Thread by @ashtonpittman

THREAD: The modern evangelical "religious right" began in opposition to Brown v. Board and school integration—not Roe v. Wade. That's why thousands of "Christian" segregation academies popped up all over the South in the 1960s and 1970s. 1/

https://twitter.com/causalinf/status/1319303877993398275

When SCOTUS decided Roe in 1973, it wasn't an earth-shattering event for evangelicals—some of whose churches still offered doctrinal defenses of abortion.

The history of the modern religious right was later rewritten to start in '73—not '55. 2/

https://twitter.com/ashtonpittman/status/1130660546158714880?s=20

"A 1965 Hattiesburg American article claimed segregation was not the private school's 'only aim' because 'the school will have Bible reading and prayer' & 'stress patriotism, American heritage, constitutional government and the free enterprise system.'" 3/
mississippifreepress.org/5625/good-trou…

This does not mean that every evangelical today secretly uses abortion as a cover for racism. In the churches I went to as a teen, 1973 was hammered to me as a turning point in American history and Roe as one of the greatest evils of all time. Brown was never mentioned. 4/

Those churches also made something clear to us as teenagers: The Supreme Court was the key to ending Roe v. Wade. Ahead of the 2008 election, they made it crystal clear that McCain's election was important because the Supreme Court was one justice away from ending Roe v. Wade. 5/

There were things in those churches I attended as a teen that I couldn't square. I remember being mocked by members of my youth group (on our way to an anti-abortion event) for giving a sick woman who needed to see a doctor $60. They told me she would just use it for drugs. 6/

Mocking me for giving a sick woman money, instead of interrogating her about whether or not she would use it for a drug habit, did not seem very pro-life to me. And I found it impossible to square with the teachings of Jesus that I was reading in the New Testament. 7/

At one point, a group from the church drove to protest outside an abortion clinic. They told everyone just to stand outside and quietly pray with red "LIFE" tape on outside the clinic, not shout and yell like others.

But that confused me. 8/

When we got back in the car, I asked: "If we say they're murdering babies in there, why are we just standing there quiet with tape on our mouths? If we knew they were in there killing 2 year olds, wouldn't we be rushing in to stop it?"

I got lots of nervous, horrified looks. 9/

I think they thought I was suggesting something radical—like I might literally try to break through the doors of the abortion clinic next time and stop an abortion.

But what I was really asking was, "Do we really believe this?" The claim & response seemed incongruent. 10/

From afar, I've since watched some of those people show no concern about 10s of 1000s of babies & children ripped from their parents & tossed into cages—some left to die, some sexually abused. I've even seen some of them defend it and share a "pro-life" meme the same day. 11/

So maybe they wouldn't have rushed into a building where they thought two year olds were literally being killed. Maybe they would have just stood outside with tape on their mouths and prayed quietly. I don't know. 12/

I can't say their overall motive was secretly racism, but the history of white southern evangelical Christian culture was clearly an undercurrent & I can now identify vestiges of segregationist evangelical mindsets in the things I heard people say at those churches. 13/

All I knew was, there was a disconnect in those churches I attended between what people claimed their motives were and their actions. It eventually drove me away by the time I was 19.

It made more sense, though, once I understood: The religious right didn't start in 1973. 14/

I do recall the youth pastor saying something the week after the election: "Barack Obama doesn't worship the same Jesus we worship."

It hit me the wrong way. There were a couple Black members and one Black visitor there. I never went back. 15•