The obvious link between white Evangelical "Christianity" (which is actually just primitive tribalism passing itself off as a religion) and fascism is something we ignore at our peril. We have done so for far too long. Commercial media will, alas, consistently fail us in this regard out of either fear or ignorance.
Such a thrill to finally meet you Kristin, you are as kind and lovely in person as you seem. And so many others (and, I, too, took no photos with anyone!) This event just filled me up to the brim. Ready to do more for democracy than ever before.
Love that your path crossed with Holly Berkley Fletcher. This brought a smile to my MK heart. :) So excited about For Our Daughters releasing. Sending you love and support in this endeavor which has put you straight in Christian Patriarchy's line of fire. Those John Waynes just don't stop, but neither do we. We ride at dawn.
The DC event was just really great. Such rich and diverse perspectives! With the wife out of town it was a nice little excursion. I got to spend almost the whole thursday reception talking with Sam and Jemar. Turns out Sam was an intern for Greek guru Dan Wallace at DTS around the same time our old pastor's son was. I used to fly down for a week every so often to go to hang out with the Dan and the other profs - and maybe Sam was there??? Anyway thanks again for sharing all these goodies with your online friends. We're all better informed because of your efforts.
I also like Jamar's quote regarding our Christian witness: “The call to oneness is a call to witness…We have to tell the truth about what we believe…We bear witness, and God changes hearts.”
And Elisabeth Neumann's quote: “[The threat of political violence] is not something the security apparatus can solve. It’s up to us…We need to approach these folks with empathy. They have been deceived.” This is so important. However, I still find it very important to call out MAGA as an idea. It is conspiracy, alternative facts, corruption, and cruel. The people that have been mislead by this movement deserve grace.
I'm in a small Chinese Christian Church and we are almost 100% against Harris and the DNC - so pro-Trump. We are mostly immigrants who left China. I suggest you expose yourself to something other than white and black. But persons who are 2nd and 3rd generation Asian-American are much more varied in their political views.
I'm aware of an array of political views among various groups, including Asian (which vary depending on country of origin, social class, and the like), and Hispanic. In Cuban American communities, we also see stronger support for Trump, which may reflect similar patterns of thought. But white evangelicals are my particular focus of study, and they also happen to be the strongers Trump supporters of any religious demographic, so I tend to write on that--and I wrote a book on the topic that continues to be relevant to our current context.
I love the idea of remembering that those we disagree with believe themselves to be on the side of the angels as much as we do. As Richard Schwartz argues, there are “no bad parts” to a system.
However, as I read this, I was struck by the “obviousness” of the progression towards authoritarianism of evangelicalism because of evangelical theology’s very low view of humanity - in the extreme described as “total depravity”. When one believes that humans left to themselves become selfish and self destructive, the only option is to impose a benign authoritarianism over them, which I would argue has mostly been Christianity’s approach at least since the fourth century. Augustine (I think) said somewhere that allowing the people to choose their leadership was ok, so long as they made the right choice and otherwise the right choice should be imposed upon them.
But I would argue that Jesus had a higher view of humanity than either the temple did or the church does, and that is the view that is necessary for democracy to thrive; that given an healthy environment, humanity is naturally pro-social, but that when the environment is toxic (such as under imperialism of one kind or another) human growth to maturity is stunted.
A higher view of humanity might help, but in our statement we also make the case that a lower view of humanity (ourselves included) might also be a basis for supporting democracy.
The obvious link between white Evangelical "Christianity" (which is actually just primitive tribalism passing itself off as a religion) and fascism is something we ignore at our peril. We have done so for far too long. Commercial media will, alas, consistently fail us in this regard out of either fear or ignorance.
Such a thrill to finally meet you Kristin, you are as kind and lovely in person as you seem. And so many others (and, I, too, took no photos with anyone!) This event just filled me up to the brim. Ready to do more for democracy than ever before.
Love that your path crossed with Holly Berkley Fletcher. This brought a smile to my MK heart. :) So excited about For Our Daughters releasing. Sending you love and support in this endeavor which has put you straight in Christian Patriarchy's line of fire. Those John Waynes just don't stop, but neither do we. We ride at dawn.
Love this!! We do indeed.
What an incredible piece of writing! Thankful for all of you…
Great to meet you at the Summit at Georgetown.
Love Holly!
The DC event was just really great. Such rich and diverse perspectives! With the wife out of town it was a nice little excursion. I got to spend almost the whole thursday reception talking with Sam and Jemar. Turns out Sam was an intern for Greek guru Dan Wallace at DTS around the same time our old pastor's son was. I used to fly down for a week every so often to go to hang out with the Dan and the other profs - and maybe Sam was there??? Anyway thanks again for sharing all these goodies with your online friends. We're all better informed because of your efforts.
So good to see you there! I was out on the patio most of the evening--such a beautiful view!
Wow. That is some wonderful writing by Holly!
I also like Jamar's quote regarding our Christian witness: “The call to oneness is a call to witness…We have to tell the truth about what we believe…We bear witness, and God changes hearts.”
And Elisabeth Neumann's quote: “[The threat of political violence] is not something the security apparatus can solve. It’s up to us…We need to approach these folks with empathy. They have been deceived.” This is so important. However, I still find it very important to call out MAGA as an idea. It is conspiracy, alternative facts, corruption, and cruel. The people that have been mislead by this movement deserve grace.
So well said! Thank you for your amazing insights.
I'm in a small Chinese Christian Church and we are almost 100% against Harris and the DNC - so pro-Trump. We are mostly immigrants who left China. I suggest you expose yourself to something other than white and black. But persons who are 2nd and 3rd generation Asian-American are much more varied in their political views.
I'm aware of an array of political views among various groups, including Asian (which vary depending on country of origin, social class, and the like), and Hispanic. In Cuban American communities, we also see stronger support for Trump, which may reflect similar patterns of thought. But white evangelicals are my particular focus of study, and they also happen to be the strongers Trump supporters of any religious demographic, so I tend to write on that--and I wrote a book on the topic that continues to be relevant to our current context.
I love the idea of remembering that those we disagree with believe themselves to be on the side of the angels as much as we do. As Richard Schwartz argues, there are “no bad parts” to a system.
However, as I read this, I was struck by the “obviousness” of the progression towards authoritarianism of evangelicalism because of evangelical theology’s very low view of humanity - in the extreme described as “total depravity”. When one believes that humans left to themselves become selfish and self destructive, the only option is to impose a benign authoritarianism over them, which I would argue has mostly been Christianity’s approach at least since the fourth century. Augustine (I think) said somewhere that allowing the people to choose their leadership was ok, so long as they made the right choice and otherwise the right choice should be imposed upon them.
But I would argue that Jesus had a higher view of humanity than either the temple did or the church does, and that is the view that is necessary for democracy to thrive; that given an healthy environment, humanity is naturally pro-social, but that when the environment is toxic (such as under imperialism of one kind or another) human growth to maturity is stunted.
A higher view of humanity might help, but in our statement we also make the case that a lower view of humanity (ourselves included) might also be a basis for supporting democracy.