#christian right
A must-read think-progresspiece looks at Alliance Defending Freedom, the Arizona-based legal group described as “the 800-pound gorilla of the Christian Right.” According to author Josh Israel, the 20-year-old organization has been using its significant resources
to advance a conservative evangelical Christian legal agenda, fighting against what it calls the “concocted” “constitutional ‘right’ to abortion,” laws that promote “social approval of homosexual behavior,” and the “myth of the so-called ‘separation of church and state.’”
ADF has played a role in some of the most prominent legal fights of the past two decades, including battles over Arizona’s SB 1062 (the religious freedom bill that would have permitted discrimination against gays and others), Citizens United, and the Hobby Lobby/Conestoga Wood contraception cases now before the Supreme Court. (ADF represents Conestoga and, according to Salon, Hobby Lobby’s religious owners are major donors to ADF, at least indirectly.) More recently, ADF has offered free legal help to anyone losing his or her job because of past support for California’s Prop. 8, a la Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich.
In comments to Israel, ADF spokesman Greg Scott touted the group’s victories on issues including birth control, school choice, and academic freedom. Arguing that the “suppression of Christian belief and practice is a primary target of freedom’s opponents,” Scott said ADF’s mission is to
“[uphold] the idea that no one should be either suppressed or coerced by the government when it comes to the expression of views or the free and peaceful exercise of one’s deepest convictions.”
Still, as Israel notes, ADF embraces a worldview that harkens back to the 3rd century — literally.
On the website for its legal fellowship program, the organization explains that it “seeks to recover the robust Christendomic theology of the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries.”
“This is catholic, universal orthodoxy and it is desperately crucial for cultural renewal,” the explanation goes on. “Christians must strive to build glorious cultural cathedrals, rather than shanty tin sheds.”
Meanwhile, the organization has become a fundraising behemoth, bringing in much more money a year than any other similar group.
Find Israel’s full story (complete w/ charts) here.
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Radical Reports - Intelligence Dispatch: Trump’s Army of God
Welcome to to the launch of Radical Reports: A newsletter that provides research, analysis, and intelligence on the Radical Right. Subscribers receive exclusive access to weekly intelligence dispatches, field notes with analysis of key organizations, and research resources including databases and interactive data mapping.
What to expect from Radical Reports: Weekly Intelligence Dispatches that provide a briefing on the activities of the Radical Right, Field Notes that provide research profiles of key organizations within the Radical Right, Legislation Watch that provides a breakdown of key legislative priorities of the Radical Right, and the Research Desk that highlights research and analysis from academia of the Radical Right.
Radical Right in the Spotlight:
Today the U.S. House Administration Committee will continue oversight hearings on the Capitol Riot, and hear testimony from U.S. Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton on the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. The hearing will be broadcast on C-SPAN at 2:00pm EDT.
‘Christian nationalists’ accused of violating law in Georgia elections
The evening began with music performed by a choir of unmasked singers. Then Byron Foxx, an evangelist with the bellowing voice of a southern preacher, took the stage and presided over what he called a “God and country” meeting.
The event included hymns, prayers and scripture, but its speakers’ rhetoric was more typical of political rallies. While there is no evidence that the individuals who spoke at this and similar events acted illegally, the churches and nonprofits that organised them are legally barred from participating in partisan politics.
Those who spoke from the pulpit, framed by a giant US flag covering a cross, spoke about “spiritual warfare” and the need to “maximise the Christian vote”.
None of the speakers explicitly endorsed specific candidates, but they made it clear which party they opposed (Democratic), and which they preferred (Republican): “They have control of the House. They have control of the White House. If they get control of the Senate they can do anything they want,” former Republican Congressman Bob McEwen remarked during the event on 15 December – just weeks before Georgia’s critical vote.
In the end, events like this one did not succeed in pushing Republicans over the line: the Democrats subsequently won both of Georgia’s Senate seats and now control the US Congress. But experts say that there are wider issues surfaced by the tightly-fought race which still need to be addressed.
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“…an ever-present truth about Christian fundamentalism: Fundamentalists and many conservative evangelicals must always believe they are facing persecution like the first century Christians faced. Despite our faith’s privileged status in American culture, this branch of Christianity always insists it is being mercilessly persecuted by a growing secular culture and by apostates like me.”
-Mark Wingfield, “The need to be persecuted”
“…if you find yourself talking to an American Christian, chances are they have been reared in the fear of making a wrong move, of choosing the wrong side, and believe that doing so could have nightmarish results in this life and the next. Chances are that fear is so deeply ingrained that it no longer registers as fear. Fear is simply the lens through which they view the world.”
Shawna Kay Rodenberg, “I grew up in an off-the-grid Christian commune. Here’s what I know about America’s religious beliefs” (Salon)
As I watch the religious right get more and more radical: I think we are watching the last gasps of a dieing system, they are loosing control and they know it. More and more people are becoming atheists, supporting gay rights and support the ending drug Prohibition. They are going supernova before they burn out and fade away. They are making one last push to regain control. They will push too hard and the backlash will destroy them. Wait and see.
