{"id":1714,"date":"2022-02-11T10:53:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T16:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/?p=1714"},"modified":"2022-02-13T10:57:52","modified_gmt":"2022-02-13T16:57:52","slug":"christian-nationalists-are-rewriting-jan-6-history-alarmingly-its-working","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/index.php\/2022\/02\/11\/christian-nationalists-are-rewriting-jan-6-history-alarmingly-its-working\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Nationalists Are Rewriting Jan 6 History. Alarmingly, It’s Working."},"content":{"rendered":"
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We at the LIGHT! will not white-wash what happened on January 6th.\u00a0<\/strong> We’re not talking about the peaceful protestors who never went into the Capitol – we’re talking about the violent mob (in all likelihood deceived by President Trump) who invaded the Capitol, attacked police, disrupted the Constitutionally-mandated certification of the ballots with the purpose of overturning the election where there has not yet been any evidence introduced in a procedurally correct way to show probable cause for voter fraud.<\/p>\n

The LIGHT! does not define itself as right or left. \u00a0As a church we stand on the side of Jesus, who is the Way, the TRUTH and the Life.<\/p>\n

The truth is that this invasion was a terrible day in our history as a country which Evangelicals should feel horrified by as proponents of “rule of law” and “submission to authority.” \u00a0We need to remember this this day, learn the lessons of why it happened and actively work in good Christian faith to prevent this type of false gospel from ever poisoning the minds of good Christians ever again.<\/p>\n

We urge you to come talk with us if you claim otherwise <\/strong>as we are open to viewing evidence from credible sources that might change our mind. \u00a0Credible sources are generally along the lines of those places rated as “generally reliable” (or equivalent) in such independent tools like mediabiasfactcheck.com, allsides.com, ground.news, newsguardtech.com, adfontesmedia.com, etc.<\/p>\n

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\"\"Earlier this week, a new Pew survey found<\/a> that the share of Americans who believe Donald Trump was largely responsible for the violence of Jan. 6, 2021, has declined by nearly 10 percent over the past year, while the percentage of people who think he bears no responsibility has increased by almost as much. On Wednesday, the Freedom from Religion Foundation and the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty released a new report<\/a> that helps explain that shift: The same Christian nationalism that served as the unifying principle behind the Jan. 6 insurrection<\/a> is also driving efforts among the faithful to rewrite the history of that day.<\/p>\n

As two of the report\u2019s contributors, scholars Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry, co-authors of Taking America Back for God<\/i><\/a>, noted in a launch event on Wednesday, Christian nationalist support for Jan. 6 rioters has doubled in the past year, while support for prosecuting those rioters has declined by 20 percent. That suggests, said Perry, \u201cthat this ideology is powerfully connected to a reinterpretation of these events\u201d in a way that could become \u201ca powerful motivator for future potential violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

At more than 60 pages and drawing on the work of a number of academics, journalists and researchers, \u201cChristian Nationalism and the January 6 Insurrection<\/a>\u201d is the most comprehensive account to date of the role of the movement in the attack. Within the political and cultural universe of Christian nationalism, America is a special place: It was created as a Christian nation and its founding documents were divinely inspired. Christianity should and must have a privileged position in public life, and \u201ctrue Americans\u201d are understood to be \u201cwhite, culturally conservative, natural-born citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

That ideology, argues the report, served both as the unifying theme for the various factions that joined in the assault on the Capitol as well as the \u201cpermission structure\u201d that allowed participants to justify their violence. To call those fringe ideas is misleading: Surveys repeatedly find that close to half of the country supports the idea of fusing Christianity and civic life.<\/p>\n

Christian nationalism also lends itself to a number of other convictions, notes the report. Surveys in early 2021 found strong associations between Christian nationalist views, such as the proposition that the federal government should declare America a Christian nation, and a whole range of far-right beliefs not directly connected to faith. Those include the disproved claim that Antifa or Black Lives Matter caused the violence on Jan. 6, while Donald Trump was blameless; support for various white supremacist and antisemitic beliefs; and even a willingness to accept the outlandish premises of QAnon.<\/p>\n

Two-thirds of white Americans who strongly support Christian nationalist ideology believe that the 2020 election was rigged; 40 percent of them think that violence from patriotic Americans might be necessary to save the country; and more than 40 percent are convinced that Democrats are engaged in \u201celite child trafficking,\u201d said Whitehead.<\/p>\n

The report includes some meditations on the movement\u2019s origins as well. Penn religion scholar Anthea Butler, the author of White Evangelical Racism<\/i><\/a>, writes that white Christian nationalism began moving more firmly into the mainstream after 9\/11, as the \u201cHoly War\u201d coding of the \u201cWar on Terror\u201d helped popularize its ideology, laying the groundwork for Trump\u2019s rise. The seemingly contradictory beliefs of Christian nationalism \u2014 that America is the greatest nation on earth thanks to its foundation in Christianity, and also that America has been overtaken by alien and even demonic enemies \u2014 only serves to keep the movement in a state of tense mobilization, observed journalist Katherine Stewart, author of The Power Worshippers<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s astonishing to so many of us that the leaders of the Jan. 6 attack styled themselves as patriots,\u201d Stewart added at Wednesday\u2019s event. \u201cBut it makes a glimmer of sense once we start to understand that their allegiance is to a belief in blood, earth and religion, rather than to the mere idea of a government of the people, by the people and for the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the report was written by Andrew Seidel, a constitutional attorney at the Freedom from Religion Foundation and author of The Founding Myth<\/i><\/a>. It consists of a meticulous accounting, drawing on hundreds of hours of video footage, of Christian nationalism\u2019s ubiquitous role in the lead-up to Jan. 6 and its execution. There are the flags, the signs, the cross and gallows that we\u2019ve all seen.<\/p>\n

There are also some less familiar pieces of evidence, such as the 50-person Christian choir singing about swords and taking possession of the land while the attack was underway. Multiple rioters recounted how God\u2019s hand or voice had urged them to enter the capital. One avowed white supremacist had convinced his parole officer to let him travel to Washington that week to hand out Bibles. And then there\u2019s the man who broke down Nancy Pelosi\u2019s office door, believing that \u201cthe crowd would tear her \u2018into little pieces,’\u201d and later testified in court that God had been on Trump\u2019s side: \u201cAnd if patriots have to kill 60 million of these communists, it\u2019s God\u2019s will.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seidel also describes how the events of the previous two months \u2014 including the Million MAGA March in November, and the Jericho March events on Dec. 12 and Jan. 5 \u2014 served as test runs for Jan. 6 and a broader \u201cpermission structure that gave the insurrectionists the moral and mental license that they needed,\u201d through the promise that they were doing the Lord\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an exhaustive list of such examples. Paula White, \u201cfaith adviser\u201d to the Trump White House, recorded nightly prayer videos calling on God to smite Trump\u2019s enemies. The Proud Boys prayed in the street and were \u201chailed as God\u2019s warriors.\u201d Evangelical speaker Lance Wallnau told his massive following, \u201cFighting with Trump is fighting with God,\u201d and said that angels were looking for some \u201crisk takers\u201d and \u201cwild cards that are gonna go start something up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey marched around government buildings in state capitals and in D.C., including the Capitol and the Supreme Court, blowing on shofars and claiming to know God\u2019s will,\u201d said Seidel. \u201cSometimes I wonder how could we possibly have been surprised by the violence that day.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than a year later, said the panelists, Christian nationalists continue to march under slightly new banners, leading efforts to suppress voting rights through gerrymandering and new legislation that would require everything from lifetime disenfranchisement of convicted felons to Jim Crow-style civics tests for would-be voters. Jemar Tisby, president of the Black Christian organization The Witness and author of The Color of Compromise<\/i><\/a>, said Christian nationalism is also animating numerous state and local fights, including culture-war battles like the manufactured debate over critical race theory, as well as efforts to silence dissenting Christians.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the religious voices within the church are being labeled as critical race theory, as too liberal or progressive to be trusted, and even the communist and Marxist labels are being used,\u201d said Tisby.<\/p>\n

Perry noted the mixed blessing found in recent polling that suggests Christian nationalist ideas as a whole have lost some support nationwide since Jan. 6. The other side of that, he added, is that groups that become more isolated also tend to become more militant. Indeed, added Seidel, researchers have seen an uptick in Christian nationalist pastors proudly and openly embracing the label.<\/p>\n

Relegating Christian nationalism back to the margins, say the report\u2019s authors, will not be easy. That would require a national recommitment to the separation of church and state, countering the historical myths propping up Christian nationalist ideology, and coalition work between secular and religious allies.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really know if people understand how close we were to losing America that day,\u201d said Seidel. \u201cIf they decide to get a little more serious next time, we are in big trouble.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica is really a shared ideal, and Christian nationalism refuses to share,\u201d said Seidel. \u201cThat\u2019s the choice we face: Christian nationalism or America. Because we can\u2019t have both.\u201d<\/p>\n

This content was originally published here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We at the LIGHT! will not white-wash what happened on January 6th.\u00a0 We’re not talking about the peaceful protestors who never went into the Capitol – we’re talking about the violent mob (in all likelihood deceived by President Trump) who invaded the Capitol, attacked police, disrupted the Constitutionally-mandated certification of the ballots with the purpose […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8kHU7-rE","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/thelight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/2022_0211-capitol-breach-p-1200x675.jpg?fit=1200%2C675","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1714"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1719,"href":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1714\/revisions\/1719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thelight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}