The Strange Ways of Doing Business in a Christian Denomination May Explain the Evangelical Aversion to Democracy

Baptist News Global: Confirmation that Adam Greenway is Out as President of Southwestern Seminary

Big deal, huh?  The president of one of the six seminaries owned and operated by the Southern Baptist Convention resigns, because of trustee pressure on him, due mainly to two things.  One, his treatment of and management of the school's faculty, causing more than 40 of them, fully a third of the total, to leave during the three years of his tenure.  Two, the fact that the school has been declining in enrollment for over a decade, under the mis-management of Greenway's predecessor, Paige Patterson and reported a $12 million deficit this fall.  In spite of the firing of his predecessor for complete incompetence, and bringing in new leadership, enrollment has not recovered and the budget shortfall has grown. 

This was apparently known before it was reported, since the trustees have been regularly cranking out reports that everything at Southwestern Seminary was just hunky dory.  But Dr. Greenway obviously knew he was on the way out, because he made a very nice, "soft landing" transition into a completely unrelated job at the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board, where a job had been created specifically for him.  It wasn't an open position, but apparently Dr. Greenway has some friends on the IMB trustee board, or among the administrators, to land a nice high dollar administrator post which didn't exist before.  

This has been the modus operandi of the Southern Baptist Convention for virtually all of its existence.  It is structured and set up in such a way that the entities which it owns and operates, including its executive committee, two mission boards, six seminaries and its Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission (ERLC) which is its lobbyist arm, are run by trustees appointed by a committee that is appointed by whomever is elected president of the convention at its annual meeting every June.  

It's an Oligarchy of the Privileged and Prominent, Not a Democracy 

The Southern Baptist Convention itself consists of an executive director and staff, based in Nashville.  It has an executive committee, made up of individuals from its state conventions, nominated by a committee and the nominees are approved as a group by the messengers who attend the annual meeting of the convention as a whole.  This group conducts the financial and business affairs of the denomination, which involves managing contributions which come from its 45,000 or so independent, autonomous, affiliated churches through state convention groups.  Those contributions, known as the "Cooperative Program," support missionaries appointed through two mission boards, one for North America, one international, six theological seminaries which train pastors and missions personnel, a small, Washington-based lobby organization known as the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, and a publishing house, Lifeway, also based in Nashville.  

Only the officers of the convention are elected, and they are not elected by church members at large, but by the messengers who attend the annual convention.  Churches are allocated a specific number of messengers, up to a maximum of 10, I think, based on their total membership and, of course, on the amount of money the church gives to the Cooperative Program.  Messengers are nominated and elected by their local churches, so the process is rife with factions and special interests and dominated by celebrity pastors and megachurches, in a denomination where the average church attendance is 80.  

The fact that the president of the convention has the power to appoint the committee which nominates the members of every entity board of trustees makes it a set-up for a faction within the denomination to gain, and hold, control of the mission boards, seminaries and other entities for decades.  The steep decline in revenue, church membership and attendance that has plagued the SBC since 2006 is due, largely to the fact that the tendency has been to elect leaders based on who they know, rather than how well equipped they are to do the job.  

A fundamentalist faction got control of the Presidency in 1979 and has not relinquished it since then.  They won control with the claim that many of those in leadership positions were "theological liberals" and "didn't believe the Bible."  That was much more of a conspiracy theory than the truth, but it led to their complete control of every denominational entity and it has resulted in major declines in church membership and attendance, issues at virtually every seminary, both mission boards, Lifeway Christian Publishers and the ERLC.  

Multiple Examples of Incompetence and Mismanagement

The stewardship of offerings from churches, on which the denomination runs, is abominable and wasteful.  Virtually every entity of the SBC has gone through a decline, financial crisis, leadership shift, and some kind of restructuring and re-organization at one point or another.  Entities have become places where prominent, influential individuals can build a personal kingdom, gathering trustees and staff who express personal loyalty to them and enjoy living off a top-dollar salary and perks paid at the expense of those who give sacrificially to their local church.  

The article cited at the top, noting the departure of Dr. Adam Greenway from the presidency of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, is just one in a long string of such incidents which occur with regularity in the Southern Baptist Convention.  Once the largest seminary in the world, Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is a shell of its former self.  It became the fief of Dr. Paige Patterson, one of the two "architects" of the "conservative resurgence," which aimed to take over the SBC beginning in 1979, making it even more conservative than it already was, and which completed the task by 1989.  As a reward, Patterson was given the presidency at Southwestern Seminary, a job he always wanted.  Coming from a broken down Bible college in East Dallas, Patterson first served at Southeastern Seminary as partial compensation for the takeover he engineered, before heading to his native Texas and Fort Worth.  

In 15 years, after firing competent, quality professors, bringing in his buds and friends, establishing degree programs and majors that were worthless and which only a few students were interested, Patterson went through the school's capital reserves, CP allocation and contributed dollars like a hot knife through butter.  Beyond that, his personal misogyny and his theological complimentarian views of women led him to mishandle allegations of sexual abuse on both of the campuses at Southeastern and Southwestern.  That eventually got him canned,  but not until after years of incompetence led to the decline and financial issues at Southwestern, while trustees, most of whom he had used his influence to get on the board, looked on and did absolutely nothing except give their rubber stamp approval to everything he did or said.  

Church membership has dropped three million in just a little over a decade, with the years since Trump was in the White House representing growing declines in the hundreds of thousands, more than 400,000 in the last year they reported the membership.  And yet, while there are those who see the need to make a change, the structure and the system are designed in a way to prevent it.  

Reflections in Right-Wing Politics

Southern Baptists will call their convention system "democratic" because messengers elect officers and vote on business at the annual meeting.  But this isn't democracy at all.  It is an oligarchy.  Here's why: 

• The number of messengers a church can send to a convention is determined by how much money the church contributed to SBC causes during the previous year.  This is a throwback to the old "property owners vote" days, and to voting patterns prevalent in confederate states during the Civil War. 
• Only the officers of the convention, including President, first, second and third vice-presidents, recording secretary and registration secretary, all of whom are members of the executive committee by virtue of office, are actually elected by the convention messengers.  All of the committees and trustee boards, while subject to a collective "vote" of approval, are appointed by a special committee which is named by the convention president.  So whoever is the president can control the make-up of every board.  And naming friends, close associates and allies to these positions has been a very common practice since conservatives gained control of the presidency in 1979. 
• Because they are members of the executive committee, the registration secretary and recording secretary can avoid the "term limits" required of other executive committee members.  Some have served more than 20 years, and have been a pipeline of influence for factions controlling the convention.  
• Trustee boards have absolute control over the entities they run.  It has been made deliberately difficult to challenge them, even in the middle of spectacular crises.  

The Southern Baptist Convention has been hit hard in recent years, because its way of choosing leaders has led to some of the most incredibly incompetent leadership choices imaginable.  You can see what has happened at Southwestern Seminary, made even more incredible by the fact that nothing really changes.  Irresponsible and incompetent leadership has led to revelations of a sexual abuse crisis worse than anything the Roman Catholic Church imagined could happen.  

I include this information as a warning.  If we continue to elect right wing leadership connected to the religious right, this is what we will get.  There is an appeal here to the appearance of "democratic values."  But the fact of the matter is that within this particular religious denomination, control by an oligarchy is the status quo, and it always has been that way.  It's a throwback to the antebellum south, to a culture and time when prestige and prominence, in the form of wealth and influence, mattered, and nothing else did.  It was a society based on class, with the lower classes there to serve the wealthy and preserve the status quo, as well as someone else's wealth.  That's the Southern Baptist Convention in a nutshell.  

The Reality for Republican Candidates in the Midterms is That Trump's Continued Presence is a Growing Liability

Getting a perspective on reality from a mainstream media that plays to the sensational extremes in order to increase audience size, get ratings up and generate more advertising revenue is difficult.  What we see are comments from journalists who have their own program, or "show," and then a panel of individuals who represent the more extreme perspectives and views to give commentary that looks balanced, but rarely if ever fits that description.  And that's not just the extremist media, either, it's been the M.O. at CNN for a long time, and it's creeping into MSNBC.  

I'll give a shameless plug here for the Pacifica Radio Network, which is about the only place I know of where you get pure news in a non-commercial format.  The stations are located in San Francisco-Berkeley, Los Angeles, Houston, Washington, DC and New York, but all of them have an internet stream.  And they are a welcome escape and break from the increasing sensationalism surrounding American elections.  With a little of that peace and quiet, it is possible to gather thoughts and gain some perspective.  

As Trump Sinks into Hopeless Extremism, His "Popularity" is Waning Considerably 

It's become apparent, with all of Trump's screaming, raging, ranting and raving about the election that he clearly lost, and the blatant ignorance he has demonstrated in what he points to as evidence that he didn't, that he doesn't understand that getting elected is a matter of getting the most votes.  He leans much more to the side of those who believe that manipulating the right people will get you what you want.  Why not?  That's worked for him in business all his life.  And this isn't a sarcastic statement, either.  It's a conclusion that can be made by listening to him, if you can keep from throwing up during his rants.  He doesn't think ballots matter, what matters is having enough influence or putting enough pressure on the right people to change outcomes.  

So his campaign rallies and speeches and the support and publicity he puts out tends to run to the extremes he supports, mainly those whose politics are the same as his.  He's all about exchanging favors, a process he calls "making deals" to gain an advantage.  He doesn't follow any pattern that is aimed at expanding his voter base.  He only wants a cheering crowd in increasingly smaller venues, as a backdrop for his proclamations, which now feature background music that sounds eerily like Q-Anon themes, which he buys into like a kid with an unlimited allowance in a candy store.  

The more he holds rallies and campaigns for those candidates he's endorsed, the more percentage points in the polls they lose, especially among independent voters.  At the beginning of this election season, the Republicans held an advantage that, combined with the gerrymandering they've done, put them in a position to take control of Congress.  The Democrats faced an uphill battle.  But as Trump continues to insert himself into the campaigns, in places where his endorsees won nominations, though those who won did so by very slim margins among Republicans, the Democratic party advantage grows.  

The Dobbs decision was a big motivator.  But even before Dobbs, and since, there's evidence that independents and even some Republicans are moving toward support for Democrats running for house seats in close, contested districts.  The alarm bells that were ringing in some competitive house races in red states with blue pockets have shifted to some red districts, even in some conservative states like Texas and Florida, where the composite poll's list of races being moved from "leans Republican" to "toss up" is twice as long as it was at the beginning of the summer.  

Voters Aren't Being Offered Anything Except Complaints About Election Fraud

Conspiracy theories lack substance and evidence to prove they're accurate.  And while there are too many Americans who are ignorant enough to be duped by them, it's not a large enough group to sustain long term support without the rest of the Republican party, along with at least some independents, buying into them.  Having a few thousand people show up to cheer you on, though Trump rallies these days resemble athletic events where the score gets out of hand early and people leave after the halftime show, is an illusion of support.  

Admittedly, Republicans had a great narrative going into the midterms, mainly inflation rates cutting into consumer buying power, due to supply chain issues and COVID recovery.  They didn't offer much in the way of resolving inflation, and they don't have a great track record when it comes to their way of managing the economy, which led to a major recession under their leadership during the first Republican presidency of the 21st century.  But they offered nothing as a response.  That gave them an advantage, though not nearly as large as the one the Democrats had in 2006.  

But the Dobbs decision united quarreling Democrats, the economy continued to soar in spite of inflation, unemployment reaching its lowest levels in 50 years under Biden, not Trump, economic growth slowed, but the administration has done exactly the right things to keep it moving along, and now inflation is also slowing down considerably, along with the price of gas dropping, which was perhaps the last GOP advantage before November.  As primary results have produced some Trump endorsed candidates in some states, though not anything close to what he predicted or claimed to have helped, it's clear that Trump's conspiracy theory themes are subtracting potential voters from Republican candidates.  Even the far right outliers, where Republicans have taken comfort in the face of defeat, are not showing numbers that give a lot of hope to GOP candidates who carry Trumpism on their back. 

January 6th and the Mar-a-Lago Document Scandal are Taking a Toll on Trumpism 

Most of the composite pollster commenters say these two scandals have given Democrats at least a ten point bump in the polls over the summer and into the fall.  That, along with the backlash and continued fallout from the Dobbs decision, will be the keys that give Democrats the victory of keeping control of Congress in November, and I don't think it will be as close as the pollsters do at the present time, because I think that their factoring data is outdated and doesn't reflect the kind of on-the-ground support Democrats are getting.  They missed Kansas, badly.  But they also missed the Alaska special election for the house.  It's not as easy to poll ranked-choice voting, but Democrat Mary Peltola picked up more than 10% more of the votes as the first choice candidate than expected, and at least that many more of the ranked choice votes which were expected.  

The Mar-a-Lago scandal has opened a lot of people's eyes to the corruption of Donald Trump.  The fact that he went out of his way to get his case in front of a judge he hand-picked, and then got a ruling in his favor that went well outside the boundaries of the law, requiring an apellate court to reel it back in, exposing her corruption and his, has helped demonstrate exactly what it is that Trump offers.  And appointment of corrupt, inexperienced judges with the expectation of getting something out of them down the road is not a good campaign theme.  The fact that people who are being interviewed in independent media are mentioning this is an indication that a lot more people are probably weighing this as an issue that will affect the way they cast their ballot in November.  

So Many Crimes Make Trump the Drag on the GOP's Chances

In order to make the claim to being the party of law and order, Republicans have to show that they respect law and order, and they abhor criminals, regardless of their political affiliation or how much power and influence they may wield within their own party.  Otherwise, they're hypocrites that can't be trusted.  I've evaluated them as the latter for quite some time, for more reasons other than Donald J. Trump, but he's really helped clarify their position as a party that stands for little more than the ambitious pursuit of power.  As long as Trump is recognized as the party political chief, they can't be what he isn't and since he isn't respectful of constitutional law, neither are they.  

Even the Dobbs decision, which is proving to be disastrous for GOP midterm hopes, can be laid at the feet of Trump, who appointed the three justices to the Supreme Court that the Federalist Society and the Freedom Caucus recommended as one of his deals, and their contribution to that decision will be the decisive factor in the mid-terms.  Add that to the rest of Trump's negative drag, including a disapproval rating that is heading over the 60% mark, and when the GOP fails to gain control of either house of Congress, and Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi continue as leaders of Congress, they can accurately lay the blame on Trump.  

Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness...Unless You Can Make Money Doing It

 Bremerton Football Coach in Supreme Court Ruling Hasn't Showed up to Reclaim Job He Was Never Fired From

As we suspected all along, the case involving the football coach in Bremerton, Washington, Joseph Kennedy, wasn't about the prayer meeting itself, or his job.  It was about the political publicity that it could, and now has, generated.  

Kennedy sued the Bremerton school district claiming that he was fired because he refused to comply with their instructions that he should not lead a prayer meeting at the 50 yard line following games.  But, here's the catch, he wasn't fired.  He was suspended, with pay, received the full stipend for coaching for the season, and was offered a renewal on his contract.  He no longer works for the school district as an assistant football coach, not because he was fired, as he claims, but because he never showed up to sign the contract renewal he was offered.  

That wouldn't fit with the narrative that these mean, old liberals were trying to interfere with his religious freedom, even though what he was doing actually contradicted the constitution's establishment clause.  But, and here's where the Supreme Court shows its incompetence and bias, he was not fired for failing to follow their directive.  

So why hasn't he showed up for work?  After all, they did what the court instructed and offered him a contract.  He's on the celebrity speaking circuit, making money off the narrative that he was fired for being a good Christian, when that's not true.  But of course, if those mean old liberals didn't really fire him, then he couldn't claim to be a martyr and he'd have more trouble collecting those donations and hanging out with some of the extremists on the right.  And that would undermine his entire narrative.  

And so, apparently, his narrative is a false one.  

So much for those high school football players and their prayer time at midfield after a game, huh?  Coach got what he wanted, which is earning him a whole heck of a lot more money than he'd have made coaching and praying with those players.  That, plus a little bit of fame and influence, ranks a lot higher on his value list than his coaching responsibilities, which he could have had if he'd just come back and signed his agreement.  

So where does that leave the students, their football team and their center field prayer time?  

This is a common M.O. among this brand of Evangelical Christian.  Faith is for producing revenue, not for genuine practice.  And this is a perfect illustration of exactly what this coach valued, and where he wants to be.   

Hawley Gets an "F" in History and Theology

 Hawley is "Disturbingly Wrong"

Appalling and inexcusable.  

A United States Senator should know better.  And if he, or she, doesn't know their history before assuming office, they need to get a crash course in it, so that they don't embarrass themselves by making statements and assumptions such as those made by Missouri Senator Josh Hawley in a recent speech, reported by the Kansas City Star.  

In the theology courses I had in graduate school, it was a requirement to corroborate doctrinal claims with an accurate reference to scripture, interpreted in context and itself corroborated by at least one other Biblical reference.  Hawley's statements are neither historically accurate nor consistent with any Biblical theology or doctrine.  If he's as up on the law, as an attorney, as he demonstrated in this speech that he is on history and theology, then he's not a very good lawyer, either. 

He's a politician who has an awful lot of contempt for the intelligence of those to whom he is speaking.  He must not think they're very bright or knowledgeable.  And I guess most of those in his audience probably aren't, which is why he seemed to get away with it.  

Answer the Question

What specific aspect of American democracy, and more specifically, of the establishment of the American republic, is a direct result of Christian theology?  And where, in the Bible, is that aspect or principle found?  Answer that question factually, without speculation or opinion, pointing to specific evidence, and the argument is convincing.  But what the Senator from Missouri is doing here is making a lot of common assertions without supporting evidence from either the Constitution or the Bible.  

There's not much doubt that the Christian practice and influence of the time period did play a role in the development of the Constitution.  But there's no doubt at all that the European Enlightenment, which was at its peak when Americans declared their independence, was a much larger, greater influence than Christianity.  Much of the Christian church had been watered down and weakened by centuries of control and conflict, and with the exception of a few Protestant branches that existed in America apart from the ecclesiastical authority of the state, the church was a state controlled institution.  

The whole idea that a nation could rule itself under a representative democracy did not come from either Christian tradition or the Bible.  The Christian church is an oligarchy of influential leaders, known as "elders," and as Christianity spread, the more influential a particular church or its Bishop happened to be, the more influence and voice they had in the way the church was governed.  And no, the small, dissenting groups that developed, like the Montanists and Donatists and others who avoided the connectional heirarchy were not Democratic either.  They were all modelled after their predecessors, the Jewish synagogues and the Temple leadership, which were also autocratic oligarchies.  

Ironically, one of the aspects of constitutional democracy that Christians, more specifically conservative, Evangelical Christians, did help bring about is one that Hawley didn't mention, and which would have more or less undermined his claim about Christian influence over the formation of American Democracy, and that is religious liberty and the complete separation of church and state.  It was the Baptists, in Connecticut and Virginia, specifically, who helped convince Jefferson and Madison to avoid establishing a state church, and let Christianity and all other religious adherents go their own ways without interfering in their business.  

Madison's observation was that a state-established, and funded, church led to a lazy, corrupt clergy who were more interested in the perks of the job, and whose influence was used for their own benefit rather than for a religious cause. He had observed that the established church in Virginia, the Church of England, had persecuted Baptists by using their influence to get laws passed which shut down their churches and arrested their pastors for "illegal preaching."  Madison did regularly attend church, according to the historical record, and his observations were first-hand. 

Jefferson, similarly persuaded by Baptists in New England who had been persecuted by the more numerous Puritans who were the earlier inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay, also concluded that a state church was not necessary, and observed that "It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god.  It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."  It was Jefferson's letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut from which the phrase "wall of separation between church and state" originated.  So there's that. 

Corroborate with Scripture References

Neither the Constitution nor the Declaration of Independence quotes from the Bible directly.  If the founders were as bent on establishing a "Christian nation" as Hawley insists, they wouldn't have left out the core, foundational principles of the faith, and plenty of supporting quotations from their source.  If they had intended to use Christian theology as a basis for the government, whatever they cited from the Bible would have been taken out of context, because Jesus never intended to establish another temporal state, along the lines of theocratic Israel in the Old Testament, to achieve his mission and purpose.  But if a nation founded on Christian principles had been the aim of the founders, in the way that white, Christian nationalists now claim, they would have cited every passage of scripture that supported their goals.  

The fact that they didn't cite any scripture references supports the contention that they were not opposed to Americans practicing whatever religious belief they chose, but they weren't considering enforcing any religious belief, including Christianity, by law. Why would they?  Some of them weren't Christians, in fact, some of them had a hostile perspective of the institutional, state church they observed in their time.  Their philosophical background, many of them heavily influenced by the Enlightenment, led them to see church and Christian faith as more traditional, ceremonial ritual than an intimate, personal, transformational faith.  So, there is no scripture reference corroborating any part of the United States Constitution.  

Where is a "Christian Nation" Found in the Bible? 

Hawley misses the point on the Christian doctrine and theological side as well.  There's no Christian teaching or instruction for using a political state as a means of evangelism.  During the time of Jesus' ministry, the Jewish people of Palestine were looking for the return of someone like David, who would bring military might in some miraculous way against the Roman oppressors and overthrow Roman rule, re-establishing the glory days of David's kingdom of Israel.  Jesus went to great lengths to show people that what he was doing was establishing a spiritual kingdom, one which would welcome all people into its membership. 

Jesus pointed to two things.  One, that his kingdom would be greater than that of David, which drew charges of blasphemy from those expecting politics, but which alluded to the spiritual, rather than temporal nature, of the church he was establishing.  Two, that his kingdom was "not of this world", indicating that what he was talking about when he used the term "kingdom" was a figurative reference to the whole of Christendom, the universal church of the ages, in multiple local expressions.  The image of Jesus on the throne post-resurrection is a spiritual one, not a physical place.  

Hawley may attend or belong to a church that knows and interprets all of this, I don't know.  But the gospel perspective doesn't fit with his political agenda.  Maybe he isn't up on his church's eschatology.  But in attempting to score political points, he's identified himself with a racist group of right wing extremists.  Yes, this same guy who was seen fleeing for his life, yes fleeing, during the January 6th Trump Insurrection, not long after his infamous fist pump as he was headed toward the capitol, is a white, Christian nationalist.  

Jesus Did Indeed Emphasize some Core Values

There are several previous posts here which point to the contrast between the gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the New Testament, and the goals and aims of white Christian nationalism.  True Christianity and Christian nationalism are not the same, and white Christian nationalists do not emphasize the things that Christ taught and which form the foundation of the Christian church.  This isn't the first aberrant movement using the language and faith of Christians to achieve ends which are not consistent with a Christian mission and purpose.  It likely won't be the last.  But it still needs to be called out for what it is.  

As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.  Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord as forgiven you, so you must also forgive.  Above all clothe yourselves with Love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.  And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.  And be thankful.  Colossians 3:12-15, NRSV

Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, forgiveness and love.  That's quite a list.  It may well be that some of the founding fathers had those virtues in mind when they were writing the constitution, but I don't think that's what Senator Hawley was thinking when he made his remarks.  

I challenge anyone to find these values anywhere in white Christian nationalism.   

So, Tell Me How You Really Feel!

Imagine being so stupid that you look at [Trump] this treasonous, traitorous, totally corrupt, self-serving, ignorant clown, this racist, semi-illiterate moron, this sexually-assaulting, pathologically lying, feeble-minded, morally bankrupt, constitutionally-illiterate simpleton, this bloated nitwit with his cotton candy hair, radioactive tinted skin, and obese dishevelment and think, "Now this is a guy I really admire." --Democratic Underground Post by 634-5789

I don't know who this originated with, I've given attribution to where I got it from.  It's one of those kind of statements to which the reply is, "So, tell me how you really feel."  

This comes close.  

Not having lived my life under a rock, I have no frame of reference to explain anything that's led to the development of an "extreme right" with the capability of gathering the kind of support that it has.  And when I run into someone I know who thinks this way, my first thought is, "How did that happen?"  

Driving home on the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago at rush hour, I noticed homemade banners with extremist right wing slogans and Q-Anon conspiracy theories painted on them hanging on the chain link fence of a footbridge across the freeway.  A woman named Veronica Wolksi was responsible for them, putting them up just about every afternoon.  During the afternoon rush hour, traffic crawls at less than 5 mph along that stretch, making the banners visible long enough to get the point.  Among the messages she put up there were all kinds of COVID denying claims, Pro-Trump slogans, lots of support for the big lie, and lots of Q-Anon promotion.  It never really bothered me, though plenty of people driving by in the afternoon traffic rolled down windows and exhibited their middle finger pointed upward.  

Then, all of a sudden, the banners disappeared.  I thought perhaps she just got tired of being yelled at and flipped off, or that someone had demanded that she quit using public property for a one-sided, extremist political rant.  But then, I read in the Chicago Tribune that she had passed away.  From COVID-19.  

She didn't go quietly, either.  

Hospitalized at Amita Resurrection Medical Center, a large hospital on Chicago's north side, her supporters besieged the hospital for more than a week, demanding that she be treated with ivermectin.  Police had to be called to keep order as a small group demanded access to her room to perform "wellness checks," insisting that the hospital discharge her to someone who had her medical power of attorney.  She died of complications of COVID-caused pneumonia and hyperthyroidism, neither of which would have been resolved by ivermectin and, in fact, would probably have hastened her death if they had given it to her.  

The walkway bridge over the Kennedy hasn't been used for political slogans since, at least, not that I've seen.  Maybe that means that some of her supporters have recovered their sanity after this little episode and decided their life is too valuable to waste on conspiracy theories.  But I doubt it.  This little incident characterizes just how absolutely insane and ridiculous is this kind of extremism. 

You can read the whole sad saga here, Veronica Wolski, Extremist Right Wing Covid Denier and Trump Supporter, Dies of COVID.

If these people are out in public, who's being put in insane asylums nowadays?  

Are We Headed Toward a 1994 Midterm in Reverse?

 Washington Post: GOP's "Dobbs Problem" Getting Worse

There's still plenty of evidence visible among Republicans in political campaigns to indicate that the outcome of the Kansas referendum on abortion rights was a lightning bolt that shocked the party to its core.  The outcome defied just about every means of predicting it, including polling data and any predictable voter turnout.  Both the turnout and the outcome came as a complete shock, especially to Republicans.  The result has changed conventional thinking about where abortion now ranks on the scale of importance as a political issue, and how it will affect the outcome of the upcoming mid-term elections.  

The GOP has invested most of its resources into a very traditional platform dependent on the long-established "trend" of the party in power losing control of Congress in the first mid-term after gaining the presidency.  And earlier in the year, it appeared that the issues they've been banking on, like the economy in general, inflation in particular, might yield the traditional result, though to be honest, they really didn't have a post-Presidential election "bump" anywhere close to either the Democrats' 2006 or 2018 waves, or the notable 1994 GOP landslide following President Clinton's election.  

Pollsters are still using the same kind of factors in their calculations of data, even as the surveys of voter enthusiasm on specific issues are showing that there are several strong pulls going against the Republicans, including the utter unpopularity of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v. Wade that has risen to the top of the voters' list, and the plethora of negativity surrounding everything Trump, who posts a much higher disapproval rating, and a much lower approval rating, than President Biden, who never got close to those numbers at his very worst point.  

If you want to gauge the true effect of Dobbs on what's driving voters to the polls, look no further than the campaign platforms of multiple GOP candidates in swing states and swing districts, where the anti-abortion position has disappeared from their stump speeches, media ads and card-stock mailers.  Here and there, the effect of Trump negativity is also creeping in as the "big lie" seems to be fading from those same campaigns and speeches.  And where it appears Republicans have become locked-in on Trumpism, candidates are seeing their poll numbers drop, while their Democratic opponents make gains and the extremist media now must rely on outliers and obscure far right pollsters in their reporting.  

The 1994 Effect 

It's an unpleasant memory, but if you recall the GOP's campaign theme in 1994, "Contract with America," led by Newt Gingrich, the Republicans defied the conventional wisdom and polling data by putting a campaign in place that energized the base and motivated voter turnout while Democrats were counting on the status quo to "hold" the line.  The Republicans got their voters out and picked up independent support while the Democrats were devastated by an apathetic showing, losing districts and seats that were considered "safe" by the polling data.  

The issues used by the GOP to flip 54 house seats and 9 senate seats seem ironic now, but were related to cutting taxes and government spending.  Painting Clinton as a "tax and spend" liberal, pointing to his first term proposals as more of the same, the party leadership was credited with controlling the narrative, sticking with the "tax and spend," cut taxes and streamline government theme, and they suceeded in making it stick.  Clinton's failure to get his health security plan enacted, introduced in 1993, was cited as the main reason for Democratic party division and apathy and for what turned out to be an unusually low turnout among Democratic voters.  

The combination of negatives on the Republican side at this point, primarily the effects of the January 6th hearings, which, in spite of Republican rhetoric, has had a major effect on public opinion, far more than they will admit to, particularly among independent voters along with the Dobbs decision, overturning Roe v. Wade, are the two biggest negatives for the GOP.  These factors are undergirding all of the negative on the Republican side, creating a solid base of voters that is expanding rapidly as voter registration since the decision was handed down has surpassed the gains claimed by the GOP last spring.  

A Competent Presidential Administration and Congressional Leadership is a Democratic Party Advantage

Democrats have not been sitting idly by on their hands, watching the political situation develop this time, as they did in 1994.  We have yet another competent and experienced President in the White House, who brought with him experienced leadership.  They know how inflation works, how it has affected the economy, and they've been actively working to bring those numbers down, while helping the supply chain recover from its COVID pandemic malaise, bringing government resources to bear.  And what they are doing is working.  

Nancy Pelosi's leadership in the house, helping to move legislation along and getting it passed is defeating Republican obstructionism.  The President did an outstanding job of managing the situation, giving the reluctant Democratic senators enough rope to wrap around their necks and finally feel some pressure to act.  They're beginning to see that the day is not far off when they're going to become irrelevant, and that's opened the door to the Biden Administration being able to lay claim to having had one of the most effective and productive legislative first terms since the 1960's.  

That hasn't come easy.  But it has been helped along by the fact that the mountain of corruption now being revealed from the previous administration is growing, and people are being made aware, once again by Democratic congressional leadership, of just how bad and dangerous the past four years have been to the continued existence of the United States as a free country and as a democracy.  The January 6th Committee Hearings were among some of the greatest moments in all of Congressional political history.  The uncovering of this massive corruption not only justified the two impeachments brought by the house under Pelosi's leadership, but it has confirmed the accuracy of the Mueller investigation.  More importantly, it put just the right amount of information in just exactly the right way to hit public opinion exactly where it could be used most effectively.  And it is a huge reason behind why any traces of a Republican advantage in the 2022 mid-term elections has vanished. 

The Dobbs decision was monumental.  It has led to the voter registration advantage that was being experienced by the GOP to be wiped out, and to millions of new voters planning to head to the polls with women's rights at the top of their priority list.  The President has engaged in the debate in what appears to be an incredibly effective manner which links his administration to the issue that is energizing Democrats and independents.  We are seeing a presidential administration working on behalf of the people while at the same time mobilizing its political strength.  Did we ever expect anything less from President Joe Biden?  You'll note, from reading The Signal Press that our support for, and confidence in this President has never wavered.  

Obvious and Not-So-Obvious Signs of a Coming Democratic Storm 

I don't want to sound cynical, but our country worships the dollar.  It was founded as an economic colony of an empire, a place where people could exploit resources to make money for a King to make him happy while keeping a larger share for themselves than the old system permitted.  Americans put their money where their mouth is, or at least, where their interests lie.  And the Democrats are collecting campaign funds from a much broader, wider, larger segment of the population than the Republicans are doing right now.  

I personally know Republicans who won't give through some of the party's regular channels because they're not sure it will actually go to help Republicans win elections.  In spite of all of the loyalty to Trump and all of that rhetoric, the kind of trust necessary to sustain that kind of support doesn't exist on the Republican side at all.  While they might mutter about the media exaggerating Trump's financial condition, they aren't putting a lot of their campaign cash in the party channels.  But Democrats certainly are.  Instead of using polling data to measure voter enthusiasm, use campaign contributions. 

The President is a welcome sight on the campaign trail.  Democratic candidates welcome his presence.  And he's got a message that's right on target.  A surge in his approval ratings has helped boost the chances of Democrats in November.  Republicans, not just in obscure corners, but the more prominent party leaders, are openly whining that Trump's insistence on inserting himself into the election process, against their recommendations, is hurting their party's chances.  

I agree.  He is.  So keep the rallies going.   

From my own experience and knowledge of history and political science, I know that gathering and reporting polling data is complicated.  It seems simple enough, but it is difficult to get a genuine cross section of political opinion without the factoring and running of models that are used by most pollsters.  What we have access to see on the internet tends to reflect the past trends and the rolling averages of the polling data at any given time.  What lags behind is the effect of specific events, such as the "bump" that comes after party convention coverage in the media, or the Supreme Court's ruling overturning Roe.  The full effect of that has not yet been seen, with many states not having changed any laws or requirements at this point.  It's taken more than a month for abortion rights to rise to the top of the list of priorities for voters going into November's elections.  The polling data is certainly encouraging for Democrats, but I don't believe we've yet seen the full effect of the Dobbs decision on either turnout or what the voters are planning to do. 

The surge in voter registration, which is somewhat vaguely reported since the data varies from state to state, is perhaps the most encouraging sign that the Democrats are on the cusp of what will be a major victory.  Those who register to vote in the wake of an issue like the overturning of Roe are more than likely planning to cast a ballot.  Those numbers heavily favor Democratic candidates especially in hard line right wing states where a shift of a hundred thousand ballots could mean the difference between a loss or a win.  

A Reverse 1994, Complete With Some Notable Upsets, Is Possible 

What I'm not expecting is a 54 seat gain in the house and 9 seats in the Senate, though I would be very happy if that happened.  But I think, at this point, it's no longer going out on a limb to say that Democrats are likely to keep control of both houses of Congress.  There will be more surprises, like Alaska, where the numbers and the data indicate that Mary Peltola will keep that seat and expand the win she got the first time around.  Speaker Tom Foley lost his seat in 1994, wouldn't it be nice if the same thing happened to Kevin McCarthy?  

The polling trends show a sharply divided America, something not likely to change soon, with the conspiracy theories and outright lies circulated by extremist media.  The "big lie" still has some support, though there have been some Republican candidates who, after winning a primary nomination, have backed off of that, along with their anti-abortion rhetoric.  But the movement of voter momentum is favoring Democratic candidates and the trend line is moving up, while it has started to decline on the Republican side.  I like what the DNC is doing to keep the momentum moving forward, and I'm particularly pleased to see President Biden taking the time and making the effort to get involved.  Some Republicans aren't issuing invitations to Trump to help them out.   

We need the Democrats to win, and then to make sure that those who want to hijack American Democracy are completely disabled.  There are a lot of things on my agenda, including modifying the Judicial Act to add seats to the Supreme Court and the federal bench, abolish the electoral college, make social security and medicare untouchable, establish health security for all Americans and take federal elections out of the hands of state legislatures.  For any of that to be possible, I have to vote, and so does anyone else who desires to protect the constitution and their freedom.  

Michael Gerson in the Washington Post: Trump Should Fill Christians with Rage. How Come he Doesn't?

 Michael Gerson: Trump Should Fill Christians with Rage. How Come He Doesn't?

The very first time Donald Trump generated publicity with an attempt to run for President, or at least, floated his name out there to see if he could catch some momentum, my conclusion was that he would not be able to get very far among Republicans, because an immoral, unethical multi-millionaire who openly proclaims worldly values and lives a lifestyle that is diametrically the opposite of any Christian values or virtues wouldn't be able to get enough support from the religious right to win the nomination.  

Initially, in his early attempts to get his name out as a candidate, that was the case.  But over time, with the help of what I see as a fundamental lack of conviction and knowledge of the core beliefs and principles of the Christian gospel by conservative American Christians, the religious right has become a group of Trump's most ardent supporters, far more, in fact, than the less Christian, more academic branch of the GOP.  And the more traditional wing of the party has either been forced to stay silent and go along with it, or quietly fade into the background, facing derision and criticism as they are labelled "Rinos" and traitors to a party whose values have been turned upside down. 

Just because the religious right has turned to Trump doesn't make him any more Christian than he was when they didn't really pay much attention to him.  I'm saying, as one raised in the conservative, Evangelical tradition of American Christianity, that the values, virtues and principles of the Christian faith, from the recorded words of Jesus the Christ, and the church's Apostles who wrote most of the New Testament, must be abandoned or ignored in order to give political support to Donald J. Trump.  

A Non-Christian Cult has Formed on the Religious Right

Gerson says that right-wing Christian voters are attracted to Trump, not because he is some kind of virtuous example of their values, but because he's a right wing hard liner who bullies his way through the law to get what he wants and in order to get their votes, which he needs, he promises to fight their culture war for them.  They don't care if most of his agenda will be to their economic disadvantage, he's agreed to appoint the judges to the federal bench that they name for him.  As long as he gives them what they want, they're willing to ignore his immorality and dishonesty.  And that, as far as I am concerned, says an awful lot about their faith.  Being willing to throw Jesus under the bus to get a few political favors is anti-christian. 

Christianity is a systematic faith, but the Americanized versions of Bible interpretation are a departure from systematic theology.  It's become a faith based on fragmented ideas produced when single verses are used as prooftexts, quoted as authoritative edicts and taken out of their historical context. Most of the Evangelical leaders who were known for their scholarship and theological expertise have either left the denomination or church group with which they were associated and joined a church less inclined to pressure their livelihood with forced political agreement.  

I feel sorry for those Christians who go to church services and find the content hijacked by Trumpism and right wing politics.  When I go to church, I expect the service to lead me to focus on the worship of God, not on telling me how to vote or how I should interpret politics. I have stood up in the middle of a church service and walked out when a pastor hijacked the preaching with his political editorializing or candidate endorsement.  Looking at attendance and membership in Evangelical denominations and churches prior to the COVID pandemic, a relatively steep decline in both had already set in, and I attribute most of that to a more intense intrusion of politics into the church, and the increasing craziness and stupidity of the conspiracy theories, like white replacement theory, that are preached from pulpits as facts.  

Christianity, especially the American version of it, is susceptible to the development of cults which replace Christian values and virtues based on the Bible with distorted realities that occur in the pursuit of wealth or political influence.  Evangelicals are particularly hostile toward those, such as Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, who distort what they claim is the Biblical gospel.  But they are just as bad with their politics and its influences on the Christian gospel.  Right wing political stances are taken as articles of faith equal to the Bible by many Evangelical Christians, whose personal loyalty goes to Trump rather than Jesus.  It's heresy. 

There quite a bit of evidence at just how far out of bounds many Christians have gone. Take a look at this: Eric Trump: No One Has Done More for Christianity than Donald Trump 

Christians Are Called on to Reject the Kind of Politics Represented by Trumpism

"In the present day, the frightening fervor of our politics makes it resemble, and sometimes supplant, the role of religion.  And a good portion of Americans have a fatal attraction to the oddest of political messiahs--one whose deception, brutality, lawlessness and bullying were rewarded with the presidency.  But so it is, to some extent, with all political messiahs who make their gains by imposing losses on others and measure their influence in increments of domination," says Gerson. 

"Jesus consciously and constantly rejected this view of power.  While accepting the title "Messiah," he sought to transform its meaning.  He gathered no army.  He skillfully avoided a political confrontation with Rome.  He said little about history's inevitably decomposing dynasties.  He declared instead a struggle of the human heart--and a populist uprising, not in the sense of modern politics, but against established religious authorities," he concludes. 

That's very well established and embedded in the gospel narratives.  Jesus spent a good portion of the three year period of his public ministry changing what had become the accepted concept of the promised Messiah, from political leader who would overthrow Roman rule, to spiritual leader whose followers would change the world with the values and virtues he preached.  

The continued existence of a Christian presence in the United States is wholly dependent on the freedom we have under the umbrella of democracy.  And the only way that umbrella will continue to exist is under the leadership of the Democratic party.  Democrats will protect religious freedom as vigorously as they will defend the civil rights of all Americans.  Freedom of conscience, which would be required to practice true Christian faith as opposed to the pseudo-Christian cult of Trumpism, would not exist under a white, Christian nationalist regime.  

ALL elections matter, people.  Get out and vote!

Polls. Lots of Them. So Which Ones To Trust.

President, General Election, You Gov September 2-6. 1,200 registered voters, Biden 48%, Trump 42%.  

Generic Ballot, September 3-6, You Gov, 1,337 Likely Voters, Democrat 44, Republican 38.  Two other polls from You Gov, same time period with 1,600 adults, and 1,244  registered voters are both +5 Democrat.  

This one is remarkable, considering the source. 

September 1-5, Rasmussen, 1,500 likely voters, Joe Biden approval 45%, Disapprove 53%, a -8 margin but it's conservative Rasmussen which is always a conservative outlier.  An Economist poll from the same time period, of 1,377 registered voters shows Trump disapproval at 57%. 

Those numbers are all much better for Democrats than they were three months ago, and since many of the polls depend on averages, with the trends moving Democrats ahead in some cases by as much as a 10 point swing, the trend 

Then there's this:  Biden job approval jumps to 49%

And something to really make Republicans mad, the price of gas dropped 20 cents since Labor Day.  

The Radicalization of American Evangelical Christianity

Video: Baptist Leader Calls Out White Christian Nationalism

Christianity is defined by a set of documents written mostly by those who were the Apostles of the early church, known in the gospel narrative as the Twelve Disciples, chosen by Jesus to accompany him for the three years of his public ministry.  It is a systematic faith, consistent in its practice and application of the principles and virtues taught by Jesus.  The confession that is its foundation is that Jesus is "The Christ, the Son of the living God," who, through his birth, life, teachings and resurrection from the dead, brings about the redemption of humanity from its sin.  

By remaining within the historical, cultural and religious context of the time in which the New Testament was written, an accurate interpretation of the Bible produces a consistent practice of the Christian faith which has remained consistent throughout the two thousand years of its existence.  But it has been susceptible to deviations and departures from the simple faith that Jesus preached and taught as a result of intrusions into its membership from all kinds of ideological and philosophical influences coming from every society and culture into which it has entered.  

Christianity is as susceptible to having its mission and purpose, and the core values of the faith, hijacked and radicalized as any other religious belief, including Islam.  This is a fact that is recognized by several of the church's apostles who wrote the New Testament, including Jude, believed to be the half-brother of Jesus, who wrote, "For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who were long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only lord and master, Jesus Christ."  [Jude v. 4, NRSV]

There are multiple warnings in Paul's letters about "so quickly deserting the one who called you in the gospel of Christ, and are turning to a different gospel" [Galatians 1:6].  Even in the earliest years of the existence of the church, Christianity was susceptible to radicalization and to accepting ideas based on the popularity of the one advocating for them at the time, or because they blended with worldly, pagan ideology that appealed to their entertainment tastes. 

Christianity has Produced All Kinds of Deviations from its Scripture

It's not that the Bible is difficult to understand and interpret, it's that the structure and organization of the church, like all human institutions, can be hijacked and used for unintended purposes.  That's because most people who claim to be Christians don't make the effort to educate themselves with the foundational principles, doctrine, theology and practice of Christianity, and can't answer objections or recognize the infiltration of false doctrine when it presents itself.  

Christianity has been weaponized as a political tool since even before Constantine claimed to have his vision of the cross with the inscription "By this sign, conquer."  By that time, there had been enough of the apostle's written works collected by the early church leaders to draw the conclusion that Constantine's "vision" was inconsistent with Christ's gospel, but apparently not many were willing to turn aside the kind of political power and the vast monetary wealth that Constantine poured into the church to capture it, manipulate it and use it. 

What We're Seeing Now is More Than Weaponizing Christianity; It is Radicalizing It 

There are those of us within the Christian church, even within the more conservative, Evangelical branch of the American church, who see this for exactly what it is.  Not only is this turn toward white, Christian nationalism a means of weaponizing Christianity with distortions of both the intention of the founding fathers of the United States and of Christian doctrine and theology, it has changed the core beliefs and foundational principles of the Christian church, eliminating almost all of the core values of the gospel of Jesus Christ itself, replacing it with a worldly, anti-Christian approach to achieving its ends.  Like the violent groups within militant Islam, White Christian nationalists are radicalizing the Christian faith.  

There are two specific examples of just exactly how this has come about.  The first is the images of all of those people wearing Christian symbols, carrying crosses and banners, headed into the Capitol on January 6th, some even pausing to pray, intent on overturning a legitimate election and the authority of Congress, which two of the Apostles, Peter and Paul, both make clear is authority "established by God."  So in effect, according to the Christian scriptures, the insurgents who were involved in the January 6th act of sedition against the United States were rebelling against the very authority of God himself.  

The other is the influence that an immoral, adulterous, sexually abusive, potty-mouthed, morally bankrupt, completely corrupt, pathological liar has over those among Evangelical Christians who are politically engaged on the right.  They give him a measure of loyalty that nullifies their claims of being loyal to Christ and faithful to God, because that is what he demands from them.  The incongruity that exists between Trumpism and Christianity is blasphemous, according to the Christian scripture.  AS the Bible says, salt water and fresh water cannot come from the same spring.  Christ cannot be served along with Belial.  Loyalty cannot be given to a man whose lifestyle is exactly the opposite of that required of practicing Christians and who, himself, is not Christian by his own declaration and testimony.  

If you can read it without throwing up, this has to be one of the most self-serving, anti-Christian statements ever made by an American.  Eric Trump: Trump has done more for Christians than anyone else

An accurate, Biblical definition of the term "anti-Christ," found only in I John and 2 John, is those who "do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh," referencing the conviction that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament requirements for being the divine Son of God, the Messiah.  The Apostle John, using this term in these two epistles, was referencing the Roman emperors, who were proclaiming themselves as a "god" to be worshipped.  But what's happening with Trumpism is quite similar to that, and these scripture passages are accurate and applicable to that.  

Hijacking Christian Churches and Denominations in the Name of Political Power and Wealth

And let's not kid ourselves now, money and political power, not the gospel of Jesus Christ, is exactly what is behind this perversion of Christianity we call white, Christian nationalism.  There is no connection between the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the interpretation of it that is found in the works of the Apostles in the New Testament, and any point made by white, Christian nationalism.  Only the rhetoric and the symbols are similar.  

The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, a Washington, DC-based legislative advocacy organization supported by a group of Baptist denominations and which is one of the strongest advocates for separation of church and state, democracy and religious liberty among Washington think-tanks, has identified five specific points in the ideology of white, Christian nationalism.  

1.  America is a divinely appointed nation by God that is Christian. 

2.  America's founders, rather than wanting to disestablish religion as a unifier for the nation, were in fact establishing a nation based on Christian principles, with white men as the leaders.  

3.  Others (Native Americans, enslaved Africans and immigrants) would accept and cede to this narrative of America as a Christian nation, and accept their leadership. 

4.  America has a special place not only in world history, but in Biblical scripture, especially concerning the return of Christ. 

5.  There is no separation between church and state.  

Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, 2022 

The fact that this has come from the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty is a clear indication that many of those who recognize the real dangers and subversive nature of white, Christian nationalism are Christians themselves, mainly from among those churches and denominations in which the theology and doctrine reflects a more Biblical perspective which they don't have to make such a big deal because the practice of their faith reflects it.  A large percentage of the BJCRL's support comes from African American denominations, and the more progressive wing of Baptists who understand that Christianity embraces social justice, racial equality and that a free church in a free state, which is pure separation of church and state, is one of the core values that actually identify them as Baptists.  

Turn This Fallacy Upside Down

As the author of the book of Jude warns, white, Christian nationalism is an intruder whose advocates have stolen in among the churches.  They have, as Jude says, perverted the gospel of Jesus, whose "kingdom" which he said "is not of this world," but is a spiritual realm, fulfilled the only biblical covenant with a nationality and people, and turned it into a very worldly means of conquest, aiming not at spiritual reform, but at accumulating enough wealth to run the whole world.  

The Baptist Joint Committee has called this false gospel out by identifying its foundational assumptions and showing how it isn't consistent with Christian faith and practice.  That opens up a way to counter it with an intellectual argument.  It should also make it easier to identify it in the political rhetoric of someone running for office so that you can vote against them in the next election.  In effect, what America would be under this kind of governing philosophy is a religious, segregated dictatorship.  Knowing this about them should be a rallying point for Democrats.  

I would also suggest that anyone who hears this tripe from the pulpit of their church needs to get out now.  And I mean now.  Taking your presence and your money with you starves the movement of the needs it has to sustain itself.  Go find a church that doesn't compromise its preaching of the gospel by intruding on its worship time with a false gospel.  If you've paid attention and you understand the theology and doctrine of the gospel, call it out in in the church where it's allowed, point out it's fallacies and see how many people you can get to leave with you.

The Apostle John is the writer who mentions and defines the term "antichrist," found in two of his epistles, I and II John (not in Revelation, by the way, nor is the term "rapture"), as being one who denies the nature of Jesus as the Christ.  White, Christian nationalism is "antichrist," because it turns the gospel of Jesus back to the old covenant concept of theocratic rule by a "chosen" people.  That is clearly not what Christ intended to happen to his church.    

Faulty Eschatology is Behind White, Christian Nationalist Beliefs

Eschatology is one of those theological terms that cause most people's eyes to glaze over and their attention is diverted to something that sounds more interesting.  But in fact, a lot of people are very interested in it.  Eschatology is that part of theology that focuses on death, judgement, the destiny of the soul and humankind, and more specifically, what many conservative Christians refer to as "The End Times."  It is one of the aspects of the Christian faith on which the disagreements over how to interpret the parts of the Bible that deal with it become extremely divisive.  And it is one of the focal points of dominion theology which has produced the pseudo-Christian, white, Christian nationalist sect. 

Instead of dismissing this as some kind of religious obsession that has little to do with the real world, the fact that Biblical eschatology is being taken out of context and used as justification to completely alter the political foundations of the United States of America is good reason to become informed, in order to call it out, demonstrate the danger it poses to American democracy, point out its errors and keep it from capturing control of even a part of our political system, if it hasn't already done that in some ways.  

The history of misinterpreted Biblical eschatology, around the world and even in the United States is enough reason to become informed.  There's a clear narrative in the Bible passages dealing with the "end times" that produces a consistent, systematic interpretation pointing to exactly what the authors were addressing, in the historical context in which they were written.  And that interpretation does not lend itself to supporting dominion theology, white, Christian nationalism, or to any predictions involving the second coming of Christ or the end of the world as we know it.  

The Bible Does Not Contain A Road Map to the End of the World

Without going into major detail, the belief that the book of Revelation, along with other parts of the Bible, including prophecy in the Old Testament book of Daniel, and the words of Jesus about the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple, which occurred in 70 A.D., is some kind of road map to the end of the world and the return of Jesus, is a major motivation behind the kind of dominion theology that forms the foundation for white, Christian nationalism.  They follow what is known as a futurist interpretation of the book of Revelation, believing it was a prophecy written to describe events leading up to the "end times."  

People are fascinated by attempts to predict the future and the fact that the predictions don't come true doesn't stop the fascination or interest.  It's a financially lucrative business.  It's hard to tell how many books and media materials have been sold based on a prediction that someone made to being able to predict the future.  Remember the Left Behind series of books by pastor Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins?  That's all fiction, based on the futurist interpretation of Revelation.  You can go into any Christian bookstore and find a whole selection of books, mostly by Pentecostal or Charismatic authors, who go into great detail describing what the end times will be like according to their perspective of it. 

The problem with this perspective is that it deviates from interpreting the Bible literally, in its historical context, according to almost any accepted theological standards.  It ignores, or places some very convoluted constrictions and interpretations on key statements from Jesus, and from the Apostle John, who is identified as the likely author of Revelation, which set the historical time frame for the occurrence of events of which they are speaking.  

Destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D. 

Three of the four gospel accounts of the ministry of Jesus record his prediction that the Temple in Jerusalem would be destroyed.  That's a paradigm shift event which marks the passage of God's covenant with Israel, which was one of revelation of his existence, to God's covenant with humanity by grace through faith in Jesus, which is one of redemption and restoration.  It's the historical event which anchors all interpretations of eschatology in the Bible.  

In all three gospel accounts, when asked by his disciples to identify when the Temple would be destroyed, he gives a specific answer.  

"Truly, I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place," Jesus says, recorded in all three gospels in virtually the same words.  

There are attempts by futurists to throw in convoluted and confusing interpretations, to avoid taking Jesus literally.  The word "generation," they say, can also be translated "race," referencing the Jewish race, giving the passage an indefinite time frame.  Jesus also references the seasonal blooming of the fig tree in this passage as an analogy which futurists claim is a reference to Israel, and therefore, somehow, that is a reference to the modern state of Israel, not established until 1948.  But the overwhelming weight of evidence suggests the interpretation is strictly historical.  

First of all, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the tearing down of the Temple, occurred in 70 A.D. within the time frame of the generation of which Jesus was speaking.  No other New Testament author mentions the destruction of Jerusalem as a historical fact, indicating that they were all written prior to this event occurring.  When John writes Revelation, he references the Temple as if it is still standing and also does not mention this prophetic reference which would have established Jesus as a true prophet among the Jews who rejected his gospel. It also means that Revelation was written before the Neronian persecution of the church began in 64 A.D. and establishes that event as the primary focus of the book's writing.  

What that essentially means is that Revelation wasn't an "end times" prophecy, but an end of the age, or end of the old covenant, prophecy.  The Apostle John makes this very clear at the beginning of the book, starting in the very first paragraph where he says, "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what soon must take place," and then again, still in the introduction, goes on to say "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near."  

Along with that, are multiple veiled references within the book that cannot be mistaken as identifying marks of Emperor Nero (the "beast," whose number is 666), and Rome (seven horns which are seven hills on which the woman sits, Revelation 17:9-14).  Since virtually everything that is known about the history of that period of time, especially with regard to the Christian church and its encounters with the practice of emperor worship, which included bowing down to statues and having a mark placed on the hand or forehead when that occurred, can be identified with the apocalyptic language of Revelation, there is no reason, and no context anywhere, for interpreting it in any way other than its historical context and its original, literal meaning and purpose.  

And So What? 

What that means is that there is no support at all for any presupposed belief that God is going to grab on to the coattails of some future nation, like the United States of America, and use it to "reclaim territory" he has lost to Satan. Even a futurist interpretation of Revelation doesn't lead to that conclusion.  So, in effect, these people are using a distorted version of Christianity, a pseudo-Christian perspective, as a political weapon, claiming that the destiny of the United States depends on overthrowing democratic rule and adopting a theocracy in order to "reclaim" it for God, either in preparation for the second coming of Christ, or to help usher it in, so that he can come to some place that isn't under Satanic dominion.  

It becomes possible, with this kind of thinking, to weaponize people's sincerely held religious beliefs to achieve a political goal.  I use the term "anti-Christ" or anti-Christian because it completely denies the gospel message of Christ, which is one of salvation by grace through faith, a spiritual transformation which produces virtues and values in living, not one which divides the world and uses violence and overthrow to dominate it.  How can you preach that the very essence of God's character is love, which is underlined and emphasized by every New Testament and gospel author, including Jesus himself, but then advocate for the violent overthrow of a national government?  

So, by continuing to point out these misrepresentations, misinterpretations and misuse of the Bible and of the Christian faith itself, my hope is to separate people who claim to follow Christ from extremist, right wing politics.  There are others who are committed to doing the same, and it is happening.  As Trumpism gets more extreme, there are people who see how inconsistent it is with genuine Christian belief.  

The other intention is to point out that being a Democrat isn't the opposite of being Christian.  Far from it in fact, even those Democrats who don't acknowledge a personal Christian faith still follow a set of values, beginning with integrity, respect for all humanity and a recognition of basic human rights that is consistent with Christian theology.  Both Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi are Christians, whose faith practice is an important part of their character.  They demonstrate the true character of Christianity far more than does Trump, who not only claims not to be Christian by definition, but resists any attempt to follow the values of Christianity. Vice President Harris holds membership in a Baptist church, the largest branch of Evangelicals.  And she, too, demonstrates the values and virtues that are inherently Christian. 

So we are on the record here.  

  

  

"If you are an American, you are not my Enemy"

Mary Peltola had an absolutely terrific interview last night (September 1) on MSNBC with Alex Wagner.  She showed exactly why she won, especially on a "ranked choice" ballot in a state like Alaska, and why she has had such an effective term as a state legislator.  Democrats would do very well to model their campaign strategy after her approach.  

The whole interview could be characterized by one statement she made, which stood out to me as the essence of American politics, and in stark contrast to the grumbling, whining, muttering Maga mob.  

"If you are an American, you are not my enemy."  

That's quite a contrast to the threats of civil war that Trump and his Maga supporters are openly threatening in order to impose their will on the American people.  It also demonstrates a grasp of politics that unifies people who live in the same geo-political state but who are from different racial, ethnic, cultural, economic and social backgrounds.  She is a politician, which isn't necessarily a bad descriptive term by the way, who understands what true freedom really means, and how to make government work for the people.  

Clearly, she is a Democrat who reflects the core values of the party.  Rather than making a contentious, obstructionist war out of the legislative process, she believes in negotiation on behalf of the people.  I couldn't really count how many times she pointed to the will of the people as her guidance for where to invest her time and energy.  Her demeanor and approach earned her the votes and supports of Democrats who, while they are a minority in Alaska, were motivated to turn out for her in high numbers.  It also earned her the respect of members of the opposition party, even one of them who is uncompromising, agenda-driven and more loyal to a politician than to the United States, Sarah Palin.  And while that might be simply because Palin realized that the kind of character assassination she normally deals in would have been more detrimental than beneficial as an opponent in this case, the fact that she was pressured into saying something nice is evidence of Peltola's character and respect.  

Isn't That the Kind of Unity we Need? 

America is being ripped apart by political divisiveness.  There are differences of opinion on where that started, but this recent epidemic of it is something I blame on Rush Limbaugh, who was bent on undermining democracy and replacing it with fascism by building an audience that had enough influence to pressure Republicans into abandoning their policy and agenda for one of simply being stonewalling obstructionists in order to weaken the federal system and ultimately, to drive political power and dollars into the hands of the wealthiest people in the country.  

The most relevant question to ask is "Who benefits from a divided America?"  There's a long list of answers to that question.  And the hands of those who will benefit from an American civil war are all over the politicians who are at the forefront of trying to bring it about, starting with Donald J. Trump. The most powerful weapons we have to defend against this onslaught of potential tyranny are education and the ballot box, both of which are under attack.  

Mary Peltola isn't the only Democrat who has been successful in bringing about a measure of visible political unity.  That's also the trademark of President Joe Biden.  He's had to go on the attack, and he's delivered a couple of powerful messages this week that are right on target.  He's called out a faction that has made itself the enemy of the people and by so doing, have underlined their selfish ambitions.  The Maga mob is, after all, a minority, which has power and influence that depends more on the apathy of Americans who don't participate in representative, constitutional democracy than it does on its own strength.  It couldn't achieve its political goals in 2020 because a segment of Americans fed up with the incompetence and criminal activity of the former President decided to get involved.  Its turn to conspiracy theories, lies and violence betrays its lack of patriotism, love for country and self-respect.  

In a state where the Republican party has a significant majority among registered voters, the fact that Peltola was able to achieve a victory is a good sign that a majority of Americans are fed up with "Limbaugh Fascism" and Trumpism.  Instead of automatically ranking their second choice as the other member of the Republican party that they didn't vote for the first time around, they chose Peltola.  She was actually the highest vote getter the first time around, but the reactions of the pollsters and pundits, whose predictions were massively wrong, shows how surprising it was that her vote totals and her lead actually grew.  She beat Palin with first choice voters, and she added to her margin with the second choice.  And with that, Alaska voters sent the message that they are tired of the divisive, "win-lose," vengeance of Trumpism.  

Let's hope the rest of the country feels the same way.  

This is What Democrats Do

Democrats have never been a "winner take all, loser go home" party.  They are the party of democracy and freedom for all and the "will of the people"  And in spite of the rhetoric, the people tend to prosper and do better economically under Democrats than under Republicans, including when it comes to taxes, using any factual comparison.  The last three Democrats who were elected President of the United States, including the current one, have presided over economic and job growth that was a recovery from their Republican predecessors' setbacks and recessions caused by bad tax and economic policy and mishandling of a national crisis.  

Thomas Jefferson said, "Perhaps the single thing which may be required to others before toleration to them would be an oath that they would allow toleration to others."  I'd call that a foundational principle of the Democratic party.  

He also said, about true religious freedom, "It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no god.  It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg."  So says the man whose Democratic-Republican party provided the philosophical and political foundation for modern Democrats.  

A Self-Proclaimed Enemy

The Trump-Maga wing of the GOP declared themselves to be the enemies of the people on January 6, 2021, when they attacked Congress by overrunning the U.S. Capitol.  And they have continued to push this anti-American, anti-patriotic political tripe, based on a baseless lie and unproven conspiracy theories.  So the arrests, guilty verdicts, confessions and prison time being served by those who were part of that mob are justified under the rule of law.  Support for the law enforcement officers, justice department and judicial system which is prosecuting these cases is evidence of support for the rule of law.  

The Democrats are standing with law enforcement against those who attacked them, with the rule of law against a lawless mob advocating for more lawlessness, and for truth and integrity against fraudulent attempts to steal the election with phony electors who actually allowed their names to be put on those seditious, fake ballots that were to be submitted to Congress.  Everyone who took part in that seditious insurrection and everyone who supports it has made themselves the enemies of American freedom and democracy, and of the American people.  

Thank you, Mary, for your eloquently articulated support for real American values and for your defense of freedom and the constitution.  Thank you for the gracious spirit that you bring to politics which will be a major asset to the House of Representatives.  You have demonstrated that you deserve to be elected to a full term in Congress in your own right.  Here's to hoping it happens.  

 

A Recurring Theme for Signal Press: White, Christian Nationalism is not Christian

There is an objective standard which defines Christian faith, and even the broader term "Christianity" in general.  That seems to be something many people don't really grasp, especially those who don't hold specific religious beliefs.  But it is important to understand the objective standard which identifies individual Christians and defines Christianity in order to call out aberrations, pseudo-Christian imposters and even anti-Christian infiltrators.  Otherwise, a broad-brush indictment will do unnecessary damage and promote a measure of bigotry against people and groups that don't deserve it.  

Being a Christian isn't just a matter of saying so and then using that to make it into whatever you please.  It's a faith with a 2,000 year old historical context, multiple confessions of faith that are similar in content and in the beliefs that they express and a written record of revelation set in context by its founder.  It's a systematic faith with a consistent theology. It has a clear set of objective principles and beliefs that are documented in writing with accurate transmission that is historically verified, vetted by those who held its beliefs.  And when those works of antiquity are correctly interpreted, by early confessions of believers, there is no support for any sort of "Christian Nationalism," either what's been practiced in the past, such as the "divine right" of monarchs, nor of the current, American, "Anglo-Israelism" known as dominion theology. 

There is No Biblical Basis for White, Christian Nationalism

Most of the Evangelical and Charismatic/Pentecostal branches of American Christianity claim to believe that the sixty-six books of the Protestant Bible are "without any mixture of error," and are "totally true and trustworthy."1  Add that to a belief that the text should be interpreted "literally" unless there is a specific context clue that points to something different, and you have a formula for gross misinterpretation and distortion of the text.  To understand how far white, Christian nationalism is away from the Christian gospel of Christ requires some understanding of this aspect of Christian hermeneutics, so bear with me and I'll make it as simple as I can. 

The same confession of faith from which I cited the quotes about the Bible's trustworthiness also declares that "The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ."  A more conservative group of Christians changed that to "All scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is himself the focus of divine revelation."  The change was to deflect critics who basically claimed that the omission of any record of Jesus speaking on certain issues was not a legitimate argument from the absence of evidence, such as the claim that since Jesus doesn't directly mention homosexuality, he didn't think it was sinful.  But it still makes the point that the interpretive filter for all of the Bible are the gospel accounts recording the words of Christ.  

Jesus himself confirms this fact when he said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish but to fulfill." 2  

If we're going to call this movement out, because it is a threat to democracy, and specifically, to this democracy and its constitution, then it must be called out and responded to in a way that demonstrates its inconsistency with the teachings of Christ and the Apostles, and how it is at odds with Biblical revelation.  White, Christian Nationalism--and I will continue to use the adjective "white" to describe it because it is racist in exactly that way--has no basis for support from the correctly interpreted Biblical text.  Jesus would have rejected it outright as the exact opposite of what he called and described as the Kingdom of God.  

White, Christian Nationalists distort the interpretation of the Biblical text, selectively choosing parts of it that support their position without filtering it through the revelation of Christ, and without considering the historical context of the passage they cite.  That's a common error across the spectrum of Christianity, and specifically conservative, Evangelical Christianity where many church members tend to consider theological education that doesn't emphasize their personal biases as liberal and intentionally misleading.  The Charismatic and Pentecostal branches of the church are extremely subjective in their interpretation of the Bible, depending heavily on emotion and feelings, and believing in miraculous "sign gifts" by which they claim interpretations and revelations that change or supersede the Biblical text. 

Christian Faith and Practice is Visible and Identifiable by Observation

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless.  Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.  James 1:26-27, NRSV

Who is wise and understanding among you?  Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.  But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth.  Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.  For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.  But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.  James 3:13-18

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God for God is love.  I John 4:7-9, NRSV

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.  Matthew 5:9, NRSV

As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience.  Bear with one another and if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive.  Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.  And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body.  And be thankful.  Colossians 3:12-15 NRSV

This is a very small sample of the characteristics and actions which, by observation, are visible indicators of Christian faith. There are multiple descriptive terms, adjectives which describe the demeanor and actions produced by the spiritual transformation we call "conversion to Christ," or "salvation by grace through faith in Christ."  That's the focal point of what defines being "Christian" and the experience that makes one "Christian" and it is a state of being that is visible in the way a Christian lives out their faith.  It's defined by Jesus himself, and by his disciples, the early church Apostles.  

So the obvious question is whether any of these identifiable, descriptive characteristics are visible anywhere in white, Christian nationalism, dominion theology, or any of the various sects that make up the whole of Christian nationalist philosophy and ideology.  

I don't see any of them, anywhere in the whole movement.  And that's not a judgement, it's an observation. 

The Apostle James says, "So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead."3  

Only the language of white, Christian nationalism is similar to Christianity.  The ideology and its objectives are pseudo-Christian, but by definition, are not Christian. 

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1  The Baptist Faith and Message, 1963 and 2000 versions

2  Matthew 5:17, NRSV

3 James 2:17, NRSV