Who is the Christian Nationalists' Favorite Candidate


God is just not coming up as often in the Republican Presidential campaign as in previous ones. I don't follow all of the candidates, especially the ones I've never heard of and are not in the news. As I recall there is a preacher who says God called him to run. After reading an in-depth article defining Christian Nationalism and reviewing its history, I got to wondering which candidate such Republicans are circling around now. Is it Trump or someone else? 

I myself do not understand precisely the code language being aimed at the Chrisitan Nationalist voter. Several seem to parrot, "I will stand up to China." While there are, no doubt, plenty of complicated issues involving China, there is one agreed upon conclusion about China today. It is on its arse. There is pressure to raise wages but gains in production per hour are not rising. It has a growing percentage of senior citizen population. A healthy Chinese economy sells cheaper goods to the U.S. and fights inflation. Nevertheless, "I will stand up to China" probably sounds enough like Christian nationalism to qualify.

I'd like to know if someone like Pence who talks frequently about his "Christian values" qualifies as a Christian nationalist. According to the internet, one part of Christian nationalism is the belief our founding fathers were deeply Christian and that there is an inevitable arch of history causing Christianity's power and influence to overcome all obstacles. We know the part about fathers is not true, they held are variety of beliefs including atheism. They were familiar with Europe's governments where politicians and Popes divided up the spoils.

I always roll my eyes when I read Pence says we need to return of "traditional Christian values" which include anti-abortion. My parents and my wife's parents were life-long Republican Christians and always believed in abortion rights. Pence is not young but he is not old enough to know what "Christian values" were in past generations.

I've wondered, too, if there are Christian nationalists who recognize Christianity is not ascending as prophesized but instead is descending. Since such people have never been on the side of "well read" it would not be a surprise if they had never heard Christianity in declining in numbers.

I'm interested in learning who will be the Christian nationalists' choice for President. So far, no one seems to know who that is.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maybe the "Original Sin" Should be Reassigned

Image
We can all agree most Catholic priests are fine people and not guilty of sexual abuse. What Catholics must face, however, it that their church harbors executives who are dishonest . There is an incredible story about the Argentine Bishop Zanchetta. The Pope worked with him in Argentina and they are considered friends. Around 2015 Zanchetta sent nude pictures of himself and they began circulating world wide. He also was too friendly with young seminarians and some left because of him.  Three different officials say they made formal complaints to the Vatican about Zanchetta between 2015 and 2017. Yet, in 2018, the Vatican claimed it was unaware of any complaints about Zanchetta. This might be a good time to repeat the Catholic hierarchy claims to have the sole authority handed down from Jesus to what the faith stands for. It condemns as sinners those who practice birth control, have abortions and gay sexual relationships. Handing the hierarchy this responsibility would make som
Read more

The Religious Capitol Invaders May Yet Win

Image
So much about U.S. society and religion can be learned from the Civil War and what happened afterwards. After its defeat, the South started a myth about the unethical soldiers from the North. The South fought for principles of God and states rights. The North did not. It was the South, this propaganda told the country, that had the high moral ground.  The Capitol invaders, encouraged by Trump, swallowed the myth that Biden's election was stolen. Thus, they think they held and still hold the high moral ground. This was reinforced by the cross and prayers during the invasion. Even with Trump is gone, we will see political opportunists like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley stroking crowds and feeding the same lies as Trump. Like "the South will rise again" these gullible followers will talk of victory over the unclean. After the Civil War the South rallied around the phrase, Lost Cause. For decades, and maybe to this day, there are ceremonies remembering fallen martyrs, Re
Read more

Father Frank Pavone, the Ultimate Crook

Image
Recently, the Vatican defrocked Frank Pavone. His diehard fans are outraged. This is because he cleverly manipulated his fans and the press all the while living well from donations and, apparently, abusing some women. By making abortion the "sin" of the century, and himself the main opposition to this one sin, he himself could get away with any sin he pleased.  As the link points out, Pavone was the perfect priest for the Trump era. Trump is so self-important laws have no role in his life. He felt accountable to no one. Women were there to be had. Pavone and Trump are interchangeable.  Pavone was very successful raising money. In his mind, abortion was so important in Catholic beliefs and he was so important in anti-abortion the money he raised opposing it was his to do with what he liked. The Catholic Church, the brand name he used to raise this money, thought the money belonged to it. When he gave the Vatican the bird, it gave him walking papers. With polls showing the majo
Read more