G-2 PEOPLE FILES
- Grayson Gilbert - Keith Giles - Peter Gillquist - Tom Gjelten - Kristie Glaspie - Jon Gleason - Kenneth Glasgow - Mary Glazier - Timothy Gloege - Daniel Gokey - Ariel Gold - James Golden - Mike Gionzalez - Lydia Goodman - Megan Goodwin - Cary Gordon - Philip Gorski -
==grayson gilbert======
Grayson Gilbert
Simply by reading this passage, one can see there is a bit more going on here than the fact that someone is judging another person. As we can see in v. 2, the conjunction “for” explains the reason behind the command not to judge. The way or manner in which we judge will be used against us. In other words, the same standard we apply for others will be the standard by which we are judged. There is an inherent warning here for people—that much is clear.
The implication is rather simple: judge and you will also be judged. How you judge someone is the same way you will be judged, hence why Christ explains we ought to first examine our own motives and actions first. --Grayson Gilbert; The Chorus in the Chaos
The implication is rather simple: judge and you will also be judged. How you judge someone is the same way you will be judged, hence why Christ explains we ought to first examine our own motives and actions first. --Grayson Gilbert; The Chorus in the Chaos
==keith giles======
Apr 14, 2023: Spiritual Brewpub: Top 10 Reasons for Thoroughly Deconstructing Evangelicalism
My friend Keith Giles recently wrote a blog entitled “Top 10 Reasons to Deconstruct Your Faith.” I’d like to flip those reasons and offer the top ten elements of a harmful faith. We deconstruct to expose and leave these things behind
My friend Keith Giles recently wrote a blog entitled “Top 10 Reasons to Deconstruct Your Faith.” I’d like to flip those reasons and offer the top ten elements of a harmful faith. We deconstruct to expose and leave these things behind
peter gillquist
Feb 13, 2023: The Daily News: Orthodox Church offers 'new' denomination of Christianity
The Rev. Peter Gillquist, head of missions and evangelism for the Antiochian Orthodox Church, has been overwhelmed with such interest, especially from Protestants. He told the Washington Post as far back as 1992, “There are so many inquiries, I don’t have time to scratch up new contacts. My one question is: Can a non-ethnic (English-speaking person) make it in Orthodoxy? I say yes. If 2,000 ‘Campus Crusade’ and ‘Billy Graham’ types can make it (here), anyone can.”
The Rev. Peter Gillquist, head of missions and evangelism for the Antiochian Orthodox Church, has been overwhelmed with such interest, especially from Protestants. He told the Washington Post as far back as 1992, “There are so many inquiries, I don’t have time to scratch up new contacts. My one question is: Can a non-ethnic (English-speaking person) make it in Orthodoxy? I say yes. If 2,000 ‘Campus Crusade’ and ‘Billy Graham’ types can make it (here), anyone can.”
tom gjelten
Oct 21, 2022: Religion News: Best In Religion Journalism: Religion News Association Presents Its Annual Awards
Among the highlights:
• Tom Gjelten, retired religion correspondent for NPR, won for Religion Story of the Year for his piece “An inconvenient genocide: Why we don’t know more about the Uyghurs” for Moment magazine. (Last week’s Plug-in highlighted the other finalists.)
Among the highlights:
• Tom Gjelten, retired religion correspondent for NPR, won for Religion Story of the Year for his piece “An inconvenient genocide: Why we don’t know more about the Uyghurs” for Moment magazine. (Last week’s Plug-in highlighted the other finalists.)
kenneth glasgow
Feb 27, 2023: 1819 News: Dothan pastor, Al Sharpton half-brother Kenneth Glasgow facing up to 20 years after pleading guilty to tax evasion, mail fraud, drug conspiracy
Reverend Al Sharpton's half-brother Kenneth Glasgow is facing up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion, mail fraud and drug conspiracy charges on Friday.
Glasgow, a pastor and founder of two non-profits in Dothan, entered a plea deal in Montgomery federal court to avoid a trial that was set to start in March.
Reverend Al Sharpton's half-brother Kenneth Glasgow is facing up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to tax evasion, mail fraud and drug conspiracy charges on Friday.
Glasgow, a pastor and founder of two non-profits in Dothan, entered a plea deal in Montgomery federal court to avoid a trial that was set to start in March.
==mary glazier======
Jan 10, 2023: Baptist News Global: The New Apostolic Reformation drove the January 6 riots, so why was it overlooked by the House Select Committee?
Unfortunately for Engle and the apostles, that awakening never happened with George W. Bush as president. So in 2008, the charismatic apostles pushed one of their own into the limelight, Sarah Palin.
Palin embodied everything the new apostles hoped for. Her church was led by Mary Glazier, who was a member of the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders. She had spent years being mentored with this charismatic spiritual warfare mindset. But in the end, she also couldn’t give them the dominion they craved.
Unfortunately for Engle and the apostles, that awakening never happened with George W. Bush as president. So in 2008, the charismatic apostles pushed one of their own into the limelight, Sarah Palin.
Palin embodied everything the new apostles hoped for. Her church was led by Mary Glazier, who was a member of the Apostolic Council of Prophetic Elders. She had spent years being mentored with this charismatic spiritual warfare mindset. But in the end, she also couldn’t give them the dominion they craved.
==kristy glaspie======
'Saved'? 'Converted'? For Evangelical media, them's fightin' words
Case in point: the “Communicating Words and Visuals with Inclusivity” workshop from World Vision magazine editor-in-chief Kristy Glaspie, whose presentation looked at ways on how journalists can, as the workshop description stated, “eliminate words and images that subconsciously — or consciously, in some cases — create an ‘us vs. them’ mindset that places our work and goals in a position of a savior or rescuer mentality.” It was this “savior mentality,” in fact, which, we were told, World Vision, as a matter of policy, actively seeks to avoid by eliminating the use of specific verbiage in its reporting — including words that directly or indirectly relate to the Gospel message itself. Glaspie unveiled a slide featuring the World Vision logo and titled “Words and phrases we avoid,” a list which included nearly two dozen items which any Christian missionary worth his calling would be hard-pressed to avoid. (Christian Post 6/2/24) READ MORE>>>>>
Case in point: the “Communicating Words and Visuals with Inclusivity” workshop from World Vision magazine editor-in-chief Kristy Glaspie, whose presentation looked at ways on how journalists can, as the workshop description stated, “eliminate words and images that subconsciously — or consciously, in some cases — create an ‘us vs. them’ mindset that places our work and goals in a position of a savior or rescuer mentality.” It was this “savior mentality,” in fact, which, we were told, World Vision, as a matter of policy, actively seeks to avoid by eliminating the use of specific verbiage in its reporting — including words that directly or indirectly relate to the Gospel message itself. Glaspie unveiled a slide featuring the World Vision logo and titled “Words and phrases we avoid,” a list which included nearly two dozen items which any Christian missionary worth his calling would be hard-pressed to avoid. (Christian Post 6/2/24) READ MORE>>>>>
==jon gleason======
Jon Gleason was a bi-vocational pastor in Glenrothes, Scotland, pastoring Free Baptist Church. He supports his family by working as a computer programmer. He and his wife Terri have six children. He blogs at MindRenewers.com.
Jon Gleason Files
"Proverbs 5:19 is God-inspired Scripture, yet those who speak reverently of God’s gift of marriage and are careful about purity rarely teach it. This is understandable, for both the Hebrew and English wording are very direct on the pleasures of marriage. Yet, it creates a problem, for into the gap have stepped the kind of preachers who think it is a good idea to preach God’s Word while wearing a Mickey Mouse shirt, preachers who may often misuse this passage.
The verse, understood properly, refutes the pleasure-worship which pervades society and mars many Christian marriages. Many modern translations neglect a wordplay in the original Hebrew. In this post, we’ll look at just enough Hebrew to help English readers understand why the Authorized Version translators handled this verse as they did, but mainly we’ll look at what this verse says to believers living in a pleasure-crazed world." -Jon Gleason; Mind Renewers; 6.17.13
The verse, understood properly, refutes the pleasure-worship which pervades society and mars many Christian marriages. Many modern translations neglect a wordplay in the original Hebrew. In this post, we’ll look at just enough Hebrew to help English readers understand why the Authorized Version translators handled this verse as they did, but mainly we’ll look at what this verse says to believers living in a pleasure-crazed world." -Jon Gleason; Mind Renewers; 6.17.13
==timothy gloege======
David A Hollinger
We now have a formidable body of scholarship that establishes the depth and extent of these features of the American evangelical tradition, confirming and expanding on Richard Hofstadter’s legendary analysis in his 1964 book, Anti-intellectualism in American Life. This new body of scholarship is the work of a remarkable generation of young historians who have yet to receive the credit they’re due, so I name some of them here: Darren Dochuk, Matthew Sutton, Anthea Butler, Timothy Gloege, Jesse Curtis, Lerone Martin, J. Russell Hawkins, Stephen Young, Daniel Hummel, Daniel Silliman, and—the only one in this cohort to gain wide media recognition--Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of the justly famous and marvelously titled, Jesus and John Wayne. Sadly, while the majority of these scholars have written for Religion Dispatches, the conclusions of these bold and creative scholars have been largely ignored in the discussion of religion and politics found in the pages of The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and other media of comparable reach and influence.
--David Hollinger; Religion Dispatches; The Critiques of Evangelical Writers Opposing Christian Nationalism Fail to Recognize Evangelicalism’s Troubling History 6/18/24
--David Hollinger; Religion Dispatches; The Critiques of Evangelical Writers Opposing Christian Nationalism Fail to Recognize Evangelicalism’s Troubling History 6/18/24
==danny gokey======
DANNY GOKEY SHARES HOW TO COMBAT ‘HEAVY EMOTIONS’: ‘TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE’
Christian artist Danny Gokey took to Instagram to share an encouraging message in light of Mental Health Awareness Month. “If you struggle with heavy emotions, with depression, oppression, trauma, whatever it might be, there is a solution in God’s word that maybe you haven’t seen before, and I want to share it with you,” the “Stay Strong” singer began. He then read a scripture in the Bible that addresses our minds. “2 Corinthians 10:5 says, ‘We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God and we take every thought captive to obey Christ,’” he read.
(Movie Guide 6/4/24) Movie Guide>>>>>
Christian artist Danny Gokey took to Instagram to share an encouraging message in light of Mental Health Awareness Month. “If you struggle with heavy emotions, with depression, oppression, trauma, whatever it might be, there is a solution in God’s word that maybe you haven’t seen before, and I want to share it with you,” the “Stay Strong” singer began. He then read a scripture in the Bible that addresses our minds. “2 Corinthians 10:5 says, ‘We demolish arguments and every proud thing that is raised up against the knowledge of God and we take every thought captive to obey Christ,’” he read.
(Movie Guide 6/4/24) Movie Guide>>>>>
==ariel gold======
Ariel Gold is Executive Director, Fellowship of Reconciliation | Middle East Policy Analyst | Social Justice Advocate, Specialization in Israel/Palestine. Holds a Bachelors in Policy Analysis and Management from Cornell University and a master’s degree in Social Work from Binghamton University.
Ariel Gold Files
Christian nationalism is the belief that America is blessed by God to be a Christian nation, as it was founded, and that civic life and Christianity should be fused together. Connected to white supremacy, nativism, patriarchy and the like, it envisions Jesus not as the humble Semitic man who turned the other cheek and washed his disciples’ feet, but a broad-shouldered, white man with thick biceps and a sword (or if one had been available at the time, an AR-15) at his hip..........Aside from white militia groups and the extremists who led the Jan. 6 insurrection, some gun manufacturers appear to be among the most out front proponents of the connection between guns and Christian nationalism. They see their businesses as both patriotic and the fulfillment of a sacred religious duty.
--Ariel Gold; Waging Nonviolence; 5.1.23
--Ariel Gold; Waging Nonviolence; 5.1.23
May 4, 2023: Word & Way: Faith Leaders Ask Biden to Mark Mother’s Day With Prayer Day Against Gun Violence
“In the wake of mass shootings, the constant refrain from these Christian nationalists is only that Americans need to pray more while acting as though it would be sacrilegious to consider any limitations at all on gun access,” said FOR Executive Director Ariel Gold in a statement. “We have called on religious leaders to sign on to our Mother’s Day initiative, because this melding of Christian faith and white supremacist violence needs to be called out for what it has always been: a perverse manipulation of faith into a form of control, coercion, and domination.”
“In the wake of mass shootings, the constant refrain from these Christian nationalists is only that Americans need to pray more while acting as though it would be sacrilegious to consider any limitations at all on gun access,” said FOR Executive Director Ariel Gold in a statement. “We have called on religious leaders to sign on to our Mother’s Day initiative, because this melding of Christian faith and white supremacist violence needs to be called out for what it has always been: a perverse manipulation of faith into a form of control, coercion, and domination.”
==james golden======
May 16, 2023:
National and state Christian leaders spoke out against the white supremacist ideology espoused during two recent Christian nationalist rallies in South Florida. Christians Against Christian Nationalism and Faithful America organized a livestreamed event as a counter perspective to the May 11 “Pastors for Trump” reception and the May 12 ReAwaken America Tour rally, both held at the Trump Doral resort in Miami. “We are here today as Christians who are horrified to see the faith we hold dear being used to spread lies, violence and authoritarian theocracy,” said Amanda Tyler, executive director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and lead organizer of Christians Against Christian Nationalism. Tyler was joined at All Angels Episcopal Church in Miami Springs by Nathan Empsall of Faithful America, Russell Meyer of the Florida Council of Churches, Jennifer Butler of Faith in Public Life Action, James Golden of Pastors for Florida Children and Charles Toy of The Christian Left. More at Baptist News Global
National and state Christian leaders spoke out against the white supremacist ideology espoused during two recent Christian nationalist rallies in South Florida. Christians Against Christian Nationalism and Faithful America organized a livestreamed event as a counter perspective to the May 11 “Pastors for Trump” reception and the May 12 ReAwaken America Tour rally, both held at the Trump Doral resort in Miami. “We are here today as Christians who are horrified to see the faith we hold dear being used to spread lies, violence and authoritarian theocracy,” said Amanda Tyler, executive director of Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and lead organizer of Christians Against Christian Nationalism. Tyler was joined at All Angels Episcopal Church in Miami Springs by Nathan Empsall of Faithful America, Russell Meyer of the Florida Council of Churches, Jennifer Butler of Faith in Public Life Action, James Golden of Pastors for Florida Children and Charles Toy of The Christian Left. More at Baptist News Global
==mike gonzalez======
Texas activist David Barton wants to end separation of church and state. He has the ear of the new U.S. House speaker.
Despite that, Barton has remained a fixture in conservative Christian circles and Republican Party politics. He served as vice chair of the Republican Party of Texas from 1997 to 2006 and, in 2004, was tapped for clergy outreach by President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign. In 2010, his fellow Texan and prominent conservative personality Glenn Beck praised him as “the most important man in America right now.” Barton was an early and important endorser of Sen. Ted Cruz’s unexpected first win in 2012. And in 2016, Barton ran one of multiple super PACs that were crucial to Cruz’s reelection. “Having David Barton running the super PAC gives it a lot of validity for evangelicals and pastors,” Mike Gonzalez, the South Carolina evangelical chair for the Cruz for President campaign, told the Daily Beast at the time.
(Robert Downen/Texas Tribune 11/3/23) Read More>>>>>
Despite that, Barton has remained a fixture in conservative Christian circles and Republican Party politics. He served as vice chair of the Republican Party of Texas from 1997 to 2006 and, in 2004, was tapped for clergy outreach by President George W. Bush’s reelection campaign. In 2010, his fellow Texan and prominent conservative personality Glenn Beck praised him as “the most important man in America right now.” Barton was an early and important endorser of Sen. Ted Cruz’s unexpected first win in 2012. And in 2016, Barton ran one of multiple super PACs that were crucial to Cruz’s reelection. “Having David Barton running the super PAC gives it a lot of validity for evangelicals and pastors,” Mike Gonzalez, the South Carolina evangelical chair for the Cruz for President campaign, told the Daily Beast at the time.
(Robert Downen/Texas Tribune 11/3/23) Read More>>>>>
==lydia goodman======
Lydia Goodman Files
This “Word of Faith” mess, that blessings are somehow related to the words and actions of the believer and not to the grace of God alone; is dangerous in that it becomes a faith of works to somehow “get something from God”. I submit that, for the less mature Christian, this is a dangerous doctrine--capable of heaping condemnation on the heads of those struggling in various areas of their lives. “I must not be spiritual enough,” they say to themselves. “I must have some sin in my life that is hindering God’s flow of blessings upon me.” How sad that so many of us are blinded to the realities of the Christian life by, most of the time, well-meaning men in the pulpit who themselves have been taken in by “wolves in sheep’s clothing”. God does promise that He knows the plans He has for us...to prosper us, not to harm us, and that He has a plan to give us a hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). But.. exactly where does it say that Christians are supposed to have economic security and that HIS prosperity should be equated with financial success?" --Lydia Goodman; Want a Blessing Don't Name it and Claim It; 6.27.15
==megan goodwin=================
Megan Goodwin, Ph.D., is a scholar of gender, race, sexuality, politics, and American religions. She is the author of Abusing Religion: Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals, and American Minority Religions (Rutgers 2020). “With Ilyse Morgenstein Fuerst, she cohosts Keeping It 101: A Killjoy’s Introduction to Religion Podcast and is currently cowriting Religion Is Not Done with You (Beacon 2024). Her next book is tentatively entitled Cults Incorporated: The Business of Bad Religion.
Jan 30, 2023: New Republic: Ron DeSantis and His Christian Crusaders Are Stealing Trump’s Religious Thunder
Over the last few decades, there has been a dramatic “Catholicization of public morality.” Religion scholar Megan Goodwin introduced this phrase in her book Abusing Religion: Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals, and American Minority Religions to describe the adoption of historically Catholic positions on matters like abortion, as well as conservative evangelicals’ increasing willingness to support Catholic politicians whose religion they privately disparage. If DeSantis has benefitted from this process, he is also accelerating it.
Over the last few decades, there has been a dramatic “Catholicization of public morality.” Religion scholar Megan Goodwin introduced this phrase in her book Abusing Religion: Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals, and American Minority Religions to describe the adoption of historically Catholic positions on matters like abortion, as well as conservative evangelicals’ increasing willingness to support Catholic politicians whose religion they privately disparage. If DeSantis has benefitted from this process, he is also accelerating it.
Abusing Religion: Literary Persecution, Sex Scandals,
and American Minority Religions by Megan Goodwin; July 2020
Sex abuse happens in all communities, but American minority religions often face disproportionate allegations of sexual abuse. Why, in a country that consistently fails to acknowledge—much less address—the sexual abuse of women and children, do American religious outsiders so often face allegations of sexual misconduct? Why does the American public presume to know “what’s really going on” in minority religious communities? Why are sex abuse allegations such an effective way to discredit people on America’s religious margins? What makes Americans so willing, so eager to identify religion as the cause of sex abuse? Abusing Religion argues that sex abuse in minority religious communities is an American problem, not (merely) a religious one.
and American Minority Religions by Megan Goodwin; July 2020
Sex abuse happens in all communities, but American minority religions often face disproportionate allegations of sexual abuse. Why, in a country that consistently fails to acknowledge—much less address—the sexual abuse of women and children, do American religious outsiders so often face allegations of sexual misconduct? Why does the American public presume to know “what’s really going on” in minority religious communities? Why are sex abuse allegations such an effective way to discredit people on America’s religious margins? What makes Americans so willing, so eager to identify religion as the cause of sex abuse? Abusing Religion argues that sex abuse in minority religious communities is an American problem, not (merely) a religious one.
==cary gordon======
Cary Gordon Files
“When you look at those four things, you know, that's what I would expect out of a kindergarten teacher. I would train my children to live like this. And I would never turn over the nuclear codes to someone who doesn't meet these four basic plumb-line levels of having some moral strength. But Americans seem real, I'll use the word ‘hellbent’ on playing the game of lesser evil-ism.” --Rev. Cary Gordon of Cornerstone Church in Sioux City; Weighing Trump with Exodus 18:21; 5.7.23
March 5, 2022:
Pastor Cary Gordon (Sioux City, Iowa; Cornerstone World Outreach) has an article posted at "The Gatekeepers" titled "Destruction of liberty must continue in America until we repent for how we elect our leaders." In it he lists 9 bullet points which describes how a person should be picked as President. He used Deuteronomy 17 as his framework. His first point is that the leader "Must be chosen by God (Vs. 15) through God's delegated ecclesiastical authority, not by lawless populism." and it goes on in a way any Christian Nationalist would be quite proud of. It does more than erode Democracy but destroys it completely..which may be insight as to why the GOP nationalists dont seem bothers by their anti democratic efforts. I would be curious if Trump is still the one "chosen by God" or many of the other Republican congressmen and governors who seem to be making effort to usurp America as it is and create their own government. His article ends with "American antinomianism has usurped every single one of these immutable and wise plumb-line standards for office-holders. Destruction of liberty must continue in America until we repent for costuming our political and legal foolishness with counterfeit grace arguments to justify disobedience." Though in his mind it is clear he means something else but he is essentially a gospel of fascism.
Pastor Cary Gordon (Sioux City, Iowa; Cornerstone World Outreach) has an article posted at "The Gatekeepers" titled "Destruction of liberty must continue in America until we repent for how we elect our leaders." In it he lists 9 bullet points which describes how a person should be picked as President. He used Deuteronomy 17 as his framework. His first point is that the leader "Must be chosen by God (Vs. 15) through God's delegated ecclesiastical authority, not by lawless populism." and it goes on in a way any Christian Nationalist would be quite proud of. It does more than erode Democracy but destroys it completely..which may be insight as to why the GOP nationalists dont seem bothers by their anti democratic efforts. I would be curious if Trump is still the one "chosen by God" or many of the other Republican congressmen and governors who seem to be making effort to usurp America as it is and create their own government. His article ends with "American antinomianism has usurped every single one of these immutable and wise plumb-line standards for office-holders. Destruction of liberty must continue in America until we repent for costuming our political and legal foolishness with counterfeit grace arguments to justify disobedience." Though in his mind it is clear he means something else but he is essentially a gospel of fascism.
Nov 1, 2021: Christianity Daily: What Happened To American Christianity? New Must-Watch Documentary Exposes What Christians Need To Know Before It’s Too Late
During a three-year investigation, the short film "Enemies Within: The Church" was created to expose the social justice gospel that is corrupting and destroying churches, Bible schools, and seminaries throughout the world. The producer addressed the topic at hand during a brief conversation with a media entrepreneur.
Charisma Magazine Founder Stephen Strang interviewed Pastor Cary Gordon of Cornerstone Church in Sioux City, Iowa for yet another special episode of The Strang Report. They discussed Pastor Gordon's motivation for making the film and his appeal for Christians everywhere to stand up for the truth.
During a three-year investigation, the short film "Enemies Within: The Church" was created to expose the social justice gospel that is corrupting and destroying churches, Bible schools, and seminaries throughout the world. The producer addressed the topic at hand during a brief conversation with a media entrepreneur.
Charisma Magazine Founder Stephen Strang interviewed Pastor Cary Gordon of Cornerstone Church in Sioux City, Iowa for yet another special episode of The Strang Report. They discussed Pastor Gordon's motivation for making the film and his appeal for Christians everywhere to stand up for the truth.
Philip Gorski
Philip Gorski is professor of sociology and religious studies at Yale University. He is co-director (with Julia Adams) of Yale’s Center for Comparative Research, and co-runs the Religion and Politics Colloquium at the Yale MacMillan Center. He is the author of American Covenant: A History of Civil Religion from the Puritans to the Present and The Disciplinary Revolution: Calvinism and the Growth of State Power in Early Modern Europe.
MEME REPORT: Nov 23, 2023:
|
|
Philip Gorski
White Christian nationalism (WCN) is, first of all, a story about America. It says: America was founded as a Christian nation, by (white) Christians; and its laws and institutions are based on “Biblical” (that is, Protestant) Christianity. This much is certain, though: America is divinely favored. Whence its enormous wealth and power. In exchange for these blessings, America has been given a mission: to spread religion, freedom, and civilization—by force, if necessary. But that mission is endangered by the growing presence of non-whites, non-Christians, and non-Americans on American soil. White Christians must therefore “take back the country,” their country.
WCN is not just a story. It is also a political vision. Violence and racial purity are central to that vision. As Samuel Perry and Andrew Whitehead have shown, white Christian nationalists tend to favor a strong military and capital punishment and oppose gun control. WCN is thus strongly correlated with opposition to interracial marriage, non-white immigration, and affirmative action.
To understand how American Christianity became so entangled with racism and violence, we first have to trace it back to its scriptural roots. Those roots are dual. It turns out that WCN is not just one story, but two. The first is a promised land story. The New England Puritans saw themselves as the heirs of the biblical Israelites. They imagined themselves as a “chosen people,” and they came to see the “new world” as their “promised land.” And as their relationship with the natives shifted from curiosity to hostility, they began to see the Indians as “Canaanites,” who had to be conquered.
The second story is an end times story. Most Christian theologians read Revelation in allegorical terms, as a depiction of the moral struggles within the believer’s heart. But some interpreted the text more literally, as a description of bloody struggles to come. That is how many Puritan radicals read it, and they exported those ideas to New England.
The two stories gradually fused together during the Puritans’ wars with the Indians. Cotton Mather came to believe that the New World would be the central battlefield in the final struggle between good and evil. He placed himself and his brethren on the side of the good, and the Catholic French and their native allies on the side of evil. He likened the Indians to demons and viewed the killing of Indians as a blood sacrifice to an angry God. It was war that welded Protestantism and Englishness together in the New World.............Trumpism is, among other things, the latest version of the WCN frame. Echoing the promised land story, Trump says he will “take back the country” from the outsiders and invaders who have taken control—immigrants and secularists, Muslims and Mexicans—and then restore it to its rightful owners: “real” (that is, white, Christian) Americans. Echoing the end times story, Trump paints the world in terms of us and them, good and evil, and hints at violent struggles to come. The first such struggle took place on January 6, 2021. It will not, I fear, be the last.
-Philip Gorski; Berkely Center; White Christian Nationalism: The Deep Story Behind the Capitol Insurrection; 1.22.21
WCN is not just a story. It is also a political vision. Violence and racial purity are central to that vision. As Samuel Perry and Andrew Whitehead have shown, white Christian nationalists tend to favor a strong military and capital punishment and oppose gun control. WCN is thus strongly correlated with opposition to interracial marriage, non-white immigration, and affirmative action.
To understand how American Christianity became so entangled with racism and violence, we first have to trace it back to its scriptural roots. Those roots are dual. It turns out that WCN is not just one story, but two. The first is a promised land story. The New England Puritans saw themselves as the heirs of the biblical Israelites. They imagined themselves as a “chosen people,” and they came to see the “new world” as their “promised land.” And as their relationship with the natives shifted from curiosity to hostility, they began to see the Indians as “Canaanites,” who had to be conquered.
The second story is an end times story. Most Christian theologians read Revelation in allegorical terms, as a depiction of the moral struggles within the believer’s heart. But some interpreted the text more literally, as a description of bloody struggles to come. That is how many Puritan radicals read it, and they exported those ideas to New England.
The two stories gradually fused together during the Puritans’ wars with the Indians. Cotton Mather came to believe that the New World would be the central battlefield in the final struggle between good and evil. He placed himself and his brethren on the side of the good, and the Catholic French and their native allies on the side of evil. He likened the Indians to demons and viewed the killing of Indians as a blood sacrifice to an angry God. It was war that welded Protestantism and Englishness together in the New World.............Trumpism is, among other things, the latest version of the WCN frame. Echoing the promised land story, Trump says he will “take back the country” from the outsiders and invaders who have taken control—immigrants and secularists, Muslims and Mexicans—and then restore it to its rightful owners: “real” (that is, white, Christian) Americans. Echoing the end times story, Trump paints the world in terms of us and them, good and evil, and hints at violent struggles to come. The first such struggle took place on January 6, 2021. It will not, I fear, be the last.
-Philip Gorski; Berkely Center; White Christian Nationalism: The Deep Story Behind the Capitol Insurrection; 1.22.21
