We the people, not we the states. Our rights and freedoms are guaranteed by the US constitution, not the states and only the federal government should be able to rule on those rights and freedoms.
The constitution wasn't written to coddle radical Christian National's feelings but it's headed that way.
Our [Founding] Fathers intended that this nation should be a Christian nation, not because all who lived in it were Christians, but because it was founded on and would be governed and guided by Christian principles.” ― David Barton, The Myth of Separation
This quote from Texas-based amateur historian David Barton encapsulates Christian Americanism (aka Christian nationalism), an ideology that seeks, according to scholar Mark Weldon Whitten, “a socially and governmentally preferred and privileged position…of (some fundamentalist/evangelical) Christianity over other religions and nonreligious citizens.” The “Christian principles” Barton and other Christian Americanists have in mind typically involve opposition to church-state separation, reproductive rights, same-sex marriage, and LGBTQ equality. According to sociologists Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry, Christian Americanist belief was also a strong predictor of support for Donald Trump in 2016.
Barton’s home state (and mine), long a breeding ground for right-wing politics, is also a hotbed of Christian Americanism. Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy recently published my Christian Americanism in Texas Politics since 2008, the first extensive study of the subject. The report profiles the major proponents of Christian Americanism in Texas―politicians and non-governmental activists―and examines the tools they use to promote the ideology.
Though focused on Texas, the report has national implications. Several major proponents of Christian Americanism on the national stage make their home in the Lone Star State. Texas-based networks of politicians, activists, and wealthy donors exert influence far beyond the state’s borders. And Texas serves as a case study of what happens when Christian Americanists take the reins of power.
Nationally prominent Christian Americanists
Christian Americanist activity in Texas occasionally draws national attention. Readers may recall the “Texas Textbook Massacre” of 2009-10, when a Christian Americanist bloc on the state’s education board pushed through curriculum standards that emphasized Christianity over other religions and fostered an uncritically positive version of Christian history.
However, the ideology shapes the state’s political landscape well beyond the education context. Senator Ted Cruz, arguably the most prominent of Texas’ Christian Americanists, has often sounded these themes, especially in his unsuccessful 2016 bid for the GOP presidential nomination. After winning the Iowa primary, for example, Cruz called the win “a victory for ‘Judeo-Christian values.’” In another campaign speech, he declared, “Our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values,” and tied them to conservative evangelical hot-button issues: “[The] values of life and marriage are under assault, religious liberty is under assault, and yet the American people are rising up.” And when he withdrew from the presidential race, he said he was not ending “our fight…to defend the Judeo-Christian values that built America.”
Senator Cruz has also deployed his father, itinerant preacher Rafael Cruz, as a campaign surrogate. Cruz père, who is outspoken in his calls for conservative Christian hegemony, preaches Seven Mountains Dominionism, a religious ideology which overlaps with Christian Americanism and calls for Christians to take “dominion” over society and government. Senator Cruz himself echoes these dominionist sentiments in his epilogue to Rafael’s book, A Time for Action:
Barton’s nonprofit WallBuilders seeks to “educat[e] the nation concerning the Godly foundation of our country” and “provid[e] information to federal, state, and local officials as they develop public policies which reflect Biblical values.” The WallBuilders ProFamily Legislative Network assists “conservative God-fearing legislators” across the nation by supplying “expert testimony” and screening and drafting legislation.
Barton’s radio program/podcast, “WallBuilders Live!,” described as “a daily journey…to capture the ideas of the Founding Fathers of America and then apply them to the major issues of today,” gives Barton a platform for his Christian Americanist message. Carried by nearly 300 radio stations as well as iTunes and TuneIn, the show has featured episodes such as “Christian Nation: When Did This Become A Controversy in America?” and “Christian Heritage Yet Ungodly Policies.”
In her new book, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, author Katherine Stewart calls Barton “the Where’s Waldo of the Christian nationalist movement.” Indeed, he was at the center of the 2009 controversy over the Texas social studies curriculum standards, serving as one of the “expert” reviewers of the standards despite his lack of academic qualifications, and he headed the “Keep the Promise” super PAC backing Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential bid.
But perhaps his most influential turn was when he served on the “steering team” of Project Blitz, a Christian Americanist campaign that first gained widespread attention thanks to reporting by Frederick Clarkson here on Religion Dispatches.
Yet another nationally prominent Texan is Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at the 13,000-member First Baptist Dallas church. His Pathway to Victory radio and television ministry is carried by more than 900 U.S. radio stations as well as the Christian television networks Daystar and Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Edited characters, go to the link
religiondispatches.org
The constitution wasn't written to coddle radical Christian National's feelings but it's headed that way.
Our [Founding] Fathers intended that this nation should be a Christian nation, not because all who lived in it were Christians, but because it was founded on and would be governed and guided by Christian principles.” ― David Barton, The Myth of Separation
This quote from Texas-based amateur historian David Barton encapsulates Christian Americanism (aka Christian nationalism), an ideology that seeks, according to scholar Mark Weldon Whitten, “a socially and governmentally preferred and privileged position…of (some fundamentalist/evangelical) Christianity over other religions and nonreligious citizens.” The “Christian principles” Barton and other Christian Americanists have in mind typically involve opposition to church-state separation, reproductive rights, same-sex marriage, and LGBTQ equality. According to sociologists Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry, Christian Americanist belief was also a strong predictor of support for Donald Trump in 2016.
Barton’s home state (and mine), long a breeding ground for right-wing politics, is also a hotbed of Christian Americanism. Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy recently published my Christian Americanism in Texas Politics since 2008, the first extensive study of the subject. The report profiles the major proponents of Christian Americanism in Texas―politicians and non-governmental activists―and examines the tools they use to promote the ideology.
Though focused on Texas, the report has national implications. Several major proponents of Christian Americanism on the national stage make their home in the Lone Star State. Texas-based networks of politicians, activists, and wealthy donors exert influence far beyond the state’s borders. And Texas serves as a case study of what happens when Christian Americanists take the reins of power.
Nationally prominent Christian Americanists
Christian Americanist activity in Texas occasionally draws national attention. Readers may recall the “Texas Textbook Massacre” of 2009-10, when a Christian Americanist bloc on the state’s education board pushed through curriculum standards that emphasized Christianity over other religions and fostered an uncritically positive version of Christian history.
However, the ideology shapes the state’s political landscape well beyond the education context. Senator Ted Cruz, arguably the most prominent of Texas’ Christian Americanists, has often sounded these themes, especially in his unsuccessful 2016 bid for the GOP presidential nomination. After winning the Iowa primary, for example, Cruz called the win “a victory for ‘Judeo-Christian values.’” In another campaign speech, he declared, “Our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian values,” and tied them to conservative evangelical hot-button issues: “[The] values of life and marriage are under assault, religious liberty is under assault, and yet the American people are rising up.” And when he withdrew from the presidential race, he said he was not ending “our fight…to defend the Judeo-Christian values that built America.”
Senator Cruz has also deployed his father, itinerant preacher Rafael Cruz, as a campaign surrogate. Cruz père, who is outspoken in his calls for conservative Christian hegemony, preaches Seven Mountains Dominionism, a religious ideology which overlaps with Christian Americanism and calls for Christians to take “dominion” over society and government. Senator Cruz himself echoes these dominionist sentiments in his epilogue to Rafael’s book, A Time for Action:
Senator Cruz also has close links with fellow Texan David Barton, quoted above. Aptly labelled by NPR as “The Most Influential Evangelist You’ve Never Heard Of,” Barton “has developed a one-man heritage industry out of his insistence that the Founding Fathers…created America as a Christian nation,” as historian Paul Harvey writes. Former Kansas governor and current Trump administration official Sam Brownback has said that Barton provided “the philosophical underpinning for a lot of the Republican effort in the country” in recent years.
Barton’s nonprofit WallBuilders seeks to “educat[e] the nation concerning the Godly foundation of our country” and “provid[e] information to federal, state, and local officials as they develop public policies which reflect Biblical values.” The WallBuilders ProFamily Legislative Network assists “conservative God-fearing legislators” across the nation by supplying “expert testimony” and screening and drafting legislation.
Barton’s radio program/podcast, “WallBuilders Live!,” described as “a daily journey…to capture the ideas of the Founding Fathers of America and then apply them to the major issues of today,” gives Barton a platform for his Christian Americanist message. Carried by nearly 300 radio stations as well as iTunes and TuneIn, the show has featured episodes such as “Christian Nation: When Did This Become A Controversy in America?” and “Christian Heritage Yet Ungodly Policies.”
In her new book, The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism, author Katherine Stewart calls Barton “the Where’s Waldo of the Christian nationalist movement.” Indeed, he was at the center of the 2009 controversy over the Texas social studies curriculum standards, serving as one of the “expert” reviewers of the standards despite his lack of academic qualifications, and he headed the “Keep the Promise” super PAC backing Ted Cruz’s 2016 presidential bid.
But perhaps his most influential turn was when he served on the “steering team” of Project Blitz, a Christian Americanist campaign that first gained widespread attention thanks to reporting by Frederick Clarkson here on Religion Dispatches.
Yet another nationally prominent Texan is Robert Jeffress, senior pastor at the 13,000-member First Baptist Dallas church. His Pathway to Victory radio and television ministry is carried by more than 900 U.S. radio stations as well as the Christian television networks Daystar and Trinity Broadcasting Network.
Edited characters, go to the link
New Study of Christian Nationalism in Texas Should be a Warning for the Whole Country
“Our [Founding] Fathers intended that this nation should be a Christian nation, not because all who lived in it were Christians, but because it was founded on and would be governed and guided by Christian principles.” ― David Barton, The Myth of Separation This quote from Texas-based amateur histor
religiondispatches.org
