Read on Twitter
Was about to tweet @C_Stroop's article & say something like "if Hindus or Muslims or New Agers were radicalizing kids via homeschooling the way Christians are, there'd be a Dateline special on it. Why not for Christians?"
But it's because AP reporters like this one protect them. https://twitter.com/kkruesi/status/1352255344764989440
But it's because AP reporters like this one protect them. https://twitter.com/kkruesi/status/1352255344764989440
She's indignantly demanding that someone who comes from an authoritarian, evangelical background and has made a career out of studying the Christian Right "talk to people who were homeschooled" as if Chrissy's career isn't already DOING THAT.
We're still not having the national conversation we need to have about how white American Christianity (and NOT just evangelicalism) is intimately linked to the white nationalism that animated the failed coup on January 6, and part of the reason is the press stifles it.
And we're not going to dismantle American authoritarianism, white nationalism, patriarchy, etc. without taking a really hard look at how our cultural assumptions that Christianity = Goodness and these people are "fake Christians" gives them cover to flourish.
And to be clear: I'm not saying Christianity is inherently BAD. I'm saying it's *not* inherently GOOD, and that the Christians that want to violently overthrow the US government in order to form a white ethnostate for Jesus are just as "real" as the ones that don't.
And to be clear, I don't think there's some sort of press conspiracy to cover this up.
I just think that most reporters partake of the American cultural assumption that Christianity = goodness & so dismiss the connection between Christianity and white nationalism as incidental.
I just think that most reporters partake of the American cultural assumption that Christianity = goodness & so dismiss the connection between Christianity and white nationalism as incidental.
And *even when it makes the news* you can watch how quickly it vanishes from the media narrative.
Look at the Poway shooter, whose manifesto says, quite plainly, that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus and killing Jews would "glorify God."
Look at the Poway shooter, whose manifesto says, quite plainly, that Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus and killing Jews would "glorify God."
Yes. He was radicalized online. Yes, he was inspired by Nazi rhetoric that wasn't explicitly Christian.
He was also inspired by what he learned at his orthodox Presbyterian church. https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/05/01/alleged-synagogue-shooter-was-churchgoer-who-articulated-christian-theology-prompting-tough-questions-evangelical-pastors/
He was also inspired by what he learned at his orthodox Presbyterian church. https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2019/05/01/alleged-synagogue-shooter-was-churchgoer-who-articulated-christian-theology-prompting-tough-questions-evangelical-pastors/
That article is from a few days after the shooting. A month later, as the press is trying to dig into why he did it, the coverage has a very different focus. https://ktla.com/news/local-news/poway-synagogue-shooter-inspired-by-hitler-new-zealand-gunman-search-warrant/
And as we approach the second anniversary of the shooting, it's become one of many incidents that chronicle white nationalist violence in the US, and everything *but* Christianity gets discussed as a radicalizing factor.
Like, here's an otherwise great analysis of the alt-right radicalization machine by @ianbogost, but in digging into shooter manifestos, it *completely leaves out* the explicitly Christian reasoning in the Poway shooter's. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/04/california-synagogue-shooting-worse-you-thought/588352/
And until we start including American Christianity and its relationship to whiteness as a major factor in these analyses, we're still giving white nationalism cover to keep growing.
And yes, I mean "Christianity" and not just "evangelicalism." https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/racism-among-white-christians-higher-among-nonreligious-s-no-coincidence-ncna1235045
And yes, I mean "Christianity" and not just "evangelicalism." https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/racism-among-white-christians-higher-among-nonreligious-s-no-coincidence-ncna1235045
Christian homeschooling, among many other elements of white Christian culture, is radicalizing Christians who want to violently overthrow the US government to create a white Christian ethnostate.
Stop. Ignoring. That.
Stop. Ignoring. That.
