In the course of the 2016 election the evangelicals, once a sect of the alt-right Republicans, have morphed from a one-time laughing stock to an appalling propaganda machine. Even though the Constitution clearly states that there shall be a separation between church and state, in the rise of evangelical mania in the Year of Trump that premise has been obliterated.
Rev. John Kilpatrick took to his pulpit Sunday and shared the following, per Crooks & Liars:
"The last eight years, we have had in our government a system that has tried to capture the minds of Americans," Kilpatrick opined. "It has tried to tell us what we think, what we can say, what we must not say. It has tried to tell us how we feel about terrorism, Islamic terrorism. It's tried to tell us how we should feel about abortion."
"We've had an election now, things are going to open up, God's spirit is going to begin to move again in America," the pastor said, adding, "Sha yi ya yi ya yi ya ya. Praise him! Woo!"
Kilpatrick told his congregation that God had sent Hurricane Katrina to destroy New Orleans because George W. Bush had told Israel to "give up Gaza:" whatever that is supposed to mean. This more or less comports with Louisiana preacher Tony Perkins view, which is that God sent Hurricane Katrina to New Orleans to stop the planned gay parade scheduled for that day, and to make an anti-gay statement, generally speaking. Both preachers apparently agree that New Orleans is the new Sodom & Gomorrah.
Kilpatrick concluded his rant by ten minutes of speaking in tongues while the congregation swayed and exclaimed their undying gratitude, with this show stopper:
"Woo hoo! Aye yay yay yay. Ha ra da sa da da."
"Victory, finally, victory!" Kilpatrick declared. "Thank the Lord for the victory! Thank you for saving our nation! Thank you, Lord, for bringing Jezebel down!"
Jezebel was a scheming and shamelessly evil woman. These people don’t even receive this doctrine as metaphor, but rather, quite literally, so truncated is their worldview.
The line separating church and state has been irrevocably crossed by the evangelical preachers. It would be interesting to see how a movement to obliterate the tax exempt status of these churches cum propaganda mills would be received. There is clearly cause for such an action.