Tag: Christian Right

Journalist explains how Trump behaves like a ‘cult leader’ for the Christian right: They ‘end up destroying themselves’

AlterNet logoThe United States is sick with income and other forms of social inequality. It suffers from cruelty, loneliness, greed, gangster capitalism, white supremacy, violence, sexism and a culture of ignorance and distraction. Our broken political system does not encourage critical thinking or nurture a capacity for responsible, engaged citizenship.President Donald Trump is the human embodiment of almost everything wrong with American society. He is both the symptom and the disease.

Trump and the Republican Party’s fascist movement and its news media and supporters are America’s problems given life as social and political chaos and destruction on a massive scale. Even reality and the truth have not been spared this assault.
In this conversation, philosopher, journalist and cultural critic Chris Hedges warns that impeaching Donald Trump will not save American democracy from these problems.

Hedges is the author of numerous award-winning and bestselling books including “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle,” “Death of a Liberal Class,” “War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning,” “American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America” and “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.” His new book is “America: The Farewell Tour.”

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‘I don’t think it’s going to end well’: Ex-megachurch pastor explains why evangelical support for Trump is ‘incredibly damaging to the gospel’

AlterNet logoIn 1997, Gen-Xer Joshua Harris became a star of the Christian right thanks to his book, “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” — which advocated strict celibacy for unmarried couples. But the former megachurch pastor has since renounced far-right fundamentalist Christianity, apologized to the gay community for homophobic statements he made in the past, and declared “I am not a Christian.” Harris, now in his early forties, is highly critical of the Christian right’s alliance with President Donald Trump — and he addressed that relationship when interviewed by Axios co-founder Mike Allen for “Axios on HBO.”

During the interview, Allen told Harris, “It sounds like you think the church has made a massive mistake by becoming so identified with President Trump” — to which Harris replied, “I think it’s incredibly damaging to the gospel and to the church.”

Harris went on to say, “I don’t think it’s going to end well…. You look back at the Old Testament and the relationship between the prophets and really bad leaders and kings, and often times, it’s not something you unwind because it’s actually in the scriptures presented as God’s judgement on the false religion of the day.”

View the complete November 4 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet website here.

Columnist reveals why Trump and the Republicans’ love of Israel is actually about ‘maintaining white Christian dominance’

AlterNet logoThe Christian Right, which has been an integral part of the Republican Party since President Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign, is known for its strident support of Israel as well as its belief that fundamentalist Christianity is the only way to escape eternal hellfire and damnation. It’s a bizarre contradiction: far-right white Protestant evangelicals believe that Jews will receive a one-way ticket to hell unless they become fundamentalist Christians, yet they profess to be unwavering supporters of Israel — even going so far as to denounce others as anti-Semitic for not being pro-Israel enough. Journalist Peter Beinart takes a close look at the Christian Right’s supposed love affair with Israel in a thought-provoking piece for The Forward, and he concludes that their obsession with Israel is not rooted in a love of Judaism, but in a white nationalist viewpoint.

The Christian Right, which has been an integral part of the Republican Party since President Ronald Reagan’s 1980 campaign, is known for its strident support of Israel as well as its belief that fundamentalist Christianity is the only way to escape eternal hellfire and damnation. It’s a bizarre contradiction: far-right white Protestant evangelicals believe that Jews will receive a one-way ticket to hell unless they become fundamentalist Christians, yet they profess to be unwavering supporters of Israel — even going so far as to denounce others as anti-Semitic for not being pro-Israel enough. Journalist Peter Beinart takes a close look at the Christian Right’s supposed love affair with Israel in a thought-provoking piece for The Forward, and he concludes that their obsession with Israel is not rooted in a love of Judaism, but in a white nationalist viewpoint.

“Republicans no longer talk about Israel like it’s a foreign country,” Beinart asserts. “They conflate love of Israel with love of America because they see Israel as a model for what they want America to be: an ethnic democracy.”

View the complete July 30 article by Alex Henderson on the AlterNet website here.