According to an opinion piece from Rachel Mikva in USA Today, I’m not a real American. Well, so says the Republican junior U.S. Senator from Missouri, Josh Hawley, anyway. He has said that his mission is to “transform our society to reflect the gospel truth and lordship of Jesus Christ.” And to Hawley and other Christian nationalists, if you’re not a Christian and don’t go along with that notion of America as a Christian nation, you’re not a real American.
You may remember that Josh Hawley is the U.S. Senator who stood outside the Capitol on January 6th with a raised fist salute to the gathering of angry, riled-up Trump supporters as he walked into the Senate early that day, buoyant about his leading role in objecting to President Donald Trump’s electoral defeat.
Just a few hours later, those same Trump MAGA-maniacs that Hawley saluted were storming the Capitol building in a violent scene that will now be forever tied with the senator’s attempt to overturn a free and fair election.
As the mob of Trump fanatics entered the Senate chamber on January 6th, a handful of them mounted the podium, with one of them lifting his hands and crying out, “Jesus Christ, we invoke your name. Amen.”
According to Ms. Mikva, an estimated 20 percent of American adults, most of them white, believe that the United States should be an expressly Christian country, with biblical teachings guiding every aspect of civic life. Furious and concerned about losing culture-war battles over abortion rights, LGBTQ equality, and gender norms, these “Christian nationalists” have declared a holy war, drawing apocalyptic language from the Book of Revelation about a cosmic battle between good and evil. At the siege of the Capitol building, some of the insurrectionists carried large wooden crosses, Bibles, and Jesus flags.
And it’s not just Senator Hawley who espouses Christian nationalism. Others in Congress, including Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz, talk of “restoring” America. To Cruz, that means recovering what he believes is its original identity as a Christian nation — a nation where Christians are called by God to exercise dominion over every aspect of society by taking control of political and cultural institutions (religion, family, education, government, media, arts and entertainment, and business).
The lieutenant governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, asserts that elected officials should look to Scripture when making policy, “because every problem we have in America has a solution in the Bible.” The overarching agenda of the Christian nationalist movement is to construct a Bible-based social, political, and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the “enemies of God.”
So, if you are not Christian, or even worse, are an atheist like me, you’d best get your passport ready. The proponents of this growing Christian nationalist movement, from both within and outside of the American government, would eagerly replace the U.S. Constitution with the Christian Bible.
And if that were to happen, it would be get with the program or get the hell out.
This morning, when I read Frank’s Truthful Tuesday prompt, I was feeling, much like he described in his post, unmotivated. But then I saw the piece by Rachel Mikvaand suddenly became inspired.
Paula Light says, “Let’s celebrate the month of lurve (aka love) by posting one thing we love every day throughout February.
It’s an all-wheel drive model, not that we need it where we live because it never snows. It handles well, it’s well-built, it’s comfy, and it’s fun to drive. I like it so much that if I ever needed to get a new car, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy another one. The only problem is that my wife is insisting that if we get a new car, it would have to be an electric car. And the only electric model Mini Cooper has available now is the small, two door model.
Her memories of a life well lived were what sustained Wilma.
Welcome to February 9, 2021 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.
This, That, and the Other 