An Open Letter to my Republican Friends--If You're Still Reading

Greetings.  Yes, even the greeting is difficult to write.  I don't want to sound hypocritical by saying, "Dear Republican Friends," because some of you aren't that dear to me anymore, by your own choice.  So we'll leave this here.  I know reading something that doesn't agree with your politics has become intolerable to most of you.  Try to stomach this one, and hear me out.  As much as I have to listen to the news media repeat all of Donald Trump and Ron Desantis' talking points, you can bear with this for the fifteen minutes it will take you to get through this.  

Let's Talk About Where Your Party is Headed, After Trump's Waco Rally 

It appears that actually winning the Presidency is no longer the goal of your party, or your apparent leading candidate.  Glorifying a seditious, or treasonous, attack on the United States Capitol has told us everything we need to know.  He's not aiming for election, he's aiming for a fraudulent coup because he knows he can't win enough votes to win.  He might as well just come out and say that he'd like to set the constitution aside and become dictator, since that was the gist of his rambling, boring address on Saturday.  

That's not going to happen.  If you nominate him as your party's candidate for President, if that's his message, and he made it clear on Saturday, he is going to lose.  Frankly, I think he opened the door for almost anyone else to win the GOP nomination if they decide to give it a try and run as a traditional, Reagan-Bush-Romney style Republican candidate.  He'll derail that by running third party and ruining those chances but if he gets the nomination, your party is through, anyway.  

I'll agree that there are millions of people in this country who have fallen victim to its lack of quality public education, the selfishness that has come with its prosperity and have little capacity for the truth.  Selfishness and greed have eroded the value that Americans once placed on community and patriotic sacrifice that has allowed a base to form a MAGA party, draining the GOP of its resources, energy and leadership.  Trump stays in the news cycle and lives off of their support.  

But there are millions more, including millions who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, who see how bad this has become, and are, at the very least, not going to turn out to vote him back in, if they don't actually cross lines and vote for the other party.  A growing number of Republicans are now doing just that.  Ever heard of Nicole Wallace?  The Lincoln Project?  Michael Steele?  Steve Schmitt?  In the polls and at the ballot box, a growing group of self-identified Republicans, in double digit percentages now, are declaring they've had enough of Trump and are moving on.  

Trump's age and sharpness of mind have to be a concern to any of his supporters who watched clips from that rally.  Using the term "mental sharpness" in any way with Trump is an oxymoron.  He's a horrible public speaker at any rate, but it was clear that his mind wasn't always with his mouth at multiple points during his speech.  I'll laugh at you if you ever bring up Biden's age and sharpness of mind to me again.  

But here's the bottom line, and if you don't get anything else out of this, get this--if the content of that Waco rally really is what his Presidential campaign is going to be about, then it is absolutely guaranteed to lose the 2024 election, and I don't think it will even be close.  He offered absolutely no vision for any patriotic, freedom-loving American to vote for, and they won't.  He excited his base, which, according to the most accurate measurements, doesn't exceed 25% of the electorate.  If that's what his campaign is going to look like, he just united and motivated the whole democratic party constituency.  They'll gain votes because of Trump's despicable display, and a lot of disgusted Republicans will simply stay home.  On the other hand, this fired up his opposition, and motivated them to move toward their voting booth quickly. 

And to my Fellow Christians Who Still Support This Insurrectionist 

Trump's lawlessness and anarchic rhetoric is contrary to the nature of God and to every principle of the Christian gospel.  

"Do not be mismatched with unbelievers," said the Apostle Paul, writing to the Christians in the church at Corinth, "For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness? What agreement does Christ have with Belial?  Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever?  What agreement has the temple of God with idols? " 

There is nothing either patriotic or Christian in the events of January 6.  That's a display of lawlessness as open and evil as anything we've seen in this country since the Civil War.  His display and glorification of it is a slap in the face of God.  It's not possible to be loyal to the carefully crafted worldly image of Trump and have experienced the spiritual transformation to righteousness that comes from the Christian gospel.  The two things are opposites and Trump's lawlessness is not just anti-Christian, it's also anti-American.  

For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ into licentiousness and deny our only Lord and Master Jesus Christ.  Jude, v.4

Separating your politics from your faith doesn't work here, since licentiousness and evil have infiltrated the politics, making them hostile to genuine Christian faith.  Christians shouldn't be choosing political leaders whose lifestyle and image stand in contrast to the spiritual transformation and righteous living preached by the Christian gospel.  Trumpism and Christianity are opposites.  To be loyal to one requires abandoning the other.  

Indictments Appear to be Inevitable

Trump is a criminal.  And the crimes he committed while President, and while running for President the first time, will lead to indictments, prosecutions and hopefully, convictions.  They will, at least, if we are a nation where the rule of law prevails without exception, which is what we claim.  This is an issue that goes to the very heart of the Republican party's credibility.  It cannot claim to be the party of laws if it is the party of criminally incompetent leadership in the White House.  This will have dire consequences for your party at the voting booth, which is why we are hearing all of this shrieking and flapping lips over "stolen" elections and "massive voter fraud."  He can't win a legitimate election so he is setting things in place to steal one illegitimately.  

And a big part of that plan includes you, because he believes you, his core supporters and his loyal base, are too stupid and too ignorant to discern and come to grips with the truth.  His contempt for your intelligence is bottomless.  And you empower him by responding exactly in the manner he expects.  

Maybe he's right and you are not capable of handling the real world, which includes the responsibility for being informed in order to protect, preserve and defend our democracy.  If you believe in the law, and you are a patriotic American, then you will acknowledge that the investigations into Trump's criminal activity are a reality in a nation that believes in the rule of law, and the outcomes will be fair.  If he is convicted, then patriotic Americans who believe in this country and its ideals will accept that outcome, support it and move on.  Justice will be done.  If you can't accept that, then my suggestion is that you find another country that is more compatible with your worldview and move there as fast as you can get there.  As we have heard so often from you, this is America.  Love it or leave it.  

Republican Anti-Woke Culture War Agenda is a Loser

 Woke Doesn't Mean What You Think it Does

A Conservative Case for Why The Church Should Lead the Way in Being Woke

When did "Woke" Become a Four Letter Word 

Some of the more shrill voices among the Republican extremist right have been putting their anti-woke, culture war agenda right out in front of their news media appearances and getting plenty of attention.  If the strategy of the news media was to put it there for the purpose of exposing its flaws, and betting that once people see that the full extent of the whole agenda is nothing more than a distraction that keeps Republicans from focusing on, and handling, the real problems government should be handling, then the strategy is working like a charm.  

Florida's governor has received the most attention for his abrasive, "anti-woke" crusade, tearing through the civil rights of Floridians like one of the hurricanes that shred the peninsula's cities and towns in the summer.  He's running for President and is trying to get traction by doing things that he thinks will please enough of the base to gain some traction and get the nomination.  It doesn't appear to be working very well.  And it seems the biggest culprit putting a dent in his intentions is his identification with the term, "anti-woke."  

According to Roger Lovette, the author of the first article at the top, and a retired pastor and author from Clemson, South Carolina, woke means "being alert to social and racial discrimination and injustice."  People can see the racism and bigotry in Desantis and his approach to Florida politics.  And the fact of the matter is that while there will always be some Americans who are steeped in that kind of ignorance, there are far more Americans who are genuinely "woke" by definition and are willing to elect politicians who will, along with their own efforts, work to achieve justice.  

Though the news media has been caught up in reporting about the possible candidates for the GOP nomination in 2024, because they can't seem to bring themselves to talk about a growing economy, the fact that there's no recession, inflation is abating, unemployment is at record low points and the dollar is strong, it hasn't helped the Republican candidates who are getting all the attention.  The polling data shows people moving away from the MAGA party and its politics, in numbers too big to ignore.  It's not catching on.  

Nor has there been a groundswell of support in Florida for the Desantis de-facto presidential campaign.  Lawsuits are beginning to hit the courts, and my guess is that most of what the news media reports about the various parts of Desantis' agenda will be ruled unconstitutional by the time the first ballots are cast in the primaries.  Protesters have been numerous, there has been some outright rejection and defiance, refusal to cooperate and protection of the rights of private citizens. 

Why the Whole Anti-Woke Agenda is Going Nowhere

There's one main reason why this whole anti-woke approach is failing.  It is anti-American.  

That's it.  

It gets a lot of media attention, and that's really been the whole point of just about everything Ron Desantis, and Donald Trump, have done over these past few months.  Trump declared he would be arrested on Tuesday, and anyone who knows his record of accuracy for making such predictions knows that had no chance of happening.  But it got him several days of feverish news coverage and kept the GOP race for the party nomination in the news cycle.  It covers up the good stuff that the Biden Administration is doing.  

I have not heard one thing, in the whole time that the media has been focusing on the Republican 2024 nomination, that is an actual plan for the benefit of the American people, or that anything they are doing will help, or will demonstrate leadership and governing ability.  Nothing.  Zero.  Nada.  It's all about trying to use the government to force a particular worldview on the country.  The Republicans are proposing an oppressive, ideological tyranny.  

And there are more than enough Americans willing to set aside partisan loyalty and see how dangerous this is to their freedom.  More than enough, if we all use our minds and get our bodies to the polling places.  

Election Integrity is at Risk Now: The Means to "Steal" an Election is Already in Place

Arizona Attorney General Mayes Files Lawsuit Against Cochise County Supervisors Over Election Issues

Grijalva Asks for DOJ Investigation Into Cochise Supervisor Illegalities Surrounding 2022 Election 

Once again, we seem to be behind the curve on an issue of grave importance to democracy in America.  Back in the first decade of the century, following the advice of radio commentators like Rush Limbaugh, Republicans, recognizing that they might be on the way to becoming more of a minority than they already were, began using whatever means they had at their disposal to tilt the balance in their favor, not by going after more voters, but by gaming the system.  The result of their efforts is a House of Representatives with districts far more gerrymandered than they had been in the past.  

Democrats didn't seem to see this coming.  Republicans aimed resources in getting control of as many state legislatures as they could, and then, following the 2010 census, drew new district maps that favored their party.  The South was pretty much already drawn to their favor, but in the "blue firewall" states like Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin, the lines were drawn so much in favor of the GOP, that even conservative courts couldn't ignore how unconstitutional some of the maps were.  

When, in a court challenge, a judge finally determined that reasonable lines couldn't be drawn by either party in Pennsylvania, and the court re-drew the boundaries, the Democrats picked up five additional seats from simply straightening out boundaries and removing one long, narrow, Republican-dominated district that stretched three fourths of the way across the state.  In Arizona, where the new census didn't quite allow for a new district to be added, as has been the case in the past, the state legislature, realizing that the Democrats were just a couple of seats away from claiming control, drew lines for both congressional districts and state legislative districts that heavily favored their party and gained seats in both the house and state legislature in spite of losing every statewide office except school superintendent.  

All Elections Have Consequences

The two stories linked at the top are from Cochise County, Arizona, where two of the three members of the board of supervisors, both election-denying Republicans, have played havoc with the election process in the county, especially with counting ballots.  Their shenanigans have been a complete disaster, and in spite of being told that what they were doing was against the law, they did it anyway.  That's the kind of attitude we are dealing with in these people everywhere they are in control.  And they are more than likely in control in enough places to affect the legitimate outcome of elections.

The two Republican supervisors in this county first contended that they did not trust the machine count, based, not on factual evidence, but on conspiracy theories.  They were apparently being fed information from the campaign of Mark Finchem, another election denier running for Secretary of State, who was trying these tactics in several counties.  They refused to certify the vote total, even though more than 55% of the ballots had been cast for Republican candidates.  But because the gubernatorial race had been closer, within a 20,000 vote margin, the strategy was to figure out how to take some Democratic ballots out of circulation.  

The supervisors then ordered the county election supervisor to count the ballots again by hand.  She checked the law first, and found out that the supervisors could not authorize a hand count, which would be against the law.  So they filed suit to force her to do it, and lost, spending over $100,000 of county taxpayer money.  When a state superior court judge ordered them to certify the election, one of the two Republicans voted along with the Democrat to certify the election results.  The other Republican defied the court order and didn't even show up for the meeting. 

That's bad enough.  But the county's election supervisor, citing a hostile work environment created by the two Republicans, resigned after more than 30 years of service.  Immediately, the two Republican supervisors moved to assign her job duties to the county recorder, a position that happens to be occupied by another rabid Republican election denier.  Told that doing this is also against the law, the two Republicans have dug in their heels, prompting the state attorney general and Congressman Raul Grijalva, who represents precincts in the county that include the town of Bisbee, where the courthouse is located.  

My personal hope is that they throw the book at these two supervisors, and they wind up in prison for their crimes.  Prosecuting these people when they do wrong is the key to making sure we preserve democracy and stop the nonsense.  

And we need to make sure our people, the reasonable, free thinking, democracy loving, patriotic Americans who care about this country and our collective interests, get out and vote every time there is an election.  City council, school board, county supervisors, judges, dogcatchers.  It doesn't matter who is running, make sure there are no election deniers who get elected. 

Ask the Questions

Last year, during a mayoral and city council election in the small township where I live, I went to a candidate's forum.  There were about 20 people there to talk to the three candidates for city office.  When it came time to ask questions, I had two.  One, "Do you believe the 2020, or any subsequent election, was stolen?"  And two, "Do you support Donald J. Trump in any way?"  Everyone said "No," to both questions, and one candidate wanted to know why I wanted to know that just for a city council election.  I said, "Because I will not help put anyone in office who supports that man or who doesn't believe American elections are clean and fair."  

I let them know.  And I let them know that I will be contacting all my friends and neighbors, and will work to get those elected who have nothing to do with Trump and who believe elections are accurate and clean. 

What's happened in Cochise County is happening elsewhere.  This is the new way to undermine Democracy.  We're already stuck with an electoral college that makes these kinds of maneuvers possible.  We have to remain alert on our local level and make sure that the people who make sure only registered voters cast ballots, and all the ballots are properly cared for from polling location to counting machine, are people of integrity who wouldn't dare overturn an election.  Otherwise, it's a risk.  

Election Deniers Still Try Their Shenanigans at the County Level: They Should be Investigated, Indicted, Tried and Convicted for Their Crimes

Arizona Rep. Grijalva asks DOJ to Investigate Cochise County Supervisors

Two election deniers who serve on the Cochise County Board of Supervisors, Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd, are the subjects of a requested investigation by the Department of Justice at the request of Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva.  Part of Grijalva's district includes a slice of the far southern part of Cochise County, including the heavily Democratic towns of Bisbee and Douglas, also part of the district represented by the only Democrat on the board of supervisors, Ann English.  That, apparently, gives the congressman standing to ask the DOJ to get involved in what appears to be multiple violations of the law, including refusal to certify election totals by the deadline, ordering the county election supervisor to conduct an illegal hand-count of the ballots, suing her when she refused, and then rolling her duties illegally into the partisan Republican county recorder's job.  

It appears that the two GOP supervisors were part of a bigger effort across Arizona, orchestrated by Mark Finchem, the defeated GOP candidate for Secretary of State, to try and prevent certification of the election he, and election denier Kari Lake, along with Republicans at the statewide level across the board, legitimately lost.  The two Cochise County Republicans cited concerns about the accuracy of ballot counting machinery as their rationale for holding up the certification of the county's ballots, which favored the GOP candidates by more than 10% of the vote.  

Had their actions led to the disenfranchisement of Cochise County's voters, the certified total, which then Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, threatened to leave out as a consequence of the supervisor's illegal action, would have led to the defeat of Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani and at least two Republican state representatives and one state senator, along with virtually every locally elected official in the county.  Apparently, Finchem had backed a plan that involved participation of at least two other majority Republican counties in refusing to certify election results to try and derail Democratic victors from claiming a win.  Only Cochise County's two Republican supervisors actually followed through with the delay of certification.  

This is Where Election Deniers Do Their Worst

With counting ballots falling to county election supervisors, it is possible for politically motivated deniers to cause problems that would wind up disenfranchising voters who cast ballots for candidates they've targeted for defeat.  Congressman Grijalva is claiming that Cochise County's supervisors have violated the law, particularly in rolling the duties of the county election supervisor into the job description of the county recorder, which is illegal.  The duly elected and long-serving election supervisor in the county resigned, citing a hostile work environment when she was harassed by Crosby and Judd for not giving in to their orders to conduct an illegal hand count of the ballots.  So the job now belongs to a partisan, Republican election denier.  

If it didn't work for this election, they've set things up for down the road.  And if something isn't done about all of this very illegal activity, it will change the course of electoral politics in Arizona.  

So, I hope the DOJ takes up this case and that indictments are forthcoming.  Cochise County residents are entitled to free and fair elections and they need personnel in place who will make sure that happens.  There is a strong, well-organized recall effort moving forward with plenty of support to get rid of Crosby, who violated a judges order to certify the election.  Crosby just didn't show up for the meeting where that was scheduled to happen.  Judd may have avoided being the immediate target of a recall, but honestly, even though her district is one of the most rural, reddest parts of the county, the effort might gain enough support to get her out.  

This is something that needs to happen everywhere this goes on.  It was heartwarming to see the state of New Mexico oust Couy Griffin from the Otero County Board of Supervisors for his role in the January 6th Trump Insurrection.  Griffin committed a crime, was convicted and subsequently ousted from his position and banned from electoral politics.  Chalk up one win for the State of New Mexico, that's one less election denier who can get his hands on the levers of the vote counting process.  

I am hoping that, through this DOJ investigation of the Cochise County Board of Supervisors, there will be an indictment, trial and conviction, and two more election deniers can be removed from their elected positions, saving Cochise County a lot of grief, and assuring voters that, regardless of who they vote for, their ballots will count. 

If a Democratic Representative's Child had done this...

Lauren Boebert Blows up the GOP's Biggest Talking Point

It's an instruction that appears in virtually every publication written for the youth groups and Sunday school classes of conservative, Evangelical churches.  It's such an integral part of the culture of conservative, Evangelical Christianity's church ministries to youth that several major publishing companies have come up with ways to help remind youth of their commitment, including fashioning a ring they could wear symbolizing the commitment they made not to engage in sexual activity until their wedding night.  

To really see the full scope of what conservative Christians believe about premarital sexual activity, look at any of a dozen of their media outlets, and you'll get the full picture.  Saving oneself sexually for marriage is a huge emphasis in everything that is taught to church youth groups and college students, so much so that they are able to explain their church's view on sexuality as thoroughly as anything they're taught, but can't articulate very much else in Christian theology or doctrine.  

And yet, one of the members of Congress who is vociferous and outspoken about her Christian faith and the need for America to have more of it, stands up in front of a conservative political action committee and not only tells them that her 17 year old son is going to make her a grandmother at 36, but completely trashes conservative Christianity's whole perspective on the matter by celebrating what her brand of the Christian church labels "fornication."  

This isn't the First Time Boebert has Demonstrated Her Ignorance of Christian Theology, Doctrine, and what the Bible Says

In virtually every church where I've ever been a member, most of the congregation sits in blissful ignorance of the core beliefs and practices of their church.  They'll gather on Sunday and give nods and shout out "amen" to a sermon the Devil was preaching, if he wore a suit and tie, stood behind the pulpit, waved his arms and used a black, leather bound King James Bible.  Most of them could not explain their belief, or their church's teaching, on soteriology, ecclesiology or eschatology and wouldn't know what those terms meant or the difference between them.  But most of those in conservative and fundamentalist churches know that drinking alcohol is a sin and having sex before marriage is also a sin.  

But given almost everything Lauren Boebert has said about her version of the Christian faith, I'm not really surprised at what she did, in front of a conservative political forum, upon finding out that her teenage son will be a father, to a child conceived out of wedlock.  There's very little in her expression of what she calls her Christian faith that is consistent with the gospel of Jesus Christ, or with the principles provided by the apostles who wrote most of the New Testament.  When leaders like her are elected, and their lifestyle, and rhetoric becomes public knowledge, it becomes easy to see that the Christianity they claim to follow is something they've used to get elected, more than it is a sincere faith.  

Her statement that "the government should not direct the church, the church is supposed to direct the government," is neither constitutional, in accordance with religious liberty and church-state separation, nor is it consistent with the two early church apostles who wrote about the fact that the submission of the church to governing authorities is part of its testimony of faith and its recognition of the very identity of God himself.  Her use of Psalm 109:8-9 as a means of putting down President Biden, whether as a joke or whether she was serious, not only takes the verse she used completely out of context, but also demonstrates her failure to follow the single most important doctrinal point of the Christian faith, in loving all of humanity, including, perhaps most exceptionally, one's enemies.  

Maybe she thinks that people don't notice, or perhaps she really doesn't care as long as it works for her, but I would tell those church leaders who are wringing their hands and complaining about increasingly empty pews and declining church membership, and financial support that hypocritical politicians like this might have something to do with that.  Apparently, Boebert's son didn't see anything in his mother's actions to convince him of the veracity of Christianity or the sincerity of his mother's beliefs.  

It's not being judgmental, according to the words of Jesus (Matthew 7:1-5) to observe that the teaching about what would be called, in old fashioned terms, Christian chastity, is not taken seriously by the congresswoman or her family.  In publicly proclaiming that her son was making her a grandmother at 36, she also made light of the fact that she, too, had made her mother a grandmother in her thirties.  If the speaker wasn't a well-known extremist conservative congresswoman, and the venue was a youth group gathering in a conservative, Evangelical church, would anyone in the congregation tolerate bragging about being illegitimately pregnant at 17, and about a 17 year old boy getting his girlfriend, allegedly two years younger, age 15, pregnant? 

Do Some Reading and Study and Get Back to Me

If Christian faith is the trademark of a political campaign, and political stump speeches include references to faith principles and take place in church auditoriums and fellowship halls, then getting it right is incumbent upon the politician.  It is also the responsibility of Christians who hear this jumble of words to speak up and correct the error instead of applaud the speaker and ignore their heresy.  

No one is perfect.  But sprinkling Christian talking points and references into the content of a political speech made by someone who is seeking election to public office, and is therefore placing themselves and their reputation on display means that part of their life needs to set an example and demonstrate that they've figured it out and got it right, and they live by the words they speak.  

I wouldn't hold a politician accountable for something that one of their children had done that was considered immoral by the standards of the Christian faith.  But in this case, passing it off in public, using it as a talking point to gain political points and after being caustic in criticism of President Biden and his son, and publicly proclaiming the President's accountability for his son's behavior opened the door wide to public criticism of the congresswoman.  She got this one wrong, and her previous bashing of the President makes any criticism of her hypocrisy legitimate.  

I would suggest that she start with Matthew, chapters 5-7, and then move over to Romans 12, 13 and 14 before she opens her mouth and sticks her foot in it again.  

And What if Boebert Were a Democrat? 

Let's just think of that possibility for a moment.  What kind of holy horror would prompt the screams and shrieks and flapping of lips by Republicans if a Democrat with a "holier than thou" reputation had  publicly attempted to justify their child's sin of fornication?  They would already be appropriating funds for a full investigation of the incident, to see if this really was sexual abuse, given the ages involved, or worse, a case of covered-up rape.  

It's not hard to imagine.  Republicans have been apoplectic over Hunter Biden and his alleged laptop.  In that case, they have nothing to shriek about, but that hasn't stopped them from trying to keep it in the news cycle or hint that there might be something incriminating, though they've been digging and searching for years, now, with no results.  Hunter Biden is an adult, and the President has never worn his Catholic faith on his sleeve, or used it as a campaign slogan.  

It's been incredibly disappointing to see individuals who claim to be conservative, Evangelical Christians, who are looking to be examples and leaders, not only as people of faith, but as political leaders, set aside the values of the Christian gospel, or demonstrate inexcusable ignorance of it, or try to change it, once they achieve their goal.  It's been even more disappointing to see Evangelical Christians give them a pass on their immorality, greed and lack of integrity simply because they agree with a few political points, or can get them something politically in exchange for their support.  That's an even worse apostasy.  

  

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Grumblers, Malcontents and Loud-Mouthed Boasters: A Warning to Christians About Infiltration and Bad Political Alliances

Bear with the New Testament lesson in the first few paragraphs.  You'll need that background to understand my conclusion later on.  

Unless churches or their leaders follow the Christian calendar and utilize the common lectionary as a means of determining their weekly scripture readings and sermon content, the small, New Testament epistle of Jude is rarely the topic of sermons or Sunday school lessons, and is somewhat of an obscure piece, a name that kids come across as they memorize the books that are in the Bible, and not much else. 

The early Christian churches were especially susceptible to the infiltration of error.  Relying mostly on oral tradition and written correspondence with the apostles, they were on their own as they worked in the towns and cities where they had been established, among the mostly pagan population, in places where all kinds of religious beliefs and philosophies were practiced and lived out.  Some of the Christians had converted from Judaism and so were familiar with the scriptures of the Old Testament, but their doctrine, theology and faith practice was dependent on the words of the apostles, written down, copied and passed along through the first century church, including epistles, or letters, like this short but very pointed book of Jude.  

The author, identified as the brother of James, and also a relative of Jesus, doesn't specify an audience, but writes what is considered to be an encyclical letter, intended to be circulated among the Christians of a particular district rather than a specific church.  The inclusion of references to specific persons that were known in Jewish tradition, such as references to Michael, Cain, Enoch and a comparison to Korah's rebellion, indicate the presence of a number of Christians who had converted from Judaism in the churches to which the letter was circulated.  

Present Interpretation and Modern Application of Jude's Epistle

Jude warns his readers about intruders who come into the church for the purpose of perverting, and changing, the message of the gospel and the practice of the faith.  There were several philosophies and distortions of Christianity making their rounds through the early church, and the vague manner in which the message of the intruders is described by the author, along with the unique New Testament quotations of Old Testament references it contains, along with a reference to the apocryphal book of Enoch, and the "blasphemy of angels" give some hints as to the problem.  

A present day application would be to consider the book a warning, in fairly harsh terms, against infiltration and perversion of the message of the gospel by what Paul references as "philosophy and empty deceit," and the "elemental spirits of this world," in his epistle to the Colossians, which bears some similarity to Jude's message.  In that aspect of its interpretation, Jude is a Biblical warning to Christians in American churches of the infiltration of malcontents and loud-mouthed boasters who are leading Christians astray into alliances with extremist right wing political philosophies, mainly the MAGA cult of Trumpism, that are, indeed, bringing heresy right into the church's pulpits and rendering congregations apostate because they are, indeed, perverting the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  And it is being done, as it was in Jude's day, by trusted leaders of the church who don't know any better. 

Some of the philosophies that have perverted Christianity, and specifically American Christianity, have been doing so in some form for a long time.  American Christianity was historically segregated, and those who supported and participated in slavery found ways to use the Bible to advance their cause and justify their unrighteousness.  Much of white supremacy rests on twisted interpretation of Bible verses.  Christian nationalism rests on a foundation of Anglo-Israelism, the belief that English speaking people were destined to re-create a new "holy land" and were given the rich, virgin North American continent as a gift to establish a Christian nation from which white, English speaking people would eventually conquer and rule the world.  

The more recent blending of extremist right wing politics with the more fundamentalist branch of conservative Evangelicalism is the same thing.  It perverts and alters the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  A good example of this can be found in the words of Donald Trump, Junior, who told those gathered at a turning point rally in Arizona that while "turn the other cheek" was something that he understood--sort of--it was standing in the way of their ability to use worldly power to advance their agenda.  I don't think Trump Jr. had an inkling of understanding of the mission of the church, he was just trying to pervert and use its influence to get his agenda achieved.  

Jude's Descriptive Terminology is Pretty Prophetic...and Accurate

Initially, Jude refers to the intruders as "ungodly," an apt description of those in extremist far right politics who have paid hush money to porn stars and who have promoted their public image seasoned with extra-marital affairs and conversations about sexually abusing women and getting away with it.  What name comes to mind at the mention of the terms "grumblers and malcontents"?  The loud-mouthed boasters term came to mind just this week when a United States Congresswoman, who claims to be an Evangelical Christian took to the stage to defend her son's sin of fornication, getting his younger than 16 year old girlfriend pregnant, while the Congresswoman "celebrated" new life, and good-naturedly "scolded" her son for making her a grandmother at 36.  

What he did, according to any conservative Evangelical tradition, is called "fornication," and it is the sin of having sexual relations outside of the benefit of marriage.  But this particular congresswoman can't bear that kind of criticism, so in putting a happy spin on it, she became a "loud mouthed boaster, showing favoritism to gain advantage," according to Jude.  

With this particular congresswoman, there are several others who fit Jude's description of infiltrators in the church as well as any other commentary I've seen. 

"But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively...These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear/ shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever."  Jude v. 10, 12 and 13, ESV

Names to fit with that description come to mind while the words are being read.  That is such an apt description of extremist, right-wing, MAGA politics in this country now, it is as if the words penned by Jude two thousand years ago were just written, following an evening news cast on a news network reasonably serious about telling the truth.  And the effect they are having on the Evangelical American church is exactly the kind of infiltration and perversion of the Christian gospel about which Jude is writing to warn the early church.  Christian nationalism and white supremacy, and the justification of persecution of those who dissent are leading these churches and Christians into heresy and apostasy.  

These People Blaspheme All That They do not Understand

There might not be a better example of a modern application of Jude's words, "But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand," than the COVID pandemic, and the manner in which the whole process was managed by Dr. Anthony Fauci.  Ignorance was proclaimed from Christian pulpits when it came to the manner and the means of managing the biggest, and worst, public health crisis in modern American history.  

But they make everything political and then take whatever excuse they think they have to attack those not on the same political ground  It's no longer the give and take of partisan politics, these people believe that those who don't accept their values aren't equal, and at the very least should be excluded from a representative democracy.  And what they believe should happen to their opponents, or enemies,  in the worst case scenario is that they should have no rights and there should be no democracy that permits them liberty. 

There is no question that the MAGA cult has completely disrupted American politics, bringing, as Jude says, it is these scoffers, worldly people following their own passions who have caused division in government.  They worked themselves up into a mob and attacked the Capitol with the intention of pulling off a coup against the American constitutional republic.  And they are dividing the churches which they are infiltrating, setting their feet on the path to destructive heresy and declared apostasy.  

The book of Jude is a warning against intruders in the church, bringing in false teaching and worldly influence when it comes to righteous living according to the gospel of Jesu Christ.  I can no longer read the book and not see images of what's going on in American politics today.  

White Evangelicals and Catholics Turn to Political Power to Compensate for Steep Decline in Membership, Influence

Robert Jones:  The Desperate Turn to MAGA by White, Evangelical Christians

The Desperate Turn to MAGA by White, Evangelical Christians 

Robert P. Jones is the author of a book published in 2016 called The End of White Christian America.  Coming out right at the time that Trump was elected President, the book actually chronicles the decline of conservative, white Christianity and concludes that a shift has occurred, at some point in the first decade of the 21st century, and that demographic changes and religious disaffiliation have led to America, for the first time in its history, no longer being a white, Christian majority country.  

That fact, according to Jones, is one of several reasons that white, conservative Evangelicals have become so extremist in their politics, turning to the MAGA political cult as their power wanes and their numbers continue to decline, rapidly according to the data provided by Jones.  It has been somewhat baffling to understand why white, conservative Evangelicals, in particular, have been willing to abandon their convictions, gathered from a literal interpretation of the Bible and the belief that it is the written word of God, infallible in its content and inerrant in its "original manuscripts," to support someone like Trump, whose worldly lifestyle and lack of values is the complete opposite of their worldview.  

The growth of megachurches in the eighties and nineties produced a deceptive picture of conservative, Evangelical Christianity.  While a few churches grew around the personalities and dramatic preaching of personalities, smaller congregations were having the life strangled out of them and were declining and closing their doors in increasing numbers.  For example, within the Southern Baptist Convention, membership and other church statistics are tracked as churches send in a form called the "annual letter."  Seeing their membership begin to decline around the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, they blamed the drop on an increasing number of churches not sending in their letter.  But the fact of the matter is that many of those churches in their previous records no longer existed to send them in.  In spite of the presence of megachurches within the denomination, membership in Southern Baptist churches has fallen by almost 3 million since its peak in 2006, and more than half of that drop has happened since 2010.  

This article provides a chart produced by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) showing a sharp decline in the percentage of white Christians in the American population dropping from 54% in 2008, when Obama was first elected, to just 42% in 2022.  That would account for some of the political gains made by Democrats in recent years, though the party is still hobbled by gerrymandering that took place when Republicans overwhelmingly controlled state legislatures in 2010.  

That 42% figure represents all white Christian subgroups in America, including conservative Evangelicals, Catholics and mainline Protestants.  A second chart, which tracks the decline of Christian subgroups, shows that the sharpest, steepest declines in membership over the past decade have occurred among white, conservative Evangelicals.  Aging of churches has accompanied the decline as the median age of conservative, Evangelical churches is significantly older than the population at large.  A growing wave of next-generation adults, whom Evangelicals in particular have not been able to reach, is pushing the political pendulum to the left.  

So Here's Where the Sense of Desperation is Coming From

These numbers don't work for winning elections, without some strategic alliances, such as the odd mix of white Evangelicals with the rest of the MAGA crowd, mainly anti-social, paranoid conspiracy theorists and the corporate wealthy.  The gerrymandering wasn't just a product of political manipulation, many of the leaders and media personalities like Rush Limbaugh have advocated every possible means to cut democracy off at the knees and use the system to set up dominance by the minority, as they have seen this drop in numbers coming into the GOP's largest constituency for quite some time.  

So this attempt to overturn the constitution, falsely challenge election results and sow doubt and fear in people's minds is an attempt to solidify, and make permanent, the culture war issues like overturning Roe, through establishing an autocracy, manipulating the democratic process and if possible, gain just enough power to gerrymander districts, appoint extremist judges and block the majority from winning elections.  They know that they can no longer establish a "white, Christian America" by democratic means.  They are unwilling to accept the fact that they, like everyone else, has guaranteed religious liberty and freedom of conscience in a culturally, socially, economically and religiously pluralistic America.  

Here's a direct quote from Jones: 

(White, conservative Evangelical Christians) greatest temptation will be to wield what waning political power they have as a desperate corrective for their waning cultural influence.  If this happens, we may be in for another decade of closing skirmishes in the culture wars, but white Evangelical Christians will mortgage their future in a fight to resurrect the past.  

But as alluring as turning back the clock may seem to White Christian America's loyalists, efforts to resurrect the dead are futile at best--and at worst, disrespectful to its memory.  Like Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, resurrection by human power rather than divine spirit always produces a monstrosity. 

Evidence of the "Monstrosity" that Far Right Wing Conspiratorial Politics has Made of the Evangelical Churches in America

I grew up in a small, Southern Baptist church, outside the deep South, but with two thirds of the congregation being from there somewhere.  We were near a military base, and two of the larger local employers were based in Texas and Mississippi, so we had a lot of members from those two states.  Embedded in the instructional program of the church, through its Sunday school and through a program unique to Southern Baptists, called "Church training," I was taught Baptist history and the "distinctive" aspects of theology and doctrine. 

Baptists, unlike most denominations, including the Roman Catholic Church and most other Protestant denominations, do not have a central governing authority, like a presiding bishop or pope.  There are four core "freedoms" that distinguish Baptists, and many other Evangelicals, in this regard: 

Bible Freedom is the belief that every Christian has the ability to read, interpret and apply the principles of the Bible for themselves, within the context of the congregation to which they belong, guided by the leadership of God's Holy Spirit.

Soul Freedom is the belief that every individual is accountable to God individually, without the imposition of creed or consultation with clergy.  There is no "clergy" because there are no "sacraments" to administer on behalf of members.  Pastors and church leaders are called and ordained by the churches they serve.  

Church Freedom means that each individual church is free to determine its own doctrine, conduct its own worship and ministry, and function without connection to a hierarchy or to any other congregation.  Churches are ruled congregationally, usually by consensus of the membership.  

Christian Liberty is the belief that churches are free from any control or interference by the political state.  No laws sanction the practice of any religious belief and the church, is subject only to civil law and regulation, and not to any law dictating belief, doctrine or faith practice.  Baptists were influential in helping to establish the constitutional principle of religious liberty and of the separation of church and state in America.  

These have been historic Baptist principles, at the very core of Baptist identity, since Christians first appeared and were identified by the label "Baptist," in the 1600's.  Not only were these core principles taught in the church in which I grew up, and subsequently in churches where I was a member as an adult, but I had a comprehensive course in Baptist History in the Southern Baptist-related university I attended, and courses in both Baptist History and Baptist Church Polity at the Southern Baptist seminary from which I graduated.  

The political alliance that has formed on the right between some Evangelicals, including many Baptists, and the Trumpist brand of Republicanism, is exactly as Robert Jones describes it, a monstrosity.  Nothing about this resembles what I see as a church community, or even where we were in the days before churches became political action committees.  It's a failure to educate and inform and it has allowed individuals in political positions to claim "The government isn't supposed to tell the church what to do, the church is supposed to tell the government what to do."  Nothing characterizes this monstrosity more than that statement does.  

 

"Slavery" Analogy Used by White Coach to Black Player Turns into a Culture War Issue: The Spin on This Will Make You Dizzy

 Sometimes it's not a good idea to quote the Bible

Former Texas Tech men's basketball coach Mark Adams, who is white, told one of his players, who is black, that there is "always a master and a servant."  Adams claimed he was quoting the Bible, no reference included, about "coaching and when you have a job and being coachable." Apparently, the word "slave" was used in the original conversation he had with the player.

"I said that in the Bible, Jesus talks about how we all have bosses and we all are servants," Adams said, in defense of his remark, for which he did not apologize.  "I was quoting the Bible about that."  

I can see where those who jumped up to defend him, mostly white, Southern Baptist complementarians, as Mark Wingfield, the author of the article in Baptist News Global called them, doing so because they have so sharply divided the world into their definition of "woke" when it comes to their culture war issues that they are blinded to any kind of sensitivity.  Frankly, I don't see where the master-slave analogy really fits in a coaching situation, that's not how athletic coaching works.  It's not a "master-servant" relationship, the players are not "servants" of a coach who acts as a master.  But that's really beside the point.  The use of the term, by a white man to a black man, was insensitive and inappropriate and the defense of it was insensitive and wrong.  

Dwight McKissic, pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas, responded by saying, "Satan quoted scripture to Jesus in the wilderness.  Affirming slavery to a descendant of slaves , in order to challenge, correct or encourage a certain behavioral outcome, is highly insensitive or tone deaf, at best, or consciously or unconsciously racist at worst.  Wrong either way."  

Missing the Point

Without any criticism of the coach at all, not even a word about whether or not the use of the analogy would have been correct in the context that he used it, his defenders proceeded immediately to this being an attack on the Bible.  That's the standard, fall back position when there is no legitimate criticism and when the intentional use of the analogy may have indeed been racist in its origins.  The fact is that this coach was involved with this same player in a previous incident in which he actually spit on the player, and then brushed that off, too, saying he had a bad cough and accidentally "slobbered on" the player.  

Quoting the Bible doesn't make the one doing the quoting right, nor does it excuse insensitivity.  The same defenders of the coach are among those in the Southern Baptist Convention who insist that the Bible is the inerrant, infallible, "truth without any mixture of error, totally true and trustworthy" written word of God.  And they have developed well-honed claws in the practice of ripping to shreds anyone who disagrees with their belief about it, and who fails to equate their interpretation of the Bible as also being inerrant and infallible.  But they are perfectly willing to let a misquote or a bad interpretation stand if it lines up with their social agenda. And that's exactly what we have in this instance. 

And Let's Get This Straight

Adams was not fired by Texas Tech University for quoting the Bible.  That is a lie.  Texas Tech University did NOT fire Coach Adams for quoting the Bible!  Adams resigned, a day after he was suspended from coaching, for using an inappropriate and racist phrase he claims comes from the Bible.  The phrase, or the terms "master" and "slave" exist in scripture, but not in the context or with the interpretation that he put on it. And beyond that, the insensitivity he showed was mind-boggling. He resigned, then turned around and negotiated a million dollar golden parachute exit at the expense of the taxpayers of the state of Texas.  

And let's put this context in place.  This is college basketball with big aspirations and big money.  After an initial season where his team finished in the Sweet 16, the Red Raiders compiled a 15-16 record and a ninth place finish in the Big 12.  Could it be that Adams' remarks in his "private conversation" with a player bore the marks of personal frustration and in a bad attempt to motivate, misused and misquoted the Bible and then tried to defend himself by claiming his critics were attacking the Bible?  He was suspended for the comments he made, but after his team, playing under an assistant coach, lost its first round conference tournament game, that's when he chose to resign.  Perhaps he decided that it was best to take the money and run, $4 million of Texas' tax dollars. 

This is Not Rocket Science, People

Beloved let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.  I John 4:7-8 ESV

It isn't difficult to understand how a black college basketball player could be offended by his white coach using a master-slave analogy to describe their relationship and as a means of motivation.  First of all, as a Christian, he should have understood the potential of the offensive remark and chosen different words.  If he wanted to encourage him with a Bible quote, there are plenty of those that could have made his point without resorting to using an analogy referencing slavery.  Is the way American history has been taught in Texas so skewed that an adult wouldn't get it that those kind of remarks would be taken as offensive?  

But I hear this kind of racism expressed all the time.  Complaints from white people over the fact that banks and post offices are closed on the celebration of MLK's birthday.  An African American family I know whose children received unexcused absences from their school because their family took three days to attend President Obama's inauguration.  A private school in Texas penalizing African American students for going to a Juneteenth parade instead of to school that day.  Remember the controversy surrounding the firing of shock radio jock Don Imus over the disparaging racial remarks he made about the mostly African American women's basketball team at Rutgers?  Why should a college basketball player be subject to that just because the guy is his coach?  

Racism is still alive in this country, and it can still be found in places where it isn't expected.  

 

Rally Participants Defy Desantis; Dare Him to Apprehend Them for Being "Woke"

Rally Warns of Dangers of Desantis Attack on Public Education

We need more of this, not only in Florida, but anywhere that repressive fascism threatens constitutionally guaranteed liberties.  As Desantis attempts to make a run for the GOP nomination, Floridians make news and take his headlines by protests against his repression and his conspiracy-theory based restrictions in education, amounting to the elimination of freedom of conscience, guaranteed by the constitution.  That should help keep voters informed of what's going on.  It may not provide immediate relief for Floridians, though it may motivate enough of them to vote this out of existence in two years, but it will help keep it from spreading to the rest of the country. 

Wendell Griffen, an Arkansas Baptist pastor, news commentator, addressing the gathering in Tallahassee on March 9th, wore a "woke" button and dared Florida Governor Ron Desantis to apprehend him "for being politically and racially aware."  He advocated that those gathered at the rally, and others who are opposed to the restrictions on personal liberty and conscience that Desantis is promoting "be a community of prophets."  

"But teach as one," he said, "and correct, confront, organize, interact, defy, dissent, disrupt," he added.  

He equated Desantis' anti-education measures with those of Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and called them "Confederate States of America thinking."  

"Everything to prohibit public schools from teaching about the history of bigotry, discrimination and hate of this society is a 21st century attempt to transform every public school into the Woodrow Wilson White House," he stated.  It is to "validate bigotry, ignorance and distrust about marginalized people," and he added that this is "a calculated attack on democracy."  

Elections Have Consequences

It's good to see frustrated Floridians taking a stand, showing up and making their voices heard.  I think, as what Desantis is doing sinks in, and people feel the full effect of what is happening, there will be an awful lot more of this.  That's great.  Keep the pressure on.  I can't imagine that there's much happiness right now in the educational community of the state right now, especially with the number of out of state students enrolled in its colleges and universities.  This will build, and it will provide some wonderful footage to play in the background as the news media enjoys its back and forth commentary on who's who in the upcoming Presidential race, legitimizing the bigotry as just another campaign issue.  

Florida was one of the few places in 2022 where turnout went flat.  I'm not big on criticizing Democrats running for office, and I'm not there, so what I am saying is more what it looks like from here.  Val Demings ran a great campaign, but she really had to compete on her own.  In 2018, the difference between Andrew Gillum and Ron Desantis was just 40,000 votes, less than half a percentage point, with a 63% turnout.  But in 2022, turnout was 10% less, almost all of that Democrats.  Desantis got about the same number of votes he did in 2018, but Charlie Crist just didn't excite voters, leaving it all up to Val Demings and congressional candidates who are locked in blue districts to carry the state.  That can't happen again, and if it does, what is happening in the state now will continue to happen and it will spread to everywhere else election apathy keeps people at home on election day. 

What Desantis is doing is sheer propaganda, relying on bigotry to force the education system to advance a right wing agenda by claiming that it is advancing a left wing agenda.  Florida's Democratic party constituency relies heavily on African American and Latino voters, and to a lesser extend, Jewish voters.  Desantis' strategy has been to play on the divisions which exist between those constituents, and to motivate far right white voters with fear.  

Oppression Unites the Oppressed

An anti-education agenda, combined with an "anti-woke" agenda, if that term is still descriptive or if it has lost its meaning, has the potential to unite plenty of Desantis opponents.  Personally, I think it will lead to his defeat on the national stage, even among Republicans who are loathe to see the orange headed buffoon have another shot at the Presidency.  Whether there are enough Republicans to coalesce around a mainstream candidate any more is doubtful, but given time, this will be the pendulum shift in Florida politics.  Arkansas, no chance.  Florida is not a deep south state, though that element certainly exists, but what's happening now does indeed have the potential to unite reluctant allies in the state to win, like Democrats did in 2008 and 2012, and perhaps to even break the gerrymandered legislature.  

Conservatives have been sabotaging our education system for a long time.  An educated electorate is the key to a successful democracy.  Look at American education, controlled by local school boards and state departments of education, great swaths of public education is incapable of leading students to achieve the minimum benchmarks in core subjects for their grade level.  If a state has a consistently conservative legislature, and consistently conservative governors, its education system is in a shambles.  Arizona is a prime example, where for-profit charter schools and parent vouchers have bankrupted the public schools and with the exception of Mississippi and Louisiana, the words "student success" are an oxymoron.  

Arkansas is already there, near the bottom, so Governor Huckabee Sanders does not have far to go to achieve her goal.  She got elected governor and that fact alone is a sign that Arkansas does not have anything resembling an "educated electorate.  

Governor Desantis is leading Florida right down the same path.  

So follow Pastor Griffen's advice, and protest, correct, confront, organize, interrupt, defy, dissent, disrupt.  And then make sure you vote.  

 

Will Someone Help Me Make Sense of This?

There are Jewish Americans who are making plans to flee the country, fearing a wave of anti-Semitic persecution which they perceive is a moral danger to them and to their families.  The absolute awfulness of coming to grips with the fact that American Jews, American Jews, are facing a renewal of something that humanity should have completely wiped off the face of the earth at the end of World War 2 literally makes my stomach churn.  

As a history teacher and amateur historian with a strong interest in the Second World War, I never found it easy to get past the way that history books handled things like the National Socialist and Fascist movements in Europe, anti-Semitism and the holocaust, and the political developments leading to the strange set of alliances that led to the precipitation of war.  It was very difficult to discover that the United States used a set of frustratingly pernicious and bigoted immigration laws and policies to literally close the doors in the face of Jews fleeing persecution.  Many of those in Congress and in the cabinet either did not believe the reports of arrest, rounding up and persecution of Jews in Germany, and then the accounts of trains taking millions to gas chambers and death.  It was late in the war before the United States shook off the malaise of anti-Semitism and, because of incontrovertible evidence of a massacre beyond imagination, finally allowed itself to be a limited refuge for the few Jews who could still reach the shores.  

So we were not the place for the tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to be free if those masses were Jewish and from Europe.  And I have never been able to understand that.  

Nor can I understand the bigotry and anti-Semitism that I see which still pervades our culture.  I was raised in a small Baptist church, Southern Baptist, where the inconsistency between what the Christian gospel teaches about the nature of God and the words and actions of many of the church members never made sense.  They could read those places in the gospels and epistles of the New Testament where no distinction is made between human beings when it comes to the application of the love of God, but at the same time, voice the opinion that people who weren't white were inferior and not entitled to the same consideration, because their theology somehow excluded those people, on that basis, from themselves. 

Somehow, I came out of that with a Quaker worldview when it comes to humanity and equality, except that I have real difficulty stuffing down the angry feelings when I hear people being ignorantly racist and bigoted.  I had to walk away from a discussion about the upcoming Mayor's race in Chicago, when two people who were part of a group with whom I'd been invited to eat lunch determined that they didn't have much of a chance to get a "white" mayor, once it became known that one of the two candidates was African American.  The insinuation that African Americans aren't capable enough to run a city like Chicago was too thick for me to tolerate.  

How does any of that make any sense at all?  I don't see it.  And I won't apologize for not engaging that in conversation.   

This Isn't a Coincidence

I doubt that very many Americans make any kind of realistic distinction between Ukrainians and Russians.  But those who seem to be more sympathetic to the Russians, and who use the excuse of the cost of providing aid to Ukraine as an excuse for their position, also seem to be many of the same anti-Semitic bigots and racists when it comes to African Americans and Jews, at least, those involved in government seem to be that way.  

Maybe my circumstances are different.  I live in a neighborhood with a lot of Eastern Europeans, with Polish being the predominant nationality, but in which there are a fair number of Ukrainians, enough to have a large, and architecturally grand, Ukrainian Catholic church in the neighborhood.  The Ukrainians I know and talk to are friendly, most of them professionally employed, and very much able to distinguish themselves from Russians.  Similar, yes, but unique in many ways, and very happy with the freedom they now have, and their democracy, modelled after ours, reflecting our values as Americans.  

An American who isn't supportive of that is one who doesn't understand his or her own patriotism and who takes liberty for granted without understanding how it is secured.  So it is not a coincidence that indifference toward what Russia is doing in Ukraine, and toward persons who are of a different race or religion, is being expressed by the same people who are anti-Semitic and racist.

Republicans and other conservatives can rant about "baby killing", about abortion, about extending rights to LGBTQ persons, and about their conservative values forever, but if they're not bothered or moved by images of civilian residences, hospitals and infrastructure that provides basic human needs being blown to smithereens by Russian missiles, and by stories of Ukrainian kids murdered for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and because they identify as Ukrainian, and not Russian, all their ranting is meaningless.  

And so is whatever faith they think they are practicing.

Letter Writer to Arizona Central Advocates Prosecuting Cochise County Supervisors for Violating Oath of Office

Cochise County Supervisors Should be Prosecuted 

From Janet Breen, Sierra Vista, AZ 

We need Arizona attorney general Kris Mayes' help in Cochise County.  

In the last election, Cochise was the only county in America that faced a serious threat of disenfranchisement.  The county's electorate was held hostage by two county supervisors, Tom Crosby (R) and Peggy Judd (R).  

Both elected officials violated their oath of office by refusing to certify the county's election results.  Were it not for the courts, the votes might not ever have been counted. 

Crosby defied the judges order and never voted to certify. 

Crosby and Judd also called for a 100% hand count of the election even though they were advised that it was illegal.  When they ordered the elections director to conduct the hand count, she said no.  

Crosby and Judd's response was to sue her.  The elections director recently resigned, citing harassment. 

Our supervisors base their decisions on whims and delusions and then carry them out by decree.  The rule of law means nothing to them. 

Their wrongdoing must be prosecuted to dissuade other rogue supervisors from following suit and restore the rule of law in Cochise County.  

Recall Effort is Underway for Tom Crosby; Judd Recall Uncertain at the Present Time

Noting that Cochise County's vote totals in the midterm election went more than 55% Republican, which is pretty typical, the fears that provoked these two supervisors to violate the public trust and their oath of office and risk being prosecuted for violating the law doesn't make a lot of sense.  They bought into fearmongering spread by gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, Senate candidate Blake Masters and State Representative Mark Finchem who ran for Secretary of State.   All three of the candidates easily carried Cochise County but that didn't stop the conspiracy theorists from refusing to certify the totals, based on a false claim that the machine count wasn't valid, and then demanding a hand count, which the state courts had ruled illegal.  

Finchem, by the way, is also a member of the Oath Keepers militia group.  

The false information floated by these campaigns, especially Lake's unsuccessful bid for governor, was picked up by supervisors in two other Arizona counties, Yavapai and Mohave, also won by Republicans, and carried to other counties in an attempt to mess up the certification of Arizona's votes. This attempt was based on frustration over the fact that Democrats now carry Arizona's largest two counties, specifically Maricopa County, and the vote totals for Democrats from there, combined with Pima County, and a larger than usual Democratic turnout in many of the red counties, led to Democrats sweeping all but one of the statewide offices, including holding Mark Kelly's Senate seat.  Apparently, a couple of the supervisors thought that getting rural counties to hold up certification of the vote would stop it altogether, in spite of a legal requirement that mandated the supervisors certify by a certain date.  But ultimately, only these two Cochise County supervisors held things up, while the others talked about it and then complied with the law, certified the vote and dropped demands for a hand count. 

The supervisors from Yavapai and Mohave counties who tried to stir up this trouble should also face prosecution and removal from office for encouraging counties to miss certification deadlines, count votes by hand, and fail to follow through with their legal obligation to certify the vote.  Had Cochise County refused to certify, it would have given Katie Hobbs and the other Democrats a wider margin of victory, it would have led to the election of the Democrat running for state superintendent of public instruction, instead of a narrow loss, and it would have cost Republican Juan Ciscomani his congressional seat,  That would have been inexcusable incompetence on the part of the two Republican supervisors.  

Resignation of Long Time County Elections Director 

One of the casualties of Crosby and Judd's incompetence was the resignation of long time county elections director Lisa Marra.  Marra filed grievances against the two supervisors, and the court awarded her over $30,000 in legal expenses, something a small county like Cochise can ill afford. She cited harassment, threats and a hostile work environment as her reasons for leaving the post due to what were labelled intolerable working conditions, requiring Ms. Marra to resign "to protect her own health and safety."  

Marra's resignation ignited a groundswell of support for recalling the two supervisors as public awareness of how close the county's voters came to being disenfranchised by them has grown substantially.  A petition is gathering signatures to recall Crosby in his district of the county and according to organizers, has "plenty of momentum."  There are also signatures being gathered to recall Judd, though the status of that effort has not been reported in the local news media.  

Republicans Breaking the Law and Getting Away With It

This is just another egregious example of Republicans disrespecting American democracy, breaking the law when it comes to elections, to thwart the will of the people, and getting away with it.  Apparently, there will be some consequences for Crosby and Judd, beyond the anger over the expense of their legal fees and their callous disregard for the ballots of the people.  If Mayes decides to prosecute, there are consequences for pressuring a county employee to break the law.  The letter writer from Sierra Vista, Arizona is correct for asking the state attorney general to prosecute the supervisors who broke the law.  The consequence for that should be removal from office and jail time.  

Florida's Suppression of Free Speech Even Has Newt Gingrich Squealing

Gingrich Demands Withdrawal of Insane Florida Republican Bill 

When Newt Gingrich starts whining about a bill introduced by Republican legislators, it must be pretty bad.  

In yet another freedom-squelching, conscience crushing piece of dictatorial fascism, a Florida legislator introduced a bill that would require bloggers who cover political figures in Florida to register with the state and report whether they receive compensation for their posts.  It's another blatant attempt to prevent Florida voters from having access to the truth when they cast their ballots.  On top of all of the other censorship that the governor and state legislature have launched since the 2022 election, it's evidence of the direction the state is headed if any of this is allowed to stand.  

Newt Gingrich is the king of the party loyalist breed, those Republicans who hate America because it guarantees the freedom to think differently than they do.  It's a sign of just how un-American things have become in Florida that something the Republican legislature there wants to do is a bridge too far.  In a tweet about the proposal, Gingrich called it "insane."  

That's an apt description of the proposed legislation.  It is, in fact, an apt description of all of the censorship and repression of free speech and conscience that has become the trademark of Florida's state legislature, and its governor, since he won re-election last November.  Everything's been a target, from elementary, middle and high schools to colleges and universities, virtually anything funded by the state, and even one of the state's biggest money makers, Disney.  

An Ideological Blitzkreig

Clearly, this attack on freedom was lined up before the election, waiting for the signal to launch.  I don't use the word "blitzkreig" by accident here, that's exactly how it happened and what it resembles, in its approach and politics, if not actual military invasion.  One by one, the governor of Florida attacked freedom of speech and freedom of conscience in public institutions and set about making the cost of freedom for businesses who don't get on board, like Disney, among others, higher than it was before.  It caught a lot of people off guard.  

At some point, I expect a cataract of court cases will follow all of this.  There's already been defiance, and I expect more of that, along with a whole lot of lawsuits.  All of that takes time, but I expect that by the end of this year, a lot of what has been done, especially in restricting objectives in school courses, will have been undone.  It will make headlines, which is what the governor wants, to aid his Presidential aspirations without having to pay for advertising.  He can look like the aggrieved conservative, bloodied in battle by the evil left, beating him over the head with courts that want to legislate.  And all of that right wing mumbo jumbo. 

Gingrich's Remarks Bring a New Dimension to the Culture War 

If this particular proposal is so extreme that it causes Gingrich to demand its withdrawal, then I'm going to suggest that this may be something that will collapse on itself.  How popular are the current governor's acts of suppression among Florida voters?  It's only been a couple of months, but there are news sources in the state who are indicating that a lot of opposition is building, and people who are unhappy with different aspects of the Desantis culture war are uniting in opposition.  

If there are Republicans along the Gingrich lines that see this as troublesome, and want it withdrawn for the sake of their party, that 's a pretty deep cut.  The moribund Florida Democratic party needed a kick in the pants after its success in 2008 and 2012 and this may just have done it.  This specific bill got Gingrich going, but there's plenty that has happened to motivate anyone who believes in free speech and the constitutional protection of freedom of conscience.  Desantis very likely doesn't care, since his goal appears to be winning the GOP nomination, and right now, he needs to be a culture warrior to achieve that.  Or so he thinks.  

And if something like this prompted Gingrich to call it "insane," I certainly hope it prompted Democrats in Florida, along with independents and fence sitters, and even some moderate Republicans, to see the insanity of it and decide that they won't let another ballot box opportunity slip past them without voting.  Consider the stakes, find candidates who can motivate voters and use this as an opportunity to save the state.  Otherwise, the outward migration of college students and tourists that are the inevitable outcome of this disaster will benefit the rest of us.  

This is an Independent Blog and the Author is not Compensated for His Word

The purpose of this blog is to join with other voices in promoting the American ideals of freedom and democracy, and opposing restriction and oppression.  We write independently, without endorsement or affiliation with any political party or religious group.  The writing reflects the values of the Christian gospel as we interpret it as a matter of religious liberty.  We believe it is a violation of the Constitution of the United States to require an independent voice to register with the state or be subject to any coercive attempt to use political power to either alter the message or shut it down. 

Why the Republicans Won't Win in 2024

It's early, but with a 24 hour cable news cycle and several Republicans taking a shot at becoming the nominee of their party instead of their most recent failure, there's a lot of information floating around, and a lot of reaction to it, that provides some insight into the possible outcome of the 2024 election.  I have my own sources and they have served me well.  And it's my conclusion, from observation, that Democrats will find themselves in control of both houses of Congress and the Presidency after the dust clears from the 2024 election. 

Here's why.  

Culture Wars Don't Win Elections at the National Level

Part of the problem with those who want to run on the "culture war" themes is that they have to exaggerate the effect of the problem.  Most of the claims aren't credible and there's too much content that comes from conspiracy theories.  It's hard to convince people that there's such a thing as a "Jewish space laser" and when that gets mixed in with everything else, it zaps the credibility with most voters.  Sure, there are people willing to believe anything that certain sources tell them.  But they're not a majority.  

The biggest culture war issue of all came completely unraveled in 2022 with the Dobbs decision being handed down from the Supreme Court prior to the election.  The issue of abortion rights has always come with a significant number of complications and exceptions and even some conservatives recognize that the medical ethics alone makes laws without exceptions have consequences for all women, not just those considering an abortion. 

And in a democracy where religious liberty is a constitutional guarantee that works both ways, the belief that life begins at conception is rooted in religious principle.  Can the government force women to accept consequences their own conscience wouldn't choose?  Can it establish an exclusively religious principle, that life begins at conception, as law?  Clearly, a majority of Americans do not think so.  Most conservatives raise abortion to the highest priority when they vote and it became apparent in the 2022 election, with the impact of the Dobbs decision, that just as many of those who hold the opposite view have also raised it to one of their highest priorities when choosing a candidate. 

Michael Moore picked up on this and said so, right before the midterms.  He was right.  Republicans, expecting a landslide and openly talking about more extreme agenda plans prior to the election got caught off guard, not only by the narrowness of their house win, but by the fact that they lost one additional senate seat.  That rarely happens in a midterm, and if a couple of the state branches of the Democratic party had picked up on the trend, instead of thinking in traditional terms, there might not be a Republican majority in the house, either.  

Election Denying is a Loser, Too 

Trump's most strategically placed, high profile election deniers in battleground states not only lost, but the poor quality of the candidates themselves were the cause of election losses.  Kari Lake, whose only qualifications were having read off a teleprompter during newscasts, and who wouldn't agree to an unscripted, open debate with specific rules and a neutral moderator, lost in spite of being the beneficiary of huge amounts of out of state money.  Among the cluster of similar Trump endorsed election deniers, she stands out as the biggest loser.  

Look closer at the loss.  In Arizona, where Republican voters still outnumber Democrats, though the margin is shrinking quickly, and where turnout was higher than previous midterm elections, Lake lost because a big Democratic surge paired with Republican ticket splitters to give Katie Hobbs a narrow margin.  The estimates of Republican voters who picked Democrats at the top of the ticket in Arizona, because Lake and Blake Masters, who ran against Mark Kelly for the Senate seat, only aired Trump grievances was in double digits, at 11%, compared to only 5% of Democrats who split their tickets.  

Lake's subsequent law suits have allowed election officials in Maricopa County, where she challenged the vote totals, to lay out the evidence that it was a clean election, followed all the rules, everyone had a chance to have their ballot count, and all the normal glitches and problems did not result in a single disenfranchised voter.  She's done the election board in the county, mostly Republicans as well, a huge favor, as they have had repeated public opportunities to show just how clean and accurate election counts are in Maricopa County, with evidence.  

The same thing has happened in Michigan where Democrats won a sizeable majority as voters surged to the polls against election deniers and as a statement against armed terrorists who thrive on conspiracy theories.  Governor Gretchen Whitmer put herself into consideration in conversations about future presidential aspirations as a result of the clean sweep of objectives.  Michigan voters responded to the revelations of a kidnapping and torture attempt on her, to armed terrorists showing up in the state capitol building for intimidation purposes, and to a high profile school shooting in Oxford.  

With few exceptions, this is the trend around the country.  

The Republicans Aren't Offering Anything

Look what we got from CPAC this week.  Nothing.  They offer nothing except griping about other people's liberty.  The fact that a lot of Republicans seeking the nomination for President bypassed this forum says a lot about their perception of its effectiveness.  Frankly, most of the media attention it got, including the coverage on MSNBC, and on the Sunday morning shows, was way overblown.  Why cover something like that?  It wasn't news, they could have just replayed any of a dozen Trump speeches from the past couple of months and got the same thing.  That's not a campaign aimed at getting votes, it's one aimed at trying to keep the shrinking base from getting smaller. 

The sources I look at, which are not all election analysist, but which have a solid record of accurate predictions, which include Michael Moore, Rachel Bitecofer, and Nate Silver, also includes a scattering of politicians.  One of whom I respect tremendously, and who is always on target with predictions and also with bold moves, is Congressman Eric Swalwell.  When it becomes available, I'll post a clip of his comments made on Medhi Hassan's show on MSNBC tonight.  He has the ear of the DNC, and what he had to say really resonated with me.  He's credible on his own, but the Republicans have noticed something that has made him a particularly hated target of theirs.  

But the key piece here is that I believe Trump will be facing indictments and trials that will eventually bring him down with convictions and sentences.  I have no insider information, I just have trust that America is still America, and that our justice system will work and the will of the people will result in fair trials and convictions for all the crimes he committed.  And when he goes, it will bring down what has been propping up a lot of the hangers-on for a while.  People like Lindsay Graham, Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, the fawning sycophants like Greene, Gaetz and Boebert, will fall into the political hell he created right along with him.  

So cheer up, my friends.  There's a silver lining in the over-coverage of the 2024 Presidential election.  The lack of unity in the GOP and the lack of any substance in what they are offering is a fountain of cheer for Democrats who seem to finally be getting complete control of the narrative, and are taking advantage of the confusion and chaos in the Republican party.  There's even some optimism over the fact that the Missouri Senate seat up for election in 2024, held by Josh Hawley, may actually be in play.  And I'm looking forward to who might be the Democratic challenger to Ted Cruz in Texas.  

And yes, I'll go ahead and say it.  From my mouth to God's ears.  Heads up!  It's all good.

Evangelicals Turned Their Backs on Jimmy Carter who was the Most Credible Evangelical Ever to Serve as President

For we are not peddlers of God's word like so many; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence.  Paul, the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 2:17  NRSV

James Earl Carter, Jr., served as the 39th President of the United States, and as the 76th Governor of the state of Georgia.  It is interesting to note that Carter was one in a long streak of Democrats who served as governor of Georgia, the last Republican before him leaving office in 1872.  Carter was a man of deep, sincere Christian faith, a Sunday school teacher in a Baptist church, and in contrast to most of his predecessors in the governor's office, the opposite of men like Andrew Stephens, the former Vice President of the Confederacy who wrote that the cornerstone of that nation's constitution was the belief that the negro was inferior to the white man.  

I can think of no prior President of the United States who was an Evangelical Christian, who was as actively engaged in his local church and who was so open about his beliefs and consistent in practice as Jimmy Carter.  Carter's Evangelical Christian faith was the primary influence in his life that shaped his character and developed his moral values.  He made no apology for its influence in his life and he relied on its cornerstones of prayer and the Bible for guidance.  To use a common and understandable expression, he never "beat people over the head with a Bible," nor did he forcefully push his beliefs on those around him.  He didn't have to separate his Christianity from his character to give high regard to constitutionally guaranteed religious liberty and separation of church and state.  

The fact that his faith was recognized and appreciated by so many people, Evangelical or not, Christian or not, is evidenced by the people who begin lining up as early as 5:30 a.m. on the sidewalk outside the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia for his Sunday school class.  They come from all walks of life, from all over the country and the world, many of them people he met and influenced during his Presidency, or people he influenced during his years of service with Habitat for Humanity.  There are several hundred people there every Sunday he teaches.  

Ironically, the only American Presidents directly identified with Evangelical Christianity were Democrats.  Prior to Carter, who was a Southern Baptist at the time of his election, was the first of that denomination to serve in the White House.  Harry S. Truman and Warren G. Harding, were both "Northern" Baptists, now known as American Baptists. Neither of those gave the kind of visible testimony to their faith that Carter did.  The only other Southern Baptist church member to serve in the White House was Bill Clinton.  

Falwell:  "We'll Support Reagan Even if he has the Devil Running With Him"

From my own experience of being raised in an Evangelical church and having attended one for the better part of thirty-five years, I'd say that there's probably not one church member in ten that can actually compare church doctrine and theology with Republican party positions and make a determination about their consistency or compatibility.  It may be anecdotal evidence from my perspective, but I haven't had very many conversations with someone along these lines who was able to reach into their own experience and knowledge of the Bible and come up with such a determination.  I've had a lot of these kinds of discussions, going back to my college days, and inevitably, the citations of support for their views came from some well-known Evangelical media personality, not from the Bible.  

The "National Affairs Briefing," a gathering in Dallas in August, 1980, gathered Evangelical pastors for the purpose of pulling them into a conservative, Republican-supporting political movement and a fellow by the name of Ed McAteer, of "Religious Roundtable" along with prominent Evangelical evangelist James Robison, organized the gathering.  They invited Reagan to address the gathering, which he gladly did, and where he said "I know that this is non-partisan and you can't endorse me, but I endorse you," a scripted remark which Robison suggested he make on the ride from the airport to Reunion Arena.  

Reagan's speech to the briefing endeared him to Evangelicals.  It was an intentional, and very well briefed, revivalist sermon and political campaign speech rolled into one, the irony being that his opponent, then-President Jimmy Carter, was a bona-fide, genuine, down-to-earth, theologically astute, articulate Southern Baptist Sunday school teacher. Reagan used the opportunity to ingratiate himself with several of the well known "televangelist" group in order to drive a wedge between them and Carter. Jerry Falwell's comments after Reagan's speech, that his Moral Majority would work to get conservative Christian voters to support Reagan's election "even if he has the devil running with him," has proven to be prophetic, literal and very accurate when it comes to their support for Republican candidates.  In this more recent time, they've voted for the devil when he was the one running for office. 

And that, as far as I am concerned, is where the Evangelical "Religious Right" separated themselves from Biblical Christianity and made their own gods, their own theology, and turned to politics as their only source of spiritual power.  When they openly supported Donald Trump, whose entire identity and character was built on his worldliness, completely opposite of any form of Christian expression, they showed their true colors.  

The Sale of the Evangelical Soul with Trump 

Any pretense that the Evangelical involvement in politics still holds any Christian values or dependence on a higher power has evaporated with the sell-out support for Trump, whose character and person is the exact opposite of the ideal that Evangelicals hold as standard doctrine.  They're still hanging their hat on the abortion issue, which did pay off for them, but they had to abandon everything else, including their integrity, and pick up all of the baggage that came with the orange menace, including his pathological lying, and selfish ambition leading to his organizing and carrying out an insurrection against the government, and by extension, the American people.  

The Trump Organization has gone so far as to attempt to change the Christian gospel, being critical of core teachings of Jesus himself, because exhibiting those values and characteristics "don't get you anywhere in this world."  How much farther from the Christian gospel and teachings of Christ and the apostles do extremist right wing politics have to go before some of the mindless, power hungry, self-proclaimed "leaders" of evangelical Christianity realize how deep into apostasy they are, and the image they are now projecting, with extremist movements like Christian Nationalism gaining support and making a place for themselves at the ideological table.  

Jimmy Carter Will Always Stand in Contrast to Religious Extremism in Politics

The faith that Jimmy Carter held on to and used to guide him through what was a difficult presidency destroys what is now the political agenda of an extremist, racist, right wing mix of Evangelicalism, Christian nationalism and Republicanism.  Carter's faith is one of action that backs up his words and his convictions.  His initiative bringing about the Camp David peace accords, between Israel and Egypt, still stand as the greatest foundational piece for peace in the Middle East and is an achievement rooted in his own personal convictions.  

Carter was criticized among those in the religious, Evangelical right for his position on women's rights, which included abortion rights.  Carter was personally opposed to abortion as a means of birth control, but also was opposed to the government being the decision-making authority when it came to women's health.  His initiatives actually helped alleviate many of the circumstances like poverty, lack of education, access to birth control, and a host of other things, which Republicans are loathe to do, and brought the abortion numbers down.  

It's a core principle of Christianity that conversion leads to actions, not just a lot of words.  Whenever there is conversation or news about Jimmy Carter, its about something he's done that is for the benefit of others.  He embodies the words of the Apostle Paul, to the Christians in the church at Philippi: 

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interest of others.  Philippians 2:3-4

When I think about President Jimmy Carter, that's what I think.  He will go down in history as one of the greatest men ever to serve as President of the United States.