this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
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130
Tux-Wearing Christian Nationalists Laugh About Their Influence, Live From Mar-a-Lago (www.rollingstone.com)
submitted 1 year ago by CantaloupeLifestyle@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world
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[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 38 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Obligatory reminder that while Christianity is declining, to the point that Nones may surpass them as the majority in 50 years, Fundamentalist Evangelicalism is rising in spite of that overall decline. People are either leaving mainstream forms of Christianity entirely or to join up with these weirdos.

And having escaped one of these cults myself, they are well-suited bedfellows with fascism.

[–] Zombiepirate@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Well said.

I come from one of those cults as well, and it's crazy how they're distilling themselves into the most hateful, wretched, unbearable group in the country.

I don't like everything Jesus was purported to say, but turn the other cheek, bless those who persecute you, and do unto others as you would want done to you are completely anathema to the conservative philosophy (not that they're persecuted, but they believe they are).

They'd burn everything down to get their intolerant theocracy.

[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

Burn everything, people included.

A group of zealots brainwashed into thinking anyone outside their group is "The Enemy" and that they are waging a spiritual battle against evil is a group of people that is extremely dangerous.

If you saw the article from CNN about Johnson posted to the fediverse, you'll see he uses some of the same extremist Christian I mentioned above. For those who know it is all about, it is pretty terrifying to hear coming from the Speaker.

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's becoming increasingly difficult to take anything evangelicals say seriously.

They talk about personal integrity and morals and being gentle and letting your speech be gracious. Yet, they support a leader who is and does the exact opposite. And then proceed to mimic him.

Way to trash your own witness.

[–] CaptFeather@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Even when I was still drinking the Jesus juice a decade ago I could see this in my church. It's the main reason I left. Sermons would preach one thing, which the congregation would agree with, but then immediately after I would hear people gossiping about how Marsha has a gay son so she's going to hell, or Tom's daughter got pregnant out of wedlock so they were shunning them. I grew up with several of these peoples kids and knew for a fact they were nowhere close to saints. Rampant. Hypocrisy. It's wild that they're so willfully ignorant. It's all just projection of their own guilt.

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 4 points 1 year ago

That's one of the things that really accelerated my deconstruction. Even if you aren't a fundigelical, how can you sit back and tolerate these people representing you? You might be able to pontificate amongst yourselves why they're not Real Christians™, but the rest of the world isn't given to that level of pedantry.

They bear your name and claim to represent your god. To any reasonable person, both kinds are still Christians.

[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

I was in an evangelical church for a time and it is no surprise that so many support Trump. They're actively brainwashed to suppress their empathy and believe things on faith alone. Too many go right along with it making this group a very dangerous set of people, ripe for being conned by a vicious strong man authoritarian like Trump.

(My refusal to let go of empathy is one of the things that helped me see them for what they were. I left and some years after when I saw Christians convinced Trump was their guy, I was finally hit with the full realization that belief without good evidence easily leads to believing all manner of absolute crazy bullshit... and then I became an atheist).

[–] ripcord@kbin.social 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

50 years is an embarrassingly long time out

[–] Telorand@reddthat.com 3 points 1 year ago

Considering that Christianity has retained a solid majority for probably 150 years, it's quite fast, and that's only speaking about majorities. The actual threshold for irrelevance might be sooner.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 2 points 1 year ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Lance Wallnau — the chief promoter of a “Seven Mountains Mandate” for right-wing Christians to seize control over government and culture — was dressed in a tux and streaming live to his 1 million Facebook followers.

As he filmed with his cell phone, Wallnau grabbed co-religionist Jim Garlow — the MAGA pastor with whom now-House Speaker Mike Johnson recently prayed to spare a “depraved” America from the “judgment that we clearly deserve.” Both religious figures are associated with an evangelical movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, or NAR, which has an unusual obsession with earthly power.

The duo engaged in jocular banter during the stream on Friday: “You can read about you in the news lately,” Wallnau ribbed Garlow, referring to Rolling Stone’s coverage of the pastor’s prayer call with Johnson.

The fact that Garlow and Wallnau were palling around in tuxedos at Mar-a-Lago the same week that their religious movement made national news for its troubling reach into the highest ranks of elected Republican politics, was itself another remarkable sign of that influence.

Schindler is also a pastor who works closely with Garlow; they co-founded the World Prayer Network, which hosted the call where Mike Johnson decried the rise of LGBTQ children as evidence of America’s “dark” and nearly “irredeemable” culture.

Boldface MAGA names included former Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz, former Trump spokesperson Kellyanne Conway, and former acting attorney general (and well-endowed-man toilet promoter) Matt Whitaker.

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