Christodemocracy

The Alternative Democratic Theory of America's Christian Right

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Sacha Baron Cohen Uses ‘Pedophile Detector’ On Roy Moore In Latest Prank

Following last week’s episode of his show “Who Is America?” which was so damning it forced the resignation of a...

Kate Riga at TPM: 

Following last week’s episode of his show “Who Is America?” which was so damning it forced the resignation of a GOP Georgia lawmaker, host Sacha Baron Cohen found his newest victim in former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

Posing as Israeli counterterrorism expert General Erran Morad, Cohen begins his conversation with Moore, recorded back in February, by talking about complicated technology that enables the Israeli military to detect tunnels dug by Hamas to launch stealthy terrorist attacks.

Moore, clearly thinking the interview is legitimate, conveys Alabama’s support of Israel. Cohen jokes drily in response: “In Alabama, people have always been free, whatever their religion or race or sexuality.” Moore, missing the sarcasm replies, saying “it’s our heritage.”

Cohen then says that the technology has been altered to identify sexual predators, especially pedophiles. Multiple agonizing minutes pass as Cohen pulls out a security wand, waving it against himself before turning it on Moore and triggering a loud beeping.

“It must be faulty. It’s malfunctioning,” Cohen says as the machine blares. “Is this your jacket? Did you lend the jacket to somebody else?” he asks in a tone of concern as Moore grimaces.

Despite the many accusations from multiple women this year, Moore said that he has “never had an accusation of such things.” “Certainly, I’m not a pedophile,” he continued. “Maybe Israeli technology has not developed properly.”

He then announced that he was concluding the interview, shook Cohen’s hand, and walked off the set.

Per the Daily Beast, Moore released a preemptive statement before the episode aired Sunday saying that he is embroiled in “several court cases presently to defend my honor and character against vicious false political attacks,” and that if the episode is released, he “may very well be involved in another.”

From the 07.29.2018 edition of Showtime’s Who Is America?:

[christodemocracy]

This conservative Christian guide to the nation’s capital vows to tell you what other tours won’t

A 'Christian history' tour aims to put God back into Washington.

[christodemocracy]

Where is the ‘social conservative’ pushback against the Rainbow Jihad and judicial immorality?

Why is nobody paying attention?

[christodemocracy]

The Christian Right’s Solution to Mass Shootings is Still Forcing God on Others

When will these people ever learn?

[christodemocracy]

'Religious lingo' a misguided effort to erode Trump's evangelical base

A number of Never-Trump "progressive evangelicals" have banded together and released a document they hope will draw evangelicals away from the president.

[christodemocracy]

For many evangelicals, Jerusalem is about prophecy, not politics

[christodemocracy]

America's Changing Religious Identity

A seismic survey of American religious and denominational identity—the largest of its kind ever conducted—chronicles changes in the US religious landscape.

[christodemocracy]

Church of The Donald

Never mind Fox. Trump’s most reliable media mouthpiece is now Christian TV.

The division of epistemologies has been years in the making and something I analyze at length in my book. The policy preferences of the CR are not supported by sound methodology, so they had to invent their own history, their own academic journals, their own sources of journalism, their own school curricula, etc. This bifurcation predates the current bifurcation of two universes of reality and is extremely dangerous for a pluralistic democracy. 

[christodemocracy]

Are fundamentalist Christians a dangerous religious cult? Possibly. The controversial author and religious scholar Reza Aslan posits that President Donald Trump has much of his evangelical fan-base believing that he's somehow been anointed by God to become President. Nevermind the Russian election scandal, his affairs with porn stars and unwarranted sexual acts towards women, or his inability to remember even a single Bible verse when asked. Evangelical Christians are abandoning their core moral beliefs to follow, as Reza suggests, someone who exhibits every trademark of a cult leader. 

[christodemocracy]

It’s very interesting to watch this 2 years later. America Is No Longer A White Christian Nation

[christodemocracy]

How LGBT Students Are Changing Christian Colleges

On evangelical campuses, where codes of conduct prohibit "homosexual behavior," it's becoming more and more difficult to ignore the presence of gay and lesbian students.

[christodemocracy]

Why evangelicals should rethink the Trump gospel

Those evangelicals espousing a MAGA message need to be true to their Christian mission, says Cornell Brooks, which means embracing - not ostracizing - outsiders.

Those evangelicals espousing a MAGA message need to be true to their Christian mission, says Cornell Brooks, which means embracing - not ostracizing - outsiders.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

BREAKING: #SCOTUS will NOT hear a challenge to Mississippi's discriminatory anti-LGBTQ #HB1523

The U.S. Supreme Court won't take up legal challenges to a Mississippi anti-LGBT law enabling sweeping discrimination in the name of "religious freedom."

Chris Johnson at The Washington Blade: 

The U.S. Supreme Court won’t take up legal challenges to a Mississippi “religious freedom” law enabling sweeping discrimination against LGBT people, leaving extremely limited recourse to combat the anti-LGBT statute.

In an orders list on Monday, the Supreme Court announced it had rejected two petitions for certiorari — one filed by legal groups in the lawsuit Barber v. Bryant, the other filed by legal groups in Campaign for Southern Equality v. Bryant — as well as a series of other petitions pending before the Supreme Court.

Both petitions sought Supreme Court review of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in favor of the Mississippi anti-LGBT law, which enables businesses and individuals to discriminate in the name of “religious freedom.” The law was signed in 2016 by Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, who has vowed to defend the statute against legal challenges in court.

The orders list provides no explanation for the rejections of these petitions, nor the vote by they were rejected. It takes a vote of at least four justices to grant certiorari, or agree to take up a case.

The law, HB 1523, prohibits the state from taking action against religious organizations that decline employment, housing or services to same-sex couples; families who’ve adopted a foster child and wish to act in opposition to same-sex marriage; and individuals who offer wedding services and decline to facilitate a same-sex wedding.

Additionally, the bill allows individuals working in medical services to decline to afford a transgender person gender reassignment surgery. The bill also allows state government employees who facilitate marriages the option to opt out of issuing licenses to same-sex couples, but the person must issue prior written notice to the state government and a clerk’s office must not delay in the issuing of licenses.

[…]

The Supreme Court rejects the challenge to the Mississippi anti-LGBT as it considers arguments in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case, which was filed by a Colorado baker asserting a First Amendment right to refuse to make custom-made wedding cakes for same-sex marriages. The court in that case has yet to render a decision, which is expected in June.

Although some issues in the case are similar because the Mississippi law would enable the baker to refuse to make case for a same-sex weddings, the lawsuit against the Mississippi law is different because the law is broader and challenges the law on the basis of the Establishment Clause and Equal Protection Clauses.

One narrow opportunity remains for LGBT legal groups to challenge the law in the court. At the district court level, Reeves in October allowed up to five written interrogatories to identify which of the 82 clerk’s offices in Mississippi have sought to recuse themselves from issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples HB 1523 and the process by which they intend to handle those recusals.

If a Mississippi clerk was found to have recused themselves from issuing marriage licenses or if any such recusal impaired the ability of a same-sex couple to obtain a marriage license, that could form the basis for a new challenge to HB 1523.

[wewewe-soexcited]

[apocalyptic-isolation]

@apocalyptic-isolation

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Religious Right Activist: CNN Has ‘Forfeited Its Right To Broadcast’ | Right Wing Watch

Earlier this week, anti-LGBTQ Christian-nation activist and pro-Trump political operative David Lane ranted about CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage in an email to supporters of his American Renewal Project.

Peter Montgomery at RWW:

Earlier this week, anti-LGBTQ Christian-nation activist and pro-Trump political operative David Lane ranted about CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage in an email to supporters of his American Renewal Project. Lane complained that hosts Andy Cohen and Anderson Cooper are “both homosexuals” and that Randi Kaye, broadcasting from Colorado where marijuana use is legal, “passed around a ‘joint’ with young people in Denver.”

[…]

Lane ended his tirade with an assertion that “CNN has forfeited its right to broadcast.” That’s an interesting take on the First Amendment and a free press, but perhaps not too surprising given Lane’s revisionist take on American history, religious pluralism, etc.

[invisiblelad]

Mike Pence Swears In Doug Jones as Gay Son Looks On

Carson Jones seemed to understand how surreal the moment was.

today in politics that may have made my day…

[azspot]

Or consider that white evangelicals overwhelmingly support political candidates who claim that climate science is a “hoax,” who embrace magical thinking about Voodoo economics and the misapplication of the “Laffer curve,” and who call for the defunding of everything from the NSF to the CDC. Something like 80 percent of white evangelicals had no qualms about voting for an anti-vaxxer for president.

White Evangelical Hostility to Science is Still a Thing (via azspot)