User:Viriditas/sandbox8

God & Country sandbox

 * Introduction
 * Letter from Birmingham Jail (1963) read by William Barber II.
 * January 6
 * Andrew Seidel: "I was at home. I was watching and I noticed on the screen attackers had finally reached the Senate and were on the floor of the Senate.  And as I was watching, I saw one of the assaulters carry a Christian flag.  And it really became obvious to me, having written books about this threat, having talked about this threat for years, that it had been realized". (0:02:41-0:03:12)


 * Establishing bona fides


 * Christian nationalism
 * MTGs claim is not supported. Most Americans are not CN
 * Lauren Boebert's opposition to separation of church and state


 * Founders
 * Formation of US government was not based on Christianity, but one of secularism. First Amendment protects freedom of religion and freedom from religion
 * Antecedents
 * Opposition to desegregating religious schools
 * Use of abortion as a wedge issue to raise money


 * Trump
 * Evangelical support for Trump, "ordained by god"
 * Abandonment of Christian principles for political power
 * Trump as an archetype of the televangelist
 * Racism


 * Christian media
 * Information silo
 * Conservative, Republican agenda
 * "Discipling" Americans as Christian nationalists
 * Extremism, cultivation of outrage, fear


 * Fundraising
 * Fear and anger; highest donations
 * 40 years of fear and anger have led to Christians being afraid of the external world


 * Paradox and persecution
 * CN claim country is both a Christian nation and yet under attack by the government and secular society
 * Persecution narrative (Martydom of St. Sebastian)
 * Faith validated by suffering (Martyrdom of John the Evangelist)
 * Excitement of persecution (The Last Judgment)
 * Christians lied to about persecution for political purposes
 * No evidence they have lost freedoms
 * Despite lack of evidence, Trump persisted in the rhetoric
 * Trump played up tribalism, sword and the shield, us against them, politics of resentment


 * Political violence
 * Unite the right
 * Armed violent movement
 * Opposed to core Christian values
 * Rise of warrior Christ
 * Not spiritual per Bible, but physical violence
 * CN play up violence of book of revelation
 * "righteous use of force"
 * violence used by CN to protect church
 * Historical examples: Protestants drive Mormons from Missouri; mountain meadows massacre; first crusade; st. Bartholomew’s day massacre;
 * Christian terrorism
 * KKK. Cross as symbol of terror
 * Religious racism. "God ordains injustice"


 * Christian support for Trump
 * Fanaticism supported by prophecy (Cyrus the Great)
 * media failed to call it out
 * Trump as the new messiah in dialogue with god


 * Election denial
 * facts don’t matter, secret source of knowledge
 * CN leads directly to religious defense of stolen election
 * Jericho March
 * Stop the steal
 * Became a Christian tenet


 * January 6 attack
 * CN believe god called them to storm the Capitol
 * Jan 5, Rally to Revival (Jericho March)
 * Christians marching around the Capitol like Israel marching around Jericho
 * Walls of Jericho come tumbling down
 * Symbolic message to government by CN-March around Capitol to bring the government down and reinstate Trump as their god-ordained leader
 * Well organized, not spontaneous
 * People went to churches, got on buses, drove across the country, and were taken to the Capitol
 * TurningPoint sent 80 buses to the Capitol
 * Alex Jones advertised it as "Fight for Trump!"
 * Charlie Kirk tweeted mass invitation
 * Primed to believe it was a religious war between good and evil
 * Brian Gibson: "we’re going to take our nation back"


 * Parallels between CN and Nazi movement
 * American religious historian Kristin Kobes Du Mez studied 20th century Germany in grad school, with a focus on the German Christian movement
 * How could Christians participate in the Third Reich as Christians so that it was compatible with Nazism?
 * Pastor Rob Schenck noted that Hitler was declared a "gift and miracle from god".
 * Schenck later learned that when he was being trained as a minister, he was told to always consult the theological dictionary of the New Testament when he prepared a sermon.
 * He wasn’t told that the editing author, G. Kittel, was Hitler’s theologian who gave him the justification for genocide
 * Reza Aslan: "One doesn’t derive one’s values from scripture, one inserts one’s values into scripture."


 * Religious elements of Jan 6
 * Prayers before the attacks
 * Charlie Sykes: people were there to defend god, faith, and defend democracy while also overturning it
 * Crowd carried crosses, Bible verses on signs, pictures of Jesus, Christian flags
 * Historian Jemar Tisby: "They are praying in the name of Jesus Christ. They were using religion as a way to justify overturning democracy."
 * Russell Moore: "Christian nationalism uses Christianity as a means to an end. That end being a form of authoritarianism."

To be added

 * Berghoef, Christy (March 20, 2024). "Reviews: God and Country". ReformedJournal. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
 * Callahan, Mary (February 26, 2024). "'God & Country’ explores rise of Christian Nationalism, seeks to activate audiences". The Press Democrat. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
 * Gaylor, Annie Laurie (February 16, 2024). "God or Country? A review of a new film examining Christian nationalism." The Progressive Magazine. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
 * Hall, Mark David (February 22, 2024). "God & Country: A Review". Ad Fontes: A Journal of Protestant Letters. The Daveanant Institute. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
 * Krause, Bettina (March/April 2024). "Unholy Alliances: An interview with filmmaker Dan Partland". Liberty Magazine. North American Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church..
 * Olcese, Abby (February 15, 2024). "'God & Country' Documents the Christian Nationalist Takeover of Evangelicalism". Sojourners Magazine. Retrieved March 24, 2024.
 * Silver, Stephen. (February 29, 2024). "In New Documentary 'God and Country', Rob Reiner Shines a Light on Christian Nationalism". Washington Jewish Week. 60 (9): 24..