Thread by @jasonthinks

In all the discourse about the recent abortion bills, I've yet to hear anyone provide context about this from the perspective of someone who grew up inside the evangelical culture that's driving this and how every step over the last 3 years has been building exactly here [thread]

These bills aren't just being passed "by design" they are being passed according to over 30 years of planning and propaganda designed to undermine America as a secular democracy and to rebuild the stronghold of white Christian (mostly male) supremacy.

This isn't just about abortion. It's about getting control of all three branches of government and undoing the forward progress of American society by at least 60 years. If you grew up in evangelical circles, you know they've been talking about this exact moment your entire life.

A term I bet most of you haven't heard is "activist judges." It's used by evangelicals and the far right to describe judges who strike down unjust laws they think were necessary. Roe is the highest example, but any time the courts rule against white supremacy, it gets trotted out

The adults around us used this term, and spoke reverently of the day that we could replace them. And once that happened, they'd dreamily state, we could finally force this country to get back to its Christian roots and undo the sexual revolution, abortion, the gay agenda, etc...

It's important to realize they will not stop at overturning Roe. Because they have not just been talking about **this exact moment in history** all this time, but they've also been saying what they really think about non-Christians of all types in private... and its scary.

I had a history teacher at my Christian high school that was obsessed with war with China. He believed their surplus of men and persecution of Christianity would eventually lead to an all-out war with America. He talked about this in front of kids of Chinese descent.

A common topic of conversation in these circles is Israel and its enemies. They believe the Bible says there will never be peace in the middle east, and many of them openly talked about how it would be better to "turn that whole desert into glass" (nuke them) for Israel's safety

The words "homosexual agenda" were uttered with bile and suspicion, as if they were communist spies from Russia we needed to be vigilant to avoid. In mixed company, they'd talk about prayer and conversion, but just between men, they'd joke about beating the gay out of people.

(I was delighted to discover as an adult with a more open mind that the homosexual agenda usually just meant brunch and mimosas on Sunday mornings instead of church. I can see why they didn't want me to know about it. That's way more fun.)

Illegal immigrants were blamed for crime, rape, even higher taxes. But if any of the families at the church employed those people as laborers and one of us curious children broached the subject, we were told they hired "good ones" and it helped avoid inflated union wages.

I learned the term "feminazi" from a family member who explained women who didn't want to submit to their husbands were dangerous. The Chinese food I brought to youth group got called "chink chow" by a youth leader. And the rhetoric against muslims was worst of all.

The evangelical culture is one of open emotional, intellectual, and spiritual dichotomies. They somehow openly and gleefully hold both "all are created in the image of god" and genocidal beliefs at the same time.

They insist Muslim immigrants must accept secular western societal rules and norms, but at the same time insist that any secular laws they're asked to obey are religious persecution. It's a culture built upon and blindly content with in-group vs out-group morality.

And that's why the Trump-Pence administration is perfect for them. Trump says aloud all the things Christian men say in private to each other. He represents the naked authoritarianism they think is missing from a modern world that expects them to treat the out-group as equals.

Pence represents the respectable Christian leader. The man who they'd elect to leadership at the church and who will stonewall any logical arguments or actual consequences for their beliefs. They'd be angry, but also FINE if Trump is impeached, because President Pence is AOK

So now there's a President who rejects the rule of law, a VP who smooths it over for him with the sensitive church goers, a nakedly partisan Senate Majority Leader who helped stack the courts, and a Supreme Court that is poised to overturn Roe for them...

Do you think this is where they will stop?

Spoilers: No

Now that the Mueller report battle is brewing, and another election is on its way, they are going to move swiftly to accomplish as much as they can with the time they have. They will come for ALL the out-groups.

There were no consequences for putting children into concentration camps, or stealing them for Christian adoption agencies to hand out to doe-eyed Christian mothers who want to raise brown babies and save them from poverty/hell. Why would they expect consequences for this?

This will not stop until we make it stop. Every day we wait to find Barr in contempt of Congress and jail him, or Pelosi delays initiating impeachment proceedings... that's an extra day for them to push the boundaries and hurt more out-groups.

The cries against Muslims enacting Sharia law here aren't exactly disingenuous. Evangelicals fear that because they know what they think of and how they treat the out-groups. It's not about the freedoms of American society. It's about "right" and "wrong" and who wields the power.

I will probably talk about the issues with liberal politics, ideological purity, and the process of switching sides in another thread, but for now I want to encourage you all to resist. Protest. Donate to the ACLU. And if nothing else get out and VOTE every chance you get.

***Additional Statement***

I want to apologize to anyone who was made to feel unheard or further marginalized by the way I worded the opening tweet. My twitter space is almost entirely game industry folks, where these issues are *not* frequently talked about or understood.

I am aware there is a tremendous amount of scholarship on this issue and plenty of Twitter discourse on the topic. I absolutely don't mean to present these thoughts as original, as my journey out of Evangelicalism wouldn't have been possible without those folks.

I did not anticipate my reach extending beyond my small following and a few retweets. I wanted to provide context for my tiny corner of the internet, where I was seeing a LOT of confusion and concern from friends who hadn't heard these things before. Sorry for my clumsy wording.