My thread yesterday about Hitler, his knowing that he would have to be a Christian hypocrite for political advantage, would also need influential Christian leaders to succeed. For Hitler, this was Gerhard Kittel, the German theologian. He proposed extermination of the Jews.

I briefly mentioned Jerry Falwell. Far right conservative activists Ed McAteer and Paul Weyrich we’re regarded as radicals. There group was to change the existing power structure, but they wanted to change what conservative meant. Weyrich was the man with the vision. He was

known as the “evil genius” of the 1980 manifesto “The New Right: We’re Ready to Lead.” They would establish themselves first as the opposition, then the alternative, finally the government. They would weaken existing institutions and eventually destroy them. First they would

maintain a constant barrage of the left, a constant attack on the legitimacy of the left, “we will not give them a moments rest, we will use guerrilla tactics to undermine all legitimacy of the left. Weyrich stated that he wanted a country and voting changed “I don’t want

everybody to vote.” Continuing “As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.” The core of the concerns was the perception that American capitalism was under threat from internal and external enemies. The civil rights

movement in the South was an opportunity because they could appeal to the Southern white voters with populism, racism and nativism. Weyrich wanted the New Right to replace the conservative Rockefeller Republicans. To do this they would need to appeal to Southern Christians.

Like Hitler, Weyrich knew that “if we could access the religious vote, power would be in our grasp.” But Like Hitler, Weyrich would need influential Christian leaders. After must research, they decided on Jerry Falwell, Jim Robison and Pat Robertson. They would get them involved

in their politics to gain the power they needed to replace the Rockefeller Republicans. They also needed prominent Christian groups. These would be the Moral Majority, the Heritage Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council, the Free Congress Council and most

importantly the Council for National Policy. So what you need to understand is that these religious leaders and religious groups were co-opted for a political movement to take over government. And these religious leaders and groups accepted the cooptation because it would

benefit them. You must also understand the importance of the Council for National Policy. Their members today include the NRA, Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Christian Right leaders Tony Perkins, Ralph Reed and James Dobson, antiabortion activists, right-wing economic policy

groups and media conglomerates, right wing legal movements including Alan Sears, Jay Sekulow, Leonard Leo, members of the DeVos family including Betsy, Erik Prince and Richard DeVos who served twice as President of the Council for National Policy. This Council also went on

to assemble media networks and organizations. This is why Kellyanne, Bannon, DeVos and Prince were a big part of the Trump administration.
Anyway Weyrich needed to find hot-button issues. He would find this in the intersection of federal power, race and religion. Weyrich knew

that Jerry Falwell was having issues in the south with his segregated schools and colleges. They came together out of Jerry Falwell’s fear that his schools would no longer be tax exempt because his schools were still segregated. The Supreme Court were going to end his tax

Exceptions. Black students were ejected by the police even if they attempted to pray at his church. He attempted to use the Bible to continue justification of segregation. They believed they had a God-given right not just to separate the races but also they should receive

federal money for that purpose. This New Right would defend them. They had to find ways to make their voices heard in Washington. They said that their traditional Christian values were under attack and that there was a moral majority who wanted to uphold these values, Weyrich

called this new institution, the Moral Majority. Unfortunately, the Moral Majority argument of fighting for tax exemption of segregated schools wasn’t working. “Stop the tax on segregation” wasn’t going to inspire. It was at this time in 1979, six years after Roe v. Wade, that

thought of abortion. Abortion could be the moral argument for religious freedom. An anti-abortion crusade was more palatable than the religious rights real motivation which was protecting segregated schools. In 1980 at a conference in D.C., Weyrich spoke if this. “Let us remember

that the religious right did not come together in response to the Roe decision, what got us going was the attempt of the IRS to rescind the tax-exempt status of Bob Jones University because of its racially discriminatory policies.” Abortion was “cobbled into the political

agenda of the Religious Right.” Falwell marvelled that abortion could “pull together many of our fringe Christian friends.” Falwell was to be their perfect Christian leader. This is when Jerry Falwell began to denounce abortion, five years after Roe v.Wade. He through in

homosexuality and pornography for good measure. And then to advance this religious power movement they converted the influential evangelical theologian Francis Schaeffer. He decided abortion abortion in a film called “Whatever Happened to the Human Race,” that was screened

at churches across the country, with a follow up abortion movie “Silent Scream” to be premiered on television, on Jerry Falwell’s television program on several major television networks. The aim was to get Congress to see this movie. It was. By Ronald Reagan. Abortion was the key

to unlocking the New Rights power.

Apologies for so many autowrecks. Like through when it should be threw and there when it should be their.

One has to remember that at the time of R v W, Republicans were pro-choice (for those who don’t believe this, go and do some research). They were still listening to the middle class in the early seventies. This pro-choice in the Republican Party persisted until the mid 1990’s.

Unfortunately, the Republican National Convention in 1996 changed this. The Religious Right has become too powerful by this stage influenced by the New Right Movement. For political unity around abortion, these new Christian nationalists understood that it was necessary to change

the deep frame of American religion. The modern pro-life religion that dominates American Conservative churches is a political creation. Everyone was in place, new Republican leaders with ties to the Council of National Policy. Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and co created

grassroots political organizations that was able to tap into mailing lists they had after Robertson’s failed 1988 presidential campaign. The Christian Coalition would control the Republican Party. Communication to raise funds warned against the dangers of feminism, witchcraft

the destruction of capitalism and that women were turning into lesbians and that wives might leave their husbands and kill their children. Many new groups would emerge. The Faith and Freedoms Coalition created by Ralph Reed. These were all extensions of the Republican Party’s

political machine. What they needed was a leader that finally put their interests first. Reed gave $50 million to GOTV in 2020 to co-opt Latino voters of faith, no matter what they had to do to get them. The only thing you have to be is pro-life. Christian nationalists and their

allies can get behind the most corrupt, divisive and chaotic president in history because they believe that he can supply via the courts, the abortion ban that they see as a necessary prelude to making America a righteous nation again. However, what Weyrich knew, what all the

Christian leaders and groups knew was that over turning Roe v Wade would never ever likely be overturned, it was law. But what was important was that the voters “believed” it was possible. What they needed was someone who could help them believe it was possible.

Jerry Falwell Jr. in a tweet “Honored to introduce DOnald Trump at religious leaders summit in NYC today! He did an incredible job!” Photographed in front of a Trump playboy cover (so much for Falwell’s anti-porn crusade of trying to remove playboy from 7-eleven stores).