The latest “buzz word” in politics is “Christian nationalism.”
Although both Rachel Maddow and Alex Wagner mentioned the term
on MSNBC in recent weeks, the reality of what it is goes back much further.
Although
most of the Founding Fathers would be considered practicing Christians, several
of them practiced Deism. Deists argued that human experience and rationality—rather than
religious dogma and mystery—determine the validity of human beliefs. In his
widely read The Age of Reason, Thomas
Paine, the principal American exponent of Deism, called Christianity
“a fable.” Paine, the protégé of Benjamin Franklin, denied “that the Almighty
ever did communicate anything to man, by…speech,…language, or…vision.”
Postulating a distant deity whom he called “Nature’s God” (a term also used in
the Declaration of Independence), Paine declared in a “profession of faith”:
I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness
beyond this life. I believe in the equality of man; and I believe that
religious duties consist in doing justice, loving mercy, and in endeavoring to
make our fellow-creatures happy.
Paine’s belief in the equality of man made it into the Declaration
of Independence, even though the only people who were allowed to vote were
white Christian men who owned land. The Deists in the founding group reminded the
Christians in the group of the dangers of organized religion (which had led to
countless religious wars over the years), which is why they firmly believed in
the separation of church and state.
The article below provides a LOT more information on the
topic, if you would like to read further about the Founding Fathers.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Founding-Fathers-Deism-and-Christianity-1272214
The belief that white men were superior to, not equal to,
other people, first manifested itself with the founding of the Ku Klux Klan in
1866, but it faded away after the passage of the Ku Klux Klan Act in 1871.
After D.W.W, Griffith released “The Birth of a Nation” in 1915,
the movement was revived, and it peaked in the 1920’s, when membership exceeded
4,000,000 people.
The Great Depression caused membership to drop sharply, and it
was almost non-existent until 1964, when the Civil Rights Act was passed.
Despite the persistence of racism, the Klan largely failed to stem the growth of
racial tolerance in the South in the late 20th century. Though the organization
continued some of its surreptitious activities into the early 21st century,
cases of Klan violence became more isolated, and its membership had declined to
a few thousand. The Klan became a chronically fragmented mélange made up of several separate and competing
groups, some of which occasionally entered into alliances with neo-Nazi and other right-wing extremist groups, as was the case
at a demonstration in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017 that erupted in
violence, resulting in the death of a counterdemonstrator. (Spike
Lee’s film, “BlacKKKlansman,” includes a video of the Charlottesville rally).
Over time, the KKK started to develop a more Christian Identity.
According
to Professor Jon Schamber, Rev. Philip E. J. Monson branched off from the
teachings of British
Israelism and began to develop Christian Identity Theology in the 1910s. During the 1920s, Monson
published Satan's Seat: The Enemy of Our Race in which he adopted Russel Kelso Carter's theory that Jews and non-whites were descended
from the serpent in the Garden of Eden. Monson connected the work of the
corrupt race to the activities of the Catholic Church and the Pope. Monson's
ideas were popular among some KKK members in the 1950s
Another group that has a Christian identity is the John Birch
Society, which was founded in 1958. It still exists today, and its action projects
exactly match today’s Republican Party.
Claire Connor’s parents were members of the John Birch Society
in the 1960’s. Her book, “Wrapped in the Flag” provides much detail about how radical
the group was – and still is.
http://claireconner.com/wrapped-in-the-flag-description/
The Moral Majority was an American
political organization associated with the Christian right and Republican Party. It was founded in 1979
by Baptist minister Jerry Falwell
Sr. and associates and dissolved in the late 1980s. It played a
key role in the mobilization of conservative Christians as a political force
and particularly in Republican presidential victories throughout the 1980s.
Oxford Dictionaries defines
the term as a "right-wing movement in the US formed in the 1970s
Although 1988 was the last election in which the Moral Majority
in which the Moral Majority was an active organization, its ideas have not gone
away.
In 2016, Donald Trump captured 81% of the Evangelical vote.
There are people who believe that Trump was sent by God, and Trump surrounded
himself with 25 spiritual advisors to bolster his image as a Christian man.
https://archive.thinkprogress.org/meet-donald-trumps-new-evangelical-advisory-board-6a5bfc5460d7/
Although the Biden administration has been able to pass some bi-partisan
bills since his inauguration, the reality is that the Republican Party of today
has done little to help the average American, which is why they have seized on
culture issues (abortion, gun laws, CRT, book bans) in order to get votes,
which is precisely why Glenn Youngkin is now the governor of Virginia.
In 2020, the FOX “news” station mentioned “critical race theory”
more than 2000 times, which is now why it is a handy catchphrase for Republican
politicians. The most prominent abusers are Ron DeSantis of Florida, and Dough
Ducey of Arizona.
It is not clear that the MAGA attempt to take over the government will stay behind Trump. Today, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has recently been in the news for his defamation of the parents of a victim of the Sandy Hook shooting, announced on his show that he is switching his support to DeSantis. He was a staunch enough Trump supporter that he spoke at the January 5, 2021, rally in Washington, D.C., to fire up the crowd for the next day.
The Conservative Political Action conventions have always included
a “straw vote” to determine their preferred candidate for the next presidential
candidate, and Trump is usually the first choice. In second place, though, is a
guy who is nearly as dangerous. His name is Ron DeSantis, and he is mentioned
prominently in the link below:
The explosion of gag orders by the Republican party makes the
job of American’s teachers much more difficult, and they harm the education of
our students.
In order to further promote extreme ideas in our schools, Doug
Ducey recently signed a bill to expand the voucher program, which will allow
extreme groups like Turning Point USA to establish private schools to promote their
ideas.
Turning Point USA (TPUSA), or Turning Point, is an American nonprofit organization that advocates for conservative values on high school, college, and
university campuses. The organization was founded in 2012 by Charlie Kirk and Bill Montgomery. TPUSA's sister organizations include
Turning Point Endowment, Turning Point Action, Students for Trump, and Turning Point Faith. The group also works
closely with PragerU. According to The
Chronicle of Higher Education, TPUSA "is now the dominant force in campus
conservatism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turning_Point_USA
The “winners” of the recent Republican primaries are so
extreme that they are unlikely to win in the November election. That is especially
true in Arizona, where independent voters outnumber both Republicans and
Democrats. Kari Lake, Blake Masters, and Mark Finchem were all endorsed by
Trump – and all of them believe that Joe Biden lost in 2020.
Trump is using the Mar-A-Lago raid to raise money, and his
continued pursuit of the 2024 nomination (although he is virtually impossible
to be nominated) is also simply a way to raise money. The House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the
U.S. Capitol says former President Donald Trump knowingly peddled lies about
the 2020 election outcome in order to raise millions of dollars from his
supporters. The committee says Trump took in $250 million that he promised
would go to an official election defense fund, a fund that did not exist.
Traditionally, the party that has the keys to the White House
does not do well in the midterms. Even though the Biden administration has
vastly improved the economy, and has achieved some remarkable legislative
victories, those (by themselves) would not be enough to prevent losses in the 2022
general elections.
This year, though, the bets are off, and one word sums up why.
Dobbs.
The Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade horrified both
Democrats and Republicans, and it will cost the GOP some seats that they may
otherwise have own.
I don’t know what it will take to reverse the trend to
Christian nationalism, but a healthy drubbing in the mid-term elections will be
a very good start.
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