reading:jesus_and_john_wayne

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reading:jesus_and_john_wayne [2023-03-27 06:13] – [A New High Priest] asdfreading:jesus_and_john_wayne [2023-03-30 23:08] (current) – Struct data changed asdf
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 It's easy to see how well Christian nationalism aligns with fascism: "Our nation was once great, prosperous, and (most importantly)  Christian, but then the secularists and the humanists and the communists came along. And once they stripped the God out of America, they took the prosperity, too. Only by purging the nation of their influence can we catalyze a national rebirth and reclaim our rightful place atop the world stage."  It's easy to see how well Christian nationalism aligns with fascism: "Our nation was once great, prosperous, and (most importantly)  Christian, but then the secularists and the humanists and the communists came along. And once they stripped the God out of America, they took the prosperity, too. Only by purging the nation of their influence can we catalyze a national rebirth and reclaim our rightful place atop the world stage." 
  
-It is immediately clear from the early pages that this book was written largely in response to the Trump presidency. Untold quantities of ink, paper, and bytes have been consumed trying to make sense of it all. It's all too easy to open such a piece with one's jaw firmly on the floor and close without ever picking it up, let alone making a coherent point beyond the self-evident "Trump bad". Perhaps that failure stems from clinging too tightly to the belief that his presidency was somehow an anomaly or that it was without precedent. Why does two plus two equal four? Because it does, of course---now let's discuss something else.+It is immediately clear from the early pages that this book was written largely in response to the Trump presidency. Untold quantities of ink, paper, and bytes have been consumed trying to make sense of it all. It's all too easy to open such a piece with one's jaw firmly on the floor and close without ever picking it up, let alone making a coherent point beyond the self-evident "Trump bad". Perhaps that failure stems from clinging too tightly to the belief that his presidency was somehow an anomaly or that it was without precedent. "Why does two plus two equal four? Because it does, of course---now let's discuss something else." 
 + 
 +Du Mez, however, demonstrates that not only was such a presidency very much precedented, it was in fact the culmination of decades worth of cultural crusades. Evangelical leaders have long stoked fears of existential threats to the nation and their religion---which they view as one and the same---in order to mobilize their followers into political action. Their surprise was realizing how little control they had over the shape of that mobilization in the end. It would almost be amusing if not for the cruelty that ensued.  
 + 
 +Having read Altemeyer's //The Authoritarians//, I felt a gap of sorts in Du Mez's analysis. While she frequently points out that apparent ideological contradictions are often not, she never directly invokes authoritarianism as a key factor. That understanding is a missing piece; trained by their leaders to fear attacks from evil actors in an unambiguous binary spiritual struggle, it is no surprise that evangelicals lined up behind a strong man who confirmed those vaporous fears and offered protection. Indeed, I now wonder how much of the correlation between authoritarianism and religion noted by Altemeyer is coincidental and how much was cultivated by the groups outlined in this book. Are the two meaningfully separable? 
 + 
 +Given that the most powerful players in the text are from the same generation or two, it is tempting to believe that the Religious Right's power will wane as its figureheads and loudest followers die off. But that hope has proven false before. 
  
-Du Mez, however, demonstrates that not only was such a presidency very much precedented, it was in fact the culmination of decades worth of cultural crusades. Evangelical leaders have long stoked fears of existential threats to the nation and their religion in order to mobilize their followers into political action. Their surprise was realizing how little control they had over that mobilization in the end.  
 ===== Related reading ===== ===== Related reading =====
   * [[Anti-Intellectualism in American Life]], particularly Part 2   * [[Anti-Intellectualism in American Life]], particularly Part 2
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 readinglist.title    : Jesus and John Wayne readinglist.title    : Jesus and John Wayne
 readinglist.summary  : Discusses the long-running campaign of American evangelicals to masculinize Jesus and the ripple effects that campaign has had on the nation's political discourse. readinglist.summary  : Discusses the long-running campaign of American evangelicals to masculinize Jesus and the ripple effects that campaign has had on the nation's political discourse.
-readinglist.status   : reading+readinglist.status   : read
 readinglist.subjects : politics, history, evangelicalism readinglist.subjects : politics, history, evangelicalism
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