🔥This is one of the most important things you could read right now to better understand what the Teavangelicals (GOP) plan for our country!
The plot against America: Inside the Christian right plan to "remodel" the nation salon.com/2019/04/13/the…
⬇
"The religious right, fueled by their fear of loss of power from the changing demographics in our country and their support from the Trump administration, is emboldened and aggressively pursuing all means possible to maintain white Christian power in America."
⬇
"'Not all their allies would go all the way with them, but the theocratic end they envision is chillingly akin to 'The Handmaid's Tale'" -@FredClarkson
⬇
"The first tier of Project Blitz aims at importing the Christian nationalist worldview into public schools and other aspects of the public sphere,..."
⬇
"...the second tier aims at making government increasingly a partner in 'Christianizing' America,..."
⬇
"...and the third tier contains three types of proposed laws that 'protect' religious beliefs and practices specifically intended to benefit bigotry."
⬇
"Although category three is divided in three parts, you could also see it as having two main underlying intentions," Clarkson explained. "First to denigrate the LGBTQ community, and second to defend and advance the right to discriminate."
⬇
"This is one way that the agenda of theocratic dominionism is reframed as protecting the right of theocrats to discriminate against those deemed second-class, at best. As the late theocratic theologian R.J. Rushdoony said, 'Only the right have rights.'"
⬇
"The broader findings revealed in 'Copy, Paste, Legislate' help to expand our understanding by highlighting three significant patterns shared in various ways with Project Blitz, which are used to advance their theocratic agenda, often hiding it in plain sight: ..."
⬇
Misleading Language That Inverts Common Sense
"Project Blitz does this repeatedly with the most fundamental terms: 'religious freedom,' 'First Amendment,' and so on."
neatoday.org/2019/03/05/dev…,
⬇
Goalpost Moving
"The entire Project Blitz concept is premised on moving the goalposts. It’s built into the very structure of its three-tiered playbook, as well as the logic of the supporting arguments."
rationalwiki.org/wiki/Moving_th…
⬇
"A similar strategy was involved in promoting vouchers in Arizona, beginning with a voucher for students with disabilities, then following up with bill after bill offering vouchers to more and more students, eventually all of them."
⬇
3) Pre-emption
"Project Blitz doesn’t use the term “pre-emption,” but since state-level law routinely pre-empts local laws — which often protect LGBTQ rights, for example — it’s implicitly integral to their strategy."
⬇
"These laws, in effect, allow state legislators to dictate to city councils and county governing boards what they can and cannot do within their jurisdiction — including preventing them from raising the minimum wage, banning plastic grocery bags, and destroying guns."
⬇
"With these patterns in mind, let’s first consider how the religious right has attempted to reinvent bigotry as freedom, and then take a look at contemporary state battles in Texas and elsewhere."
⬇
Bigot’s Rights: Theocracy's Foundation
"The battleground Project Blitz has chosen revolves around a falsified history of America as a 'Christian nation' ...and a newly-minted definition of 'Christianity' as rooted in homophobia."
⬇
"With these twin lies in place, they position themselves as the 'true Christians' and 'true Americans' suffering from government oppression."
lgbtqnation.com/2019/04/religi…
⬇
"With that false social identity in place, Christian nationalists rationalize the “freedom” to discriminate as a fundamental right, powering a shift from defense to offense..."
⬇
In Texas, "a Project Blitz bill, SB-17, just passed the State Senate. It would allow anti-LGBTQ discrimination by any licensed professional...
In rural Texas, this could easily mean a total lack of services."
⬇
"It’s not just health care professionals who could wantonly hold people’s lives in their hands. If passed, an LGBTQ Texan could well die of heatstroke because of an air-conditioning repair person’s 'sincerely held religious belief,'..."
⬇
"It now seems clear that Texas is at the center of the nationwide state-by-state strategy to pass legislation that uses religion to block or roll back nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ Texans and LGBTQ Americans..."
⬇
"Make no mistake, what is happening in Texas now will happen in other states as well. In fact, it already has."
⬇
"What’s extraordinary about the Texas bill is its reach. We’ve been used to adoption agency bills, for example, but this has to do with all state professional licensing agencies..."
⬇
"So if you’re a social worker or teacher, as well as a health care worker, you can declare religious exemptions in service to LGBTQ people on a range that's breathtaking." -Frederick Clarkson
⬇
"Republican activist and pseudo-historian David Barton, whose book, 'Jefferson Lies,' which tried to remake Thomas Jefferson as an evangelical hero, was canceled by its publisher under withering criticism from conservative and evangelical scholars..."
⬇
"Barton has for years encouraged his followers to run for local and state office, from school boards on up, and pushed the importance of local of state and local elections to get the voter turnout."
⬇
"Barton's fake version of history is directly connected to political outcomes. The reason for the history revisionism is to make the followers of people like Barton think that the religious legislation is justified by history..."
⬇
"Since most Christians aren't liars, he has to get them to genuinely believe that the legislation that they're trying to get passed is what the founders intended, [when it’s actually the exact opposite.]"
⬇
The Power of Lies
"The twin lies that America was founded as a Christian nation and that Christianity is defined by homophobia combine to create a powerful social identity, which in turn helps facilitate the spread of Project Blitz’s agenda..."
⬇
Examples of Project Blitz's models in action:
"Missouri House Bill 267, whose text resembles the 'Bible Literacy Act,' a Senate resolution encouraging schools to offer Bible literacy electives... "
⬇
"...and House Bill 577, which is much shorter than the 'National Motto Display Act' from Project Blitz, but with the same end result: 'The bill would require public schools to display ‘In God We Trust’ in a prominent location such as a school entryway or cafeteria.'"
⬇
"None of the authors claimed to know about Project Blitz, but its influence was obvious. The textually similar bill came from copying other state laws."
⬇
"Even if some legislators introduce bills that they do not know draws language from Project Blitz model bills, it certainly validates Project Blitz methods, which get their material circulated, even if indirectly from other states that may use it more overtly..."
⬇
"Similarly, just because someone is not a member of a state's legislative prayer caucus doesn't mean that they are not influenced by those who are." -Frederick Clarkson
⬇
"In short, the impacts of Project Blitz go well beyond what the textual analysis behind “Cut, Paste, Legislate” can measure."
⬇
"The role of shaping a social identity is especially noteworthy in the second Missouri story, from the Missouri Times. It concerns House Bill 728, which would prohibit anonymous freedom of religion lawsuits — which are allowed under current law..."
⬇
"The Missouri bill that prohibits church-state plaintiffs from being anonymous despite, or perhaps because of, the likelihood that these plaintiffs are harassed and even receive death threats is another example of how emboldened and immoral the religious right is today..."
⬇
The bill’s author, Rep. Hardy Billington, "continued to play the victim. 'House Bill 728 would guarantee that no individual or organization will be able to use state courts as a weapon to attack the right of Missouri citizens to display religious symbols in public spaces..."
⬇
"Of course that 'right' only exists in Barton’s mythical history. But myths have tremendous power in Trump’s post-truth America. Which is why political leaders need to step up..."-Laser of Americans United
⬇
Elected officials and political candidates "must advocate for church-state separation with renewed energy and commitment and remind the public that it is core to our country’s commitment to diversity and unity, and core to our identity..."
"They must make clear that ‘religious freedom’ is a shield to protect, not a sword to harm others or license to discriminate."
The preceding excerpts are from "The plot against America: Inside the Christian right plan to 'remodel' the nation"
salon.com/2019/04/13/the…
Video! au.org/tags/project-b…
H/t @wydmindfeersart
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.