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1/ Robert Jeffress declared on Fox News that the move to impeach POTUS had angered Evangelical Christians and that if the effort was successful, would lead to "a Civil War-like fracture in this nation from which our country will never heal." This shouldn't be suprising
2/ Jeffress is a Southern Baptist. The Southern Baptist convention exists as a reaction to abolition in the South. They were strongly opposed to the end of slavery and represented a powerful religious force for the South during the Civil War. civilwarbaptists.com/featured/slave…
3/ Southern Baptists history shows that, as a denomination, they were founded due to conflict and used to being on the defensive side of actual war as well as wars of words. When they have an authoritarian grip on the U.S. They are loathe to give it up.
4/ The concept of "Culture War" has been around for awhile, and the SBC and people like Robert Jefress have been playing a game of brinkmanship for years. This is just the latest saber rattling in the game.
5/ The concept of culture war brinkmanship moving into actual physical conflict is a real one, and one could argue that with the rise of alt-right terrorism, blood has already been spilled in the latest conflicts.
6/ Now, while Jeffress and the SBC aren't currently actually advocating for racism, slavery, and white supremacy, the SBC is still advocating and working for a theocracy with themselves at the top of the social ladder, and scrambling to maintain the grip which the currently hold.
7/ The SBC and Jeffress have shifted, along with the religious right, to more familiar topics, such as opposition to LGBTQ equality and abortion. This was a deliberate shift in the pre-Reagan era when segregation issues were becoming unpopular topics politico.com/magazine/story…
8/ Fun fact, one of Robert Jeffress biggest influences was former SBC president W. A. Criswell who once said of abortion "I have always felt that it was only after a child was born and had a life separate from its mother that it became an individual person . . ."
9/ Criswell changed course later in his life to step into line with the rest of the religious right, which demonstrates the religious right's ability to change course to maintain power within political spheres.
10/ Back to Jeffress, as he harbors deep distaste for Catholics, Mormons, LGBTQ, non-believers, and members of other non-Christian religions. He uses this rhetorically to assume Christian moral authority in the U.S.
11/ He's even created a Christmas naught and nice list to highlight business that do and don't celebrate Christmas in what he says is the correct way. It's silly, but a tool to further separate people and establish more moral authority. ethicsdaily.com/pastors-websit…
12/ The separation he's striving for puts people in his camps, and keeps others out. His goal is to create an army in the culture war. Could it become an actual army? Seems far fetched, but as I've noted blood has already been spilled in recent cultural conflicts.
13/ Evangelical Christianity is full of warlike mentality and rhetoric. I was raised as a "Soldier for Christ." The "Sword of the Spirit," "Victory in Jesus," and "Armies of God." are familiar rhetoric which is used to excite Christian masses and keep them ready for conflict.
14/ The religious right also works to influence the actual U.S. military. That's a pretty frightening concept, and one that I don't think gets nearly enough attention. While it may not be priming for a religious civil war, it turns the military into actual crusaders.
15/ Jeffress' personal reach to his culture army is huge. He's a Fox News contributor, has a 13,000 member church, and is seen and heard on 1200 stations in the U.S. and reaches almost 200 countries in the world.
16/ He's become a general in the Culture Wars, with the ear of the POTUS. He's keeping up with Christian war rhetoric right now in his sermons with his #FinalConquest sermons about the book of Revelation.
17/ There is no doubt in my mind that he's connecting his civil war rhetoric and descriptions of his enemies wanting to burn the nation down to the apocalyptic words in Revelation. That's a common theme in Evangelicalism.
18/ #Exvangelicals and non Evangelicals need to take this rhetoric seriously if we intend to #emptythepews and deradicalize the nation. It's a powerful tool that Jeffress wields.
19/ Make no mistake, whether it be a war of words, or an actual war, Jeffress' goal is the ethnic cleansing of the United States, and he and his ilk will stop at nothing to maintain authoritarian control of the United States.
20/ We need to pay attention to what he says, and react accordingly to challenge his words, and hold his followers accountable to the hate and division they represent. Don't dismiss his words as simple "Fox News Bluster."
21/ Just like the Southern Baptists of yesteryear, Jeffress and the SBC are looking for the next conflict that they requires them to defend the hateful institutions they hold so dear as they clamor to hold power over the country.
/bonus - @robertjeffress words are now being used to inspire actual Nazi murderers.
@robertjeffress I almost forgot that @C_Stroop called out Jeffress' for his unhelpful comments after Charlottesville. It's fitting that a pastor who said we should pray for peace to defend this regime is now sounding the alarm of civil war to again defend the same regime.
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religiondispatches.org/i-created-the-…
