Buckle up, people.
We have to dive deep into Bill Barr, the history of theocratic fascism in Ameica, white supremacy as religion, and explain again why the Evangelical Right treats Trump like a savior.
Here's what I learned writing AMERICAN RULE.
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penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611439/a…
We have to dive deep into Bill Barr, the history of theocratic fascism in Ameica, white supremacy as religion, and explain again why the Evangelical Right treats Trump like a savior.
Here's what I learned writing AMERICAN RULE.
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penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611439/a…
First, it's important to see this. The Attorney-General of the United States, Bill Barr, claiming the Left has "withdrawn from classical liberal values" and is obsessed with "secular religion."
This is...a lot. And the history is chilling.
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This is...a lot. And the history is chilling.
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People need to understand that Bill Barr is incredibly dangerous, and his tenure as AG has been dedicated to using the DOJ to create a Christian theocratic system that is antithetical to democracy or freedom.
The first step to stopping him is to understand what's happening.
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The first step to stopping him is to understand what's happening.
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For people STILL wondering why white-identity evangelicals support Trump, hear this: it's about power.
The Right has embraced Trump because he is an authoritarian and because they see him as their avenue to achieve their project of total, theocratic control.
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The Right has embraced Trump because he is an authoritarian and because they see him as their avenue to achieve their project of total, theocratic control.
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To understand Barr's comments and actions as Attorney-General, as well as white-identity evangelicals, we need to first talk about a man named Francis Schaeffer, who had an unbelievable influence on them in the 1970's and helped lay the current groundwork.
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Schaeffer authored a book called How Should We Then Live, an examination of the history of "Western Civilization."
He argued that only by basing society on Christian morals and laws could society be stable and prosper.
It was an appeal for theocratic authority.
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He argued that only by basing society on Christian morals and laws could society be stable and prosper.
It was an appeal for theocratic authority.
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How Should We Then Live was a widespread phenomenon. The book and accompanying documentary series sold out everywhere, were read and watched white-identity congregations around the country.
It was a call for action, a revival of theocratic control.
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It was a call for action, a revival of theocratic control.
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Schaeffer argued that the social discord of the 1960's and 1970's was a result of liberal postmodernism, a drifting from Christian law and control.
He argued that should the world stray further from Christianity we would descend into another Dark Ages and apocalypse.
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He argued that should the world stray further from Christianity we would descend into another Dark Ages and apocalypse.
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The America Schaeffer was painting was a nightmarish dystopia of liberal postmodernism, a landscape of crime and terror and death.
White-identities evangelicals were told they must take total control of control lest it be destroyed in totality.
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White-identities evangelicals were told they must take total control of control lest it be destroyed in totality.
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Schaeffer's exemplary society was Christian Rome, where Emperor Constantine decreed all citizens worship Christ and God and society was organized based on these theocratic ideals.
The truth, however, is that Christianity was used as a means of authoritarian control.
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The truth, however, is that Christianity was used as a means of authoritarian control.
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Constantine's "conversion" was a means of consolidating power and bringing citizens of empire under a theological/ideological banner.
A pluralist society was now forced under a theocratic regime, which is what Schaeffer was advocating for.
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A pluralist society was now forced under a theocratic regime, which is what Schaeffer was advocating for.
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With the push to Christian theocratic control, Christ himself went through a miraculous change.
He transformed from an Arab man to a white man with blue eyes and blonde hair. In case you can't tell, this was a matter of white supremacist control through religion.
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He transformed from an Arab man to a white man with blue eyes and blonde hair. In case you can't tell, this was a matter of white supremacist control through religion.
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What Schaeffer argued, and what Bill Barr is now echoing, is that society "went wrong" with efforts to dechristianize control, including in Revolutionary France, where central power was deconstructed and theocratic control destroyed.
This is where "things went wrong."
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This is where "things went wrong."
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In the 20th century, this "dechristianization" took another turn with the Russian Revolution.
The fight between America and Russia wasn't just economic, but tinged with a battle between secular control and white supremacist religious myth.
We have to understand that.
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The fight between America and Russia wasn't just economic, but tinged with a battle between secular control and white supremacist religious myth.
We have to understand that.
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All "unrest" in the United States was blamed on Russia, including any moment of protest by people of color.
The constant myth was that this secular movement was going to destabilize the Christian, white order that had dominated America for centuries.
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The constant myth was that this secular movement was going to destabilize the Christian, white order that had dominated America for centuries.
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As I've talked about in my writings with The Cult of the Shining City, much of what we're dealing with now has roots in the Christian theocratic dystopia that was the Confederacy.
We misunderstand the CSA and ignore its theocratic authoritarian rule. It reflects poorly.
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We misunderstand the CSA and ignore its theocratic authoritarian rule. It reflects poorly.
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Neo-Confederate preachers like Jerry Falwell used Christianity as a cudgel, attacking Civil Rights protesters and movement, arguing that segregation was a "line of distinction drawn by God."
They worshiped a white supremacist Christian God.
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They worshiped a white supremacist Christian God.
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White supremacist pastors like Jerry Falwell welcomed Francis Schaeffer to their churches and included his work in their sermons.
The idea was that all the "chaos" and "discord" was satanic, especially the rise of protesters and Civil Rights activists.
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The idea was that all the "chaos" and "discord" was satanic, especially the rise of protesters and Civil Rights activists.
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In this framing, the secular "satanic" influence of Russia had manipulated African Americans in America to rise up.
It was "proof" that the Christian order of America was under foreign and supernatural attack.
The white supremacist Christian order of America.
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It was "proof" that the Christian order of America was under foreign and supernatural attack.
The white supremacist Christian order of America.
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White supremacists attacked Civil Rights protesters, not just as a means of control and out of anger, but in a belief that they were fighting terrorists and traitors.
They were told by their leaders it was an evil, satanic, Russian conspiracy to destabilize America.
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They were told by their leaders it was an evil, satanic, Russian conspiracy to destabilize America.
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In Schaeffer's world, the crackdown on protesters and liberals was necessary. If they were allowed to continue and behave freely it would harm the Christian order.
It was necessary for the law to be influenced and focused on pushing Christian goals in order to stabilize.
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It was necessary for the law to be influenced and focused on pushing Christian goals in order to stabilize.
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This brought white-identity evangelicalism into line with Republican politics, creating a powerful partnership between Falwell and Ronald Reagan.
In this new order, the GOP had to save America and the Christian order from traitors and supernatural evil.
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In this new order, the GOP had to save America and the Christian order from traitors and supernatural evil.
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During Reagan's tenure, Americans were told there were satanic influences around every corner, their houses haunted by evil spirits, their neighbors possessed.
It was all a supernatural metaphor for the fear that secularism might "infect' America and destabilize it.
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It was all a supernatural metaphor for the fear that secularism might "infect' America and destabilize it.
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Post-Reagan, GOP politicians like Newt Gingrich claimed that evil remained and that the Republican Party was the only thing standing between America and a descent into hell that Schaeffer had warned white-identity evangelicals about.
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This was the essence of the new Republican Party.
They stood for maintaining the white Christian order within America, continuing hypercapitalism as a means of pushing Prosperity Gospel, and crushing any dissent that might trouble this theocratic vision.
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They stood for maintaining the white Christian order within America, continuing hypercapitalism as a means of pushing Prosperity Gospel, and crushing any dissent that might trouble this theocratic vision.
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Meanwhile, the white-identity evangelical community metastasized into a group obsessed with power, wealth, and realizing an America dominated by white supremacist, capitalistic forces.
Christian principles were jettisoned in favor of power.
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Christian principles were jettisoned in favor of power.
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When your parents or grandparents turn on Fox News, they are watching a weaponized narrative that reflects Schaeffer, Falwell, Reagan, and Gingrich's white supremacist appeal.
The white, Christian, American order is in danger by minorities, traitors, and secularism.
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The white, Christian, American order is in danger by minorities, traitors, and secularism.
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Democratic politicians and liberals have been framed as traitors, terrorists, sleeper cell agents obsessed with destroying the white supremacist God's chosen country.
It is a realization of the theocratic project Schaeffer envisioned for the Right.
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It is a realization of the theocratic project Schaeffer envisioned for the Right.
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They believe white Christian America is in danger of being overthrown by supernatural, evil forces.
And so they have embraced Trump, an authoritarian "warrior" they believe will defend them and push their agenda.
Their principles are just slogans now. Cudgels for power.
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And so they have embraced Trump, an authoritarian "warrior" they believe will defend them and push their agenda.
Their principles are just slogans now. Cudgels for power.
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They dress Trump in the symbols of their perverted Christianity, but only in the same way they did with Emperor Constantine.
It's about conquering. It's about power. It's about crushing opposition and realizing an authoritarian, theocratic, white ethno-state.
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It's about conquering. It's about power. It's about crushing opposition and realizing an authoritarian, theocratic, white ethno-state.
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The partnership between Bill Barr and Donald Trump is a perfect metaphor for the partnership between white-identity evangelicals and Trump.
It's a mutual project toward power, wealth, and total domination. It's a means to an end of realizing theocratic totalitarianism.
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It's a mutual project toward power, wealth, and total domination. It's a means to an end of realizing theocratic totalitarianism.
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Once more, the "chaos" of a grassroots civil liberties movement is being used as proof of "secular decay," meaning that white Christians must coalesce and destroy the "evil" force.
This has happened time and time again in American history. You can set your watch to it.
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This has happened time and time again in American history. You can set your watch to it.
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Barr has barely hidden his project. In his role, he is directing American law as a weapon against "secularism" and liberals he sees as dangers to the white Christian order.
In this position, he is shaping the theocratic regime Schaeffer demanded in the 1970's.
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In this position, he is shaping the theocratic regime Schaeffer demanded in the 1970's.
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Protesters are treated like terrorists because they're seen as enemies of the white Christian state.
This is what happened in 1919. In the 1960's and 1970's. In the 1990's.
It is violence by a white Christian state against secularists in order to "stave off chaos."
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This is what happened in 1919. In the 1960's and 1970's. In the 1990's.
It is violence by a white Christian state against secularists in order to "stave off chaos."
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The only true ideology of the American Right is white supremacist control and unimpeded power and profit.
The Christian aspect is just an organizing umbrella at this point. The religion itself has been so perverted and co-opted it's unrecognizable.
Like Constantine's Rome.
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The Christian aspect is just an organizing umbrella at this point. The religion itself has been so perverted and co-opted it's unrecognizable.
Like Constantine's Rome.
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The Trump Project is about finding a figurehead willing to go the extra step and destroy actual law and order to realize theocratic, white supremacist control in totality.
It was always heading here, always trending toward this authoritarian moment. That's what they want.
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It was always heading here, always trending toward this authoritarian moment. That's what they want.
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