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1. Religious conservatives are all the time talking about how liberals are subversively messaging radical ideas into our culture, especially institutions of learning.
Maybe this sounds paranoid, but maybe the opposite is true. Maybe it's more like conservatives are.
Maybe this sounds paranoid, but maybe the opposite is true. Maybe it's more like conservatives are.
2. I'll tell you why I think this.
I think most if not all of the religious materials (pamphlets, study guides, etc.) that go to Evangelical churches are printed by a group called "The Navigators" that is based in Colorado Springs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Navigators_(organization)#:~:text=The%20Navigators%20is%20a%20worldwide,share%20their%20faith%20with%20others.
I think most if not all of the religious materials (pamphlets, study guides, etc.) that go to Evangelical churches are printed by a group called "The Navigators" that is based in Colorado Springs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Navigators_(organization)#:~:text=The%20Navigators%20is%20a%20worldwide,share%20their%20faith%20with%20others.
3. I'll share this link again in case you missed the section titled "Controversy", showing lawsuits brought (and then summarily dismissed) charging The Navigators have special (and unfair) access to the military. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Navigators_(organization)#:~:text=The%20Navigators%20is%20a%20worldwide,share%20their%20faith%20with%20others.
4. Those lawsuits I mention in 3 are tied to the US National Air Force Academy located about 10 miles from The Navigators International HQ. But I'm sure that's just a coincidence. Never mind that Navigators was from the start focused on the military.
5. Well, this video below talks more about the founder's work with soldiers. I wish someone would watch this and tell me which the guy is talking more about; evangelizing or marketing. It seems this is the start of religion as corporative. Maybe not.
6. There are a lot of coincidences. See enough & you can connect some dots. See too many & you might be nuts.
I first became curious about this group when a friend invited me to a Bible study back in the early 1990s. But I didn't know it was a program of The Navigators then.
I first became curious about this group when a friend invited me to a Bible study back in the early 1990s. But I didn't know it was a program of The Navigators then.
7. I thought it was very different though, from any Bible study I had ever been to. The organization rented a megachurch. Attendees were split into groups and assigned a classroom. A lesson was studied for about an hour and then there was a half-hour sermon in the sanctuary.
8. The study and sermon were begun with prayer "for our leader and nation".
I found myself wondering what organization was behind these meetings, but all the source literature simply said "Community Bible Study". I hadn't even heard of The Navigators at that time.
I found myself wondering what organization was behind these meetings, but all the source literature simply said "Community Bible Study". I hadn't even heard of The Navigators at that time.
9. I learned about The Navigators when I was trying to figure out where all this nationalistic stuff in Evangelical churches was coming from. Didn't know The Navigators & Community Bible Study are the same org. until I noticed they are at the same address in Colorado Springs.
10. Sometimes there is an actual event, and then there is the official version.
The bible study is said (on their official website) to have originated with a group of women in Bethesda.
Bethesda you say? Within a few miles of major military. Just a coincidence of course.
The bible study is said (on their official website) to have originated with a group of women in Bethesda.
Bethesda you say? Within a few miles of major military. Just a coincidence of course.
11. I'm not saying there is a connection there, but @americansunited (Americans United for Separation of Church and State) seems to think there may be problems in this area. https://www.au.org/content/religion-in-the-military
12. Okay, it gets stranger. I was recently Googling for information for "Community Bible Study"(formed in 1975), and found this transcript of a PBS show produced for airdate 2004, showing that GW Bush was one of the first young disciples of this group. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/jesus/president/cbs.html
13. As I said before, following the dots will sometimes get you in trouble, but don't worry about me. I'm probably as far gone as I will get.
So. Because Bush found CBS (or more likely CBS found Bush) in Midland........ I decided to Google "Midland and Evangelical politics".
So. Because Bush found CBS (or more likely CBS found Bush) in Midland........ I decided to Google "Midland and Evangelical politics".
14. & One of the returns is a Washington Post article dated 7/15/19 titled "Oil-patch evangelicals: How Christianity and crude fueled the rise of the American right", written by a Darren Duchok, & he's not on Twitter that I can find, & I go to check see a book he wrote for sale &
15. you know how on the page where the book his highlighted for sale, they give you alternative books also, that relate with the one you're looking at, and I see one by a guy I'm already following on Twitter, @KevinMKruse, and it's called .........................
16. "One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America" I think I should get it.
I also notice he's not following back which peeves me as usual, but I do make some exceptions.
I also notice he's not following back which peeves me as usual, but I do make some exceptions.
17. Mr. Kruse writes:
"The assumption that America was, is, and always will be a Christian nation dates back no further than the 1930s, when a coalition of businessmen and religious leaders united in opposition to FDR’s New Deal................. "
"The assumption that America was, is, and always will be a Christian nation dates back no further than the 1930s, when a coalition of businessmen and religious leaders united in opposition to FDR’s New Deal................. "
18. "With the full support of Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, these activists—the forerunners of the Religious Right—propelled religion into the public sphere. Church membership skyrocketed;" ..................
19. "Congress added the phrase “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance and made “In God We Trust” the country’s official motto. For the first time, America became a thoroughly religious nation."
And I thought..............
And I thought..............
20. Gee, that's a funny coincidence. The 1930s are just about the time the Navigators were first getting together.
Probably just totally random. :)
Probably just totally random. :)
