Wow, someone that sees the forest for the trees! Exactly right on all counts. This has been in the making for a very long time. I think you may have missed Education along with the other forces.
Steve thanks for this Warning newsletter and for exposing Bishop Bannon. Iโm a Catholic and a fallible fallen follower of Jesus of Nazareth. I watched the Bishopโs video that you included. He sounds full of himself and more like a divider than a healer. Unfortunately there are a lot of hypocrites who hold positions of power in the Church. I wish we could refer to Christian nationalists by another name because their political movement has nothing to do with what Jesus taught us, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, service, and love, especially to our brothers and sisters who struggle on the margins. The American Taliban sounds like a more appropriate name in my humble opinion. By the way is it possible to have Bishop William Barber-the real deal-on your YouTube show sometime in the future? He would be great. Thanks Steve for all that you do.
I always learn when I read your writing. Some good things and some bad things. But it is always something I need to know. So thank you very much. Heidi is a top notch reporter and will always have my respect and support.
Thank You Steve ..maybe Papa Francis should call him home to Rome.. and then send him out to a Mission to take care of the sick and the poor. A little humility is required ...or a good punch in the nose. Sorry, I am losing my mind with what is happening to our stained and beautiful country. I wouldn't really have him punched in the nose.
I read Heidi Przybyla regularly, and think she is a top notch journalist. Iโm sorry to hear about this disinformation campaign, but sheโs hardly the only one. She has joined a large black list of honorable people, who are being unjustly vilified by MAGA.
Should we be shocked that Leonard Leo is a two-bit cheap snake oil salesman? All of these faux conservative religious fanatics are; heโs no different.
Leo has co-opted the SC, but letโs face, Alito and Thomas didnโt need any persuasion to become the vile, disgusting partisan hacks they are; itโs part of their DNA.
Kavenaugh and Gorsuch are no better, and Comey Barret is being used, and she doesnโt even know it.
All these people and MAGA are intertwined in a conspiracy to destroy our countries institutions, and replace them with the Christian Taliban. If they canโt control government for their own aims, then they will gladly burn down the house and start again.
My only question is how is it that the media doesnโt cover this story more often? If they did, they wouldnโt be shocked that Barr, Bannon, Bolton and others are supporting Trump, because he can rally the base and bring legitimacy to their nefarious cause.
Trump can claim the elections were rigged, and immediately, 25 states will pass legislation that further restricts voting for certain classes of citizens.
Trump can be the most corrupt human on the planet (close call with his current crew), and still label honest people like Biden, more crooked, and a greater danger to our democracy than he is.
If youโre asking how Americans can be so gullible? Ask yourself who are the preachers that delineate such hog wash: prosperity preachers like Barron. Some Americans have been stooges and marks for years, as these hustlers (prosperity ministers) steal their weekly paychecks.
So when people are shocked that Barr, Bannon and other formally sane politicians and civil servants are voting for Trump, even though they know heโs an incompetent fraud; they see the big picture unambiguously.
In order to achieve their dystopian and white nationalist agenda; all roads go through Trump and MAGA.
Quite a lot to absorb here. For starters, we can thank the Bush family for Alito and Thomas. And George W. Bush has been AWOL on Trump, so who knows where he stands.
I was just thinking about this very thing. My suspicion is that he agrees with the โunitary executiveโ theory that Alito espouses. This is why SCOTUS took up the presidential immunity claim.
Leonard Leo is not my mouthpiece for the word of God. What a skilled trickster he is. I'm not religious, so it's pretty scary having a freak take so much control.
In this piece you refer to the 9 years of unabated forward motion by bullies..It is the bullying behavior that has pushed their repugnant ideologies to โwash overโ as you put it much of the American people..The issue is that it is being allowed..Those like Leo and Barron move with expediency to flood the country with their lies and propaganda, along with their subversive actions at federal, state and local levels moving openly and clandestinely. Those who oppose it are doing what exactly?
Heidi Przybyla, you and others are writing about this, films are being made such as โBad Faithโ, โGod & Countryโ and โAgainst All Enemiesโ to expose and raise awareness to the public..social media is deployed to help in this effort, as well as television news appearances talking about it..
However, who is seeing, reading and hearing any of this? It occurs to me that as well meaning and effective these efforts are on some, it still smacks of bringing the preverbal knife to a gun fight, when one considers the tick tock of time slipping away as we barrel toward November..
The inactions that are referred to in such remarks like โThatโs not who we areโ or โWeโre better than thatโ and the like are exactly what is being taken advantage of by the people pushing these agendas..They are as you remarked moving on several fronts โunabatedโ.
At what point do โWe The Peopleโ do something about it, beyond relying on a ballot box that as we speak, is being pushed further away from those who will cast their votes in opposition to this dogma. As I look around I see a stacked deck and little strategy to unstack it..
I, like you Steve, will be lying down in front of the tanks should they roll into our cities, but why are we waiting to get to that point? Why are we not proactively planning the preventive measures necessary to crush this virus of deliberate stoking of hatred and imagined fear?
What do you propose โweโ do? I have served in combat up close, and I like most veterans of combat, want nothing to do with another killing field. I despise the insipid bastard, loathing hardly describes how I feel about the coward, but unless he tries to break into my home Iโm not going to shoot him, or any of the other trash that are attracted to him like flies are to shit. Like it or not, and sometimes I donโt, we live under a series of laws that for the most part govern our options and actions. The ballot box is our best option, and if we loose because we have been defeated by a long planned and evolved strategy, that we were inept at defeating, then we will have to live with it and work to mitigate it. That doesnโt sound like a victory chant because it isnโt, but there may be some truth in it. Steveโs essay was a very sobering analysis of the problems and players we are confronting, they are organized with incredible wealth backing their agenda, very much not good. ๐
Dick, I have something for you meant for government on the whole, but directed at the current SCOTUS. It is not a complete solution, nor has the prescription to deploy been written, though itโs a place to start to inspire an action. Borrowing text from the Declaration of Independence:
โBut when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.โ
Whatever you decide is appropriate to share, if you feel comfortable doing so at all, based on my question, you have my respect. In the meantime I will suggest this..As much as I completely understand your and other Vets position, there may not be much of a choice considering the gathering storm of evil that is on the horizon..However, I will work on answering your very first question from your reply..
Powerful words Dick, we are speaking to a sickness which I do not have an immediate prescription..What was your job while deployed and where were you that you had to face that kind of trauma, if I may ask?
The problem with Bishop Barron's argument is not that rights and laws might come from God, if you believe in a god, it's whose god, and who and how those rights and laws are interpreted and implemented, and that christian nationalists seem to think that it's only their god that matters, and they have the "right" to be the ones to do that, and dictate them to the rest of us, as opposed to having tolerance of other points of view and sorting things out in a democratic manner.
The complete Jefferson quote is "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The Bishop omits entirely the All-Men-Are-Created-Equal part. Christian Nationalism wants to remove rights and freedoms, and we're watching it happen in real time. Like you, I don't see how this is in the Jeffersonian spirit.
What is most frightening is the amount of money behind this so called "Christian Nationalism)
They basically own the media, the televangelists , the Supreme Court etc.
The most stunning thing I heard from Trump's lawyer at the immunity case is ;that a president can have his opponent assassinated if he thinks the opponent is corrupt. We all know that Trump is corrupt how come nobody asked his lawyer "you mean that Biden can have Trump assassinated??"
I was wondering when sexual improprieties would materialize. Sure enough, you mentioned it toward the end of the column. It just seems that all these Christofascists also happen to be sexual deviants. Must come with the sociopath genes.
Two people in my family constantly push Barron on me with links and books...I read /watch and then delete, destroy, trash. I would send them your column but they wouldn't read it or even mention it to me. Excellent column today!
The core problem with religion--all religions--is that they are inescapably ABSOLUTIST. Whatever God is proclaimed, that particular religion is bound by the fact that compliance to any God ultimately requires surrender of any personal perception within that religion, or any dissavowance from absolutist imperialism of the God in question. All must surrender to the absolutism of god. In current American religions, all having their own somewhat varying dogmas, all are accompanied by the common fact that the final, all-binding omniscience and omnipotence of gods rules over anything and everything.
Note the commonality of that absolutism in religion and that of a fascist dictator. Note the completely oppositional position of any other philosophic establishment or the open and flexible tenets of especially Democratic institutions.
Cultism reveals the pitfalls. People vexed and confused, made disaffected by events beyond their control or ken, surrender and are set emotionally free to a group who now does all their thinking for them. One concept of narcissism is that you have reached top rung when you think you can get inside someone's head and do all their thinking for them. The guiding catalyst of the Supreme Court is now religious. The guiding catalyst of the happening coup by the Right is weaponizing the absolutism of religion
Religious groups have always been susceptible to grabbing control of people. Any religion that tells their followers that they are the only righteous, good ones and that they are the only true religion are following an age old agenda for power. Christian Nationalism is one of the worst offenders of this practice. It attracts political actors wanting power using the name of Christianity. It ensnares religious people into believing that they have a right to inflict their beliefs onto everyone. Growing up Jewish, there have been Evangelical Christians who have tried to foist their beliefs on me as if they are concerned about me, all the while not realizing the anti-Semitic foundation of their attempt to โsaveโ me. I would respond by saying that I wasnโt trying to โsaveโ them and would politely appreciate it if they would focus on โsavingโ themselves. I knew it was ignorant and disrespectful, but it was also all about control and power.
๐บ๐๐๐๐, ๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ฐ๐'๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐.
๐จ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ฐ'๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ป๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐น๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐.
๐ป๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐พ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐? ๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ท ๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐พ๐๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐'๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ท, ๐๐๐ ๐ฌ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐.
๐ป๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐น๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ . ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ถ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐.
Wow, someone that sees the forest for the trees! Exactly right on all counts. This has been in the making for a very long time. I think you may have missed Education along with the other forces.
Steve thanks for this Warning newsletter and for exposing Bishop Bannon. Iโm a Catholic and a fallible fallen follower of Jesus of Nazareth. I watched the Bishopโs video that you included. He sounds full of himself and more like a divider than a healer. Unfortunately there are a lot of hypocrites who hold positions of power in the Church. I wish we could refer to Christian nationalists by another name because their political movement has nothing to do with what Jesus taught us, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, service, and love, especially to our brothers and sisters who struggle on the margins. The American Taliban sounds like a more appropriate name in my humble opinion. By the way is it possible to have Bishop William Barber-the real deal-on your YouTube show sometime in the future? He would be great. Thanks Steve for all that you do.
I always learn when I read your writing. Some good things and some bad things. But it is always something I need to know. So thank you very much. Heidi is a top notch reporter and will always have my respect and support.
Thank you, Ginny!
Steve
Thank You Steve ..maybe Papa Francis should call him home to Rome.. and then send him out to a Mission to take care of the sick and the poor. A little humility is required ...or a good punch in the nose. Sorry, I am losing my mind with what is happening to our stained and beautiful country. I wouldn't really have him punched in the nose.
I've seen her reporting many times. Heidi's great.
I read Heidi Przybyla regularly, and think she is a top notch journalist. Iโm sorry to hear about this disinformation campaign, but sheโs hardly the only one. She has joined a large black list of honorable people, who are being unjustly vilified by MAGA.
Should we be shocked that Leonard Leo is a two-bit cheap snake oil salesman? All of these faux conservative religious fanatics are; heโs no different.
Leo has co-opted the SC, but letโs face, Alito and Thomas didnโt need any persuasion to become the vile, disgusting partisan hacks they are; itโs part of their DNA.
Kavenaugh and Gorsuch are no better, and Comey Barret is being used, and she doesnโt even know it.
All these people and MAGA are intertwined in a conspiracy to destroy our countries institutions, and replace them with the Christian Taliban. If they canโt control government for their own aims, then they will gladly burn down the house and start again.
My only question is how is it that the media doesnโt cover this story more often? If they did, they wouldnโt be shocked that Barr, Bannon, Bolton and others are supporting Trump, because he can rally the base and bring legitimacy to their nefarious cause.
Trump can claim the elections were rigged, and immediately, 25 states will pass legislation that further restricts voting for certain classes of citizens.
Trump can be the most corrupt human on the planet (close call with his current crew), and still label honest people like Biden, more crooked, and a greater danger to our democracy than he is.
If youโre asking how Americans can be so gullible? Ask yourself who are the preachers that delineate such hog wash: prosperity preachers like Barron. Some Americans have been stooges and marks for years, as these hustlers (prosperity ministers) steal their weekly paychecks.
So when people are shocked that Barr, Bannon and other formally sane politicians and civil servants are voting for Trump, even though they know heโs an incompetent fraud; they see the big picture unambiguously.
In order to achieve their dystopian and white nationalist agenda; all roads go through Trump and MAGA.
Power, money, and MAGA party over Democracy, Constitution, and country?
(Good message!)
I feel for Heidi. She is intelligent and excellent at what she does. I'd be happy to work for the likes of her any day of the week.
Quite a lot to absorb here. For starters, we can thank the Bush family for Alito and Thomas. And George W. Bush has been AWOL on Trump, so who knows where he stands.
I was just thinking about this very thing. My suspicion is that he agrees with the โunitary executiveโ theory that Alito espouses. This is why SCOTUS took up the presidential immunity claim.
Perhaps George Wโs silence speaks very loud?
Who needs the Republican fight? He will settle it at the voting box!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_moEjsWlFLw
Here the great comedian George Carlin proposes taxing the Catholic Church to solve the budget deficit.
Leonard Leo is not my mouthpiece for the word of God. What a skilled trickster he is. I'm not religious, so it's pretty scary having a freak take so much control.
In this piece you refer to the 9 years of unabated forward motion by bullies..It is the bullying behavior that has pushed their repugnant ideologies to โwash overโ as you put it much of the American people..The issue is that it is being allowed..Those like Leo and Barron move with expediency to flood the country with their lies and propaganda, along with their subversive actions at federal, state and local levels moving openly and clandestinely. Those who oppose it are doing what exactly?
Heidi Przybyla, you and others are writing about this, films are being made such as โBad Faithโ, โGod & Countryโ and โAgainst All Enemiesโ to expose and raise awareness to the public..social media is deployed to help in this effort, as well as television news appearances talking about it..
However, who is seeing, reading and hearing any of this? It occurs to me that as well meaning and effective these efforts are on some, it still smacks of bringing the preverbal knife to a gun fight, when one considers the tick tock of time slipping away as we barrel toward November..
The inactions that are referred to in such remarks like โThatโs not who we areโ or โWeโre better than thatโ and the like are exactly what is being taken advantage of by the people pushing these agendas..They are as you remarked moving on several fronts โunabatedโ.
At what point do โWe The Peopleโ do something about it, beyond relying on a ballot box that as we speak, is being pushed further away from those who will cast their votes in opposition to this dogma. As I look around I see a stacked deck and little strategy to unstack it..
I, like you Steve, will be lying down in front of the tanks should they roll into our cities, but why are we waiting to get to that point? Why are we not proactively planning the preventive measures necessary to crush this virus of deliberate stoking of hatred and imagined fear?
What do you propose โweโ do? I have served in combat up close, and I like most veterans of combat, want nothing to do with another killing field. I despise the insipid bastard, loathing hardly describes how I feel about the coward, but unless he tries to break into my home Iโm not going to shoot him, or any of the other trash that are attracted to him like flies are to shit. Like it or not, and sometimes I donโt, we live under a series of laws that for the most part govern our options and actions. The ballot box is our best option, and if we loose because we have been defeated by a long planned and evolved strategy, that we were inept at defeating, then we will have to live with it and work to mitigate it. That doesnโt sound like a victory chant because it isnโt, but there may be some truth in it. Steveโs essay was a very sobering analysis of the problems and players we are confronting, they are organized with incredible wealth backing their agenda, very much not good. ๐
Dick, I have something for you meant for government on the whole, but directed at the current SCOTUS. It is not a complete solution, nor has the prescription to deploy been written, though itโs a place to start to inspire an action. Borrowing text from the Declaration of Independence:
โBut when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.โ
Whatever you decide is appropriate to share, if you feel comfortable doing so at all, based on my question, you have my respect. In the meantime I will suggest this..As much as I completely understand your and other Vets position, there may not be much of a choice considering the gathering storm of evil that is on the horizon..However, I will work on answering your very first question from your reply..
Powerful words Dick, we are speaking to a sickness which I do not have an immediate prescription..What was your job while deployed and where were you that you had to face that kind of trauma, if I may ask?
Leo suggests and lines up the appointments, and Barron preaches to them?
โSpread the good wordโ? Truth be damned?
The problem with Bishop Barron's argument is not that rights and laws might come from God, if you believe in a god, it's whose god, and who and how those rights and laws are interpreted and implemented, and that christian nationalists seem to think that it's only their god that matters, and they have the "right" to be the ones to do that, and dictate them to the rest of us, as opposed to having tolerance of other points of view and sorting things out in a democratic manner.
William, your words echo my thoughts precisely.
The complete Jefferson quote is "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." The Bishop omits entirely the All-Men-Are-Created-Equal part. Christian Nationalism wants to remove rights and freedoms, and we're watching it happen in real time. Like you, I don't see how this is in the Jeffersonian spirit.
What is most frightening is the amount of money behind this so called "Christian Nationalism)
They basically own the media, the televangelists , the Supreme Court etc.
The most stunning thing I heard from Trump's lawyer at the immunity case is ;that a president can have his opponent assassinated if he thinks the opponent is corrupt. We all know that Trump is corrupt how come nobody asked his lawyer "you mean that Biden can have Trump assassinated??"
Thank you!
I was wondering when sexual improprieties would materialize. Sure enough, you mentioned it toward the end of the column. It just seems that all these Christofascists also happen to be sexual deviants. Must come with the sociopath genes.
Now thereโs some sadly hilarious associations, not really so funny, huh?
Two people in my family constantly push Barron on me with links and books...I read /watch and then delete, destroy, trash. I would send them your column but they wouldn't read it or even mention it to me. Excellent column today!
The core problem with religion--all religions--is that they are inescapably ABSOLUTIST. Whatever God is proclaimed, that particular religion is bound by the fact that compliance to any God ultimately requires surrender of any personal perception within that religion, or any dissavowance from absolutist imperialism of the God in question. All must surrender to the absolutism of god. In current American religions, all having their own somewhat varying dogmas, all are accompanied by the common fact that the final, all-binding omniscience and omnipotence of gods rules over anything and everything.
Note the commonality of that absolutism in religion and that of a fascist dictator. Note the completely oppositional position of any other philosophic establishment or the open and flexible tenets of especially Democratic institutions.
Cultism reveals the pitfalls. People vexed and confused, made disaffected by events beyond their control or ken, surrender and are set emotionally free to a group who now does all their thinking for them. One concept of narcissism is that you have reached top rung when you think you can get inside someone's head and do all their thinking for them. The guiding catalyst of the Supreme Court is now religious. The guiding catalyst of the happening coup by the Right is weaponizing the absolutism of religion
Religious groups have always been susceptible to grabbing control of people. Any religion that tells their followers that they are the only righteous, good ones and that they are the only true religion are following an age old agenda for power. Christian Nationalism is one of the worst offenders of this practice. It attracts political actors wanting power using the name of Christianity. It ensnares religious people into believing that they have a right to inflict their beliefs onto everyone. Growing up Jewish, there have been Evangelical Christians who have tried to foist their beliefs on me as if they are concerned about me, all the while not realizing the anti-Semitic foundation of their attempt to โsaveโ me. I would respond by saying that I wasnโt trying to โsaveโ them and would politely appreciate it if they would focus on โsavingโ themselves. I knew it was ignorant and disrespectful, but it was also all about control and power.