Well, 2025 is off to a volatile start already. I woke up this morning to a news story that lightning struck the Washington Monument and Capitol Building last night. If I were a superstitious person, I’d think this was an omen. Lightning also struck the Empire State Building. I can verify there was thunder last night here in New York. Which is weird for midwinter in New York. An omen of climate change?
Then we learned that in the early morning hours a guy drove a pickup truck into crowds in New Orleans, then got out of his truck and started shooting. Most recent news updates say that 15 people are dead as a result of the attack. Trump immediately began whining about migrant criminals. It turns out the shooter was born in Texas.
And a Tesla cybertruck exploded outsideTrump’s Las Vegas hotel. It’s not clear that this was intentional. The driver was killed; he appeared to be carrying fireworks. It may be awhile before we know what was up with the driver.
I’ve been working on a piece about Jimmy Carter’s version of evangelical Christianity, which is light years different from the MAGA version. It’s online now at Patheos, if you’re interested.
The link to your article about the history of Evangelicals cleared up a lot of confusion. I now see why Jimmy Carter's legacy could fit with the categories with which he was identified. That which now carries the evangelical label is a far cry from what it once was.
I do recall quite a shift beginning to happen about that time. I vividly recall a workmate complaining that his efforts to introduce a liberal author's publication to his church group being quashed by a rabid fundamentalist minority. At that time, I viewed it as probably only an isolated and temporary backlash which would soon abate. It has not abated in this country to this day. It has mutated somewhat. At that point in time the sermon on the mount was still viewed as gospel in most circles which is hard if not impossible to contend now in many current religions. I wish my notion that the fundamentalist swing was a fad would have been correct, but we are long overdue for a correction. The earth is not flat, dinosaurs did not coexist with humans, and Jesus did not preach hate and exclusion.
As to the notion that good deeds will earn reward in heaven I will abstain, but it would sure make life on earth more tolerable. My guess is Carter saw it both ways.
"Jimmy Carter’s version of evangelical Christianity"
I read that article fine job! Had my opinions of religion been formed by more by Carter's version of Christianity maybe I wouldn't be so dead set against all of it? Unfortunately when I think of religion I think of the fundamentalists in the big three who are to my mind are the farthest thing from "Godly" as one can get. I don't quite understand how someone like Jerry Falwell actually expanded Christianity, to me I would think he ruined it?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5BhicYduC8
The percentage of Americans who identify as "Christian" is dropping lower and lower. A few decades ago it was over 90 percent; now it's about 65 percent. There are estimates that if current trends continue, the percentage of Americans who identify as Christian will be under 50 percent in a few decades. I think there are a lot of reasons for that, but one of them, IMO, is the Christian Right movement that Falwell et al. started.
My understanding of the history of Christianity, through a longer lens than just American history, is that it was for centuries the theological partner to a repressive nationalist force. A secular monarch would partner with a Christian sect that promised the monarch that the sect could testify absolutely that the king was chosen by God. In exchange for this fraud, the army of the king would suppress all other sects by force.
In different countries, different religions played their part in the swindle. In addition to domestic abuses within the borders of a feudal nation, the argument(s) between religions spilled over into bitter conflict even into our lifetimes (Catholic Ireland v Protestant England.) IMO, the ambitions of the king differed from the ambitions of the bishop but the mechanism of threatening eternal damnation for those who resisted was very persuasive until science became more respected than superstition.
The US was the first nation to use the power of the government to prohibit a national religion and ban the use of government coercion to elevate a religion to dominate non-believers. To stay in business, religion had to meet some physical and spiritual needs. Those religions who couldn't, starved to extinction. Those who could inspire the audience survived and even thrived. Some were evil, like the Southern churches who taught that slavery is ordained by God. And that conflicted with progressive Evangelism that taught that slavery was immoral. Pro-slavery churches were supported by the plantation owners – the old equivalent of corporate CEOs.
The US does not have a king, but there are plenty of aristocrats with more money per capita than the old aristocrats who surrounded the kings. The new mega-churches preach individual greed and they revile sharing. (Loaves and fishes, style.) It's not an exaggeration to say that Republican Christianity stands in direct opposition to the words of Christ.
Jimmy Carter lived the words of Christ as best he could. He tried to be a peacemaker. No one has ever come as close as he did to resolving the strife in Israel. Carter returned the Panama Canal in repudiation of US colonialism. He tried to make the US government a force that served the people, especially the people in need rather than the people of greed.
In my mind, I find serenity in recalling what Carter stood for. I will stand against what Trump is – but I try to be FOR good even while I oppose evil. For me, the mental contamination of immersing myself in what Trump is becomes a force that threatens to corrupt me. I stay aware but I try (not always with success) not to bathe in the caustic philosophy of MAGA.
Yesterday I ran into a local who already had the liespeak associated with the Jan 1 domestic terror actions and was propagating them as linked to illegal immigration. The republicans had already gotten out for dissemination the bent reality that fit their distortions of reality. MSNBC was quick to pick up on the disinformation wave, but the maggot echo chamber was faster. Most in the area probably only heard the lies.
It amazes me that these people can be fooled all of the time and have no learning curve. They live to disseminate misinformation for the Fuhrer.