-Christian “values” is the foundation of the country’s law.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>To achieve its objectives, the Christian right has adopted what is called a “dominionist” strategy, where Christians are called to exercise power and dominate the world, according to their interpretation of a passage from the book of Genesis (1:26-28).</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This idea is framed in terms of “social transformation” and presented as the Seven Mountains Mandate (also referred to as the seven moulders or spheres of culture).</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">According to their plan, a social “change of attitude” can be effected by influencing the seven “spheres” or “mountains” of culture: religion, education, economics, politics, arts and entertainment, media and the family.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">But why the need for “social transformation?” The end goal is “dominion,” the establishment of God’s Kingdom on Earth. It is the fulfilment of Jesus’ prayer: <b>“Your kingdom come, your will be done on Earth</b> as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10)</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">For many Christian leaders who embrace dominionist ideas, social transformation will not be achieved through massive religious conversions. In fact, one key proponent of the Seven Mountains Mandate believes that:</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“The business of shifting culture or transforming nations does not require a majority of conversions… We need more disciples in the right places, the high places. <b>Minorities of people can shape the agenda, if properly aligned and deployed</b>…[<b>leverage, jiu jitsu also mean undemocratic]</b> The world is a matrix of overlapping systems or spheres of influence. We are called to go into the entire matrix and invade every system with an influence that liberates that system’s fullest potential… The battle in each sphere is over the ideas that dominate that sphere and between the individuals who have the most power to advance those ideas.”</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Support for Scheer</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This all requires the mobilization of people belonging to groups rallied to the goals of the Christian right. For example, charismatic dominionist groups succeed in such mobilization by forming what they call “<b>apostles in the workplace</b>” — people who aim to penetrate the seven spheres of culture in order to effect the desired change.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">As we approach the federal election in Canada, groups associated with the Christian right are also seeking to gradually insert themselves into the various “spheres of culture” and influence the political agenda.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Some Canadian evangelicals have formed coalitions aligned to Christian right ideas. One recent initiative is the West Coast Christian Accord, a group of evangelical leaders seeking to mobilize Christians across Canada to vote for candidates they believe will safeguard their religious values in the upcoming federal election.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Clearly, the current political climate influenced by white evangelicals in the United States has also emboldened similar religious groups ahead of the Canadian election.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Such groups will likely give their support to Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, the candidate who best represents their own socio-conservative values.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Even if Scheer says he has no plans to reopen the abortion debate in Canada, is he speaking the truth? We may have the answer in the near future.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The Conversation</div><div style="text-align: left;">André Gagné, Associate Professor, Department of Theological Studies; Full Member of the Centre for the Study of Learning and Performance, Concordia University</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font 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style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/christian-nationalists-have-a-plan/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/christian-nationalists-have-a-plan/</a></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Christian nationalists have a plan</b></div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;">written by Paul Rosenberg / Salon July 7, 2019</div><div style="text-align: left;">There is a difference between exercising religious beliefs and imposing them on others. Our Constitution fiercely protects the former and expressly prohibits the latter.</div><div style="text-align: left;">— Rep. Joseph Kennedy III</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">It’s easy for significant stories to get lost in the sound and fury of Donald Trump’s frontal assault on American democracy, epitomized by his militarized co-opting of Washington’s Fourth of July celebration. As my interview with Angie Maxwell, co-author of “The Long Southern Strategy,” shows, Trump’s presidency was decades in the making, with racism, sexism. and fundamentalism all playing crucial roles. The forces that brought him to power are ultimately far more consequential than he is.</div><div style="text-align: left;"> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">That’s why a cluster of recent developments involving questions of religious privilege deserve far more attention from the public and the media than they have received. These events reflect both the <b>advancement of a theocratic, “dominionist” worldview </b>that elevates the state-sanctified religious liberty of some at the obvious expense of others — and a rising tide of liberal, secular resistance.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">On July 2, federal prosecutors announced they would retry humanitarian aid volunteer Scott Warren on two charges related to aiding migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border. Warren, whom Amnesty International has previously said “would be a prisoner of conscience” if convicted, was “detained for his volunteer activities motivated by humanitarian principles and his religious beliefs.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Warren regards himself as a devout Christian, driven to follow the words of Jesus in the gospel of Matthew: “For I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me to drink, an alien and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, sick and you ministered to me.” Warren’s religious freedom clearly plays no role in the Trump administration’s thinking. It’s the negative space that throws everything else into sharp relief.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The very next day,<b> religious freedom was suddenly center stage again, as the VA announced new policies “to protect religious liberty” by trampling on the rights of religious minorities, in particular allowing religious displays in public lobbies,</b> an issue I’ve written about before which is the subject of a recently-filed lawsuit by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. MRFF president Mikey Weinstein denounced the policy move as “both tragic and predictable in this hyper-dangerous era.”</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">To add another layer of confusion, the VA justified itself, in part, by referencing a recent Supreme Court decision on the Bladensburg Peace Cross, a century-old monument whose destruction would be “quite different from erecting or adopting new ones,” according to Justice Samuel Alito’s decision. New displays, of course, are precisely what the VA is addressing. Details, details.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Throughout such disputes, there’s a profound asymmetry: <b>conservatives retell a few simple mythic just-so stories </b>about an ideal cherished past moment, and how we’ve lost our way. America’s purported founding as a “Christian nation” is the most striking example of this, but far from the only one<b>. Progressives counter with a bewildering multitude of contradictory facts, ultimately amounting to a complex story of protracted struggles stretching far beyond the limits of the simplistic narratives conservatives tell.</b></span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">This happened again at the June 25 congressional hearing on the <b>“Do No Harm” Act to remedy abuses of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, abuses that have ramped up significantly under the Trump administration.</b> It happened earlier this year in Minnesota, with threatened drastic cuts to the State Historical Society budget, as reported by Frederick Clarkson at Religion Dispatches the same day as the “Do No Harm” hearing. And it’s happening again with the VA’s decision.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Clarkson’s reporting was his latest on <b>Project Blitz — a Christian right stealth state legislative campaign</b> first exposed by him early last year, and reported here at Salon. As I wrote then, its guiding vision is heavily influenced by pseudo-historian David Barton, who “has been discredited by every American historian I know,” according to evangelical historian John Fea. (See Fea’s latest on Barton here.) The myth of America’s founding as a Christian nation, and our supposed need to restore what’s been lost, are its guiding lights, with three proposed tiers of legislation.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">First comes “Legislation Regarding Our Country’s Religious Heritage.” Second come “Resolutions and Proclamations Recognizing the Importance of Religious History and Freedom.” And the third and final chapter is, “Religious Liberty Protection Legislation.” That last has “two main underlying intentions,” according to Clarkson. “First to denigrate the LGBTQ community, and second to defend and advance the right to discriminate…. As the late theocratic theologian R.J. Rushdoony said, ‘Only the right have rights.'”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The “Do No Harm Act” hearing focused directly on the underlying intentions of the third tier, although at the federal level. (A recent USA Today joint investigation highlighted the state-level side.) We focus on it first because it reveals early signs of the bitter fruit Project Blitz holds in store for America. But Clarkson’s latest reporting shines a sharp light on how vigorously and deceptively — and even unconstitutionally — the first two tiers are being advanced at state level, in pursuit of the long campaign to remake American culture in a theocratic mold.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">This “slippery slope of religious exemptions has gotten us into explicit religious discrimination in adoption and foster care,” Clarkson told me, pointing to two key areas highlighted in the congressional hearing. “Part of this is Project Blitz, part of it is Trump administration policy.”</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But the idea that these “religious freedom” exemptions are “being used to justify discrimination” is, Clarkson says, far too limited. “This is about profound religious supremacism and religious bigotry that undergirds long-term theocratic political agendas.” The discrimination is vitally important, of course. But unless we respond much more vigorously, far worse could lie ahead.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The “Do No Harm” hearing took place before the House Committee on Education and Labor, whose Chair, Rep. Robert Scott, D-Va., is the bill’s coauthor, along with Rep. Joseph Kennedy III, D-Mass. (quoted above). Republicans began their issue-clouding efforts by questioning why the hearing was before them, a point that Scott made perfectly clear from the outset, noting that it was 78 years to the day since Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 8802, banning employment discrimination by private defense-related contractors. Religiously-justified discrimination by government contractors was the overwhelming focus of the testimony and questioning that followed — at least on the Democratic side. Scott then turned to religion.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">“Religion has played a vital role in our nation’s history. It has furthered social justice causes, such as the abolitionist movement, civil rights movement and movement to end child labor,” Scott said, “However, some have used religion as a pawn to justify slavery, Jim Crow, the slaughter of our native populations, and other horrific acts.” In fact, he noted that the landmark case striking down bans on interracial marriage, Loving v. Virginia, had reversed a lower court that had upheld the ban, explicitly relying on the circuit court judge’s religious views.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 “was meant to be a shield to protect,” Kennedy said in his statement. “However, over the years, RFRA has morphed from a shield of protection to a sword of infringement, allowing employers to undermine basic workplace protections, organizations to stonewall child labor investigations, and health providers to deny needed care for victims of sexual abuse.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, </b>made a similar point in her testimony. “The Trump administration is ignoring the intent and constitutional limitations on RFRA,” she said. Rather, it is weaponizing the law “to undermine civil rights protections, deny people access to health care and government services, and even deny children loving homes.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Later, during questioning, Laser went further. There was a broad bipartisan coalition to pass RFRA, she said, but soon afterward there were “indications that it was going to be misused in the ways that we’re seeing so much of today. For example, commercial landlords right away argued that RFRA gave them the right to impose their religious beliefs that people shouldn’t be cohabiting before marriage, and to ignore housing discrimination laws and refuse housing to unmarried couples.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">She went on to say that RFRA would never have been passed as a consensus bipartisan bill if it had been widely assumed to cover such cases. As Laser told me later, after a Supreme Court ruling in 1997 that RFRA could not apply to the states, Congress specifically refused to pass a new bill that would have applied the RFRA standard to the states, “because of concerns that it would be used to justify discrimination.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Laser also cited specific cases, such that of Aimee Maddonna, a woman who was rejected as a foster mother by Miracle Hill Ministries — the largest taxpayer-funded foster care agency in South Carolina — because she was Catholic. Then there was Samantha Coyle in Alaska, “a transgender woman who showed up at a government-funded homeless shelter and was turned away and had to sleep in the woods.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">“Those who want to misuse RFRA in ways that would harm others are trying to explain away the discrimination faced by people like Aimee Maddonna and Samantha Coyle, but they can’t,” Laser told me. “They even resort to the dangerous idea that if there’s another option, it can’t be discrimination. But ‘You can just go somewhere else’ has never been an acceptable response when it comes to discrimination — not when African Americans were told to go to another restaurant or when Jews were told to go to another hotel. And it’s not an acceptable response now.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Yet that was precisely the response that was offered by the committee’s Republicans, though rarely with the clarity expressed by Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., whose district includes Miracle Hill. “Miracle Hill has never prevented … any individual from becoming a foster parent,” Timmons said, “That is because there are other private providers less than two miles away.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">At the same time, went out of his way to cite all the ways Miracle Hill didn’t discriminate, saying that the organization will “serve any child no matter the child’s race, faith, sexual orientation, gender identity, nationality, or any other differentiating factor,” he claimed.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The same perspective informed the GOP’s main witness, Matt Sharp, the senior counsel fo<b>r Alliance Defending Freedom</b>, though he was reluctant to say so explicitly. Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., spent the better part of his five minutes trying to get a straight answer from Sharp about whether contracting agencies should be allowed to discriminate, against LGBTQ people, for example.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">“One of the beauties of RFRA is that it does not pick winners and losers, it’s that … that balancing process,” Sharp babbled, “And so when we talk about the specific context of adoption providers there are a lot of interests involved.” He said that birth mothers , “may have a conviction about having their child raised consistent with a particular religious faith or particular type of family,” and then discussed “the interest of the provider,” but never quite got around to the interests of Aimee Maddonna and other would-be adoptive parents turned away for whatever reason. Nor did he ever answer Takano’s repeated questions, so the congressman had to turn to Laser for an answer. Hers was crisp and straightforward.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">“You can’t have it both ways,” Laser said. “If faith-based groups want to be eligible to receive government funding to perform government services, then they have to play by the same rules as everyone else.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Sharp’s harping on the supposed importance of “balance” was a classic example of how conservatives can use simplistic narratives — often appropriating liberal or progressive concepts (like “religious freedom” itself) for purposes fundamentally at odds with their original meaning and purpose.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Both sides acknowledge the historical record: RFRA was enacted by a broad bipartisan coalition. But conservatives ignore both why that was necessary and how much they have eroded its foundations since then. As Laser noted, “RFRA was enacted in 1993 in response to the Supreme Court’s Employment Division v. Smith opinion.” That opinion by the late Justice Antonin Scalia substantially weakened religious protection in the existing balancing framework, known as the Sherbert Test, based on the 1963 decision, Sherbert v. Verner.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The story of the Smith case was exquisitely told by Garrett Epps in “To an Unknown God.” It began with Al Smith and Galen Black, two Native American men who were fired from their jobs over the ritual use of peyote and filed unemployment claims. But just as Scott Warren’s religious freedom gets overlooked, the same happened when RFRA was passed, and Native American use of peyote was actually not protected. It took separate legislation to accomplish that via the 1994 Amendments to the American Indian Religious Freedom Act. Throughout this whole story, disfavored religious views have been marginalized, as others have benefited by claiming special-snowflake victim status for themselves.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Then came the fateful Hobby Lobby Supreme Court decision of 2014. “The majority opinion in Hobby Lobby explicitly changes the meaning of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” Epps told me. “The court in Hobby Lobby said, ‘We think Congress intended to go much, much further than the Sherbert Test, and to entrust the court to develop a much broader law of religious freedom,” he said. “This is just made up out of whole cloth. It’s a classic Alito move.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Epps sees a sort of runaway train in motion, noting “the increasing radicalism of certain Christian claims of so-called religious liberty,” which he wrote about in 2016 article for the Atlantic, “The Strange Career of Free Exercise.” At the time RFRA passed, “free exercise was about the objector, the individual who is being oppressed by a majoritarian structure. And it has now been turned around to be the rights of a majority to insist on its religious values in their interactions with minorities,” Epps said. “The shift from the term ‘free exercise’ to ‘religious liberty’ is real, it’s not accidental. The idea is that you want no government regulation of religious bodies. And that’s a real change in the free exercise.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">This dovetails with what Clarkson said about Project Blitz’s “religious liberty” project. “The agenda of theocratic dominionism,” he said, has been “reframed as protecting the right of theocrats to discriminate against those deemed second-class, at best,” Once again, he reminded me that this movement is guided by the theology of R.J. Rushdoony: “Only the right have rights.”</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>There are different schools of dominionism,</b> and as Julie Ingersoll explained in “Building God’s Kingdom: Inside the World of Christian Reconstruction” (Salon interview here), their ideas have had enormous influence on the religious right, even among many Christians who overtly disavow them. Barton and many others involved with Project Blitz subscribe to what is called “Seven Mountains” dominionism, devoted to infiltrating and taking over the “seven mountains of culture”: government, education, media, arts and entertainment, religion, family and business. Coming out of the “New Apostolic Reformation,” styling themselves as “apostles” and “prophets,” those folks have an exalted opinion of themselves. Secretive, extremist means to a “holy” end often find favor with them.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Clarkson points to the case of state legislation in Minnesota, which he sees as “a harbinger of a more profoundly theocratic politics on the horizon.” Project Blitz works through a network of state-level legislative prayer caucuses, and in Minnesota, the state director, Rev. Dale Witherington, also runs an explicit Seven Mountains organization, RestoreMN, devoted to the “restoration of Biblical values in our nation” and “Biblical citizenship.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">This year provided a taste of what he has in mind. The story begins with an attempt to slash the budget of the Minnesota Historical Society by $4 million (possibly resulting in a 25% staff cuts) for failing to conform to Christian nationalist ideology.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">When the cuts were first proposed by State Sen. Mary Kiffmeyer, a Republican, she refused to explain why, beyond saying it was because of an unspecified “controversy.” State Sen. John Marty, a Twin Cities Democrat, eventually got the scoop from another Republican member, who explained that it had to do with “what he called ‘revisionist history’ at the 200-year-old Historic Fort Snelling.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">This “revisionist history” involved the fort expanding its educational mission to include the Dakota name for the area, Bdote, and a 10,000-year history that included “Native peoples, trade, soldiers and veterans, enslaved people, immigrants, and the changing landscape.” That history happens to be true. But as Marty told me, religious conservatives “wanted the history that they were taught 4th grade, and think that that’s all there is to it. Anything else is ‘revisionist history.’”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Those proposed cuts restored by Democrats, who control the state House and the governor’s office. But the story doesn’t end there. In the May issue of Americans United’s Church and State magazine, historian Steven Greene blew the whistle on what’s probably the real story — a behind-the-scenes threat from the Minnesota Prayer Caucus, to slash the Historical Society funding in retaliation for scheduling two lectures based on his 2015 book, “Inventing a Christian America: The Myth of the Religious Founding.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Greene’s book was published by Oxford University Press, arguably the world’s leading academic publisher, and was praised by evangelical historian John Fea, himself the author of “Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?: A Historical Introduction.” Fea called it “the most thorough critique of Christian nationalism available today,” and said, “Anyone interested in this subject must read this book.” (Fea and Greene both took part in a 2015 CNN forum on the subject here.)</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But the Minnesota Prayer Caucus was not impressed, and accused the Historical Society of “promoting a narrative about our nation’s history and founding that is patently false.” (Mind you, its members had not seen the book, let alone read it. After an exchange of letters, the caucus eventually made a veiled threat, requesting “that our side of the story be presented with your support and promotion through the Minnesota Historical Society,” and saying that it should be scheduled and promoted by May 1 of this year, “when committees begin to meet to review appropriations to various organizations and groups.”</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Three things need to be noted here. First, Greene’s lectures were privately funded. No state funding was involved. Second, Witherington, the driving force behind the defunding threat, was also a private citizen. “He is not a state employee, not a legislative employee,” Marty said. Third, as Greene explained, the threat to deny funds is what’s called an “unconstitutional condition”:</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The unconstitutional-conditions doctrine is a cornerstone of First Amendment jurisprudence. It states that a governmental entity cannot condition the receipt of a benefit — usually a financial benefit — on a requirement that the beneficiary surrender a constitutionally protected right.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The First Amendment covers much more than religious freedom, to be sure. And dominionists are instinctively hostile to all of it.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Greene’s book is utterly devastating to Christian nationalism, which heavily relies on mountains of religiously-themed quotes, a practice known as “proof-texting.” In other words, “We let the text prove our proposition by virtue of our selection of what we want to prove,” as Greene told me.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">But amassing quotes doesn’t prove anything. “What they want to do is this kind of missing the forest for the trees,” Greene said, “They’re still stuck at ‘Look at this tree!’ ‘Look at this tree!’ ‘Look at this tree!’ — without stepping back and looking at the larger context.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Marty characterized his state’s prayer caucus more sarcastically, saying, “They’d quote ‘All men are created equal’ from the Declaration of Independence” to argue that Thomas Jefferson was clearly opposed to slavery. If one responded, “Well, he had slaves,” he said, they might answer, “Oh, well! Don’t confuse us with facts.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Greene spoke to me about the larger context for the notion that America was a “Christian nation” from the beginning. “I came to the firm conclusion that this was a consciously constructed myth,” he said, largely created “with the second generation [after the founding] as a way of sanctifying the founding.” All nations have founding myths, most take shape over centuries. Ours was done much faster — but after the fact, and responding to a variety of forces, stimuli and needs.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">During the Revolutionary War, the founders “wanted to show that God was on their side in this fantastic war that we were very unlikely to win,” Greene said. “They actually stole from the Brits the practice of identifying Britain as God’s new Israel,” repackaging it to say “No, Great Britain and the king, that’s Egypt and the pharaoh. We are the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Then, in the second generation, people “wanted to sanctify the United States, wanted to show why it was special,” Greene said. Specifically, “They wanted to show why the American form of republicanism was different from that really bad French form of republicanism, where it was killing people left and right.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">After George Washington’s death, Greene said, he became the focal point. “He was the American Moses, and anything that George Washington touched, since he was ordained by God, also had to be perfect and sanctified.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">That brings us to the last of our recent developments, the VA’s announcement of new policies “to protect religious liberty,” particularly allowing religious displays. A particular focus of concern has been the repeated inclusion of Bibles in POW/MIA “missing man” displays, a practice that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has challenged repeatedly over the years with multiple successes.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">The situation in Sioux Falls, North Dakota, I reported on in March was typical. MRFF was representing 21 clients, 14 of them Christians. None was willing to come forward publicly, whether for fear of retribution, social shunning or causing pain to loved ones. One decorated Vietnam veteran with two Purple Hearts, a Buddhist, spoke to me on condition of anonymity”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">“When I went in I saw the missing man table which I thought was great, and I saw there that they have a Bible, which thought was disrespectful of all of us who weren’t Christians,” he told me. “I personally know a couple [of soldiers] who are listed as MIA, who were not Christian.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Trying to get this changed is difficult, especially in a place like Sioux Falls. “It’s a beautiful place, but also very insular and very Christian,” he explained. “I’m fairly active in the veterans’ community here, and if it came out that I was doing this, my kids would be in trouble, I would be in trouble, probably drummed off of the veterans’ things that I do…. There would definitely be some retribution.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In early May, MRFF filed suit against the Veterans Department over a medical display in Manchester, New Hampshire. There, too, most of the group’s 14 clients remained anonymous. But one, a former Air Force pilot and a devout Christian, agreed to be named in the suit.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Now the VA feels it has a new weapon to fight back with: the June 20 Supreme Court decision allowing the century-old Bladensburg peace cross to remain. At the time, MRFF denounced the decision, quoting from Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dissent. “Just as a Star of David is not suitable to honor Christians who died serving their country, so a cross is not suitable to honor those of other faiths who died defending their nation.”</span></div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">When the new policies were announced, MRFF head Mikey Weinstein spoke out. “These brand-new VA policies — clearly based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent idiotic decision in the Bladensburg Cross case,” he said, “are nothing more than a transparent and repugnant attempt to further buttress and solidify fundamentalist Christianity as the insuperable official religion of choice for the VA, our Armed Forces and this country.”</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">There’s also a more nuanced view from MRFF senior researcher Chris Rodda (also a leading debunker of David Barton and religious right pseudo-history), who dissected the Court’s new standard as yet another example of conservative judicial activism:</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Under the Lemon test from the 1971 case Lemon v Kurtzman, a religious display, to be constitutional, 1) had to have a secular purpose; 2) its primary effect could not either advance or inhibit religion; 3) it couldn’t result in an excessive government entanglement with religion. Under the new “history tests” it just has to be old.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Slavery was around for far longer than the Bladensburg Cross; women couldn’t vote for a very long time. Therefore, if this “history test” were applied to those things they would be perfectly constitutional, right?</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">A Bible was not part of the original POW/MIA table tradition, started in 1967 by a group of Vietnam combat pilots known as the “River Rats.” The untraditional practice of adding a Bible, and turning what was started as a tradition to honor all POWs and MIAs into a display honoring only Christians, didn’t emerge until over 30 years later, when the VFW Ladies Auxiliary published a script for the setting of the table and included the Bible among the items in the 1999 issue of their magazine.</div><div style="text-align: left;">
</div><div style="text-align: left;">So if history’s the guide, that’s just one more reason to reject the Bible in these displays. But of course that’s not really the issue. On every front, religious conservatives are always changing the rules midstream — always in the name of eternal principles, and always to evade all factual, legal or historical evidence that gets in the way.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/trump-is-causing-a-deepening-crisis-in-evangelical-christianity-and-it-will-only-get-worse-report/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/trump-is-causing-a-deepening-crisis-in-evangelical-christianity-and-it-will-only-get-worse-report/</a></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx aLE H</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One of the supreme ironies of the Trump era is the fact that a president who has been through two divorces, has never been especially religious, allegedly had extramarital affairs with a major porn star (Stormy Daniels) and a Playboy model (Karen McDougal), and has seen some of his closest associates sent to federal prison on criminal charges (Paul Manafort and Michael Cohen) is wildly popular with the Christian Right. Trump’s poll numbers among Americans on the whole have been weak, yet among far-right white evangelicals, he enjoyed 70% approval during the second half of 2018 (according to Pew Research). And the Christian Right’s alliance with Trump, journalist Peter Wehner explains in a July 5 report for The Atlantic, has become a major “crisis in evangelical Christianity.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wehner reports that some of the Christian Right’s most prominent leaders, including Ralph Reed and Jerry Falwell, Jr., remain staunch allies of Trump. And among right-wing white evangelicals, he explains, Trump’s approval has been 25% higher than it is among Americans in general.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The enthusiastic, uncritical embrace of President Trump by white evangelicals is among the most mind-blowing developments of the Trump era,” Wehner asserts. “How can a group that for decades — and especially during the Bill Clinton presidency — insisted that character counts and that personal integrity is an essential component of presidential leadership not only turn a blind eye to the ethical and moral transgressions of Donald Trump, but also, constantly defend him?”</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Wehner goes on to explain why Trump, unlike Bill Clinton, gets a pass from the Christian Right when it comes to adultery: “Part of the answer is their belief that they are engaged in an existential struggle against a wicked enemy — not Russia, not North Korea, not Iran, but rather, American liberals and the left,” the Atlantic journalist observes.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of course, there are plenty of liberals who go to church on a regular basis — especially in the African-American community, where it isn’t uncommon for Democrats to reach out to Lutheran and AME (African Methodist Episcopal) congregations. Listening to liberal/progressive African-American talk radio stations, it is obvious that there are plenty of churchgoing blacks who see supporting Sen. Kamala Harris or Sen. Elizabeth Warren as perfectly compatible with the teachings of Christianity. But those African-American voters are Mainline Protestants, which means non-fundamentalist Protestants in Christian terminology — and there is a huge difference between how Mainline Protestants view the world and how the Christian Right view the world. MSNBC’s Rev. Al Sharpton, a Christian minister who is also an outspoken liberal activist, is a Mainline Protestant, not a fundamentalist.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Many white evangelical Christians,” Wehner observes, are “deeply fearful of what a Trump loss would mean for America, American culture and American Christianity. If a Democrat is elected president, they believe, it might all come crashing down around us.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Wehner also observes that the Christian Right’s embrace of Trump is a major turnoff to others, and the journalist concludes his article by stressing that it can only get worse as the Trump/evangelical alliance continues.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Evangelical Christians should acknowledge the profound damage that’s being done to their movement by its braided political relationship — its love affair, to bring us back to the words of Ralph Reed — with a president who is an ethical and moral wreck,” Wehner asserts. “Until that is undone — until followers of Jesus are once again willing to speak truth to power rather than act like court pastors — the crisis in American Christianity will only deepen.”</font></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/how-the-religious-right-commandeered-the-american-motto-as-it-sought-to-impose-the-oppressive-evangelical-worldview/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/07/how-the-religious-right-commandeered-the-american-motto-as-it-sought-to-impose-the-oppressive-evangelical-worldview/</a></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...<span style="background-color: rgb(245, 245, 245);">We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.</span></font></div><p style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But in 1956, during the height of the McCarthy era and the Cold War, Congress officially made “In God We Trust” the national motto in order to differentiate this country from the so-called “godless communists.” That happened two years after “under God” was added to the Pledge of Allegiance. As Thomas Foster, chair of the History Department at DePaul University, <a title="acknowledged" href="https://origins.osu.edu/history-news/god-we-trust-or-e-pluribus-unum-american-founders-preferred-latter-motto" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">acknowledged</a>: “‘In God We Trust’ is a legacy of founders, but not the founders of the nation. As the official national motto, it is a legacy of the founders of modern American conservatism.”</font></p><div class="p4_13" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In many ways, these different national mottos capture the divide that exists in this country right now. Back in 2010, President Obama <a title="referred" href="https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/11/09/full-text-obamas-prepared-remarks-in-indonesia/" target="blank" rel="external nofollow noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">referred</a> to “E Pluribus Unum” as our national motto during a speech in Indonesia.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" font-weight="font-weight" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Former RNC head drops the hammer on Republicans who claim the Bible says they don’t have to help the poor</span></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/how-the-white-evangelical-worldview-is-pulling-us-toward-authoritarianism/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/06/how-the-white-evangelical-worldview-is-pulling-us-toward-authoritarianism/</a></font></div><div><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://theconversation.com/women-have-been-the-heart-of-the-christian-right-for-decades-118094">https://theconversation.com/women-have-been-the-heart-of-the-christian-right-for-decades-118094</a></font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Alabama’s new abortion restrictions were signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey. But more has been said recently about the fact that the bill was passed by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/14/alabama-abortion-ban-white-men-republicans" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">25 white men in the state Senate</a>. Media reports have pointed to how this law will disproportionately affect black and poor women.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Only four women currently serve in Alabama’s state Senate. Three voted against the bill, while one abstained.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In response to the Alabama vote, Democratic State Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/05/15/typical-male-answer-only-women-had-voice-alabama-senate-men-passed-abortion-ban/?utm_term=.5d77e76aa6aa" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">compared</a> men’s votes on abortion legislation to “a dentist making a decision about heart surgery.”</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“That’s why we need more women in office,” Coleman-Madison said.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/womens-legislative-network/women-in-state-legislatures-for-2019.aspx" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Across the country</a>, women are underrepresented in legislatures. But the question is: Would voting more women into office necessarily shift the politics of abortion?</font></p><h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservative women’s activism</font></h2><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">My <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/this-is-our-message-9780190618933?cc=us&lang=en&" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">book, “This Is Our Message,”</a> examines the history of women’s leadership in the modern religious right. When this movement emerged in the late 1970s, women were at the forefront. They helped shape the rhetoric of “family values,” which has included opposition to abortion, feminism and same-sex marriage.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These women’s contributions, however, are often overlooked.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">My research shows that in the 1980s, news reports almost always credited conservative men with leading the Christian right. Prominent voices included televangelist <a href="https://www1.cbn.com/700club/pat-robertson" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Pat Robertson</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/16/obituaries/16falwell.html" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Jerry Falwell</a>, who helped found the <a href="https://theconversation.com/revisiting-the-legacy-of-jerry-falwell-sr-in-trumps-america-79551" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Moral Majority</a>, a conservative Christian political lobbying group, in 1979.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But women also led the movement. Phyllis Schlafly is best known among these women for her fight against the <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-the-era-pass-in-the-metoo-era-87901" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Equal Rights Amendment</a>, which would have outlawed gender discrimination in any law at the local, state or national level. In the early 1970s, the amendment <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1972/03/23/archives/equal-rights-amendment-is-approved-by-congress-equal-rights.html?searchResultPosition=103" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">passed through Congress with bipartisan support</a>. Ratification by the states seemed all but certain.</font></p><figure class="align-center " style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: relative;" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><figcaption style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 6px 0px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; line-height: 18px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" cursor="cursor" default="default"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="caption" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Opponents of the Equal Rights Amendment, led by Phyllis Schlafly, center, white coat, march in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., Feb. 5, 1977.</span> <span class="attribution" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-DC-USA-APHS262245-Phyllis-Schlafly-1977/cea298e2c8b64e41bbce53dd358509f3/11/1" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; display: inline; max-width: 100%;">AP Photo/Charles Tasnadi</a></span></font></figcaption></figure><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then Schlafly mobilized hundreds of thousands of women against the amendment. They <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/15/archives/opposition-rises-to-amendmenton-equal-rights-ratification-is.html?searchResultPosition=1" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">argued</a> that it would make women subject to the military draft and that it would eliminate laws designed to protect women in the workplace and in divorce proceedings. They also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1975/12/15/archives/opponent-of-era-confident-of-its-defeat.html?searchResultPosition=2" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">raised the possibility</a> of consequences that seemed alarming at the time but are familiar today, including same-sex marriage and gender-neutral public bathrooms.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">These women <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1975/12/15/archives/opponent-of-era-confident-of-its-defeat.html?searchResultPosition=2" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">lobbied their representatives</a>, protested in state legislatures and wrote letters to the editors of local and national newspapers. In 1982, the amendment failed, lacking sufficient support from the states.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schlafly was not the only female leader of the religious right in this era. In the late 1970s, pop singer Anita Bryant galvanized a <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/this-is-our-message-9780190618933?cc=us&lang=en&" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">sweeping backlash</a> against the gay rights movement. When her local Miami-Dade County passed anti-discrimination protections for gay residents in 1977, Bryant led a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1977/06/08/archives/miami-votes-2-to-1-to-repeal-law-barring-bias-against-homosexuals.html?searchResultPosition=6" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">successful repeal effort</a>. She then lent her celebrity status and experience to similar fights nationwide.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Two years later, Beverly LaHaye founded <a href="https://concernedwomen.org/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">Concerned Women for America</a>, which is now the largest lobbying group in the country representing conservative women. Since its founding, the group has organized millions of women across the country to lobby for socially conservative legislation at the local, state and national levels.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Women have also formed the <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Ges9TzxVmjQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=mothers+of+conservatism&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjchYPTvtDiAhUCCKwKHQI3BN8Q6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=mothers%20of%20conservatism&f=false" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">backbone</a> of <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=JPJnBgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=suburban+warriors&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiRhrHivtDiAhUCJKwKHSL-Dc8Q6AEILjAB#v=onepage&q=suburban%20warriors&f=false" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">socially conservative activism</a> at the grassroots level for over half a century. They have written newsletters from their homes and hosted coffee meetings to mobilize their neighbors. They have organized demonstrations and letter-writing campaigns on issues ranging from school curricula to LGBTQ rights to abortion.</font></p><figure class="align-center " style="margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: relative;" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><figcaption style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 6px 0px 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; line-height: 18px;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" sans-serif="sans-serif" cursor="cursor" default="default"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="caption" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Singer-turned-political-activist Anita Bryant.</span> <span class="attribution" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-FL-USA-APHS442115-Bryant-Gay-Rights-/6f949e7e66ee4cd587c81bcee48af128/40/0" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word; display: inline; max-width: 100%;">AP Photo</a></span></font></figcaption></figure><h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The abortion debate</font></h2><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Abortion has been <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=zquzDgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=%22women+against+abortion%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiF07nzv9DiAhUO7awKHcMSBasQ6AEIKjAA#v=onepage&q=%22women%20against%20abortion%22&f=false" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">a key issue for conservative women</a> since the 1970s, just as it has been for women on the left. For activists on both sides, this is a core women’s issue.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But on each side of the debate, activists rely on fundamentally different assumptions about women and women’s interests.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/alabama-pro-life-pro-woman-rally-says-states-new-abortion-law-spells-1433226" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">pro-life</a> women, abortion is an atrocity that women are especially well suited to address. They argue that women’s maternal instincts make them naturally pro-life. For pro-choice women, abortion access is a <a href="https://www.prochoiceamerica.org/issue/abortion-access/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">basic right that all women must have</a>. They argue that legal abortion is a matter of trusting women and respecting their bodily autonomy.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many pro-life women believe that women’s voices are necessary to effectively counter the feminist position.</font></p><h2 style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 12px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-rendering: optimizelegibility;" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Support for Trump</font></h2><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The female governor of Alabama, Kay Ivey, who signed the abortion bill into law, is a conservative evangelical who has been <a href="http://time.com/5589528/alabama-abortion-ban-roe-v-wade" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">vocal</a> about her hope to limit abortion access in Alabama. She has also said that it is time for the Supreme Court to reconsider Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that decriminalized abortion in the United States.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Ivey is representative of a larger movement of conservative women who passionately oppose abortion. White evangelical women <a href="https://theconversation.com/donald-trump-why-white-evangelical-women-support-him-112041" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">voted</a> overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in 2016. The issue of abortion played a <a href="https://religionandpolitics.org/2018/03/06/for-such-a-time-as-this-conservative-evangelical-women-and-the-trump-presidency/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">major role</a> in their choice. At the time, an empty Supreme Court seat was at play, and Trump promised to appoint a pro-life justice.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Concerned Women for America and other conservative women’s groups <a href="https://concernedwomen.org/women-for-kavanaugh-grassroots-effort-to-sweep-the-nation/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">actively supported</a>the nomination of Neil Gorsuch and then Brett Kavanaugh as Supreme Court justices.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Yet, from my perspective, conservative women are being written out of the story again.</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Responding to the passage of the Alabama abortion law, Democratic presidential hopeful Kirsten Gillibrand <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/gillibrand-trump-war-on-americas-women-abortion-837301/" style="outline: none; white-space: pre-wrap; overflow-wrap: break-word;">said</a>: “Donald Trump has declared a war on America’s women. And if it’s a fight he wants to have, it’s a fight he’s going to have, and it’s a fight he’s going to lose.”</font></p><p style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);" libre="Libre" baskerville="Baskerville" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Gillibrand’s statement – which fails to acknowledge the role of conservative women in the abortion battle – echoes the rhetoric of the anti-Trump women’s movement. Yet it repeats a pattern of discounting conservative women.</font></p><p style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><p class="yiv5007530864headline3" style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" margin="margin" padding="padding"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click1.e.alternet.org/ommmlcqsqvfdflnndkjqqdqnnkdnswrpmvqfjtcwqfw_eqhsrqpqfrbbqtphbtz.html?a=&b=277&c=21989&d=2" style="">Clash of civilizations: How progressives are fighting back against the Christian right’s grotesque ‘religious freedom’ power play</a></font></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last Tuesday, a coalition of advocacy organizations and health care…</font></p></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><p class="yiv5007530864headline3" style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" margin="margin" padding="padding"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://click1.e.alternet.org/hmsmwlfjfgnznwppzsbffzfppszpjchdmgfnbvlcfnv_eqhsrqpqfrbbqtphbtz.html?a=&b=277&c=21989&d=2" style="">evangelical right wants you to pray for Trump — and forget their shameful smearing of Obama</a></font></p><p style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Franklin Graham and several so-called Christian (religious right) leaders want Sunday to…</font></p></div><div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none;" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/civil-rights-groups-sue-trump-administration-over-religious-conscience-rule">https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/civil-rights-groups-sue-trump-administration-over-religious-conscience-rule</a></font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Civil rights groups sue Trump administration over religious conscience rule</b></font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>
</b></font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Civil rights groups sue Trump administration over religious conscience rule Christian leaders praying over Donald Trump in the Oval Office (Photo: Screen capture)</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">written by Matthew Rozsa / Salon May 29, 2019]</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left; "><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">A new rule allows providers to deny care to people whose medical needs raise an objection of religion or conscious.</font></div><div style="text-align: left; "><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">President Donald Trump’s administration faces a lawsuit over a <b>new rule allowing health care providers to deny care to women, the LGBTQ community and other marginalized groups whose medical needs raise an objection of religion or conscious.</b></font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lambda Legal, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Association of LGBTQ+ Psychiatrists are among the coalition of civil rights groups who are suing Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services over its new rule. In their complaint filed Tuesday, the coalition argued the new Health and Human Services rule violates the basic freedoms of individuals who could face discrimination from religious conservatives.</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Although purporting to implement long-standing healthcare statutes with specific provisions affording protections for the religious or moral beliefs of certain individuals and entities (‘religious objections’), the rule instead creates a wholly new regime that elevates religious objections over all other interests and values,” the complaint says. “The rule invites a much larger universe of healthcare workers to decline to serve patients based on religious objections, defines with unprecedented breadth the types of activities to which they may object and fails to reconcile objections with the needs and rights of patients — even though doing so is critical in any regulatory scheme administering these laws. And the rule does not include emergency exceptions.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Earlier this month, HHS issued what we have dubbed ‘the denial of care rule,'” Genevieve Scott, senior staff attorney at Center for Reproductive Rights, said during a conference call with reporters Tuesday.</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“It extends not only to doctors and nurses, but even EMTs and administrative staff are encouraged to deny care. The rule is extremely broad and contains no limits on who is at risk of being denied treatment, even for those in need of emergency care,” Scott added. “Health care facilities, including hospitals and clinics, are threatened with a loss of federal funding if they do not comply. Many hospitals and clinics rely on government funding to stay open and could not survive this kind of loss.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Scott also pointed out that “the rule is intentionally confusing and unworkable for health care facilities to implement. To avoid potentially violating the rule and losing the funding, many facilities may end up doing away with services that staff might object to — including reproductive health services, like abortion and contraception, and LGBT services. Other facilities may be forced to close.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lambda Legal, whose mission is to achieve the full civil rights of the LGBT community and individuals living with HIV, expressed similar thoughts.</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Our organizations are jointly representing premiere health care providers and community centers that are dedicated to serving the LGBT community, abortion providers, individual doctors and three national associations of health care professionals and medical students,” Jamie Gliksberg, a senior attorney at Lambda Legal’s Midwest regional office, said during the call. “These health care providers and community centers are really providers of last resort for their patients and of crucial importance to LGBT people, people living with HIV, patients in need of reproductive health care and public health, generally. The people who go to these organizations for care often have been turned away from other health care providers and have no place left to go.”</font></div><div style="text-align: left; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></div><div><header class="css-1n5gntz e12qa4dv1" style="margin: 2.8125rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color"><div class="css-xt80pu e12qa4dv0" style="margin: 0px auto 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><div class="css-acwcvw epjyd6m0" style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="css-vp77d3 epjyd6m1" style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center; width: 600px;"><div class="css-1baulvz" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline-block;"><p class="css-16vrk19 e1jsehar1" itemprop="author creator" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person" itemid="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.25rem; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline-block; letter-spacing: 0.02em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/edward-wong" class="css-1riqqik e1jsehar0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline;"><span class="css-1baulvz" itemprop="name" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline-block; text-decoration-line: underline; text-decoration-color: rgb(204, 204, 204);">Edward Wong</span></a></font></p></div></div><ul class="css-1w5cs23 epjyd6m2" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; display: flex; -webkit-box-pack: justify; justify-content: space-between; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center; flex-wrap: wrap;"><li style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><time class="css-rs1psd e16638kd0" datetime="2019-03-30" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.125rem; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: 0.02em; width: auto; display: inline-block;">March 30, 2019 </time>JERUSALEM — When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sat down for an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network in a hotel in Jerusalem earlier this month, he made a remark that was perhaps the most revelatory of any in his nearly one year in office.</font></li></ul></div></div></header><section name="articleBody" itemprop="articleBody" class="meteredContent css-1i2y565" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color"><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 698px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An evangelical Christian, Mr. Pompeo <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/us/politics/golan-heights-trump.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">had just returned from tours</a> of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on the ground where Jesus is said to have been crucified and buried, and of tunnels beneath the Western Wall, by the holiest site in Judaism. The interviewer <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2019/march/exclusive-secretary-of-state-pompeo-to-news-god-may-have-raised-up-trump-like-he-raised-up-queen-esther" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">posed a question around a biblical tale</a> about a queen who saved Jews from slaughter by a Persian official: Did Mr. Pompeo think President Trump had been “raised for such a time as this, just like Queen Esther, to help save the Jewish people from the Iranian menace?”</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“As a Christian, I certainly believe that’s possible,” Mr. Pompeo said. “It was remarkable — so we were down in the tunnels where we could see 3,000 years ago, and 2,000 years ago, if I have the history just right — to see the remarkable history of the faith in this place, and the work that our administration’s done, to make sure that this democracy in the Middle East, that this Jewish state, remains. I am confident that the Lord is at work here.”</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">White evangelical Christians are a powerful force in the Republican Party. Vice President Mike Pence is a staunch believer and former President George W. Bush is an adherent, too.
...But no secretary of state in recent decades has been as open and fervent as Mr. Pompeo about <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/magazine/mike-pompeo-translates-trump.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">discussing Christianity</a> and foreign policy in the same breath. That has increasingly raised questions about the extent to which evangelical beliefs are influencing American diplomacy.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On Monday, in a speech at the annual conference of the <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/04/us/politics/aipac-congress-democrats.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">American Israel Public Affairs Committee</a>, the pro-Israel group, Mr. Pompeo <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2019/03/290655.htm" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">told an anecdote about Tibor Baranski</a>, a Christian who saved 3,000 Jews in Hungary during World War II. Then he said, “As secretary of state and as a Christian, I’m proud to lead American diplomacy to support Israel’s right to defend itself.
'
The next day, Mr. Pompeo <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/us/politics/state-department-abortion-funding.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">announced an expansion of Trump administration anti-abortion policies</a>, saying the United States would stop funding foreign organizations that support other groups that perform abortions. It is a policy popular with conservatives, Catholics and evangelical Christians.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though Mr. Trump is secular, white evangelicals are a big part of his voter base, and some of his major foreign policy moves, planned or supported by Mr. Pompeo, are intended to shore up political support.</font></p></div></div><div class="css-79elbk" data-testid="photoviewer-wrapper" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><div class="css-z3e15g" data-testid="photoviewer-wrapper-hidden" style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: fixed; opacity: 0; top: 0px; left: 0px; bottom: 0px; right: 0px; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; pointer-events: none;"><div data-testid="photoviewer-children" class="css-yary0w ehw59r12" height="480.921875px" width="720px" style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 432px; height: 480.922px; width: 720px; pointer-events: none;"><div data-testid="photoviewer-overlay" class="css-t972an ehw59r13" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; z-index: 1; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; left: 0px; right: 0px; overflow: hidden; transition: top 0.2s ease 0s, right 0.2s ease 0s, bottom 0.2s ease 0s, left 0.2s ease 0s; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><div width="200px" height="757px" data-testid="photoviewer-captionblock" class="css-lyj148 ehw59r11" style="margin: 0px; padding: 15px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; display: flex; flex-direction: column; -webkit-box-pack: center; justify-content: center; z-index: 1; top: 0px; left: 1353px; width: 200px; height: 757px; opacity: 0;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">“I am confident that the Lord is at work here,” Mr. Pompeo told a reporter in Jerusalem who asked whether President Trump was sent to protect Israel from Iran.</span></font></div><span itemprop="copyrightHolder" class="css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" display="display" block="block" color="color" rgb="rgb" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="text-align: left; margin: -1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; width: 1px; height: 1px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); overflow: hidden; display: block;">Credit</span><span style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block;">Jim Young/Reuters</span></span></div><div width="720px" height="480.921875px" class="css-ccubls ehw59r14" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; z-index: 1; width: 720px; height: 480.922px; transition: width 0.2s ease 0s, height 0.2s ease 0s, margin 0.2s ease 0s;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: hidden; transition: visibility 0s ease 0.5s;"><div class="css-8h527k" style="margin: 0px; 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font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.3s ease 0.2s;"><figure class="css-jcw7oy e1g7ppur0" aria-label="media" role="group" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/03/29/us/politics/29dc-diplo-02/merlin_152403222_6d9c9656-7c4a-4a14-9e0b-d59f98eafd7c-articleLarge.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 2.6875rem auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto; max-width: 720px;"><div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; text-align: left; margin: -1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; width: 1px; height: 1px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); overflow: hidden;">Image</span></font><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">
</font></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class="css-1l44abu e1xdpqjp0" style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 10px 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">[pix “I am confident that the Lord is at work here,” Mr. Pompeo told a reporter in Jerusalem who asked whether President Trump was sent to protect Israel from Iran.</span></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span itemprop="copyrightHolder" class="css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.125rem; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline-block; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="text-align: left; margin: -1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; width: 1px; height: 1px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); overflow: hidden;">Credit</span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.01em;">Jim Young/Reuters</span></div></span></span></font></figcaption></figure></div></div><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 87px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The most notable examples involve Israel. When Mr. Trump <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/us/politics/trump-jerusalem-embassy-middle-east-peace.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">moved the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem</a>, evangelicals applauded.</font></p></div><aside class="css-o6xoe7" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; width: 210px; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center;" /></div><div class="css-190ncxp" style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1583px; height: 1rem;"><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 903px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.pewforum.org/2005/04/15/american-evangelicals-and-israel/" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Studies</a> show that white evangelicals are much more likely than other Americans to believe that Israel fulfills a biblical prophecy. Known as <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/11/trump-administration-evangelical-influence-support" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Christian Zionists</a>, they believe God <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.vox.com/2018/5/14/17352676/robert-jeffress-jerusalem-embassy-israel-prayer" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">promised the land to the Jews</a>, and that the gathering of Jews in Israel is foretold in the prophecy of the rapture — the ascent of Christians into the kingdom of God.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Pompeo talks about the rapture. “We will continue to fight these battles,” he said at a <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sO0opXYM52w" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">“God and Country Rally”</a> in 2015, because there is a “never-ending struggle” until “the rapture.”</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Be part of it,” he said at the meeting, at the Summit church in Wichita, Kan. “Be in the fight.”</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In November, Mr. Pompeo <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/magazine/mike-pompeo-translates-trump.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">told a reporter</a> for The New York Times Magazine that the Bible “informs everything I do.” The reporter noticed an open Bible in his office, with a Swiss Army knife marking his place at the end of the book of Queen Esther.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Pompeo, 55, became a devoted Christian at West Point, where he joined a Bible study group. After moving to Kansas, he joined the Eastminster Presbyterian Church in Wichita, which is affiliated with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, a relatively conservative denomination.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The State Department did not respond to questions about the intersection of Mr. Pompeo’s Christian beliefs and policy.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">American evangelicals who supported Mr. Trump’s embassy move might also approve <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/world/middleeast/golan-heights-israel-netanyahu.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fedward-wong&action=click&contentCollection=undefined®ion=stream&module=inline&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=collection" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">if Israel<span class="css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>annexes part or all of the West Bank</a>. After Mr. Trump <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/25/us/politics/benjamin-netanyahu-donald-trump-meeting.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">formally recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights</a> in a meeting on Monday with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, many conservative Israelis said they are hopeful that annexing part of the West Bank will be next.</font></p></div><aside class="css-o6xoe7" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; width: 210px; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center;" /></div><div class="css-190ncxp" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1583px; height: 1rem;"><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 116px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then there is the question of what an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, as drawn up by Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s adviser and son-in-law, will recommend for the disputed territories of Jerusalem and the West Bank.</font></p></div><aside class="css-o6xoe7" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; width: 210px; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center;" /></div><div class="css-79elbk" data-testid="photoviewer-wrapper" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; 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font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Evangelical Christians supported Mr. Trump’s order to move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.</span></font></div><span itemprop="copyrightHolder" class="css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" display="display" block="block" color="color" rgb="rgb" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="text-align: left; margin: -1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; width: 1px; height: 1px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); 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padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.3s ease 0.2s;"><figure class="css-jcw7oy e1g7ppur0" aria-label="media" role="group" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/03/29/us/politics/29dc-diplo-03/merlin_138138621_c99516d1-ccdb-498f-b827-678c33ccca02-articleLarge.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="margin: 2.6875rem auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto; max-width: 720px;"><div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="text-align: left; margin: -1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; width: 1px; height: 1px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); overflow: hidden;">Image</span></font><div class="css-8h527k" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 720px; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 245); animation: 300ms ease-in 0s 1 normal forwards running animation-1m9j9gf;"><div data-testid="lazyimage-container" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: auto; cursor: pointer;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">[happy pix]</font></div></div></div><figcaption itemprop="caption description" class="css-1l44abu e1xdpqjp0" style="margin: 10px 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large;">Evangelical Christians supported Mr. Trump’s order to move the United States Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.</span></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span itemprop="copyrightHolder" class="css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.125rem; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline-block; letter-spacing: 0.01em;"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="text-align: left; margin: -1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; width: 1px; height: 1px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); overflow: hidden;">Credit</span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit; letter-spacing: 0.01em;">Menahem Kahana/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images</span></div></span></span></font></figcaption></figure></div></div><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 747px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Martin Indyk, a former assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs, noted the evangelical influence on the Trump administration in saying he doubted that the peace plan would propose ceding any Israeli-occupied territory in the West Bank to Palestinians. Nor was it likely to provide a route to Palestinian sovereignty, Mr. Indyk said.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“In the view of evangelicals, that is the land that God gave to the Jews,” he said. “They’re strongly opposed to any territorial concession there. If there is any of that in the plan, I think there will be strong evangelical opposition to it.”</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Trump’s decision in December 2017 to move the American Embassy was <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/15/us/politics/jerusalem-embassy-trump-evangelicals.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">intended to please evangelical voters in the United States</a>, as well as some Jews. Mr. Netanyahu has embraced evangelical support for his right-wing policies, and sees evangelicals as more reliable American allies of Israel than liberal American Jews.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">An evangelical pastor, Robert Jeffress of First Baptist Dallas, gave an opening prayer at the embassy building’s dedication ceremony in May. His presence made many Israelis uncomfortable; he has said Jews, Muslims and Mormons are <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/14/world/middleeast/robert-jeffress-embassy-jerusalem-us.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">bound for hell</a>. In 2017, during a conference call of Mr. Trump’s top evangelical supporters, Mr. Jeffress <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="http://time.com/5197808/mike-pompeo-donald-trump-rex-tillerson/" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">led a prayer for the protection of Mr. Pompeo</a>, then C.I.A. director, and thanked God for putting him in the job.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Pompeo has gotten rid of a diplomatic consulate in Jerusalem for Palestinians and merged its work into the new embassy.</font></p></div><aside class="css-o6xoe7" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; width: 210px; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center;" /></div><div class="css-190ncxp" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1583px; height: 1rem;"><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 388px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Elsewhere in the Middle East, Mr. Pompeo also has broadcast his Christian beliefs. At the start of a January <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2019/01/288410.htm" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">speech</a> in Cairo, Mr. Pompeo said the trip was “especially meaningful” for him “as an evangelical Christian, coming so soon after the Coptic Church’s Christmas celebrations.”</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He added, “In my office, I keep a Bible open on my desk to remind me of God and his word, and the truth.”</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Observers <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.ft.com/content/53087e90-174d-11e9-9e64-d150b3105d21" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">found it<span class="css-8l6xbc evw5hdy0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span>remarkable</a> that Mr. Pompeo would open a speech in a majority-Muslim country by highlighting his Christianity. And some critics have pointed out that Mr. Pompeo, before becoming secretary, <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://theintercept.com/2016/11/23/mike-pompeo-religious-war/" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">made us-versus-them statements about Christians and Muslims</a> while talking about terrorism and war.</font></p></div><aside class="css-o6xoe7" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; width: 210px; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center;" /></div><div class="css-79elbk" data-testid="photoviewer-wrapper" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><div class="css-z3e15g" data-testid="photoviewer-wrapper-hidden" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: fixed; opacity: 0; top: 0px; left: 0px; bottom: 0px; right: 0px; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; pointer-events: none;"><div data-testid="photoviewer-children" class="css-u09r9q ehw59r12" height="554.75px" width="720px" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 432px; height: 554.75px; width: 720px; pointer-events: none;"><div data-testid="photoviewer-overlay" class="css-t972an ehw59r13" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; z-index: 1; top: 0px; bottom: 0px; left: 0px; right: 0px; overflow: hidden; transition: top 0.2s ease 0s, right 0.2s ease 0s, bottom 0.2s ease 0s, left 0.2s ease 0s; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><div width="200px" height="757px" data-testid="photoviewer-captionblock" class="css-10cxk41 ehw59r11" style="margin: 0px; padding: 15px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; display: flex; flex-direction: column; -webkit-box-pack: center; justify-content: center; z-index: 1; top: 0px; left: 1283.05px; width: 200px; height: 757px; opacity: 0;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-style: inherit; font-variant-ligatures: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-weight: inherit;">Mr. Pompeo broadcast his beliefs in Cairo, where he said his trip to Egypt, a Muslim-majority country, was “especially meaningful” for him “as an evangelical Christian.”</span></font></div><span itemprop="copyrightHolder" class="css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" display="display" block="block" color="color" rgb="rgb" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="text-align: left; margin: -1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; width: 1px; height: 1px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); overflow: hidden; display: block;">Credit</span><span style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block;">Pool photo by Andrew Caballero-Reynolds</span></span></div><div width="720px" height="554.75px" class="css-wv8q46 ehw59r14" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; z-index: 1; width: 720px; height: 554.75px; transition: width 0.2s ease 0s, height 0.2s ease 0s, margin 0.2s ease 0s;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: hidden; transition: visibility 0s ease 0.5s;"><div class="css-8h527k" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 720px; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 245); animation: 300ms ease-in 0s 1 normal forwards running animation-1m9j9gf;"><div data-testid="lazyimage-container" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: auto;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><img alt="" class="css-1j5kxti e1t57l6r0" src="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/03/29/us/politics/29dc-diplo-04/merlin_148989381_66f5fa6d-a34a-4d5c-bfd4-bea379384fc9-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" srcset="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/03/29/us/politics/29dc-diplo-04/merlin_148989381_66f5fa6d-a34a-4d5c-bfd4-bea379384fc9-articleLarge.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp 600w,https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/03/29/us/politics/29dc-diplo-04/merlin_148989381_66f5fa6d-a34a-4d5c-bfd4-bea379384fc9-jumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp 1024w,https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/03/29/us/politics/29dc-diplo-04/merlin_148989381_66f5fa6d-a34a-4d5c-bfd4-bea379384fc9-superJumbo.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp 2048w" sizes="((min-width: 600px) and (max-width: 1004px)) 84vw, (min-width: 1005px) 60vw, 100vw" itemprop="url" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/03/29/us/politics/29dc-diplo-04/merlin_148989381_66f5fa6d-a34a-4d5c-bfd4-bea379384fc9-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale" style="margin: 0px; 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padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.3s ease 0.2s;"><figure class="css-jcw7oy e1g7ppur0" aria-label="media" role="group" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2019/03/29/us/politics/29dc-diplo-04/merlin_148989381_66f5fa6d-a34a-4d5c-bfd4-bea379384fc9-articleLarge.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="margin: 2.6875rem auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto; max-width: 720px;"><div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="text-align: left; margin: -1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; width: 1px; height: 1px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); overflow: hidden;">Image</span></font></div></figure></div></div><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 417px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At Mr. Pompeo’s confirmation hearing in April 2018, Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey, <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.booker.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=771" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">asked</a> him about his <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.vox.com/world/2018/4/12/17230078/mike-pompeo-secretary-of-state-confirmation-cory-booker" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">ties to prominent anti-Islam activists</a>. Mr. Pompeo acknowledged the ties but said he had a strong record “with respect to tolerance and the equal treatment of people.”</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/world/middleeast/mike-pompeo-lebanon-hezbollah.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fedward-wong&action=click&contentCollection=undefined®ion=stream&module=inline&version=latest&contentPlacement=6&pgtype=collection" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Mr. Pompeo traveled to Lebanon </a>after his recent stop in Israel, he <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/pompeo-tours-lebanese-historical-preserved-with-us-funds/2019/03/23/35d5aac2-4d9f-11e9-8cfc-2c5d0999c21e_story.html?utm_term=.2e83de577fa9" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">toured a church and a Crusader citadel</a> and talked with a bishop about religious freedom, one of his favorite themes. He plans to host a second conference on religious freedom at the State Department in July.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Pompeo has made Iran a signature issue, blaming it for stirring unrest in the Middle East. He reliably calls the country by its full name — the Islamic Republic of Iran — to highlight its religious identity.</font></p></div><aside class="css-o6xoe7" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; width: 210px; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center;" /></div><div class="css-190ncxp" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1583px; height: 1rem;"><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 700px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Last year, Mr. Pompeo and Mr. Pence led an extraordinary campaign to <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/03/world/europe/pompeo-andrew-brunson-turkey-singapore.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">pressure President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey</a>, <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/world/europe/erdogan-turkey-election-religious-schools.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">a proponent of political Islam</a>, to release an American evangelical pastor, Andrew Brunson, who was arrested in 2016.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But Mr. Pompeo, citing the mission of religious freedom, has also defended the rights of Muslims oppressed by some Asian nations.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He has <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/17/us/politics/myanmar-sanctions-rohingya.html?module=inline" title="" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">criticized Myanmar</a> for its ethnic cleansing of Rohingya, though he has declined to describe it as genocide. And Mr. Pompeo has <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/mar/28/mike-pompeo-urges-china-to-immediately-halt-detention-of-uighurs-in-xinjiang" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">denounced China</a> for its detentions of one million or more Muslims.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Hours before leaving for Kuwait, Israel and Lebanon, Mr. Pompeo hosted an on-the-record conference call <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/18/politics/state-department-faith-outlets-briefing/index.html" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">with just “faith-based media,”</a>barring journalists who regularly cover the State Department.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Though <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/3/19/18272529/mike-pompeo-briefing-faith-based-media" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">widely criticized for the move</a>, Mr. Pompeo and the State Department have refused to say who was on the call or release a transcript.</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px 0px 1.25rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Representative Susan Wild, Democrat of Pennsylvania, <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2019/03/watch-grilled-by-congresswoman-over-controversial-faith-based-media-only-call-pompeo-turns-glib-and-sarcastic/" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">told Mr. Pompeo during a House hearing on Wednesday that his action</a> “raises concerns about First Amendment violations.”</font></p><p class="css-1ygdjhk evys1bk0" style="text-align: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.8125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Pompeo said it was “no different” than giving selective interviews. He added, “I am confident I will do so again.”</font></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></section></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/decades-in-the-making-megachurch-pastor-gives-up-on-christianity-in-profanity-laced-resignation/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/decades-in-the-making-megachurch-pastor-gives-up-on-christianity-in-profanity-laced-resignation/</a></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">anecdote</font></div><div><p style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Missouri megachurch pastor Dave Gass stepped down from his position after 40 years and renounced his Christian faith, reported the <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/after-40-years-megachurch-pastor-slams-christianity-and-quits-deacon-claims-he-had-affair.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><span style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Christian Post.<i> </i></span></a></font></p><div class="p1_11" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="text-align: left; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“After 40 years of being a devout follower, 20 of those being an evangelical pastor, I am walking away from the faith. Even though this has been a massive bomb drop in my life, it has been decades in the making,” he tweeted.</font></p><div class="p2_11" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-2" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The tweets have since been made private, but a screenshots of the tweets were <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/atheism/comments/bjj2el/heartbreaking_twitter_thread_by_ex_pastor_start/" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">posted on Reddit.</a></font></p><div class="p3_11" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“When I was in 8th grade and I was reading Greek mythology, it dawned on me how much of the supernatural interactions between the deity of the Bible and mankind sounded like ancient mythology. That seed of doubt never went away,” he added.</font></p><div class="p4_11" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It went on to explain that even though he was a committed Christian that it could not help or save his marriage.</font></p><div class="p5_11" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I was fully devoted to studying the scriptures. I think I missed maybe 12 Sundays in 40 years. I had completely memorized 18 books of the Bible and was reading through the bible for the 24th time when I walked away,” he wrote.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"As an adult my marriage was a sham and a constant source of pain for me. I did everything I was supposed to – marriage workshops, counseling, Bible reading together, date nights every week, marriage books – but my marriage never became what I was promised it would be,” he said.</font></p><div class="p7_11" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He then added that the church was a place of abuse for him, and that church people are “shtty” people.</font></p><div class="p8_11" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The entire system is rife with abuse. And not just from the top down, sure there are abusive church leaders, but church leaders are abused by their congregants as well. Church people are just shtty to each other,” he tweeted.</font></p><div class="p9_11" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Adding, “I spent my entire life serving, loving, and trying to help people in my congregations. And the lies, betrayal, and slander I have received at the hands of church people left wounds that may never heal.”</font></p><div class="p10_11" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Read the full <a href="https://www.christianpost.com/news/after-40-years-megachurch-pastor-slams-christianity-and-quits-deacon-claims-he-had-affair.html" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">report here.</a></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><div class="mag-header" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 19px; padding: 0px; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h3 class="magcat-titlte entry-title" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" open="Open" sans="Sans" sans-serif="sans-serif" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" px="px"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/only-the-lord-god-almighty-is-in-control-texas-lawmaker-calls-vaccines-sorcery-in-attack-on-renowned-pediatrician/" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer; display: block; letter-spacing: 0px; line-height: 1.4;">Only the lord God almighty is in control’: Texas lawmaker calls vaccines ‘sorcery’ in attack on renowned pediatrician</a></font></h3><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/david-badash/" title="Posts by David Badash" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">David Badash</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/the-new-civil-rights-movement/" title="Posts by The New Civil Rights Movement" class="author url fn" rel="author" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;">The New Civil Rights Movement</a></span></font></div></div><div class="mag-excerpt entry-content" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Conservative Christian Republican also claimed that parental rights are more important than “science,” which he put in scare-quotes.</font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/fox-friends-in-full-meltdown-mode-because-americans-are-taking-god-out-of-everything/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/fox-friends-in-full-meltdown-mode-because-americans-are-taking-god-out-of-everything/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">horoshow talking pts?</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Fox & Friends” was very focused on God – specifically, the Christian God of the Bible – on Tuesday morning. In one segment the Fox News AM crew used the Bible to interpret the “top topics” of the day, while another focused on what the hosts and a guest claimed is the disappearance of God in America.</span></font></div><div class="p1_14" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Using a week-old story about a Pennsylvania elementary school that has stopped saying, “God bless America” after the Pledge of Allegiance is read over the school’s PA system, “Fox & Friends” invited an attorney from an anti-LGBT Christian law firm on to offer his opinion.</font></p><div class="p2_14" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-2" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“I’m wondering if they’re so upset about the phrase ‘God Bless America,’ is the school district there in Pennsylvania, that is frankly not too far away from where those flights went down on 9/11, are they going to get rid of the dollar bills that have in God we trust on them?” Jeremy Dys, the Deputy General Counsel for the anti-LGBT organization <a href="https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/?s=%22First+Liberty%22" target="blank" rel="noopener" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; transition: color 0.3s ease 0s; cursor: pointer;"><strong style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">First Liberty</strong></a>, asked.</font></p><div class="p3_14" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Are they going to start punishing teachers for saying ‘God bless you’ to students that sneeze in the hallway? This is absurd and it should be treated as absurd. When people say ‘the grass is pink,’ it’s not based on any kind of reality, just like they say ‘God bless America is unconstitutional,’ there is no reality that supports that.”</font></p><div class="p4_14" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Fox & Friends” co-host Ainsley Earhardt was quick to weigh in.</font></p><div class="p5_14" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“As a Christian my faith is extremely important to me. When I think about taking God out of America, it really saddens me because I feel like we need Him,” she said.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Earhardt appeared to suggest that less people saying “God bless America,” or invoking God’s name has somehow lead to more shootings in churches and synagogues.</font></p><div class="p7_14" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“When you have shootings in synagogues, shootings in churches, and you have to get wanded before you walk in to a church now. Where have we come as a country? What’s going to happen if we continue to push this narrative to take God out of everything?”</font></p><div class="p8_14" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dys added, “I fear. I fear for our country, if we were to get rid of these things entirely.”</font></p><div class="p9_14" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He called it “a danger to our society” if America gets rid of “any kind of utterance of religion in public.”</font></p><div class="p10_14" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch:</font></p><div class="p11_14" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><twitter-widget class="twitter-tweet twitter-tweet-rendered" id="twitter-widget-0" data-tweet-id="1125721058236088322" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; visibility: visible; display: block; transform: rotate(0deg); max-width: 100%; width: 500px; min-width: 220px;" /></font><div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style="text-align: -webkit-center; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://act.pfaw.org/go/66268?t=7&akid=8262%2E2556770%2E6wC1A8">Kenneth Copeland, Prosperity Preacher and Dominionist, Dines With Trump at White House</a></strong></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/kenneth-copeland-prosperity-preacher-and-dominionist-dines-with-trump-at-white-house/">http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/kenneth-copeland-prosperity-preacher-and-dominionist-dines-with-trump-at-white-house/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Kenneth Copeland, the prosperity gospel preacher whose lavish tax-exempt mansion-and-private-jets lifestyle has been the subject of an (<a href="https://www.au.org/church-state/february-2011-church-state/featured/grassley-withers-under-religious-right-heat" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">ineffective</a>) congressional investigation and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y1xJAVZxXg" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">serious mockery</a> by late-night comedian John Oliver, was among the Religious Right leaders who dined with President Donald Trump at the White House Wednesday night on the eve of National Prayer Day.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Copeland’s attendance at the White House dinner was</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><a href="http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2019/may/president-trump-calls-on-americans-to-use-the-power-of-prayer-to-end-violence-and-protect-religious-liberty" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">reported by the Christian Broadcasting Network</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></div><div class="mce-content-body" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em; line-height: 1.5;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Prosperity gospel preachers—most visibly Trump’s “spiritual adviser” Paula White—teach that wealth is a sign of God’s blessing. (White recently encouraged people to <a href="https://twitter.com/petemont/status/1118508929552658432" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">unlock a set of special Passover blessings</a>, to include God assigning them an angel, by sending her money.)</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While Copeland is somewhat notorious for enjoying the trappings of great wealth accumulated by his ministry—like Trump, he claims to be a billionaire—less attention has been paid to the connection between his belief in wealth-building and the dominionist ideology that motivates many of Trump’s Pentecostal supporters.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>“Money answers everything,” begins an April 11 <a href="https://blog.kcm.org/8-keys-to-gods-system-of-wealth/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">blog post</a> from Kenneth Copeland Ministries. “God wants you to have money for three fundamental reasons,” according to the post:</b></font></p><ol style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 1.5em;"><li style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; padding: 0.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">To fund Kingdom work. To “go into all the world and preach the gospel” takes money!</font></li><li style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; padding: 0.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman">To provide well for your own household. That’s your job—not your family’s or the government’s. God has called you to work to provide for yourself.</font></li><li style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; padding: 0.5em;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);" size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>To subdue the earth. To have dominion on the earth, we should be controlling most of the resources. </b>For example, if you don’t like the immorality posted on the billboard outside your office, here is the answer: Own the billboard. If the magazines in the store are offensive: Own the magazines. That’s how you subdue the earth.</font></li></ol><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The need for Christians to take dominion is further explored under the header, “Christians Must Reclaim Their Territory.”</font></p><blockquote style="background: rgb(239, 243, 243); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; hyphens: none; padding: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0.75em 2em;"><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Christians seem to have become complacent in the area of taking possession, but the Bible is clear—we are to take territory and have dominion on the earth! That’s why it’s high time we, as believers, start expecting to claim more and more territory. It’s time to repossess the land!</b></font></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Another section declares, “Possession of the Land Is Not Optional.”</font></p><blockquote style="background: rgb(239, 243, 243); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; hyphens: none; padding: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0.75em 2em;"><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This is the first command in the Bible. Take dominion. Possession of the land is not optional,<b> it is not selfish, and it is not a luxury—it’s a command</b>. It’s time that we, as Christians, take our job assignment seriously and become a positive influence on the world, rather than being under the control of those who seek to do evil.</font></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Also included in the post is a link to a conversation between Gloria Copeland and Billye Brim about the need for Christians to “rule and reign” before the return of Jesus Christ.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Many of the Trump-supporting apostles-and-prophets crowd talk about a coming great “wealth transfer” that will enable God’s righteous remnant to take their rightful dominion over society. The late Peter Wagner, founder of the dominionist Pentecostal network known as the New Apostolic Reformation, published “The Great Transfer of Wealth: Financial Release for Advancing God’s Kingdom” in 2015. </font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The foreword was written by Cindy Jacobs, a member of the Trump-supporting <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/report/potus-shield-trumps-dominionist-prayer-warriors-and-the-prophetic-order-of-the-united-states/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">POTUS Shield</a> network who was <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/the-year-the-religious-right-moved-into-the-white-house/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">at the White House</a> for the May 2017 signing of Trump’s executive order on religious liberty. In the book, Wagner draws explicitly on the promotion of Seven Mountains Dominionism by Lance Wallnau, who was <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/white-house-talks-mid-east-peace-with-religious-right-leaders-who-reject-land-for-peace/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">recently invited to the White House</a> for a briefing on the Trump administration’s Middle East peace plans. Other endorsers include big names of the “prophetic” universe, including Bill Redding and Che Ahn. In her forward, Jacobs wrote that “the spirit of poverty” is “one of Satan’s plans to destroy our worldview.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Although Wagner claimed that he did not want to create a theocracy, his book directly linked the accumulation of wealth by Christians who shared his worldview to the “social transformation” he and his followers hope to bring about:</font></p><blockquote style="background: rgb(239, 243, 243); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; hyphens: none; padding: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0.75em 2em;"><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Most of us have a deep desire to see our nation—in my case, the United States—someday come to Christ so that the U.S. will once again be regarded internationally as a Christian nation, a nation steeped in and guided by the blessings and the values of the kingdom of God. In that day, America, as a nation, will proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord! In order to make that happen, a great deal of wealth will be required.</font></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Copeland and his wife Gloria were <a href="https://auburnseminary.org/voices/trump-evangelical-advisory-board/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">members of candidate Trump’s evangelical advisory board</a>. </b>A month before the election, he <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/kenneth-copeland-christians-who-dont-vote-for-trump-are-going-to-be-guilty-of-murder/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">told Christians</a> that if they didn’t vote for Trump they would be “guilty of murder” and that God would hold them accountable for it:</font></p><blockquote style="background: rgb(239, 243, 243); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; hyphens: none; padding: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0.75em 2em;"><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px; line-height: 1.5;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“This is God’s nation and nobody is going to take it away from Him,” Copeland shouted. “No man, no woman, no Democrat, no Republican, no socialist, no communist can take this nation away from God! I don’t know what it is about that you can’t understand, but I’m telling you right now God Almighty is head of this nation, not people! Jesus of Nazareth is lord over the United States.”</font></p></blockquote><div class="at-below-post addthis_tool" data-url="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/kenneth-copeland-prosperity-preacher-and-dominionist-dines-with-trump-at-white-house/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); : border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; line-height: 1.5;"><div class="layout-constrain--narrow" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; max-width: 47.2222em; padding-left: 1em; padding-right: 1em;"><div class="tags" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; border-top: 5px solid rgb(239, 243, 243); margin-bottom: 2em; padding-top: 1em;"><p style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear;">Tags:</strong> <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/bill-johnson/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Bill Johnson</a><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/che-ahn/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Che Ahn</a><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/cindy-jacobs/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Cindy Jacobs</a><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/kenneth-copeland/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Kenneth Copeland</a><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/lance-wallnau/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Lance Wallnau</a><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/people/paula-white/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Paula White</a><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/dominionism/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Dominionism</a> <a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/national-day-of-prayer/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">National Day of Prayer</a><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/topics/trump-administration/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump Administration</a><a href="http://www.rightwingwatch.org/organizations/kenneth-copeland-ministries/" style=": border-box; transition-duration: 0.2s; transition-property: background-color, border-color, box-shadow, color, opacity, text-shadow, transform, -webkit-transform; transition-timing-function: linear; background-color: transparent; outline-offset: 0.111111em; text-decoration-line: none;">Kenneth Copeland Ministries</a></font></p></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div></div></div></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/the-ungodly-constitution-how-the-founding-fathers-ensured-america-would-not-be-a-christian-nation/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/the-ungodly-constitution-how-the-founding-fathers-ensured-america-would-not-be-a-christian-nation/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">AN</font></div><div><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">When I was growing up in the fifties and sixties, almost no one in politics or everyday life went around proclaiming, “I am a Christian.” If indeed you were a Christian—that is, someone who considers Jesus Christ the Messiah—you identified yourself as a Lutheran, a Methodist, a Baptist, a Catholic, and so on <em style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">in excelsis</em> in order to let others know where you stood in the vast American religious landscape.</font></p><div class="p1_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Calling oneself a Christian today, by contrast, has a special, politicized meaning. For most people in public life, this self-identification suggests a particular form of conservative Christianity, a brand of religion that seeks not only to proselytize but to impose its values on others through the machinery of the state. The huge exception to this rule is President Barack Obama, who has been forced by the birther-paranoids to advertise his credentials as a Christian in order to refute the lie that he is a “secret Muslim.”</font></p><div class="p2_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-2" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Once upon a time (until around 1980, actually), the appellation “Christian” used to mean “right-wing Protestant,” as a consequence of the historic animosity between many forms of American Protestantism and the Roman Catholic Church. That is no longer true, as demonstrated by GOP primary hopefuls Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, the darlings of Protestant fundamentalists, although they personify the cliché “more Catholic than the pope.” (In Gingrich’s case, the relevant pontiffs would be certain medieval and Renaissance vicars of Christ who produced numerous children through extra-pontifical liaisons.) Santorum is in fact a Catholic fundamentalist—unlike the majority of American Catholics, who do not accept either the notion of papal infallibility or the Vatican line on sexual behavior. Liberal Catholics, well aware of the political meaning of Christian in American politics, generally call themselves plain old “Catholics.”</font></p><div class="p3_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Thus, when Santorum and Gingrich used their dog whistles throughout the Republican primaries to imply that Obama is not the Christian he claims to be, what they really meant is that he is not <em style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">their</em> kind of Christian. It has also become standard for politicians to offer a nod to “our Judeo-Christian heritage” in an effort to display theocratic inclusiveness. The slippery Gingrich never stumbled over this phrase, but Santorum often did, dragging <em style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Judeo</em> out to four syllables so that it came out “Jew-day-ee-oh.” It is clear that this ecumenical platitude was not a part of the sanctimonious Santorum’s upbringing.</font></p><div class="p4_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Was the United States founded as a Christian nation, meaning that the framers of the Constitution established a government whose laws would not only reflect but also enforce the rules of a particular brand of Christianity? No, period. The answer is as clear as Santorum’s pronunciation of <em style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Judeo</em> is slurred, and the explanation can be found in the old (i.e., pre-1980) American practice of identifying oneself by denomination.</font></p><div class="p5_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Denominational identification is as old as the earliest colonies in the New World, given that the first Puritan theocrats were fleeing persecution by adherents of <em style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">another</em> denomination—the Church of England. By the revolutionary era, doctrinal and intellectual distinctions separating one Christian denomination from another remained as immense as the gulf between the beliefs of a Jew and any Christian, or between any orthodox religious believer and a deist.</font></p><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The founders did not want doctrinal differences to wreak civic havoc of the kind then evident throughout Europe. That is why they left not only Jesus but indeed any deity out of the Constitution. That the American population was and is overwhelmingly Christian is a fact. That makes it all the more remarkable that the founders did <em style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">not</em> establish a Christian government.</font></p><div class="p7_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Christian Right cannot point to a single mention of Jesus or Christianity in any of the nation’s founding documents and is forced to rely, for divine antecedents, on the line in the Declaration of Independence that talks about all men being endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. But even if this were a statement of belief in a specific god rather than a general assertion of the philosophy of natural rights, it is most decidedly not a statement of faith in Jesus Christ.</font></p><div class="p8_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In any event, it is futile to engage in debate with spokespeople for the Christian Right on this subject, because for them, the Christian origin of the American state is an article of faith that cannot be disproved by facts or plain English. Tell them, for instance, that the godlessness of the Constitution was taken for granted and attacked by conservatives at state ratifying conventions in 1787 and 1788, and they will point to the conventional “Year of Our Lord” dating of the document. This supposedly refutes hundreds of statements by angry ministers complaining about the absence of God from the document that would furnish the young government’s written foundation. As one cleric observed at North Carolina’s state convention, the Constitution’s ban on religious tests for public office in Article VI, Section 3 amounted to “an invitation for Jews and pagans of every kind to come among us.” He was entirely accurate in his description of the potential effects of letting anyone, regardless of religious belief, run for public office. And when it came time to ratify the Constitution, he and his fellow theocrats were voted down in every state.</font></p><div class="p9_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The ungodliness of the Constitution kept popping up in public discourse throughout the nineteenth century, most notably when a powerful group of Protestant ministers came to Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War and demanded that he support an amendment to declare Jesus Christ, not “We the People,” the source of all governmental power. Lincoln, a canny politician who knew when not to take on another battle in the middle of a bloody civil war, declined to take any action and instead went along with a move to placate the ministers by putting “In God We Trust” on a two-penny coin in 1864. Lincoln presumably viewed the inscription of trust in a deity on a coin as an innocuous action calculated to avoid the trouble that would surely be generated by a Christian amendment to the Constitution. Little did he know that nearly 150 years in the future, right-wing politicians would employ that slogan to attack the much older motto <em style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">E Pluribus Unum</em>.</font></p><div class="p10_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lincoln’s brand of compromise was described by Jon Meacham in <em style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Time </em>magazine as “a long-standing covenant between believers and nonbelievers in which secularists live with public religious appeals and images in exchange for self-regulating moderation on the part of the faithful. It’s an ancient and wise accommodation that allows religion and politics to inform each other without promoting an eschatological war between church and state.”</font></p><div class="p11_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In fairness, Meacham argues that extremists like Santorum had violated this unspoken and unsigned “covenant.” However, “self-regulating moderation on the part of the faithful” is a flimsy altar upon which to base any agreement regarding the separation of church and state. Had the founders believed in the capacity of the faithful for such “self-regulation,” they never would have prohibited religious tests for national office at a time when most state governments still had religious discrimination written into their laws.</font></p><div class="p12_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">One aspect of the imaginary covenant between religious believers and secularists began to break down in the 1960s, long before the rise of the Christian Right. Since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid and the expansion of federal aid to education during Lyndon Johnson’s administration, secularists have rarely objected to the expenditure of federal funds through religious institutions like hospitals and charities. This is hardly a symbolic matter. It is far more important than the symbolic victories won by secularists of that era in the Supreme Court on issues like school prayer.</font></p><div class="p13_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The firestorm set off by the Obama administration’s effort to make Catholic institutions offer insurance policies that cover contraception was described by the media as a dispute over religious liberty. Religious liberty meant, to the Catholic bishops, the right to participate in federal programs and receive funds provided by all taxpayers while imposing their religious doctrines on employees and patients alike—whatever their religion or lack thereof. Not every religion wants to have the taxpayers’ cake and eat it too. Mormon charities, for instance, do not accept government money.</font></p><div class="p14_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The ability of the religious Right to frame this dispute purely as a matter of religious freedom—meaning freedom for the most conservative forms of religion—is a direct result of the long erosion of the separation of church and state at the practical level of taxpayer funding. Throughout these decades of erosion, what was once the religious center has constantly been pulled to the right.</font></p><div class="p15_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">(It should be noted that the furor is also a consequence of the Catholic bishops’ inability to convince their own flock to follow the church’s lead on sexual issues. The bishops are attempting to reassert control over Catholic hospitals—some of them run by uppity nuns—where church doctrine has been violated for years when it comes to such matters as the morning-after pill for rape victims and abortions needed to save a mother’s life. But the split within the Catholic Church is not the subject of this article.)</font></p><div class="p16_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There is no real answer to be found in the nation’s founding documents about this question, because the founders never envisioned an America in which the federal government would spend billions of dollars on health and education, whether through religious or nonreligious institutions. It is worth noting, however, that Virginia’s 1786 Act for Establishing Religious Freedom—which later served as the template for the Bill of Rights—came into being in opposition to a proposal that would have taxed Virginians for the support of Christian teaching in the public schools. Virginia’s law, not the statutes of states that still had established churches, became the template for Article VI, which was supposed to ban religious preference within the government, and the First Amendment, which prevented government from favoring one religion over another. The issue in Virginia, then, like the national issue over the prerogatives of sectarian hospitals today, encompassed both religious freedom and money.</font></p><div class="p17_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bishops are not the least bit concerned about the freedom of non-Catholic (or, for that matter, Catholic) employees whose consciences tell them that contraception is just fine. They are not concerned about rape victims, whatever their religion, who will not only be refused the morning-after pill by their hospitals but also will not even be told about other nonsectarian hospitals that provide such services. They will not be concerned if someday the Vatican decides that living wills are a usurpation of divine and ecclesiastical authority and that everyone has a duty to go on living and suffering until some deity decides to pull the plug.</font></p><div class="p18_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The question is not whether the United States is a Christian nation: it is whether church authorities adhering to a deeply conservative brand of Christianity (along with some ultra-Orthodox rabbis who do not speak for most American Jews, any more than bishops speak for most American Catholics or the Family Research Council speaks for most American Protestants) get to use taxpayer money to further their parochial agenda.</font></p><div class="p19_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is true that most American secularists tolerate a good deal more religious symbolism in public life than we would like, but it is sheer fantasy to suggest that we have signed on to any covenant that tolerates the expenditure of public money according to the prescriptions and proscriptions of canon law or general biblical laws.</font></p><div class="p20_21" style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.8; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Oh, wait. There really weren’t any biblical laws about contraception because there wasn’t any effective contraception. But then, biblical Israel was definitely not a Christian nation. It was, however, a theocracy, like every Christian feudal monarchy and nation-state that succeeded the Roman Empire. The founders made a noble effort to say goodbye to all that in order to secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity.<br style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Susan Jacoby is the author of </span>Freethinkers: a History of American Secularism<span style=": border-box; outline: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> (Metropolitan, 2004) and a forthcoming biography of Robert Green Ingersoll, to be published next January by Yale University Press.</span></font></p></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">I<a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/islamophobia-among-white-evangelicals-is-about-politics-not-faith-study/">slamophobia among white evangelicals is about politics, not faith: study</a></font><div class="grid-post-box-meta mag-meta"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="author-italic author vcard"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/sophia-a-mcclennen/" title="Posts by Sophia A. McClennen" class="author url fn" rel="author">Sophia A. McClennen</a> / <a href="https://www.alternet.org/author/salon/" title="Posts by Salon " class="author url fn" rel="author">Salon </a></span></font></div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/this-megachurch-pastor-cast-out-demonic-networks-at-the-white-house-and-said-trump-is-carrying-out-an-assignment-from-god/">https://www.alternet.org/2019/05/this-megachurch-pastor-cast-out-demonic-networks-at-the-white-house-and-said-trump-is-carrying-out-an-assignment-from-god/</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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</font><h3><font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the White House’s National Day of Prayer event on Thursday,
leaders in different religions had the chance to speak before attendees
and deliver a brief message or invocation from their…</font></font></h3><h3>
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<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At the White House’s National Day of Prayer event on Thursday,
leaders in different religions had the chance to speak before attendees
and deliver a brief message or invocation from their faith traditions.
But one speaker stood out among all the rest, the woman who is said to
be Trump’s spiritual adviser and personal pastor.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Her name is Paula White, the leader of an evangelical megachurch in
Florida and advocate of the prosperity gospel — a widely disparaged
creed that offers the promises of present-day riches in exchange for
spiritual devotion and faith. It’s a belief system with striking
parallels — and often is an outright cover for — <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2018/09/06/religious-based-financial-fraud-is-rampant-heres-how-to-fight-it.html">financial scams</a>. (“As recently as last year,” the Guardian
reported in March, “White encouraged members of her congregation to
send their first month’s salary to her ministry to enjoy God’s
blessings.”)</font></p><div class="alt_ad_block story-page-in-content-graph-2">
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<p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While the other speakers approached the lectern and spoke solemnly
and calmly, White barreled up to the microphone and began immediately
speaking a mile a minute, telling the audience to grab each other hands.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And despite her cheerful demeanor, her speech struck some dark and ominous notes.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“We are not wrestling against flesh and blood but against
principalities, wickedness and darkness, so we declare every demonic
network to be scattered right now,” she said. “We declare right now that
there is a hedge of protection over our president, first lady, every
assignment, the purpose they carry and the mantle.”</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">She continued: “And like the apostle, apostle Paul, said in
Galatians: ‘I was set apart from my mother’s whom, and marked off by
boundaries.’ For let him fulfill all the will of the Lord and do the
assignment God has carried him to do for your great name, for your great
nation and all your people in the world.”</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It was a small peek inside the relationship between Trump and White,
who has owned an apartment in one of Trump’s buildings for years, The
Guardian has reported. She told the outlet that her meeting and forming a
relationship with Trump was an ‘assignment” from God.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">She has defended the president at some of his lowest movements, such
as the revelations around his abusive migrant family separation policy
and his deadly neglect of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, giving
cover for him with his crucial evangelical base. She has also advised
him on policy, according to the Guardian, such as the decision to move
the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.</font>
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Watch the clip of her remarks from the National Day of Prayer below:</font></p></div></div></div><div><font><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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