Interfaith Panelists Sound the Alarm About Christian Nationalism

 Baptist News Global: Panelists Sound the Alarm About Christian Nationalism

Jude, one of the Apostles of Jesus, in his epistle, wrote this:

"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 God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ."  Jude v. 4

He was speaking about a pagan intrusion into the fledgling Christian church, using it to promote a gnostic, libertine lifestyle which essentially claimed that God's grace, given through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, liberated Christians by forgiveness of their sin, but also liberated them to live as they pleased, because grace covered all sin.  It was a perversion of what Christ had preached and taught, a faith in which spiritual conviction brings about repentance first, before grace is received.  The virtues and values which Jesus taught were the evidence of a living faith that came from God's grace.  The absence of them called the sincerity of the faith into question and the Apostle Jude condemns these intruders in the harshest terms. 

Christian nationalism is a similar intrusion into the Christian church, taking the language, principles and structure of the church, and applying it to a vision that Jesus not only never had, but which is actually the complete opposite of what Jesus taught about his "kingdom," and one of the reasons why the religious leaders in Jerusalem pushed for his execution.  They were looking for a messiah who would somehow, miraculously bring back political and military might to the small, weak province of Judea, and re-establish an earthly theocracy which would throw the Romans out of Jerusalem.  To advocate for any country becoming a "Christian nation," in the same theocratic way in which the Israel of the Old Testament existed, is to deny what Jesus preached and taught.  

In his first epistle, the Apostle John calls those who do not acknowledge Jesus as the Christ, and by extension, everything he preached and taught, including about the spiritual kingdom of God, "antichrist."  I believe that the American Christian nationalism we are seeing on the rise today, which is intruding into Christian churches, subverting the gospel's message of faith through grace into one of acquiring worldly power to somehow usher in the return of Jesus, can be defined by the term "antichrist." 

Alarm Bells Should Be Ringing 

Several members of this interfaith panel have provided a very clear picture of the dangers of Christian nationalism to American Democracy, which shields the freedom of a diverse culture and protects religious liberty.  The panel singled out the racist elements of Christian nationalism, connected the January 6th insurrection to Christian nationalist rhetoric that makes up the philosophical foundation for groups like the Oath Keepers, who were deeply involved in the event. 

"I actually bristle every time I hear the word 'Christian nationalism'" said Tayhlor Coleman, a Texas voting rights advocate who was raised Southern Baptist, "because when I look at the folks who are leading this movement, I don't see any Christianity,"  

I don't see any, either.  It would be hard to discern the virtues and values of the gospel of Jesus Christ, recorded in the gospel accounts and interpreted by the apostolic writers of the New Testament, in any aspect of the movement.  Everything it does denies everything Jesus said.  It's very difficult to promote and evangelize a faith that holds peace as a core value while stabbing at Capitol police officers with the sharpened end of a flagpole bearing Trump's name and wearing a shirt with a cross on the front attempting to over-run the U.S. Capitol building.  

"Christian nationalism has its roots in the dangerous myth that we were founded as a Christian nation and, as a result, we enjoy special favor from God," said Baptist minister Paul Rauschenbush, son of Baptist theologian and Social Gospel activist Walter Rauschenbush.  He claims the goal of Christian nationalists is to use the church, not advance its cause, to consolidate power in the hands "of an exclusively political-religious movement."  

Jesus not only never intended to use worldly power as a means for the redemption of humankind, he actually deliberately turned away from it, on more than one occasion.  His values were illustrated clearly in the gospel accounts of his temptation in the wilderness, when he symbolically and emphatically turned away from his own physical need, and from being tempted by fame and power, in order to preserve what would become the Christian gospel.  

Why the Values of Christian Nationalism are Clearly Not Christian 

"Blessed are the peacemakers" said Jesus, recorded in Matthew 5:9, "for they will be called Children of God."  

But Christian nationalism is a philosophy that advocates the use of violence to "claim" its territory and achieve its purposes.  That is antithetical to what Jesus taught, the entire passage of Matthew 5:1-12, which outlines virtues produced by the gospel, all of which run contrary to the words and actions of Christian nationalist advocates.  In fact, there's a long list of Christian values in this part of the gospel of Matthew, a record of the words of Jesus known as the "Sermon on the Mount," which are completely contradictory to the values of Christian nationalism.  

"But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or a sister, you will be liable to judgement; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'you fool' you will be liable to the hell of fire." 

"But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer.  But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other, also." 

"But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your father in heaven."  

Signal Press has said this before, but it is worth repeating.  Find one Christian value that is present in Christian nationalism.  Just one is fine, because, honestly, that's going to take quite a while.  Find, in the political rhetoric, or in the people who promote it, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  

Yeah, good luck with that.  

A Danger to Both Church and State

Christian nationalism is crowding out the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ in Christian churches, especially among conservative, Evangelicals in America, where it is prevalent, and where it has infiltrated and intruded into the church.  It must be stopped.  Christians who have discernment, and who can see how this intrusion is subverting the mission and purpose of their church have to be bold, speak up and call it out in their church.  If that means confronting those who are preaching it and bringing it in, then that needs to happen through the church's polity which permits inquiry into doctrinal and theological error.  Don't allow it, and if it appears that the weight of congregational opinion won't support getting rid of this aberrant and heretical theology, leave and go elsewhere, and make a big deal out of your departure so that others who may also be concerned for their church know they're not alone. 

It must be stopped in the political arena by Christians who understand that their vote should go to someone who stands against this.  And that means voting for Democrats, because Republicans, even those who get this, won't do anything to stop it.  It's pretty obvious that Christian nationalism is willing to break the peace "in the name of God" to get its way, so knowing this means, more than likely, casting ballots for Democrats.  Face it, if a Muslim isn't free to practice his or her faith, and a gay man isn't free to live his life according to his own choices, it is not a far step to take away anyone else's rights for just about everything.  And since this is America, and that kind of restriction on liberty should never happen here, the best way to stop it is to vote for Democrats for office who will enforce laws against it.  

Freedom of speech protects Christian nationalists from government sanction, so we must depend on the ballot box to defeat it politically.  Democrats are the advocates for diversity, social justice, liberty of conscience and democracy and those who recognize this as a significant threat have to elevate it to the highest priority when casting ballots.  

But the church has the means to defeat this within its own ranks.  It must be called out, just like we have done here, identified, and its anti-Christian character exposed, and then its advocates must either lose their position and influence in the church, or those who see the intrusion into their own church fight against its presence, or leave and make a statement.  

Manchin "Praying" for an End to 50-50 Senate Split

Manchin Prays for an End to the 50-50 Split in the Senate 

Well, Joe, so am I.  I'm praying that no Republican running for the senate in 2022 wins a mid-term election.  That's a big request, but it would be the absolute best thing that could happen to the country.  

Next to that, I am hoping that Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Florida and Iowa Democrats deliver the goods.  A couple of those are long shots, but in five of the six, polling data is showing Democrats running strong and ahead, or neck and neck, or winning in enough of the poll numbers to make it open to the possibility.  

But what direction Joe Manchin may be praying for, and why, well, I'm having a little trouble figuring that out.  If the Senator from West Virginia had put the wishes and needs of his constituency first, instead of worrying about his campaign contributors, business interests and re-election chances, he would have voted with fellow Democrats across the board and given the Vice President the deciding vote on legislation that would have been to the benefit of everyone in America except the whining, lip-flapping corporate elite and one percenters.  He wouldn't have felt so pressured if he'd just voted with his party, following the President's lead and thinking about the people of West Virginia instead of himself and his own political power. 

If that is indeed what Manchin is praying for, then he is praying to make himself and Kirsten Sinema irrelevant, and I must say, I'm praying for the same thing.  And I'm contributing to that end, making phone calls on behalf of the DNC, and planning to vote to help bring that outcome to fuition.  I can't imagine that's really what either of them want, given their rhetoric and their manipulative actions of the past two years, but they're thinking of their own self and their shot at getting re-elected.  I wouldn't bet on the odds of that happening for either one of them at this point.  

I'm Praying for Some Senators With Integrity and Fortitude

When the new senate convenes after the midterms, and it is majority Democrat, along with the House, I'm looking forward to a few things on the legislative agenda that need to happen, realistic or not.  The narratives need to get started and the ball needs to get rolling.  One is to break the filibuster.  Get rid of it and then pour a host of legislation through the hole like the water coming out of a broken dam.  Right at the top should be a bill revising the Judiciary Act, opening up at least four new Supreme Court seats for President Biden to fill.  Where do they go from there?  Well, at that point, I'd suggest they get in touch with Senator Sanders and the progressive caucuses and ask them what they want to see put into legislation. 

I'm praying for senators to be elected who will think about their constituents first, not about themselves or their corporate interests.  Campaign finance reform should be at the top of the list, so that Senators can't sell their support to the highest bidder and have to be more accountable to the voters.  

So yes, Senator Manchin, I'm praying for the Democratic party to over-run Congress and keep control of both houses, not to take the pressure off you, but to do some good for the American people. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Multiple Examples of Incompetence and Mismanagement

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

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

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

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

Reflections in Right-Wing Politics

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hawley Gets an "F" in History and Theology

 Hawley is "Disturbingly Wrong"

Appalling and inexcusable.  

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

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

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

Answer the Question

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

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

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

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

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

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

Corroborate with Scripture References

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jesus Did Indeed Emphasize some Core Values

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

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

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

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

So, Tell Me How You Really Feel!

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

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

This comes close.  

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

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

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

She didn't go quietly, either.  

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

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

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

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