Bradley Onishi is a former Christian nationalist who's now a professor of religion and the author of Preparing for War, a critique of the movement and its impact on American democracy.
The excerpts below are from Onishi's interview with Terry Gross of NPR’s “Fresh Air” earlier this year. It is well worth your time to read (or listen to) the entire interview. He has fascinating insights on why Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush “didn’t complete the task” for evangelicals.
Hence, Trump.
- I think in very simple terms, Christian nationalism is the idea that Christian people should be privileged in the United States in some way — economically, socially, politically — and that that influence and that privilege is a result of the country being founded by and for Christians.
- The conservative Heritage Foundation. But if we look at the sponsors of Project 2025, we have others. We have Hillsdale College. We have Liberty University. We have the Claremont Institute. We have TP USA, many Christian nationalist universities or organizations. And so the goal when it comes to government is to institute people at every level, whether that be national politics, the White House, the United States Senate, the United States House or all the way down to the hyperlocal, the school boards, the mayor, the county supervisor.
- By the time Donald Trump arrives, this group of Christian nationalist voters, whether they be evangelical, whether they be conservative Catholics or Latter Day Saints, are in the mood not for somebody who simply identifies with them and their politics, someone like Ted Cruz or Mike Huckabee, they're in the mood for somebody who will act as the brutalizing barbarian needed to take the country back. If you want to colonize the Earth for God, it's not enough to have a testimony that says, Jesus saved me from my sins or from my alcoholism. What you need is a bully, somebody who will put in line all those folks that you think are ruining your country and causing it to descend into the pits of hell.
A New Message from Moses
Manual Updates Posted Here
Getting Ready for the Presidential Debate
However…
Project 2025
This video encapsulates the threat posed by the Republican Party in 2025. Many of the rights taken for granted by average Americans for the past several decades are under attack and, just like abortion in 2022, would be adversely affected and seriously impacted by this potential change.
Try to watch the video.
I wrote the following comment in Part 1 just yesterday.
On the Separation of Church and State
In 1980, the United States Supreme Court ruled in the Stone vs Graham case that posting the Ten Commandments in Kentucky public schools per state law violated the US Constitution’s Establishment Clause of the First Amendment for it promoted religion.
The case was filed by a parent, Sydell Stone, against James Graham, the Superintendent of Public Schools in Kentucky.
This country's religious pluralism tradition is perhaps the most cherished and quintessentially American. One need not be a credentialed historian to know that basic fact: the pilgrims came here in the early 1600s to pursue religious freedom and tolerance and have the freedom to also not formally adhere to any organized religion. By and large, this country has stayed true to that ideal for over four hundred years. It isn’t unusual to travel to large urban centers and see a Christian church, a Jewish synagogue, a Muslim mosque, a Buddhist or Hindu temple, and revered symbols of other religions close to one another, perhaps even in the same city block. Their mere presence also does not demand acquiescence to any beliefs these religions offer.
By definition, true religious freedom requires the separation of church and state. It simply means that there is no official national church nor excessive governmental involvement in matters of religion. Maintaining it requires work, effort, and serious dedication to preserving what is best about this country and is incumbent upon all of us. Dissent is a concept at the heart of this country’s founding in the 18th century, and tolerance of opposing religious or non-religious views has been accepted widely. It should continue to be the norm for all Americans. Otherwise, factionalism and fragmentation will tear the country apart into smithereens — a political condition in which the sum of the parts will never be greater than the whole.
And that is very un-American.
An article in New York magazine explains why Louisiana passed a law in defiance of this celebrated tradition. The law requires all state public schools to post the Ten Commandments in every classroom — Christian Nationalism Marches On in Louisiana.
Don’t Let the Smile Fool You
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Coming Soon in Louisiana
For This Guy, We Need Many More Commandments
By the Way…
Just Don’t Call Me in the Morning
The Task at Hand
The 2024 SCOTUS Plan
Attribution: Editorial & Political Cartoons, Ivan Ehlers, THE NEW YORKER Cartoons
Just Blame It All on Women
We Should Regulate You, Judge
Birds of a Feather… and All That
“Principled” Conservatives
The Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court Has Spoken
This Certainly Explains It
American Taliban
Clearance Thomas
But, Of Course
The Parade of Losers
Yes, Indeed!
Showing His True Colors
Let Them Vote
Sure
MAGA Madness
Good Question
Phew!
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I would be greatly interested in your response to the diary poll. Thank you.
Here’s the link to Part 1 of this diary — Blatant Defiance of the Separation of Church and State — The Week in Editorial Cartoons.