Thread by @Dragonfly_Darcy

I'm seeing a lot of MT Dems soul searching on "what we did wrong", how we can do better, where we need to go from here. There are a lot of good ideas. But I've yet to see what is likely the most important piece of this puzzle: evangelical christianity. #mtpol

People keep saying how on earth did so many vote for the guy that thinks the earth is 6k yrs old & Noah lived to 600?!

The answer is actually pretty simple: they also believe that.

White Evangelicals have been moving to MT for years because we are seen as a more Christian state than most. They vote for theocrats like Gianforte because they WANT his brand of theocracy here.

They want to live where the laws match their beliefs and everyone is either forced to follow their religion or leave. They want a white Christian land where they can discriminate against all the people they don't like.

They are taught from birth that a land will only be blessed if it follows God's laws. They have been angry for decades about the US not being a theocracy. They blame their own lack of prosperity on it. On the rest of us. We are in the way of their perfect life promised by god.

Chuck Baldwin moved here explicitly to set up a theocracy. He said that MT was "liberty minded" which to him means conservative, libertarian, & Christian. He believed he could start a Christian revolution here. He has a huge following in the Flathead precisely because of this.

Remember Baldwin's bonfire to burn Qurans? Go find the news articles and see which other state leaders were there. At least one of the Randy Weaver family is involved in his cult.

Jordan Hall, the disgusting pastor in Sidney, who was obsessed with Gov Bullock, who harassed a child to suicide for being gay. He's still at it, inciting hate all over E MT. Rural Montanans eat him up.

I know of 2 churches, 1 in Choteau, 1 in Whitehall, who teach their members that the Gov't is Rome. The pastor of the Whitehall church once told me that nothing I say matters cuz I "sacrifice" my children to Rome by sending them to public school. They have hundreds of followers.

I've been told for years that Montana belongs to God & if I don't believe in God, I don't belong here.

Democrats/liberals are seen as "godless" & the enemy of everything they want & believe they need to have an abundant life.

So when Dems here pontificate about "rural Montanans" & they fail to take the religion component into account, they dismiss it as not that relevant, they are setting us all up for failure.

There are churches up in the NW woods who have swastikas on their walls.

There are homeschoolers everywhere who brainwash their kids with white Christian revisionist curriculum.

They put their ppl on our health boards & in our legislature.

They elect them as governor.

No amount of appealing to farmers, natural resources, unfair taxation, or any other issue is going to sway them. They have a divine directive from God, they tell me GOP is God's Own Party,

And they are the majority of this state.

Until MT Dems realize what is really going on here, we will continue to lose. Do not dismiss my lifetime of experience in these groups. They are powerful, they are motivated, & they just handed our state over to people just like them. Gianforte and Daines belong to them.

Do not dismiss the power of a divine mandate & white people who live in an echo chamber of hatred & fear. They see us as the enemy of their hope's & dreams & that has NOTHING to do with fucking coal or logging.

I was kicked out of a popular, "modern" church in Belgrade 8 years ago for simply believing that women were equal to men & gay ppl weren't sinners. I didnt believe in legislating our morality. I was told I was a threat.

Never disregard WHY I was perceived as a threat.

So. I'm opening this thread up, AMA. I have 50 other ex homeschooled evangelicals I can tag if I can't answer your questions and hundreds of articles. But it's time MT Dems start asking those questions.

Also, Trump & many MT GOP leaders personify who these folks are: toxic masculinity, narcissism, misogyny, extreme homophobia, racism, exceptionalism, toxic individualism, fear, & bigotry. City immorality v rural traditional morals is a big topic here.

Another thing: Gianforte & the GOP have promised to take funding from our schools. They believe schools are godless liberal institutions & defunding schools has been an agenda item for theocrats forever. Funneling money to private schools who teach christianity is part of this.

And now, time for links. From @C_Stroop about democracy & christianity:

conversationalist.org/2019/11/14/if-…

By @bluepupboi, a long-time acquaintance, raised like me:

autostraddle.com/i-was-trained-…

ALSO. A lot of people in our state and around the US believe that democracy is godless and the enemy of christianity.

Do not take that lightly.

I mean, who here actually thinks that Theresa Manzella & Derek Skees keep getting elected cuz they listen to the unique concerns plaguing rural Montanans? Who actually thinks they chose Gianforte over Fox for this reason? #mtpol

If you want to follow others who have been writing about evangelicalism, politics, history, and culture for years:
@C_Stroop
@KEBrightbill
@rachel_elisse
@mxdarkwater
@samanthapfield

And check out the hashtag #exvangelical