I’m also skeptical that Harris’s book hurts Democrats. A lot of people who follow politics very closely will read it. Most of them will probably come away from it largely believing the things they already did about 2024.

Miller

Erika Kirk forgiving Charlie’s killer, followed by Trump’s declaration of hate follows the way MAGA Christianity feminizes forgiveness and reserves violence as a masculine virtue. It made me think of this scene from Game of Thrones

I would argue a significant portion of Christians in the US are unfamiliar with or actively disagree with the teachings of Christ. Honestly, people using religion (of any kind) to reinforce their prejudices is an age old story.

the stench of moral and theological rot is overwhelming.

A great excerpt from a fascinating thread/discussion. I’ve again hit the point in being American where I almost wish I hadn’t realized I have no religious faith because as a Lutheran or Episcopalian, I’d be shouting this from the rooftops, but it doesn’t work well to do that as an atheist.

Charlie Kirk’s memorial was a religious revival of MAGA authoritarianism. With the exception of his widow, it was a celebration of rage, hatred, and retribution. I wrote about it for @liberalcurrents.com www.liberalcurrents.com/charlie-kirk...

People seem determined to remember Charlie Kirk as a devout Christian. This includes mainstream and liberal descriptions of him and not just MAGA hagiography. But look, the things he said about people were in direct contravention of Christ’s teachings. It’s deeply perverted to suggest otherwise.

I genuinely think we under appreciate the soft power role of evangelical Christianity. It's just one part of the US cultural export network, and just as influential as Hollywood

This is a good overview of what too many accept as Christianity today, as it's manifested in Charlie Kirk's murder. We should not hesitate to call his deification, or the fascism behind it, evil. Belief (or non-belief... ahem, New Atheists) does not make you automatically moral or good.

🧵

If Comey is charged, keep this mind. 👇 Seems like charging Comey is more about retribution than justice.

“Maybe I hear about a guy named Reid Hoffman” spoken like a true Mafia goon

Reid Hoffman, the billionaire founder of LinkedIn, funded E. Jean Carroll's litigation against Trump.

'You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, I can't stand the word empathy, actually. I think empathy is a made-up, new age term that does a lot of damage." The Word of the Lord

Christian Nationalism is evil

"Kirk’s killing now stands to become memorialized as a sacred event on the MAGA right, one that pushes the country further toward the abyss. The rhetoric around Kirk’s legacy has been explicitly religious, flavored with talk of blood sacrifice and divine vengeance."

Absolutely. As someone from a very Catholic family, even if not super religious now myself - ancestors are Swiss Guards, uncle is a priest, grandpa was permanent deacon - so much of what comes from right-wing/MAGA movement is anathema to Catholic teaching of love neighbor & welcome strangers & more.

Also, Lavin's writing is always amazing - well-researched, well-written, and full of empathy and anger at injustice. I read Wild Faith a while back and, despite having grown up surrounded by fundies/evangelicals, learned a lot about their organizing (and remembered some things I'd forgotten).

Y’all need to be reading Alan’s work.

"Charlie Kirk’s assassination, in a different time and place, could have been a moment for the country to pull back from the brink. Instead, it has become a religious 'revival' for Trumpism." www.liberalcurrents.com/charlie-kirk...

Erika Kirk forgiving Charlie’s killer, followed by Trump’s declaration of hate follows the way MAGA Christianity feminizes forgiveness and reserves violence as a masculine virtue. It made me think of this scene from Game of Thrones

Omg someone's saying it clearly

I don’t really get caught up on the “not a Christian” language. If you read what I wrote, I argue his politics and rhetoric were in contravention of Christ’s teachings. Asserting blasphemy is not a no true Scotsman fallacy. Also, your definition of Christian is a theologically contested one.

Maybe I will try to do a more formal write up although it will take me some time to do it justice. But I agree with @aselrod.bsky.social that this evangelism project of theirs is likely to intensify it might help to explore the way kinder biblical language is used to reinforce bigotry and abuse.

I strongly agree with this. We did have several big ecumenical councils to work this stuff out—you want all those catering budgets to go to waste?!

i maintain that heretics & apostates are much more useful terms than "not real christians"

This is a really well done essay and I definitely agree: “What I see in MAGA in its current form is an evangelical undertaking—an attempt to wholly reconfigure American cultural life and thought.” What I’d add is that Erika Kirk’s words go hand in hand with that mission.

“Wessel, a young Nazi and member of the SA, was murdered by members of the Communist Party of Germany in 1930. His death became a rallying point for Nazi Party, and they adopted a march for which he’d written lyrics as the party anthem.” www.liberalcurrents.com/charlie-kirk...

Read, read and reread! #Kirk #weaponization #Christiannationalism #Miller #Vance #Trump

To paraphrase Voltaire, “The MAGA religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fool.”

Oh heck this is good stuff. (I mean, it's deeply troubling but beautifully put.)

Reminded me of the Reawaken America Tour, which had Charlie Kirk, Kash Patel, Pete Navarro, Mike Flynn, RFK Jr... as speakers/organizers apnews.com/article/reaw...

A Catholic cardinal went on TV to talk about how awesome a Christian Kirk was! Compared him to St. Paul! It’s insane!

Great piece that puts the martyrdom of Horst Wessel into modern perspective.

This part. Charlie Kirk’s Christianity was deeply anti-Jesus. Completely devoid of the Beatitudes, for a start

“Christ insists that the measure of faithfulness is what is done for the least among us…Yet the American right and, indeed, American evangelicals have spent decades given over to Nietzschean cults of power worship, masculinity, and narcissism.” Read my latest on the Kirk memorial and MAGA.

My CoC grandmother used to constantly reiterate "Christ didn't come to establish an earthly kingdom." It was a guiding light that turned me away from a lot of what's happened to evangelicalism.

About that… bsky.app/profile/clay...

Rage, hatred, retribution, fireworks

It feels almost impossible as a practicing Christian to talk about my horror and revulsion at what American evangelics profess and practice because non-Christians always come out to yell "YOU CAN'T JUST NOT ALL CHRISTIANS." But they are spitting in the face of the actual teachings of Christ?

The record of Kirk's utterances suggests that he never met a Beatitude that he cared for.

If you want to read something else along these lines, I recommend one of @jvl.bsky.social’s recent Triads. JVL comes from the Catholic tradition, so I think it’s helpful to add here. open.substack.com/pub/thebulwa...

Yet another penetrating essay from @liberalcurrents.com, which I strongly recommendhro subscribing too as an organization of people trying to fight for liberalism and who keep producing really great essays. Read this one: 'Authoritarian Apostles' is an idea that will haunt me.

"Christ insists that the measure of faithfulness is what is done for the least among us and commands his followers to turn the other cheek. These are hardly virtues commensurate with the Trumpian fixation on domination, strength, and spite."