I know I’ve posted several “other people’s” writings lately, but sometimes they say things so much better than me. 😊
I’m doing it again with this post. (Sorry. 🙁)
This one is from Robert Reich … and he talks about an issue that many of us are concerned about. He titles it “The Republican Party becomes the Christian Nationalist.”
Another important aspect of the anti-democracy movement in America deserves attention. The wall separating church and state is getting hit with a Republican battering ram.
The Texas Senate just approved about a half-dozen religion bills, including a requirement that the Ten Commandments be posted in every classroom in the state, allowing chaplains to replace counselors in the schools, and letting school districts set time for staff and students to pray and read religious texts.
Idaho and Kentucky have signed into law measures allowing teachers and public school employees to pray in front of and with students while on duty.
Meanwhile, Republican state lawmakers are falling over themselves to pass book bans, abortion prohibitions, and anti-trans laws — and justify them with scripture.
“Put on the full armor of God. Stand firm against the left’s schemes,” Florida governor (and soon-to-be-announced Republican presidential candidate) Ron DeSantis said at the Christian Hillsdale College — substituting “left’s schemes” for the “devil’s schemes” of Ephesians 6:11.
And it’s not just any religion. It’s Christianity. As former Trump national security advisor Michael Flynn (whom Trump has promised to bring back for a second Trump term) put it at a recent ReAwaken America event, “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion.”
Republican lawmakers say the Supreme Court will back them in their attempts to make Christian nationalism the center of American life, referring to a U.S. Supreme Court decision last June that allowed a public high school football coach to pray on the field after games, arguing his actions were protected by the Constitution...
I like to think (hope) that there are Christians who are NOT in favor of these actions. I know that every evangelical believer is gung-ho on the idea, but SURELY the more reserved/conventional/mainstream denominations will put up a fight.
Surely.
So I guess my question to readers is this: Do you truly think this will ever happen? I’m talking full-fledged legal maneuvers that make Christian Nationalism the Law of the Land. And if it IS put into place, how do you think such an action might affect you personally?
OR … do you think there is enough resistance among non-believers and/or nominal believers to stop the movement?
Nan's Notebook 
I think it’s not only on the horizon but has encroached in ways I never thought I’d see. My guess is the desire of the types pushing this is the fact they are scared of their way of life completely evaporating. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
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No need to apologize, Nan. Thanks for sharing this. Alas, those who need to read this most are the least likely to do so. I put my money where my mouth is by being a sustaining donor to ACLU, FFRF, the Trevor Project, PBS, and others. Thanks & Peace.
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This is why I fight to make America a Muslim nation. Islam is real religion and Christianity is total bunk. It saddens me that these right wingers can’t see the truth in this and continue to groom children on their blasphemous ways. This is why, when I become ruler of America, I will make it illegal to be a Republican and or a Christian. They are immoral child groomers who dress weird, talk funny, and believe a bunch of anti American bunk. They need to be silenced so that Allah can more fully enter America and their child grooming ways can be stopped. Allahu Akbar
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Keep after it, Jeff. You’re bound to win the battle … someday. 😈
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For sure, there will be strong resistance. But it is hard to guess whether that resistance will be enough.
Let’s remember that, at an earlier time, they imposed prohibition on the nation.
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Good point! (Thank goodness saner minds eventually prevailed!)
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Do you truly think [Christian Nationalism] will ever happen?
Yes, as long as far too many well-educated American voting Moderates and/or Progressives remain silent, indifferent, and/or ambivalent. Absolutely. And also if far too many “citizens” do not register to vote THEN go vote every opportunity provided, then yes, absolutely.
How do you think such an action might affect you personally?
Being a staunch Free-thinking Humanist, and by default, a staunch non-Christian, I will likely be harassed, goaded, and maybe (probably?) physically attacked or eventually imprisoned by their new radical, fanatical, and zealous theocratic laws. I’m dead serious about this too. Why?
Simple: I am also a staunch believer, defender, and well-versed Constitutional expert, in my own right, and ESPECIALLY well-versed with the Bill of Rights and my and all Americans’ First Amendment rights! Let me quote it please…
Our nation’s most sacred document, this Constitution and First Amendment, also implies that ALL Americans have the right to their non-Christian practices, lifestyle, and non-Christian public educations!
*
And the 1971 Supreme Court decision in Lemon v. Kurtzman further defines this Amendment’s intended protections. It is known today as the Lemon Test.
These new laws in these radical Republican/Religious-zealot states FAIL the Lemon Test outright! The ACLU’s webpage is an excellent read if anyone is the least bit confused by what the First Amendment means and intends.
Do you think there is enough resistance among non-believers and/or nominal believers to stop the movement?
I really really hope so! If not, the USA will NO LONGER BE a truly democratic Republic as our Core Founding Fathers had CLEARLY intended. We’d become nothing more than another Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, Sudan, Yemen, or Vatican City. Period.
Source: https://www.aclu.org/other/your-right-religious-freedom
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THANK YOU, PT!! I appreciate your input on this VERY important (and possible) issue.
I guess at this point all we can do is hope that those who believe in the First Amendment (and have clout!) to not only bring it to the forefront, but enforce it as well.
Look, if the gun nuts can shout about the Second Amendment, surely those that believe in the First Amendment can shout just as loudly!
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HEAR HEAR Nan! 🍻👏🏻
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From PT’s comment: “So they created the First Amendment — to guarantee the separation of church and state.”
Zoe: My perspective from having been there, done that . . . to the Christian Nationalist, God comes first, not the First Amendment. So you can “first amendment” all over the place, it holds no water with them. They believe the country was founded on the Christian faith and it is to permeate every avenue of life. There is no separation. They use the First Amendment to support their rights. They want control. Odd. I thought God was in control.
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Great points Zoe. 👍🏻 You are spot-on!
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Another thing to add to your excellent points Zoe, you right wrote:
Therefore, based on this correct assessment Zoe and their anti-democratic behavior and ideology, THEY are not truly Americans at all. They are hardline Theocrats. Period. That was exactly what David Koresh was in Waco, TX, in 1993 along with his blind followers, and Jim Jones and his blind followers in Jonestown, Guyana.
Tell me this, HOW are those two leaders, their groups, and their extreme ideologies any different or much different than suicidal/homicidal, radical Islamic groups around the world who ALSO “want to control” as you correctly state, and kill thousands of innocents? How is any of that the least bit true American and Founding Father principles?
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I don’t see a lot of difference. I consider the pattern of history. Persecuted Christians cross the ocean and literally cross out indigenous peoples by killing them or forcing conversion. Are these the “true” Americans?
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No, ONLY grossly hypocritical Americans who don’t have a CLUE about their own luxurious country they inhabit, if they would ONLY learn extensive toleration, understanding, and (Greco-Roman, Tannaitic) Yeshua-like, or Christ-like love!
Yeah, proclaimed Xians SWALLOW THAT jagged pill please!!! 😈
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The “more reserved/conventional/mainstream denominations” are getting beaten down the same way the “unchurched” (I prefer “church-free”) folks are. I work for a VERY progressive denomination as a high-level administrator. We are having the LGBT+ clergy/marriage fight in court. I just resigned because a Deep South judge decided that bigots get a free church if they don’t like what’s happening in it. As MamaBear to 2 bio and 4 adopted LGBT+ kiddos under 25, I refuse to be party to it. My life has been threatened, my kids have been doxxed, and I had to put cameras on my house for safety. Jesus has left the building, friends.
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Sorry for all the heartache you’ve had to suffer. One can’t help but wonder what has happened to the human race that has made people so vindictive and ugly towards others.
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It ain’t from following the words of Jesus.
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the words condemning doubters to the fiery pits of hell? Gentle Jesus meek and Mild was NOT a good thing, even if later scribes inserted a few nice words in the Book O’ Confusing Nonsense
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I don’t think Jesus ever existed.
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well, SAQ, there is that problem. 🤪. But even as a fictional character I find him far more negative than liberals throwing out the “ you aren’t following Jesus very well” would prefer? Of course there is the hood stuff. But I think it is outweighed by the bad or questionable.
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As long as Trumpers exist and there are people fearful of what new legislaton the crazies in the Supreme Court will generate, I doubt there will be much of a fight back against Christian fundamentalism. Pretty soon America will be an under-educated, under-fed, Shared Autocracy /Theocracy bent on turning the country white wth a dark skinned slave force. If Biden receivs ther voyes he’s due there is a chance this can be turned round given that there is a way to dismantle the current supreme Court and take eduction as a Federal
subject. Tx breaks for the oligarchs must ceasr as must tax breaks for churches and televangelism and tghe vast incomes it generates for it’s leaders outlawed.
Hugs
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I left this note on Mr. Reich’s post:
We are not living in medieval times when democratic governments can declare a national religion. In this day and age people are free to choose a religion, or to have no religion at all. The Republican Party is forcing the issue of their own existence in taking this step. They really think Americans will accept being a one-religion country? What kind of acid are they on? Sulphuric Acid? May they enjoy it burning down their throats, for surely they are committing political suicide. The sooner the better!
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That’s the thing that scares me, and it begins to sound like Nazi Germany without the Nazis…One Religion by its very premise eliminates Jews, Catholics, Protestant churches, Muslims, dancing airport Monks, Jehovah witnesses, even Tom Cruse’s favorite religion, and we KNOW he will have something to say about that…it’s an incredibly narrow, stupid, and 4th grader attitude (with apologies to the 4th graders out there, who know better) toward a whole bunch of people…the optimist in me sees it flying about as far as you can throw a goat, but the pessimist in me thanks the non-existent God that I will probably not be around to see the disaster.
There is a passage in one of Will Durant’s marvelous books on The Story of Civilization in which he has noted that about every 2000 years society throws all the cards up in the air (so to speak), there is a major upheaval of both religious and societal stuff, and we sort of start over again. The last one was the formation of Christianity. 2000 years ago. And anyone paying attention has noticed the smug established religions coming apart, society is in turmoil, and the weather don’t look so good, either.
Part of me longs to be around to see the adventure, but most of me is reminded of the Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times…”
Something is brewing, and I want no part of it.
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Funny you should mention the 2000 year cycle — Hindus and Buddhists believe in in 2000 year ages. And we all know, we have recently entered the Age of Aquarius. (I do not believe or disbelieve. Of every religion/philosophy I have ever investigated Buddhism is closer to what I believe than anything else.)
But thst aside, social upheaval is a good way to describe our present. Humans are changing, dare I say evolving, spiritually. I am on the side of a particular form of reincarnation, not of the ego or mind, but of the spirit. The next logical evolutionary movement is away from religion and gods to a time where we honour the spirit of life within us, the spirit that is in every living being in the physical universe.
Oops, I am getting carried away again. I tend to do that…
The conservative types see the change coming, and they are fighting harder than ever to stop evolution in its tracks. The only way to do thst is to annihilate all life, which they are willing to do. They are scared to death! Which scares me to death too!
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I agree about the evolution; we have evolved enough so far to discard wisdom teeth, the spleen, the appendix, and possibly a gall bladder, If we don’t blow ourselves to atoms we may just figure out how to exist with a few other organs as well. And belief in a Sky God might just be part of the discard pile. That would mean that we are maturing as a species to no longer feel the need for a Big Daddy, much the way kids outgrow a need for parenting. Or should.
It might be interesting to come back in a few hundred years and see what’s left.
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You just might. But I can’t guarantee the couple hundred years. Might be the day after, might be 1000 years after. And it won’t be you, just part of the spirit that enlivens you. But that same spirit is what enlivens us all. I call it life!
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Don’t forget climate change…may be nothing to come back to
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“The conservative types see the change coming, and they are fighting harder than ever to stop evolution in its tracks. The only way to do thst is to annihilate all life, which they are willing to do. They are scared to death! Which scares me to death too!”
You’ve got to wonder why it is they are so afraid? Aren’t they suppose to be the lucky ones? Not surprising though about annihilation. They learned it from the author of their book. From my years in the pews, I can say I never met more fearful people then my fellow born-again Christians. It’s almost like they didn’t really believe what they were preaching. Hmm?
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BINGO!
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I remember times like that too, Zoe. But I also remember people who want the Rapture to happen as soon as possible. In fact, xians hsve been wanting it to happen in their lifetimes for centuries. They keep on predicting it, but it never comes. And they are sfraid when it comes they will miss the ride. And they know who they are! That is one real reason for their fear!
It is time for them to realize, there us not going tko be a Rapture in their lifetimes. Ever!
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Zoe waves her hand in the air. I’m one of them rawgod. Come Lord Jesus Come. Sooner the better. My born-again experience led me to pray every night that I would be one of the Raptured. These prayers started at age 13. I literally prayed that the Rapture would happen in my life and I’d be one of the lucky ones. I remember a dear friend who died in her 30’s. We were guests for Sunday lunch. We got talking about The Rapture. All of us wanted it to come except for my dear friend. No way she said. I want to see my children grow up, and have families of their own. She died tragically in a car accident not long after. 😦
I don’t remember doubting my “salvation” or fearing death or the Rapture. However, the Christian complex I was involved in preached continually about doubt. Not that doubt was bad but about questioning your salvation (control tactic). It’s no wonder people were scared to death 24/7.
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You were a lucky one. You got away. I’m sorryto hear about your friend’s tragedy, but at least she went out on ner own terms. She can loo, forwzrd to a better incarnation coming, I hope.
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When WWII was drawing towards it’s ending and the US had joined in fighting on the same side with Communist Russia, my dad was a schoolkid whose teacher here in Finland made her class pray on their knees for victory to the Nazi-German army. She was a Christian Nationalist.
There is an anecdote about Stalin, to whom the Patriarch of Moscow (the head of Russian Orthodox church) proposed the sanctifying of the arms of the Red Army, when Germans were at the gates of Moscow and had – together with the Finns – besieged Leningrad. Stalin gave permission, but offered as his own opinion, that god is on the side, who has the stronger artillery.
It is an interresting thought, that the alledged creator of the entire universe favours some nation over others. Of course it is always the same nation (or a football team), that the particular believer would prefer to be favoured.
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Well, Yahwrleh certainly didn’t favour Arsenal this year.
Ask Prof T!
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Yahweh… Sorry, my teeth were in backwards.
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You’re treading, Ark … !!!
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Love you…Xxx…
😉
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It is closer than the horizon in some countries, including America. When I first read ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, then later watched the film and the more recent TV series, I found it completely credible that America could easily become ‘Gilead’.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Nan,
I tend to think that Christian Nationalism has always existed. Have they not been building their tower since they came ashore? People seem surprised, but none of it is a surprised attack. Maybe it’s because I lived the ideal of Christian Nationalism here in Canada in my younger years. The movement has always been there. Sometimes quietly ebbing and flowing and sometimes loud and brash. Their purpose has always been whether quickly or painfully slowly, to continue on with a kind of Puritan theocracy &/or Biblical literalism according to their interpretation and the power they seek. I see Christian Nationalism as devoid of empathy, which is why I figured it out and got out. I have my own bias naturally. As I watch what is happening in the States, I see cultic behaviour, that is narcissistic and low on empathy. Yet, technically, is this something new? Salem witch trials come to mind. Gotta go. Biker Dude is vacuuming. 🙂
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ZOE!! SOOO good to “hear” from you!!! It’s been ages! Hope all is well in your part of the world.
Yes, you’re probably correct in your first sentence. But what seems to be happening here in the states is that those who have the power and authority are passing rules and laws to “make it so” in as many places as they possibly can. We know there are states with leaders who still have their heads screwed on straight so there will always be push-back. And as PT pointed out, we do have the First Amendment.
Nevertheless, it tends to be a bit worrisome. The U.S. may never go full-fledged Christian Nationalism, but I do think the powers-that-be could make it very difficult for non-believers if they chose to do so.
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Thanks Nan. 🙂 I agree. I keep a close eye on Florida and what a mess. I haven’t read PT’s comment but I intend too. It is worrisome.
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Tell me about it..I live here. The orange idiot and the new DeNazi are loved here. Florida is Deep South. It has not always been this way.
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Robert Reich: “The Texas Senate just approved about a half-dozen religion bills, including a requirement that the Ten Commandments be posted in every classroom in the state, …”
Zoe: These words are not original to me. I cannot remember who said it but it sticks to my thoughts like glue: Has anyone every posted The Beautitudes in classrooms? If we’re suppose to be all over the Jesus stuff (“N.T.”), why are we posting the Moses stuff? (“O.T.”)
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Didn’t Jesus say he came to enforce every last bit of the Law? All those polyester clad suburban mega church folks might be in for a surprise ?
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Yes.
Yes.
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I think christian nationalism is already here. People are scared, and because they don’t know any better, they reach for this. It took decades of fear and repression and ignorance for this to happen.
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