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- Elijah House -
Jones: Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s
Jesus was one of the earliest and most important advocates for separation of church and state. As he succinctly put it: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” In other words, our government acts in the temporal realm, while God is in control of the spiritual realm. We have seen a blurring of those lines in Idaho in recent years, with some zealous Christian organizations seeking to use the government to regulate everyday life in accordance with their religious views. Christian nationalist groups like the Idaho Family Policy Center have pushed legislation to restrict the right of parents to obtain necessary medical care for transgender children, have cast aspersions upon the LGBTQ community and have falsely claimed that librarians and teachers are trying to sexualize our children. The Christian nationalist Alliance Defending Freedom has worked closely with Idaho’s Attorney General to defeat the constitutional rights of LGBTQ Idahoans in federal and state court proceedings. In both the court and legislative arenas, the LGBTQ community has been falsely portrayed as a serious threat to Idaho kids that must be opposed at every turn. Consequently, the health and safety of LGBTQ Idahoans have been put at risk.
(Idaho Press 4/3/24) READ MORE>>>>>
Jesus was one of the earliest and most important advocates for separation of church and state. As he succinctly put it: “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s.” In other words, our government acts in the temporal realm, while God is in control of the spiritual realm. We have seen a blurring of those lines in Idaho in recent years, with some zealous Christian organizations seeking to use the government to regulate everyday life in accordance with their religious views. Christian nationalist groups like the Idaho Family Policy Center have pushed legislation to restrict the right of parents to obtain necessary medical care for transgender children, have cast aspersions upon the LGBTQ community and have falsely claimed that librarians and teachers are trying to sexualize our children. The Christian nationalist Alliance Defending Freedom has worked closely with Idaho’s Attorney General to defeat the constitutional rights of LGBTQ Idahoans in federal and state court proceedings. In both the court and legislative arenas, the LGBTQ community has been falsely portrayed as a serious threat to Idaho kids that must be opposed at every turn. Consequently, the health and safety of LGBTQ Idahoans have been put at risk.
(Idaho Press 4/3/24) READ MORE>>>>>
In North Idaho, religious and secular activists work to fight Christian nationalism
Lerone Martin’s new book began with a cup of coffee that led him to sue the FBI. While working on a book about religious broadcasters, a colleague suggested over coffee that Martin, a religion scholar, research the FBI to see if they had any related files. At the time, the colleague, scholar William J. Maxwell, author of “F.B. EYES,” had been studying the FBI’s surveillance of Black writers. Perhaps the FBI had been keeping an eye on religious broadcasters as well. Martin, then living in St. Louis, began filing Freedom of Information requests. Around the same time, he was also hearing from local pastors in St Louis who had been contacted by the FBI in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson. The FBI, they told Martin, wanted to know what the pastors were going to do to calm protests in that city. (Jack Jenkins/Religion News Service 3/8/23)
READ MORE>>>>>
Lerone Martin’s new book began with a cup of coffee that led him to sue the FBI. While working on a book about religious broadcasters, a colleague suggested over coffee that Martin, a religion scholar, research the FBI to see if they had any related files. At the time, the colleague, scholar William J. Maxwell, author of “F.B. EYES,” had been studying the FBI’s surveillance of Black writers. Perhaps the FBI had been keeping an eye on religious broadcasters as well. Martin, then living in St. Louis, began filing Freedom of Information requests. Around the same time, he was also hearing from local pastors in St Louis who had been contacted by the FBI in the wake of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson. The FBI, they told Martin, wanted to know what the pastors were going to do to calm protests in that city. (Jack Jenkins/Religion News Service 3/8/23)
READ MORE>>>>>
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Feb 22, 2023: Religion News Service: How big Christian nationalism has come courting in North Idaho
Earlier this month, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican, addressed the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee, whose purview runs from this small resort city up along the Washington state border. Before she spoke, a local pastor and onetime Idaho state representative named Tim Remington, wearing an American flag-themed tie, revved up the crowd: “If we put God back in Idaho, then God will always protect Idaho.” |
The origin of North Idaho’s relationship with contemporary Christian nationalism can be traced to a 2011 blog post published by survivalist author James Wesley, Rawles (the comma is his addition). Titled “The American Redoubt — Move to the Mountain States,” Rawles’ 4,000-word treatise called on conservative followers to pursue “exit strategies” from liberal states and move to “safe havens” in the American Northwest — specifically Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and eastern sections of Oregon and Washington. He dubbed the imagined region the “American Redoubt” and listed Christianity as a pillar of his society-to-be. Rawles made an exception for Orthodox Jews and Messianic Jews, saying they would also be welcome in the Redoubt because they “share the same moral framework” as conservative Christians. But the post, which has been updated multiple times since, concludes with a list of “prepper-friendly” congregations in the Reformed Church tradition (Rawles is a Reformed Baptist). “In calamitous times, with a few exceptions, it will only be the God fearing that will continue to be law abiding,” writes Rawles, who declined to be interviewed for this article. ---Jack Jenkins; Religion News Service; 2.22.23 |