The Dominionists Make Their Move

[Content Note: Christian Supremacy.]

At the Guardian, David Taylor has a must-read piece on "Project Blitz," the legislative playbook developed by a coaltion of conservative Christian groups which provides "state politicians with a set of off-the-shelf pro-Christian 'model bills' [at least 75 of which] have been brought forward in more than 20 states during 2017 and 2018."

Some legislation uses verbatim language from the "model bills" created by a group called the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation (CPCF), set up by a former Republican congressman which has a stated aim to "protect religious freedom, preserve America's Judeo-Christian heritage, and promote prayer."

...Opponents warn that the CPCF (which claims more than 600 politicians as members across state legislatures ) is using the banner of "religious freedom" to impose Christianity on American public, political, and cultural life.

The entire piece is worth your time to read, to get a handle on this dominionist campaign to overwhelm the nation with a very specific brand of conservative evangelical Christianity.

As I noted on Twitter: "This is not Donald Trump's vision. This is the Christian Dominionist hellscape that Mike Pence has always envisioned for the country."

But it's no coincidence that this movement is once again gaining momentum under the presidency of a corrupt businessman, because Christian Supremacy is a corrupt business.

I was writing urgently in this space about how dominionism was being rolled out like a business twelve years ago [CN: discussion of bigotry; slurs]:

Jesus has been hijacked as a political operative by people who have forgotten that the separation of church and state was designed to protect the church as much as the state. Christianity's central figure cannot be redesigned as a gun-toting, gay-bashing, flag-draped ideological icon without fundamentally and inexorably altering the religion itself—particularly how it is regarded by those outwith its margins. Christians who don't want to be associated with the reimagined Jesus have a right—and an obligation—to denounce his being co-opted into the spokesman for Überpatriot Dominionism. Christian Supremacists are rebranding Christ, and hence Christianity. This is nothing if not a marketing war.

Understandably, it's a game that Christians who don't regard Jesus as a mascot don't want to play, but the Christian Supremacy movement in America is a business. Millions and millions of dollars are raised every year by people professing to preach The Word in exchange for a few dollars (and a few more, and a few more) in the collection baskets, but all they're really doing is selling a product—a way to cope with a changing world that robs bigots of their undeserved dominion, that tells them they really, at long last, must share equality with non-Christians, the LGBT community, strong women, minorities, and immigrants in the public sphere. They are losing control they were never meant to have, and Christianity 2.0 sells them the righteous anger and victimhood they need.

In these desperate people, the hate peddlers have found a ripe market for their wares. The hungry buyers come to the churches and the political rallies with money burning holes in the pockets of their sensible trousers, and they leave satiated, their bellies full of (self-)righteous indignation, with a determination to spread the word about the radical homosexual and feminist agendas, and a keen eye for the slightest proof that their suspicions about the dastardly fags and feminazis and liberals and brown people who threaten their way of life are all true. This is a booming business, and Falwell, Dobson, and Robertson have learned to roll out their product as efficiently as Ford and his Model-Ts.

...Hate, like anything else in the American capitalist utopia, can be a splendid business, as long as there are enough interested buyers with cash in hand—and hate flogged under the auspices of religion has the added bonus of being a tax-free enterprise. It's no surprise that Christ-cloaked bigotry is a booming industry. To Christian Supremacists, Jesus is just a logo; he doesn't define their message any more than the Swoosh writes Nike's mission statement. But, like any recognizable symbol to clamoring consumers, he confers upon the brand a status with which generic models just can't compete. Your athletic skills are infinitely better with a famous insignia on your shoes, and your intolerance is remade as virtue with a savior lending his name for the dropping.

Christians who refuse to let Christ be claimed for such purposes are, whether willfully or not, the competition. ...And all the rest of us, who have a vested interest in protecting our country against the ascendancy of Christian Supremacists, are consumer advocates, tasked with pointing out the flaws in their product—and questioning the existence of truth in their advertising.

Well, here we are. And the need to challenge this oppression and hatred being sold under the guise of "religious freedom" is more pressing than ever.