General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhat Christian Nationalism Looked Like in Practice
https://time.com/7026778/christian-nationalism-jim-crow/When speaking recently at an evangelical town hall led by Lance Wallnau, J.D. Vance explained that his goal of dramatically restricting U.S. immigration is grounded in the "Christian idea that you owe the strongest duty to your family." His comments and appearance with the man who has in the past described himself as a Christian nationalist engages a set of beliefs common in the Republican Party and among a slice of the electorate: that America was founded as a white Christian nation based on Gods law as expressed in the Christian Bible.
Indeed, at a meeting of conservative Christians in February, Trump appeared to gesture toward that idea, with his promise that, With your help and Gods grace, the great revival of America begins on November 5th.
Despite this rhetoric, the U.S. was not founded as a Christian nation, an idea the Trump campaign rhetoric supports. Historically, laws at the state and national level during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, meant to counter waves of Catholic and Jewish migration and to suppress Black suffrage, sought to wed Protestant Christianity and white supremacy to the state. Such attempts led to widespread suffering, poverty, and death, especially for racial and religious minorities targeted as "immoral" by Christian activists.
Today we remember the product of this Christian nationalist movement as Jim Crow, the brutal and repressive set of laws and practices that structured American life from the 1890s through the 1960s. The terrible suffering they created shows thatif America was indeed a Christian nationthere is nothing less desirable or great than making it one again.
*snip*
czarjak
(12,277 posts)They only want to rule over you in the name of Jesus. What have you got to lose?
keithbvadu2
(39,554 posts)Republicans consider mixed race Obama as non white.
JD apologized that his wife is not white.
pat_k
(10,431 posts)The "Christian nation" crap is historically wrong. And, as TX State Rep James Talarico points out. . .
If this was truly a Christian nation, we would never make it a Christian nation because we know the table of fellowship is open to everybody, including our Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, and atheist neighbors.
. . .
The closest thing we have to the kingdom of heaven is a multiracial, multicultural democracy where power is truly shared among all people. Something that's yet to exist in human history.
. . .
When someone asked Jesus to name his most important commandment, he cheats and gives two -- two that he says are related. The first is to love God. The second, he said, "Is like it: love they neighbor as thyself." It's like it because when I recognize the divine image in myself, I can't help but recognize it in my neighbor; whether they're Christian or not, whether they're religious or not. In the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus specifically defines neighbor as some different from us, racially, economically, politically, religiously. God loves diversity; God loves variety. Just look around this beautiful planet of ours.
. . .
God is so much bigger than our human categories. God is not a Presbyterian. God is not a Christian.
God it not a noun at all.
God is a verb.
God is not A Being.
God is Being Itself.
God is love.
And that's why Jesus is against anything that gets in the way of that love between neighbors, including religion.
. . .
That's why he says sinners will get to the kingdom of heaven before religious people do. Sorry to everyone here. I know you came all this way.
. . .
More excerpts and link to Rep. Talarico's sermon:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219462263#post3
misanthrope
(8,004 posts)is the belief that state has no responsibility to provide for those less fortunate. Those in need are to depend on their families and religious institutions who perform charitable works. That's it.
If you aren't religious or don't believe aid should come with proselytization focused on superstition, then tough luck. If your family is one of many stuck in multiple generations of cyclic poverty, if they can't provide you with access to medical care or income then that's just the way the world works.
That's the part that the monied elite behind this push essentially care about, they want to eradicate public sector social safety nets. They want that money in their pockets instead. You know, like it was in the good ol' days, in the late 1800s, when America was great. When the United States resembled Victorian England more than post-World War II America.
They don't give a damn about the nation, the electorate, the citizenry. They just want to take your money and leave you to die in a ditch.
appalachiablue
(42,646 posts)JoseBalow
(4,732 posts)When The Lie's So Big
Frank Zappa
They got lies so big
They don't make a noise
They tell 'em so well
Like a secret disease
That makes you go numb
With a big ol' lie
And a flag and a pie
And a mom and a bible
Most folks are just liable
To buy any line
Any place, any time
When the lie's so big
As inRobertson'sVance's case,
(That sinister face
Behind all the Jesus hurrah)
Could result in the end
To a worrisome trend
In which every American
Not 'born again'
Could be punished in cruel and unusual ways
By this treacherous cretin
Who tells everyone
That he's Jesus' best friend
When the lie's so big
And the fog gets so thick
And the facts disappear
The Republican Trick
Can be played out again
People, please tell me when
We'll be rid of these men!
Just who do they really
Suppose that they are?
And how did they manage to travel as far
As they seem to have come? Were we really that dumb?
People, wake up
Figure it out
Religious fanatics
Around and about
The Court House, The State House, The Congress, The White House
Criminal saints
With a 'Heavenly Mission' --
A nation enraptured
By pure superstition
When the lie's so big
And the fog so thick
And the facts get forgotten
The Republican Trick
Can be played out again
People, please tell me when
We'll be rid of these men!