***”I don’t want to see religious bigotry in any form. It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.”
[ Billy Graham, 1981 ]
VI. WEAPONIZING RELIGION: From the 1930s through 2023, Right-Wing elements have WEAPONIZED RELIGION. Right wingers have confessed they see, ARE conducting a “religious war” against America. One political party has been taken over by right-wing religions, insisting THEIR religious dogma be made law – an absolute and total violation of Amendment One, but almost everything the Founding Generations said and wrote, 1770-1800. NO other activity in ALL American history, 1600s forward is more un-Constitutional and un-American than the effort by the “Religious Right” to impose THEIR beliefs on America. The results have been cruelty, corruption, and chaos visible throughout America.
***”I’m frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in “A,” “B,””C,” and “D.” Just who do they think they are? and from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?” [ Senator Barry Goldwater ]
1] Robert Boston: “Taking Liberties”: “Somewhere along the way, religious liberty has become twisted. Suddenly, it’s not about what you can do but what others are doing. Somehow the actions of others are seen as a threat to someone else’s religious liberty. thus, an employee’s decision to use birth control becomes a threat to her boss”s religious freedom……..
young children [learning] about evolution in a public school endangers the religious freedom of an evolution-denying family…A woman who shows up at a pharmacy and expects the pharmacist to do his job by giving her the medication her doctor has prescribed is threatening the pharmacist’s religious freedom.
“What we’re seeing is a deliberate attempt to redefine religious freedom. That concept is being shifted from an individually exercised right to something much different – to something threatened by the independent actions of others..”
*** U.S. Supreme Court, “Reynolds”, [1879]: on giving special privileges to one religion: “..to permit this would be to make the professed doctrine of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect permit every citizen to become a law unto himself. Government could only exist in name under such circumstances.”
2] Edwin Gaustad: “Faith of the Founders”: 1776 North Carolina constitution, Articles XXXIV: “..there shall be no establishment of anyone religious church..in preference to any other; neither shall any person, on any pretense whatsoever, be compelled to attend any place of worship contrary to his own faith..nor be obliged to pay, for the purchase of..the building of any house of worship, or for the maintenance of any minister or ministry, contrary to what he believes right..” ***THIS is what the First Amendment means***
***”Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost. As vice regents for God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arena, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors..over every aspect and institution of human society.”
[ Dr. James Kennedy ]
3] Randall Balmer: “Thy Kingdom Come”: “The evangelical faith..has been hijacked by right-wing zealots who have distorted the Gospel of Jesus christ..failed to appreciate the genius of the First Amendment..When they to quote the bible, they wrench passages out of context and offer pinched, literalist interpretations..The effect of this right-wing takeover has been a poisoning of public discourse and a distortion of the faith.”
***”As religion must always be a matter between God and individuals, no man can be made a member of a truly religious society by force or without his own consent, neither can any corporation that is not a religious society have a just right to govern in religious affairs.” [ Isaac Backus, 1781 ]
4]. Chris Hedges: “American Fascists. The Christian Right and the War on America”: “..values, democratic and Christian, are being dismantled, often by stealth, by a radical Christian movement. known as dominionism, which seeks to cloak itself in the mantle of the Christian faith and American patriotism..Dominionists now control at least six national television networks..virtually all of the nation’s more than 2,000 religious stations, as well as denominations such as the Southern Baptist Conference Dominionism seeks to redefine traditional democratic and Christian terms and concepts to fit an ideology that calls on the radical church to take political power It shares many prominent features with classical fascist movements,
“Dominionism seeks to politicize faith..The dominionist ,movement..seeks to appropriate not only our religious and patriotic language, but also our stories..to deny that there are other acceptable ways of living and being. There becomes only one way to be a Christian and only one way to bean American….
“The movement has sanctified a ruthless unfettered capitalism..the gospel of prosperity..has formulated a belief system that delights corporate America. Corporations such as Tyson. Foods..along with Perdue, Wal-Mart, and Sam’s Wholesale..are huge financial backers of the movement.”
*** “Is it not strange that the descendants of those Pilgrim Fathers who crossed the Atlantic to preserve their own freedom of opinion have always proved themselves intolerant of the spiritual liberty of others?” [Robert E. Lee]
5] Kevin Kruse: “One Nation Under God How Corporate America Invented Christian America”: “..in..the 1930s and early 1940s..corporate titans enlisted conservative clergymen in an effort to promote new political arguments..this new ideology was designed to defeat the state power its architects feared most…Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal..With ample funding from major corporations ..these new evangelists for free enterprise promoted..”Christian libertarianism”..
large business organizations bankrolled major efforts to promote the role of religion in public life….
“In December, 1939, the minister [Fifield] placed a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times decrying the New Deal as antithetical to the designs of the founding fathers..The New Deal..posed a dire threat to the American way of life, and it was the duty of clergymen to save the nation’s soul….
“On “Independence Sunday” [7/1/51]..”tens of thousands of clergymen offered sermons on the topic of “Freedom Under God,”..”The effect to establish socialism in our country has probably progressed further than most of us fully realize,” asserted a Lutheran minister in Kansas.”
***”Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty..are called by God to conquer this country. We don’t want equal time..don’t want pluralism.” [ Randall Terry ]
6]. “When the director-general of the colony, Pieter Stuyvesant, sought to quash religious expressions other than the Dutch Reformed Church..the citizens of Flushing responded on December 27, 1657, with the Flushing Remonstrance, one of the earliest statements of religious liberty in the American colonies..”..let every man stand or fall to his own Master,’ they wrote, pleading for freedom of “conscience betwixt God and our own souls..” {Randall Balmer: “Solemn Reverence The Separation of church and State in American Life”}
***”I have often expressed my sentiments, that every man..being accountable to God alone for his religious opinions, ought to be protected in worshipping the Deity according to the dictates of his own conscience.”
[ George Washington ]
7] Katherine Stewart: “The Power Worshippers”: “Christian nationalism is not a social or cultural movement. It is a political movement, and its ultimate goal is power..to replace our foundational democratic principles and institutions with a state grounded on a particular version of Christianity..also happens to serve the interests of its plutocratic funders and allied political leaders.
“Church United’s raison d’etre is to politicize pastors in the “right ” direction.
“Prior to the presidential election of 2016, Garlow warned..Christians..were close..would be compelled to “participate in very active civil disobedience” against..”un-godly government.”…do not follow violations of the word of God.”
“By networking with Russians, the HSLDA – now America’s largest right-wing homeschooling association – has provided the Kremlin with a new avenue of influence over some of the most conservative organizations in the United States.
“Russian oligarchs, having effectively deployed religious nationalism to gain control over their own population, readily grasped..it could be used to shape events in other countries..Russian leaders see America’s Christian right as a tremendously useful vehicle for influencing American politics and government..
“The christian nationalists affection for Mr. Putin..goes much deeper..At the core of the attraction lies a shared political vision..They love Russia, it seems, because they hate America and its form of secular, constitutional democracy.
“The Alliance Defending Freedom joins with other right-wing groups in weaponizing the idea of “free speech.”
***”..Madison..reminded the House that some state conventions had expressed the fear..Congress might establish a national religion..In his great speech of June 8, 1789..People feared Congress would establish a national religion..Madison mentioned..some people feared the dominance of one sect or the possibility..two might combine to establish a religion to which others might have to conform.” [ Levy: “The Establishment Clause”}
8] “Engel v. Vitale”[1962], quoting James Madison, “Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments” [1785]: “[The} first and most immediate purpose [of the Establishment Clause] rested on the belief that a union of government and religion tends to destroy government and degrade religion. The history of governmentally established religion..showed..whenever government allied itself with one particular form of religion, the inevitable result had been that it had incurred hatred, disrespect and even contempt of those who wielded contrary beliefs..” The Establishment Clause thus stands as an expression of principle [by] the Founders of our Constitution that religion is too personal, too sacred, too holy to permit its “unhallowed perversion” by civil magistrates.” { Andrew Koppelman: “Defending America’s Religious Neutrality” ]
*** Ohio Supreme Court { 1872 }: “Let the state not only keep its own hands off, but let it see that religious sects keep their hands off each other.”
9] “Escape From Christian Nationalism”: “Over the next few days and weeks, it would become clear that busloads of White evangelicals were indeed among the rioters..friends from my old church informed me that dozens of people from churches in our home region had been there..I realized that the Capitol insurrection was the logical outcome of a half century of patriotic Christians preparing for combat..In the 1970s, the Religious Right – an explicitly political coalition of evangelicals and Catholics set on restoring old-time religion and family values – joined forces with the New Right.
“Together they form the New Religious Right..their Christian nationalist mission has been to take America back for God and the people they deem worthy of holding power in his name..two things become evident. First, religious symbols were everywhere..Second, White Christian nationalism was a major unifying phenomenon among the insurrectionists.” [ Bradley Onishi; Church & State; March, 2023 }
*** “..it is war. It is a war of ideology..a war of ideas..a war of our way of life..to be fought with the same intensity and dedication as..a shooting war.” { Paul Weyrich, “conservative” political activist ]
10] Charles Kimball: “When Religion Becomes Evil” – “The Five Warning Signs of Corruption in Religion: absolute truth claims; blind obedience; establishing the ‘Ideal’ time; the end justifies any means; declaring holy war.”
[ It should be OBVIOUS to any serious observer of 1970-2023 America, at least four of those “corruption of
religion” signs have been utilized here. As theFounding Generations feared, post-1980 America has been
torn apart by Far Right religious zealots – who obviously have used ANY means in their crusade ]
***”There is a religious war going on in this country. It is a cultural war..for the soul of America.” [ Pat Buchanan,
1992 Republican National convention speech ]
11] “How Debate Over Transgender Issues Became A New Rallying Cry for the Right”[ Adam Nagourney & Jeremy Peters; New York Times; 4/16/23]: “When the Supreme Court declared a constitutional right to same-sex marriage nearly eight years ago, social conservatives were set adrift. The ruling stripped them of an issue they had used to galvanize rank-and-file supporters and big donors..left them searching for a cause that..would rally the base and raise the movement’s profile on the national stage..the effort to restrict transgender rights has supplanted same-sex marriage as an animating issue for social conservatives.
“..it was also the result of careful planning by national conservative organizations to harness the emotion and gender politics..”Once they opened that parent’s rights frame, they began to use it everywhere.”..For several years, conservative Christian legal groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Liberty Counsel have been shifting their resources.”
*** “Our job is to evangelize..schools are the battleground. The goal of 500,000 born-again Christians working inside the ‘system’ is to bring public education back under..control of the Christian community.” [ Robert Simonds, president “Citizens for Excellence in Education and National Association of Christian Educators”; 1991 ]
12] “With God On their Side. How Christian Fundamentalists Are Controlling the Bush White House – And Interfering With American Lives” [ Church & State; January, 2006 ]: “A Conservation With Author Esther Kaplan”: Q. What do you believe is the Religious Right’s long-term goal for America? A. “The movement’s vision..is to bring God’s law into civic and political life, that is the Christian Right’s conservative evangelical version of God’s law..a theocratic vision.
“In their America, churches, rather than government will provide social services, and so tax dollars will flow to churches. Conservative Christian faith will be considered an important qualification for public office. [!!!eliminate Article VI prohibition!!!] ..Policy in everything from media to medicine will be guided by conservative evangelical moralism…
“The right’s strategy for stacking the courts with conservatives..On the Supreme Court, the combination of Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and Alito has the potential to be a right-wing juggernaut, which could swing the door open to a thoroughgoing infiltration of Christianity into government..turn the clock back on women’s rights, gay rights and civil rights. We will likely face a situation where the federal courts will simply cease to be a force in the expansion – or even protection – of our democratic rights.”
*** “You say you’re supposed to be nice to Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don’t have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist..” [Pat Robertson; 700 cub]
13]. “All The President’s Men And Women Members of President Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board Are Hard At Work Changing Public Policy – But They’d Rather You Not Know About It” [Rob Boston; church & State; October, 2018]: “Advisory Board members crow about their influence in Washington, D.C. “There is a long list of progress we have made with this administration..We’ve provided consequential feedback on policy and personnel decisions particularly affecting religious liberty, judges, the right to life and foreign policy. We are also actively at work on issues like criminal justice reform..The Advisory Board, Moore said, has a “pretty significant” hand in “directing or affecting” administration policy.”
“..the advisory board is not in compliance with federal law..the Federal Advisory Commission Act..a 1972 law Congress enacted to “ensure that advice by the various advisory committees formed over the years is objective and accessible to the public.”
***Robert Jeffress, pastor, First Baptist Church of Dallas – has called gays “miserable,” “filthy,” and “degrading.” “What a lot of people miss is, America is not a church where everyone should be welcome regardless of race and background.”
“Islam is wrong. It is a heresy from the pit of hell. Judaism – you can’t be saved being a Jew.” In a 2011 sermon, he called the Catholic Church a corrupt version of Christianity that sprang from ancient Babylonian cults.
14] “Medical Emergency. The Church-State Wall Has Collapsed When it Comes to End-of-Life Care” [ Kim Callinan; Church & State; March, 2021]: “..four out of five Americans still lack explicit legal right to medical aid in dying – largely because religion is dictating our public policy. In most, if not all states, the largest, most organized and well-funded obstacle to the authorization of medical aid in dying is the Catholic Church..only one example of how a religion’s health care system’s values could interfere with your end-of-life care.”
***”Two main ethical concerns are advanced against legalization of physician-assisted suicide. The first is that it is not our place to decide the time of our death; only God decides..It rests firmly on a foundation of religious belief, which is not a sound basis for public policy. Worse, it runs roughshod over the right to individual self-determination.” [ Arthur Caplan; Free Inquiry; February/March, 2014]
15]. Mary Ziegler; “Dollars For Life”: “the influence ..of anti-abortion movement..has everything to do with money in U.S. politics.” Changes in campaign finance rules came at a terrible price for the GOP establishment and had important consequences for the functioning of American democracy.
“Citizen United” changes harmed democracy – empowered those against compromise, fueled partisan gridlock – made it hard to govern…….
“By 1993..[Bopp] concluded that almost all campaign finance restrictions harmed anti-abortion groups.”….
With “Citizens United” the Court overhauled the understanding of corruption in elections: no corruption beyond quid pro quo; the fact “speakers” have influence and access doesn’t mean corruption….no loss of citizen’s faith
Bopp wanted the Supreme Court to define corruption narrowly – only quid pro quo!!!!!!!!
The 2014 election “proved the importance of..”McCutcheon” and “Citizens United” – a flood of money occurred.
“Hobby Lobby” – what is the meaning of “religious liberty”?
“..there would have been no “Citizens United” if pro-lifers had not redirected the fight to undo campaign finance restrictions, litigating cases and reframing limits..”
Anti-abortion leaders argued more spending on political speech would be better for democracy “but intertwined campaigns to reverse Roe, deregulate campaign finance, and pack..federal courts with conservatives not only wreaked havoc on political parties but altered American politics – gridlock, negative partisanship, growing support for political violence… the pro-life link made the coalition work.
*** “Ecclesiastical Establishments tend to great ignorance and Corruption, all of which facilitate the Execution of mischievous Projects.” [ James Madison, 1774 letter ]
The above is a VERY small sample of the MOUNTAINS of evidence the Far Right has WEAPONIZED RELIGION in America – and in so doing, has damaged this country severely. Legal jokes like “Dobbs,” – yes, but most is the damage done to ordinary people like YOU, caught up in THEIR Holy War.
The cruelty, chaos, turmoil is everywhere: trying to control YOUR sex life and YOUR reproductive choices; censorship of library books and school curriculums; trying to prevent people around the world from accessing basic medical knowledge about their own bodies – contributing to the near, if not, unsustainable population explosion; trying to rewrite American history and science – to support their LIES; sabotaging American democracy by demanding 100% free “electoral free speech” [ buying elections, bribing office holders].
*** “I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute..where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference..where no no public official either requests or accept instructions on public policy from the Pope, the National Council of churches, or any other ecclesiastical source; where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials..”
[ John Fitzgerald Kennedy; 9/12/60 speech; Houston, Texas ]
With Justice For All 