zenlutheran church&state, culture wars, social justice

Putin, Trump, Fox News and white Christian nationalism — a common thread in Ukraine and US ‘culture wars’

Слава Родине When Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin claimed “the west’s ‘cancel culture’” victimizes “an entire thousand-year-old country, our people” on March 25, American pundit Robert Reich of Cal-Berkeley noted it “was the third time in recent months Putin has blasted the so-called ‘cancel culture’.” Reich said he’s heard it before. “Which,” he added, “is … Continue reading Putin, Trump, Fox News and white Christian nationalism — a common thread in Ukraine and US ‘culture wars’

zenlutheran church&state, culture wars, racism

Op ed piece connects important dots between Jan. 6, white Christian nationalism and uproar over ‘CRT’

A very useful op ed piece on the New York Times’ website today connects the dots between former President Trump’s violent assault on the U.S. Capitol Jan. 6, 2021; white Christian nationalist fears of being replaced and persecuted by non-Christian immigrants and secular society; and the past year’s hysteria over “Critical Race Theory” and other … Continue reading Op ed piece connects important dots between Jan. 6, white Christian nationalism and uproar over ‘CRT’

zenlutheran anti-Semitism, Augustana, church&state, culture wars, immigration, racism, Swedes

Tucker Carlson’s ‘replacement theory’ rhetoric, white Christian nationalism and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol

Let’s connect some dots that could help bring a couple of disparate strands of my immigration history project together. (Spoiler alert: I think some of the difficulties Swedish Lutheran immigrants experienced in the 1850s were similar to those confronting Buddhist, Hindu or Sikh immigrants today, and I think the “great replacement theory” of today is … Continue reading Tucker Carlson’s ‘replacement theory’ rhetoric, white Christian nationalism and the Jan. 6 insurrection at the US Capitol

zenlutheran Augustana, church&state, culture wars

Jan. 7 opinion piece blames white Christian nationalism, leaders for Jan. 6 Trump supporters’ riot

A day-after guest column in the evangelical magazine Christianity Today on the Jan. 6 riot when an angry mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building and tried to stop certification of the 2020 presidential election returns. That mob action brought into sharp focus several of the themes I’ve been trying to track in … Continue reading Jan. 7 opinion piece blames white Christian nationalism, leaders for Jan. 6 Trump supporters’ riot

zenlutheran Augustana, church&state, culture wars, diversity, immigration, racism, Swedes

Whitehead and Perry: (white) Christian nationalism, Jan. 6 riot, Jim Crow election laws a fundamental ‘threat to a pluralistic, democratic society’

An op ed piece by sociologists Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry uploaded yesterday to Time magazine’s website connects some important dots. Authors of Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States (Oxford, 2020), they conclude white Christian nationalism is “fundamentally a threat to a pluralistic, democratic society.” Here’s what I shared to Facebook … Continue reading Whitehead and Perry: (white) Christian nationalism, Jan. 6 riot, Jim Crow election laws a fundamental ‘threat to a pluralistic, democratic society’

zenlutheran church&state, culture wars

Cheers from the MAGA crowd for saying the quiet part out loud — US rep says Roe v. Wade repeal a ‘victory for white life’

US Rep. Mary Miller’s PR people said it was “a mix-up of words,” but her audience at a fairgrounds near Quincy cheered, and the news went worldwide. In the UK, the Guardian’s international edition carried an Associated Press story reporting: Illinois Republican Mary Miller told a crowd at a rally held alongside former president Donald Trump that … Continue reading Cheers from the MAGA crowd for saying the quiet part out loud — US rep says Roe v. Wade repeal a ‘victory for white life’

zenlutheran civil religion, culture wars, diversity, immigration, racism, social justice

Buffalo massacre shows how widespread and dangerous white Christian nationalist conspiracy theories are becoming

Two articles by scholars published in the wake of the mass murder at the Tops Friendly Markets store in Buffalo struck me like Thomas Jefferson’s fire bell in the night. The scholars are Samuel Perry, of the University of Oklahoma, and Philip Gorski, of Yale; they have written extensively about white Christian nationalism — the … Continue reading Buffalo massacre shows how widespread and dangerous white Christian nationalist conspiracy theories are becoming

zenlutheran church&state, culture wars

Trump, Putin, toxic nationalism and religion, a match made in heaven

For a little more than a year now, ever since the Jan. 6 insurrection in fact, I’ve been worried about the rise of xenophobic, far-right authoritarianism and white Christian nationalism in America. I’ve blogged about HERE, HERE and HERE, for example. Now comes a historian at New York University who puts it in context. The … Continue reading Trump, Putin, toxic nationalism and religion, a match made in heaven

zenlutheran church&state, culture wars, Roger Williams

Book-burning white evangelical pastor in Middle Tennessee proves: Religion plus extremist politics equals extremist politics

[Roger] Williams described the true church as a magnificent garden, unsullied and pure, resonant of Eden. The world he described as “the Wilderness,” a word with personal resonance for him. Then he used for the first time a phrase he would use again, a phrase that although not commonly attributed to him has echoed through … Continue reading Book-burning white evangelical pastor in Middle Tennessee proves: Religion plus extremist politics equals extremist politics

zenlutheran church&state, culture wars

Jewish studies prof at Chicago: ‘Judeo-Christian’ language a dog whistle for white Christian exclusivism 

Since the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, I’ve been seeing more and more parallels to the anti-immigrant fervor of the 1850s. This time the targets are Muslims, Latino immigrants and, increasingly, progressives of all faith traditions instead of Irish Catholics, but the parallels are striking. And troubling One was suggested by Rachel S. … Continue reading Jewish studies prof at Chicago: ‘Judeo-Christian’ language a dog whistle for white Christian exclusivism