Recommended Reading: Prophets of America and Christian Nationalists Revisionists History
Recommended Reading: Prophets of America and Christian Nationalists Revisionists History
The Week's Recommended Reading on Substack: The growing influence of the prophetic movement, and how Christian Nationalists are 'intentional warping' the history of the United States.
The Week's Recommended Reading on Substack:
Talia Lavin writes that “history of this country is speckled with self-proclaimed prophets—From Cyrus Teed to Joseph Smith to William Miller.”
Jared Yates Sexton writes that the “crux of Christian Nationalism as an existential threat is this: by embracing a politicized faith, the wielders are able to justify any action, any oppression, any act of violence.”
Diana Butler Bass writes that while America is not a Christian nation, “it is, however, a country where a considerable number of people hold out a mythic hope for such.”
Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby write that Doug Mastriano’s “extremism extends well beyond his relationship with Gab and Christian nationalism.”
Jill Filipovic writes that “when you write laws that are overly-broad, institute a harsh enforcement mechanism, enforce those laws inconsistently, and empower a vast network of civilian snitches and spies, you create a climate of paranoia and fear”
There can be a fine line between stereotyping and observing trends using objective markers. Be careful. The "Prophets of America" piece sites Joseph Smith, the founding leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as someone laying the groundwork for religious extremism. But the church he founded has actually been setting a template lately for political moderation in the religious sphere. They've been actively preaching to their members not to judge others according to what party they belong to. And although they're religious doctrines prohibit gay unions, they've been working actively with the LGBTQ+ communities in Arizona and elsewhere to craft policies that protect both LGBTQ+ human rights, as well as religious freedom as a package, by seeking common ground. The balances they've been striking have been impressive. The moral of that story is, be careful about making blanket statements about religious groups--even prophetic ones. They are not all the same.