Michael Harriot Profile picture
Jul 11 20 tweets 7 min read Read on X
Whenever there's a national tragedy, a natural disaster or something that affects a lot of white people, right-wing zealots always cite one particular bible

2 Chronicles 7:14

To them, it is a warning from God. But throughout history, it's become a weapon of hate.

A thread Image
If you are an evangelical Christian, a Republican or attend a church where the drummer doesn't use a sweatrag, you've DEFINITELY heard this 2 Chronicles 7:14

They literally believe its a biblical directive for us to Make America Great Again

christianindex.org/stories/2-chro…
To be fair, I've never been to a church whose shouting music doesn't have a bassline. So how do I know?

Well, the Southern Baptist Convention kicked out the president of their political arm because he was critical of pastors who supported Trump.

That wasn't his worst offense. Image
During Trump's original presidential run, right before the GOP primaries, Russell Moore wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post>

In the article he exposed the myth that 2 Chronicles 7:14 had nothing to do with "taking America back"

The article's title?

washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-f…
If you recall, news outlets made a big deal when Mike Pence took the oath of office on Ronald Reagan's old Bible during the Trump inauguration.

Pence insisted on putting his hand on the same PAGE and the SAME scripture as Reagan did when he was inaugurated.

Guess which one: Image
It's so important that one scholar called it "The John 3:16 of American civil religion"

To be fair, it's just white evangelicals' version of a similar scripture in Galatians that Black people love:

"He that shall fucketh around shalt also find out."*

*Real Negus Translation Image
And this is not a new thing. It's been used throughout history.

Dr. Samuel Cartwright used 2 Chronicle 7:14 when he coined the phrase "Drapetomania" to describe the mental illness that made Black people want to be free. It explained why Black people were "eternal knee benders"
Image
It has been used to explain everything from pandemics was good to why God was a Confederate.
No, seriously:

In 1793, a yellow fever broke out in Philadelphia. Some blamed the pandemic on abolitionists & free Black people

In 1780, Pennsylvania passed a gradual emancipation act Image
Then in 1790, Philly became the US capitol.
Then in 1793, Black Haitians organized the largest slave revolt in the history of the world. Many of those French slave owners brought their slaves to Philly. Plus, the free African society, who joined with Quakers to build schools
When the pandemic broke out, white preachers blamed it on the heinous act of abolition.

One slave-owning Virginian refused to leave his slaves home when he moved to Philly to work for the government. He used 2 Chronicles 7:14 to explain why God visited his wrath on the city.
Some high-level government employee named George Washington

If you think that was bad, 2 Chronicles 7:14, is what happened toAbraham Lincoln and the evil Union army after the Civil War.

As soon as the Confederate Army surrendered on April 9, 1865, Confederate Jesus went OFF
A week later Abraham Lincoln was dead. Now, we know a white supremacist killed him. But to Southerners, it was 2 Chronicles payback.

To send Union prisoners of war home, Confederates loaded 1,800 POWs on a steamship on April 27.

It exploded.

sharetngov.tnsosfiles.com/tsla/exhibits/…
The Sultana disaster is STILL the deadliest maritime disaster in US history, worse than the Titanic. It is one of the deadliest FIRES in history.

Today, we know it was caused by faulty boilers. But back then, it was proof that the Confederates were right.

2 Chronicles.
2 Chronicles is STILL used to open civil war reenactments and explain disasters and mass shootings. It is literally what they mean by "thoughts and prayers"
Segregationists used it.
The pro-life movement cites it ALL the time
So do anti-Trans and anti-LGBTQ groups.

And most of all, Conservative Evangelical Republicans use it to explain why a civil war is coming.


Image
Image
Image
Image
My favorite use of 2 Chronicles is when a preacher who apparently never read a history book in his life explained by BLM is satanic
And of course, it explains why God cursed America with Joe Biden Image
It has been weaponized for centuries and will be weaponized more in the upcoming election.

And since it is a Bible verse and "America is a Christian nation," many people think there's nothing wrong with it.

But what if one state REALLY leaned in on 2 Chronicles 2:14?

How? Image
How could conservatives use a bible verse to swing an election?

Well, what if the entire election hinged on 1 swing state? And what if conservatives were in charge of that state? And what if they used local governments & a familiar Bible verse to create an army of MAGA voters?
Anyway, this Saturday, every county courthouse in the entire state of Georgia will be open to welcome Jesus-loving Christian citizens in to read the Bible

Why?

According to an article I came across in a local paper today...

2 Chronicles 7:14 explains it all Image

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Michael Harriot

Michael Harriot Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @michaelharriot

Nov 5
People who say this election could be the "end of democracy" are so extra...

Or maybe they know the TRUE history of the election-denying white supremacist who led a violent insurrection, overturned a presidential election and ended democracy in America.

A thread
First, you should know that the US Constitution created a form of govt called a "federal republic" where elected officials represent the citizens (as opposed to a DIRECT DEMOCRACY, where people vote on every decision)

But a representative democracy is just A KIND OF DEMOCRACY Image
Image
Saying, "America is a constitutional republic, not a democracy," is like saying: "I'm a MAGA Republican, not an American."

BTW, this is your daily reminder that @laurenboebert is a pro-insurrection MAGA Republican HS dropout who failed the GED 3x... NOT an American. Image
Read 30 tweets
Oct 30
My uncle’s friend Hawk was a feared gangsta. He was ruthless but he was also a chess wizard. According to the streets, Hawk only lost 1 once, years ago, when he was in prison.

So imagine my surprise when my uncle told Hawk: “l bet $100 my nephew will kick your ass

A thread
Now I was like 12 or 13, so even though I was a chess prodigy, I was scared AF

What if I put Hawk in check and he slit my throat ? What if he sicced his goons on me to keep his streak alive? I hadn’t even reached goon-fighting age!

Then my uncle made a deal:
If I beat Hawk, I could keep the money.

A whole $100 dollars? Oh, hell yeah! I was down.

There was just one other problem with my uncle’s plan.

I had never actually played a chess match.

Not one.
Read 15 tweets
Oct 17
One of my former economics students recently reminded me about a concept I used to call "belief economics."

I haven't taught the course it in a long time, but ever since she reminded me, it perfectly explains why everyone is so focused on Black male Trump voters

A thread:
My "Race as an Economic Construct" class applied economic principles as a framework for understanding the concept of race.

I know you've heard that race is an SOCIAL CONTRUCT - it is. But MOST social constructs are ALSO economic constructs.

Even money.
A $100 bill is more valuable than monopoly money bc society constructed a monetary system. Take the pseudointellectual right-wing conspiracy about the gold standard

Why is gold so valuable?

Sure it's rare. But it's not as rare as rhodium or as useful as iron.
Read 29 tweets
Oct 2
While other organizations (hopefully, maybe) will be fact-checking, JD Vance & Tim Walz, as usual, I’ll be translating the dog whistles, white lies and overall Caucasity

The live vice presidential debate “BlackCheck”
JD Vance begins by blaming the “Kamala Harris Administration” for Iran’s nuclear progress.

When was that?Image
Apparently, Kamala Harris has done a LOT. She held a seminar in Iran on how to build nukes

She opened a fentanyl shipping company

She helped organize a human trafficking ring

Somehow, as VP, she passed executive orders to renam the whole South: “Kamala Harris’s open border”
Read 13 tweets
Sep 25
From now until the general election, my weekly “Downballot” series will explore lesser-known races on the 2024 ballot

This first 1 might be the greatest story in politics. It has everything:

A Klandaughter, a civil rights hero, white history, Black history & a map

A thread:
First, we must understand that this race takes place in one of the Blackest, poorest, most disenfranchised congressional districts in the country —Alabama’s 2nd district

It is a perfect example of the MOST COMMON voter suppression strategy:

Racial gerrymandering
This is the OLD Alabama 2nd congressional district. The boundaries do not follow geographic or political boundaries. It was SPECIFICALLY drawn to reduce Black voting power.

But because of population changes, the AL legislature had redraw its congressional districts
Image
Image
Read 28 tweets
Sep 20
“The basis of our governments being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” -

Some guy who wrote the Declaration of Independence

Donald Trump:Image
“The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a state: it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this Commonwealth.” the oldest functioning constitution in the world

Donald Trump

amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/11/07…
Read 22 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(