Day: February 21, 2023

TMP — Christian Nationalism

Fandango30 Comments

Every Monday, Paula Light, with her The Monday Peeve prompt, gives us an opportunity to vent or rant about something that pisses us off. I know it’s Tuesday, but Paula has specifically stated that our response doesn’t have to be on a Monday.

Today’s peeve will likely prove to be very controversial. But I’m ready for any slings and arrows this post might generate. Because my peeve today is about the Christian Nationalism movement in America.

In case you are not familiar with the Christian Nationalism movement, let me tell you about it. It has very deep roots. It’s a worldview that has been with America since the founding of the country. It’s the notion that America was destined to be a promised land for European Christians. While most Americans today embrace pluralism and reject this anti-democratic claim, majorities of white evangelical Protestants and Republicans remain animated by this vision of a white Christian America.

The basic tenants of Christian Nationalism are:

  • The U.S. government should declare America a Christian nation.
  • U.S. laws should be based on Christian values.
  • If the U.S. moves away from our Christian foundations, we will not have a country anymore.
  • Being Christian is an important part of being truly American.
  • God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.

Sounds pretty extreme, doesn’t it? Do people seriously feel this way? But, according to a Public Religion Research Institute/Brookings Institution survey published last week, nearly two-thirds of white evangelical Protestants either adhere to or are sympathetic to these Christian Nationalists tenants and more than half of all Republicans “harbor a set of extreme beliefs at odds with pluralistic democracy.” And nearly six in ten QAnon believers are also either Christian Nationalism adherents or sympathizers. It seems that Christian Nationalism, a troubling anti-American movement, has now become a major force within the GOP.

The survey asked participants whether they agreed with the statements I listed above, such as “Being Christian is an important part of being truly American” and “God has called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.” More than half of Republicans responding to the survey either mostly or completely agreed. Worse, seven out of 10 Christian Nationalists agreed with the “great replacement” theory — the belief that immigrants are “invading our country and replacing our cultural and ethnic background.”

Half of the Republicans surveyed agreed that we need a leader “who is willing to break some rules” in order to “set things right,” and 40 percent said that “true patriots” may have to resort to violence.

The promise of America is that it’s a nation where people can come together as equals, where our different views and perspectives can be accepted and do not cause arguments or violence, where we can recognize that, while we are not all the same, we should embrace our differences and bring them together. In America today, there have been many debates on what it means to be American. To be American is to be free to be yourself regardless of your race, religion, ethnicity, gender, or background.

Christian Nationalism is unAmerican. Period. Understand, I’m not saying that Christianity is unAmerican, but the belief that the only way to be a good American is to be a Christian Nationalist most certainly is.

Okay, I’m done with this peeve.

Truthful Tuesday — A Favor

Fandango9 Comments

Di, of Pensitivity101, is our host for Truthful Tuesday. This week Di wants to know:

If someone offered you a considerable amount of money for doing them a favor, would you take it?

My short answer is probably not.

First of all, if the person asking me to do them a favor was a good friend or close family member, there would be no need for them to offer me a “considerable amount of money.” I’d do it for free as long as the favor wasn’t illegal, unethical, or immoral. I might ask them to cover my out of pocket expenses if there were any.

Second of all, I believe in the old adage that says, “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Why would someone who is not someone I know very well offer me a considerable amount of money for doing them a favor if the “favor” was on the up and up? That would seem fishy to me and I’d have a lot of questions that would need to be answered before I’d even consider it.

And, finally, if a total stranger was making that offer, fuhgeddaboudit.

FOWC with Fandango — Why

Fandango15 Comments
FOWC

It’s February 21, 2023. Welcome to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (U.S.).

Today’s word is “why.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. Show them some love.