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Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
Sun, August 7, 2022 at 3:15 AM·4 min read

The Constitution of the United States is not a strictly libertarian document. It empowers the national government to protect citizens’ natural rights, which is good and proper. However, it also gives Uncle Sam a wide berth to “promote the general welfare,” which makes libertarians uneasy. Lovers of liberty point out that one man’s “general welfare” is another man’s burdensome tax bill. The powerful tend to interpret vague grants of authority in ways that benefit themselves at the expense of the public.

In our national memory, the Constitution represents a triumph of limited government. But this romantic story doesn’t fit the facts. The Constitution was a deliberate attempt to strengthen government by expanding its powers. The Federalists, chafing under the Articles of Confederation, thought we needed a robust, independent executive and much more legislative leeway. They were concerned more with national greatness and high statecraft than liberty. Devotees of power such as Alexander Hamilton and Robert Morris would likely be aghast at what Washington, DC has become. But they set in motion the forces that got us here.

The Bill of Rights provides some help. Undoubtedly the Constitution’s first 10 amendments have prevented some egregious abuses of power. But not enough. Even here there was a missed opportunity—or rather, a clever political plan. The 10th Amendment asserts that powers not delegated to the national government remain with state governments or the
citizens themselves. But this obvious nod to federalism is less helpful than it looks. The Framers deliberately omitted the word “expressly” from the 10th Amendment—a word that featured prominently in Article II of the Articles of Confederation. There’s a world of difference between “expressly delegated” and “delegated.” The latter leaves far more room for interpretation, which ambitious political operatives often use to expand government power, but never to limit it.

In short, while the Constitution establishes limited and lawful government, it does not establish libertarian government. But until we persuade the public about the value of liberty, it’s the only game in town. When facing a government run amok, pushing for Constitutional fidelity is itself a libertarian project. We can quibble about Congress’s money-creating and taxing powers later. Right now, the goal is getting back to the users’ manual.

While there are a range of plausible interpretations of the Constitution, the words in the text can only be stretched so far. The plain fact of the matter is much of what the federal government does today is unconstitutional, and therefore illegal. Curbing these abuses won’t yield a libertarian government. But we’ll get much closer than by doing anything else. Let’s not fall into the familiar libertarian trap of making the perfect the enemy of the good.

Today’s biggest threats to liberty can be stymied by rolling back the national government. For example, the administrative state — whereby career bureaucrats write their own rules and force them on the public, without the assent of elected officials — is clearly a Constitutional abomination. It’s not about the content of the rules; it’s about where the rules come from. Libertarians must insist that legislation come from Congress, and nowhere else. If a proposed rule can’t make it through Congress, that means the public is sufficiently divided on the issue that the right action is inaction, until dialogue and persuasion have time to work.

Going through Congress is sometimes the libertarian answer. But not always. While we need to bolster the legislature against the executive branch, we also must keep the legislature within its proper bounds. That means recognizing the limits to the various Article 1 powers. For example, the authority “to regulate commerce…among the several states” does not mean elected officials can micromanage the nation’s business affairs. Incredibly, Congress has used this clause to justify its regulation of farmers growing wheat for their own consumption, as well as the production and sale of milk solely within a state. The reason? These activities hypothetically could affect trade between states! Of course, the clause isn’t that elastic. Such restrictions are clearly absurd and unlawful.

Finally, the executive branch needs to be taken down a peg or two. In addition to curbing the administrative agencies, we need much stricter limits on presidential power. Executive orders have become de facto legislation. That’s unconstitutional. The president now has near-unlimited ability to conduct military operations without a declaration of war from Congress. That’s unconstitutional. If you want to know why the stakes of presidential elections have gotten so high, look no further than presidents’ habitual disregard of the Constitution.

There’s no viable path to political change that doesn’t operate within the Constitution. Libertarians should make their peace with an imperfect charter for the sake of a more perfect union. Partisans of the left and right ignore the rules when it’s inconvenient, but we cannot do likewise. The rule of law is a fundamental libertarian value, and we lose more than we gain when we betray our principles. The time is ripe for Constitutional renewal. Libertarians should sound the call loud and clear.

Alexander William Salter is the Georgie G. Snyder Associate Professor of Economics in the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University and the Comparative Economics Research Fellow at TTU’s Free Market Institute.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/salter-constitution-dead-long-live-071503981.html

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SC Cloud | St. Cloud Times
Lois Thielen
Mon, August 8, 2022 at 6:54 PM·4 min read

At Sunday Mass a few weeks ago, I was listening to the homily in my usual benign trance when I was jolted awake by hearing our priest urging our Catholic political leaders to vote according to Catholic teachings in their governmental roles. But what about separation of church and state?

But this merging of religion and government seems to be commonplace these last years. Never mind that our country was founded on strict separation of church by leaders weary of constant religious wars in Europe. Forget that citizens may belong to religions other than Christianity or not follow any religion at all. It almost seems some Christians want a theocracy, a form of government in which one's religion and one's government are one and the same.

Voting according to one's religious beliefs is a good thing for individuals expressing their views at the ballot box. A problem arises when an elected official votes according to his or her personal beliefs while in an official capacity, such as passing legislation without regard for what his or her constituents may want.

The other big issue here is that churches and religious organizations are tax-exempt with the provision they not use the pulpit or their organization to endorse political candidates or positions. Many feel being able to use the pulpit to endorse or oppose candidates and issues should only be allowed if those doing so give up their tax-exempt status. There's other problems with using the pulpit for political purposes and a story entitled "Should Priests Speak About Party Politics?" by John Clark in the Jan. 14, 2020, National Catholic Register lays them out.

Already in early 2020, Clark said Americans were not so much sick of politics as sick with politics. Every event from a family birthday party to a community celebration involved often vitriolic political discussions as families and friends discovered people they thought they knew had opposing political views, which in the new norm seems to not be tolerated. A priest pouring more salt on the wound of political differences is not helpful, Clark says. Instead, he recommends priests need to help people heal, which is why he advises priests to not use the pulpit or their social media page for politics.

He's concerned that discussing politics from the pulpit may confuse the congregation as to what is the speaker's personal views and what is official church teaching. Then there's the matter of about half of any group not agreeing with political views expressed and choosing to tune out the speaker. Clark is concerned that eventually these people may choose to tune out the cleric's religious teaching as well and perhaps to even leave the church. This is not something the church can afford to have happen as Clark says, "the body of Christ (the church) is hemorrhaging already at an alarming rate." Pastors should highlight human rights and duties without referencing personalities or positions to make their point.

As if pastors preaching politics from the pulpit isn't enough, some pastors go on social media to preach their version of the political gospel, where they urge supporting or opposing government officials and policies. Never mind that Jesus hardly mentioned the tyrannical Roman officials of his day; these political pastors speak of little else.

One who pops up frequently is Father Edward Meeks of Baltimore, Maryland. Meeks, raised Catholic, converted to Anglicism, then reclaiming his Catholic roots by becoming a Catholic priest in 1996, has become known for his extreme views on everything from COVID-19 to the moral character of the current president and shares his views from his pulpit and through YouTube online videos. Last November he preached from his church pulpit, "our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. No earthly king or president or public health official… gets to dictate what we put in our bodies… that's between us and God," in reference to COVID-19 vaccinations.

He shared more of these views in a 26-minute YouTube video that, among other things, proclaims President Joe Biden is "unabashedly pro-abortion" and that the Biden administration is a danger to this country's religious liberty. This, by the way, is in direct opposition to a 1994 Vatican directive saying that a priest "ought to refrain from actively engaging himself in politics."

Beyond that, the religious liberty such demagogues tout extends only to those holding the same beliefs. Let someone claim the religious liberty to hold different beliefs and the response would be similar to that of the early American Puritans who silenced or drove out anyone disagreeing with their own brand of far-right intolerance.

— This is the opinion of Times Writers Group member Lois Thielen, a dairy farmer who lives near Grey Eagle. Her column is published monthly.

This article originally appeared on St. Cloud Times: Priests and politics: The separation of church and state

https://www.yahoo.com/news/priests-politics-separation-church-state-225436324.html

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2:00PM EDT 8/2/2022 JASON YATES/MY FAITH VOTES

Jason Yates, CEO of My Faith Votes, sat down with Lucas Miles, host of The Lucas Miles Show and The Church Boys Podcast, to talk about his newest book, "The Christian Left: How Liberal Thought has Hijacked the Church."

JY: How is the Christian Left hijacking the church?

LM: We're seeing a hydra of involvements between progressives, leftists and deconstructionists. I define the Christian Left as this growing constituency of left-leaning Christians (at times, Christians in name only) who willingly embrace a downgraded view of the Bible in favor of a held belief about socialism and Marxism.

We hear statements like "Jesus was a socialist," trying to paint Jesus as a Palestinian refugee to support open borders or a diminished view of Israel. We are also seeing a rise in acceptance of the world's definitions of sexuality and gender.

Search the term "progressive Christianity" on social media platforms like TikTok. You'll find thousands of videos of so-called Christians attempting to justify alternative lifestyles and immoral practices using Scripture.

Historically, where two philosophical viewpoints oppose one another, the world tends to enter an age of skepticism. We see this with Plato and Aristotle and Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.

The current divide between red and blue in America has ushered in an age of skepticism, especially in the church. The left knows they cannot win elections unless they divide the family in the church. So, they're spending a lot of marketing dollars to perform the same revisionist history on Scripture that they've tried on the Constitution for years.

JY: Is this belief system originating from a political source invading the church, or is this stemming from faulty theology in the church?

LM: To some degree, you have the chicken and the egg. There are groups bent on infiltrating Christian colleges, Christian organizations, non-profits and the church in general, pushing this agenda.

At the same time, people have bought into these ideas so that they're coming from within the church. For instance, the message of social justice has become an unpacked Trojan horse in our churches.

The church has become convinced that the gospel is a social justice gospel. But typically, social justice is just a ruse for critical theory in various forms. That has distracted us from the central message of Jesus Christ.

JY: My Faith Votes has noticed quite a void of organizations reaching out to Christian colleges with the truth, so we developed a program to reach students on Christian campuses to equip them to vote. On campuses, we find great apathy toward this idea of involvement in political issues, even civic issues such as voting. Is that an outcome of this cultural battle?

LM: There's a general message that, as Christians, we should be above politics. We shouldn't get involved in politics.

From what we see in Scripture, Jesus spent much time talking to the Pharisees and Sadducees. These were the political figures creating rules and laws. Often, we see Jesus actively pushing back against them.

I don't want to make Jesus a lobbyist by taking this beyond what we see in Scripture because that's the same mistake we're seeing on the Left. But Jesus wasn't afraid to engage in politics, and He wasn't scared to express the opinion of His Father.

As Christians, we must recognize the influence we hold. If the state grants us the ability to vote and use our voices to make a difference, we commit a disservice by not stepping up and using that to the best of our ability.

When I was in my early 20s, I was captivated by this idea of Christian socialism, and I determined at one point in my life that I would never vote. Since then, I have been convinced that my voice as a believer matters, and that my faith needs to vote for the sake of this nation and the church.

The left talks about the separation of church and state, but they want a church subservient to the state. One practical way to combat this is using our vote.

Jason Yates is CEO of My Faith Votes, a nonpartisan movement that motivates, equips and activates Christians in America to vote in every election, transforming our communities and influencing our nation with biblical truth.

https://www.charismanews.com/culture/89804-the-damaging-theology-hijacking-the-church-today

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(Friday Church News Notes, July 29, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., 866-295-4143) - The following is excerpted from “Christian Colleges Destroyed Children’s Faith,” Lighthouse Trails Research, June 27, 2022:

“I am a Westmont College grad from the early 70s, and, with my husband, a Multnomah University alum as well. I grew up in a church closely associated with Multnomah when its slogan was: ‘If you want Bible, you want Multnomah.’ But no longer. We live near the school and have seen the apostasy firsthand. It breaks our hearts. Westmont was beginning to crack while I was there. Most of the older faculty were still OK but the administration was caving in to vocal students who were very rebellious, especially toward the Christian stance of the school. We sent a daughter to Trinity Western University in Langley British Columbia, in 2000, back when I still believed printed doctrinal statements. She went from respecting the Word of God and loving her parents to becoming a radical socialist activist who excises out of her life anyone who doesn’t support her current values, including us. I don’t know of any of her friends from there who haven’t followed the same path, either becoming indifferent to, or antagonistic toward, biblical Christianity. She goes to a social justice episcopal church. My niece, a pastor’s daughter, went to Texas Christian University, graduating around 2006. She became a Unitarian a few years ago. The daughter of my husband’s boss is an enthusiastic Biola grad. She is also a shaven head goth who spoke at her grandfather’s funeral, calling up his spirit and having a lovely visit with him over a glass of wine! We pray for their salvation. I believe the reason our other children still walk with the Lord is because they eschewed college (and debt) for other kinds of career training. The Lord is blessing them.” [Concluding Note: Biola, originally the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, began in 1908 as a fundamentalist school. The first Dean, W.E. Blackstone, was the author of Jesus Is Coming. The next Dean was R.A. Torrey (1912-1924). Today, Biola has a same-sex attraction club on campus.]
https://www.wayoflife.org/friday_church_news/23-30.php

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9:00AM EDT 8/5/2022 JASON YATES/CEO OF MY FAITH VOTES

Pastor, attorney and former Lt. Governor nominee in Virginia, E.W. Jackson, joined My Faith Votes, to challenge Christians to stand and participate in the public square.

Discussing some of the cultural lies intended to convince Christians to remain inactive in the voting booth, Jackson encourages us to think biblically about the issues and understand our valuable history.

JY: You have said that the Left is focused on social injustice in America. What is it that they want Americans to believe?

EWJ: In my view, social injustice is a euphemism for socialism because justice doesn't need a qualifier. Things are either just, or they're not. For example, right now, there's a debate around the country about being able to transgress parents' wishes and teach kindergarten children things that the parents disagree with in the name of social justice. And if you oppose this, you are labeled hateful and bigoted.

The sacred relationship between parents and children is being trampled. Acknowledging that relationship is proper justice. Social justice is a Trojan horse used to bring ideas entirely antithetical to justice.


True justice requires righteousness. If God justifies you, He makes you righteous. Without the righteousness of God, people create arbitrary concepts and ideas about justice.

For example, it is supremely unjust to tell a child they are either an oppressor or oppressed based on their skin color. Putting them into these categories makes them perpetrators or victims. That's not just at all. It's the opposite.

JY: I've heard people say that America has fallen for two main reasons: As Christians, we're not sharing our faith. And as Americans, we're not standing for the uniqueness of our nation.

EWJ: Our founding fathers wisely did not want us to have an official religion. And I believe that America should not try to designate one somehow. On the other hand, American culture is Christian. Most of our founding fathers were Christians, no matter how much people try to deny it.

Still, about 70% of Americans identify as Christians. America is a Christian nation, and the more we run away from our founding Judeo-Christian principles, the more we miss our national destiny that God has in mind, a destiny that can only be fulfilled by obedience to Him.

George Washington's first Thanksgiving proclamation said, "It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor."

Obey God. Do His will. That's who we are. That's our legacy, and those who try to deny that try to deny us our true identity.

JY: Too many are misinterpreting the idea of the separation of church and state, believing we can't bring our faith into the public square.

EWJ: The separation of church and state was intended to protect the church and Christians from the state, not stop Christians from getting involved in politics and public policy.

That's why I love your organization, My Faith Votes. You've got to vote, or you're not even in the arena. It is possible to win, but you've got to stay in the fight. I am encouraged by Americans all over the country waking up, and I think Virginia was a forerunner.

JY: Elections have consequences. The gubernatorial elections in Virginia and California in 2021 reminded the country why elections matter.

EWJ: I'm close friends with the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. He said parents would have a say in what their children are taught. Then he implemented policies that allow parents to influence what their children are taught. He's restoring the principle of individual liberty by allowing Americans to assess and make decisions for themselves.

His election demonstrated what happens when people stand up for their beliefs and go to the polls. And I hope the same happens in 2022.

JY: In 2022, we have nearly 100,000 elections, including 81,000 school board elections. What would you say to the person questioning whether or not they should vote?

EWJ: I would say 2022 is the year of breakthrough. But you've got to do it.

If you want to see this country reverse its slide into radical progressivism, you've got to take action. I believe God is with us because we're standing on biblical principles. But if we don't do anything, if we sit back and take it for granted, then we will end up perhaps in worse condition than we were before.

To every American who believes in our way of life, our constitution, Judeo-Christian values and personal responsibility, you have to get out there and vote for people who represent your values at every level, from the school board to the White House.

So, if Americans stand up for who we are and what we believe in without hatred, just doing what we know is right, we will win.

Jason Yates is CEO of My Faith Votes, a nonpartisan movement that motivates, equips and activates Christians in America to vote in every election, transforming our communities and influencing our nation with biblical truth.

https://www.charismanews.com/opinion/89826-what-does-separation-of-church-and-state-really-look-like

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BY MICHAEL SNYDER/END OF THE AMERICAN DREAM JULY 28, 2022

Those that control our food supply wield an immense amount of power. Small family farms have been integral to the success of the United States all throughout our history, but now such farms are being gobbled up at a staggering pace.

Corporate behemoths, foreign interests and eccentric billionaires are voraciously buying up farmland, and many consider this development to be extremely alarming. The farming industry is being systematically consolidated, and a lot of people have pointed out that some of the new owners may not have our best interests at heart.

This needs to become a major political issue, because our national security is truly at risk.

This week, the purchase of "hundreds of acres of North Dakota farmland" just 20 minutes from one of our most important Air Force bases is making headlines all over the world...

A Chinese company purchased hundreds of acres of North Dakota farmland mere minutes from a major US Air Force base, prompting national security fears as the communist country adds to its nearly 200,000 acres of US agricultural land worth $1.9 billion.

The China-based food producer, Fufeng Group, plans to build a corn-milling plant on its newly acquired 300 acres of land in Grand Forks, just 20 minutes down the road from the Grand Forks Air Force Base, where some of the nation's most sensitive drone technology is based.

The Fufeng Group insists that there are no ulterior motives for this purchase.

But is it really wise to allow the Chinese to set up shop so close to a base that is being described as "the backbone of all US military communications across the globe"?...

The purchase raised suspicions from military officers, national security experts and lawmakers alike.

The move could give China unprecedented access to the goings-on at the Air Force base, which also has a space-networking center that's been characterized as 'the backbone of all US military communications across the globe,' according to CNBC.

Personally, I think that we are absolutely nuts to allow this to happen.

If the shoe was on the other foot, the Chinese would never even think of compromising their national security in such a manner.

And allowing the Chinese to gobble up big chunks of our best agricultural land is absolutely inexcusable. According to U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer, China has been "continually buying up more and more of the U.S. food supply chain"...

"On the farm side, we see China continually buying up more and more of the U.S. food supply chain. Now, we grow a lot more food than we consume and we're happy to sell it to hungry people around the world. We're very good at that. But when the supply chain becomes more captive, not only to foreign ownership but to foreign adversaries like China who have demonstrated that they're not to be trusted with supply chains.

We just went through a pandemic that exposed a lot of that. I'm just not very comfortable with the Chinese Communist Party controlling so much of our supply chains. Food supply, energy supply, pharmaceutical supply, those are all that's all part of national security."

As of three years ago, the Chinese had already accumulated 192,000 acres of U.S. farmland.

We have not been given a more recent figure than that, but what we do know is that the Chinese spent a whopping 6.1 billion dollars on real estate in the United States during one recent 12 month period...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has vowed to crack down on "undue influence from rogue states" like China in response to Chinese businesses reportedly buying up large tracts of farmland.

DeSantis was asked about a recent report by the National Association of Realtors which found that Chinese real estate investors spent $6.1 billion on American real estate over a 12-month period that ended in March -- more than any other group of foreigners.

Why would we allow something like this to happen? Nobody else should be allowed to purchase our farmland.

Other countries have such laws, and we should too.

On another note, at just about the same time the Chinese were making their new purchase of farmland in North Dakota, an extremely well known billionaire was making an even larger purchase in the same state...

Bill Gates' $13.5 million investment in 2,100 sprawling acres of North Dakota land has raised questions -- as the purchase coincided with a controversial Chinese company buying 370 acres of farmland just 40 miles away.

Why does Bill Gates just keep buying more farmland?

We have never received a satisfactory answer to that question.

At this point, Bill Gates owns more acres of farmland in the U.S. than the Chinese do. In fact, Bill Gates has become the "largest private farmland owner" in the entire country...

Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.) sent a letter to House Agriculture Committee chairman David Scott (D-Ga.), requesting that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates testify before the committee regarding the billionaire's large farmland purchases.

Gates is the "largest private farmland owner" in the United States, possessing almost 270,000 acres of farmland in 19 states, the July 20 letter states. The average farm size in 2021 was only 445 acres, Johnson said citing data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service.

Gates's farmland holdings in the United States are a "significant" portion that the committee "should not ignore," while asking that the billionaire be brought in to testify about his "farming interests and practices."

Owning so much of our farmland gives Bill Gates a tremendous amount of power over our food supply.

What does he intend to do with such power?

As I keep warning my readers, a major global food crisis has already begun, and we are being warned that nightmarish famines could soon break out all over the planet.

So control over food production matters more than ever, and many are concerned that it is increasingly falling into the wrong hands.

The number of farms in the U.S. has been steadily shrinking.

In 1900, there were 5.7 million farms in the United States.

Today, there are only about 2 million farms in the United States even though our population is now much larger.

With each passing year, more small fish are being acquired by bigger fish.

This is a trend that should deeply disturb all of us. Allowing the Chinese, gigantic corporate behemoths and eccentric billionaires such as Bill Gates to buy up our farmland is a really bad idea, but so far very few of our politicians seem interested in stopping them.

Originally published at End Of The American Dream - reposted with permission.

https://www.prophecynewswatch.com/article.cfm?recent_news_id=5487

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Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
Tim Leininger, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
Tue, August 9, 2022 at 4:04 PM·5 min read

Aug. 9—Over the past few months, several U.S. legislators have been promoting "Christian nationalism," advocating that the U.S. government should be led by and fundamentally governed by Christians under Biblical law.

Five local church leaders say they disagree with this movement.

At a Colorado Springs church event on June 26, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican from Colorado, said, "The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. I'm tired of this separation of church and state junk."

And on July 23, at a Turning Point USA Student Action Summit, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, labeled herself as a Christian nationalist.

"We need to be the party of nationalism and I'm a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists," she said.

Nationwide, according to a Pew Research poll in 2019 about 65% of U.S. adults identify as Christian, with 43% identifying as Protestant and 20% as Catholic.

That percentage of professing Christians does not necessarily reflect any tacit agreement with Boebert and Greene's comments.

"I have a hard time with those 'isms,'" said the Rev. Tara Krantz, pastor of Rockville United Methodist Church in Vernon. "I think that's one of our biggest problems is that we have 'isms.' I think that's our job, to show that there are no 'isms.' That ultimately the only label we need is that we are God's children.

"In this church, we welcome everyone," she said. "I believe that we're all different and one of the reasons why we're here is to learn how to love everyone. Sometimes that means to agree to disagree. It's learning people's stories. I think that's where we mess up, especially in politics. We're not learning the stories and without that, we really can't understand other people. That's why I think the church's job is to show how to love on everyone and to take the judgements out and to be active listeners and to be a community that prays for one another, to really work together."

The Rev. David Saylor, pastor of First Baptist Church in Manchester believes church and state should remain separate.

"As traditional Baptist policy we believe there is a healthy division of church and state," Saylor said "It tends to get blurred in this day and age. I think it's healthy to have a distinction, especially in a democracy or a republic."

He said Christian nationalism is foolish and wrong, especially in the current politically charged environment.

"History has shown that has never worked well, whether it be Christian or Islamic or others," he said. "I think Christianity is supposed to thrive where there's freedom of speech and freedom to share and give people the option to choose to believe or not believe."

The Rev. Cheryl Kincaid of Calvary Presbyterian Church in Enfield also reflected on the history of Christian nationalism.

"We've experienced that in the Holy Wars which were not holy at all," she said. "Jesus said for us to change the world by loving people and humility. Nowhere in the book of Acts do we see the apostle Paul saying we need to change the senate. They were interested in proclaiming Jesus Christ. There's only one way the world changes and that's through love and humility and through prayer.

"My great fear is, instead of the world seeing Christians as 'People of the Way'... they'll be known as people of a particular political party, and I think that shames the Bible," she added.

The Rev. Mike Srisam-ang, pastor of Grace Church in South Windsor, said the church needs to understand that God has placed political leaders there, but doesn't affirm to Christian nationalism.

"We're called as Christians to be a light and that is to be a light even to political authorities by praying for them and living lives consistent with our faith and devotion to Christ, not to respond in any way that would lead to violence or anything like that," he said.

"As Christians we're supposed to be humble," he said. "It comes with the understanding that we're supposed to be the pillar of truth and entrusted with the knowledge of Christ and the Gospel. The church shouldn't lose sight of that and get too focused on the politics. All of this is happening under sovereign control and that is out of our control. The role of the church is a spiritual one."

The Rev. Michelle Hansen, a priest at All Saints Episcopal Parish in East Hartford, had the strongest words for Boebert and Greene.

"I don't believe she's Christian," Hansen said of Greene. "She doesn't espouse Christian principles. She's got a big mouth.

"The separation of church and state goes back to the founding principles of this country," Hansen said. "These people that are opposed to it don't understand the history of the United States. They don't know what religion means in the United States. It's a sad development that has come about. A lot of different political stances have tried to run under the cover of Christianity and they clearly weren't. I believe these people aren't espousing Christianity in any way."

https://www.yahoo.com/news/keeping-church-state-apart-200400010.html

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Nina Golgowski

Sun, July 24, 2022 at 4:27 PM·3 min read

The Republican Party’s primary focus this year should be on making the political party one of Christian nationalism, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said Saturday.

“We need to be the party of nationalism and I’m a Christian, and I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists,” she said in an interview with the conservative Next News Network while attending the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Florida.

Greene, who is known for her vocal religious beliefs and for imposing them on others, said the Republican Party should conform to Christianity to make it easier to identify with and sway Christian voters.

“When Republicans learn to represent most of the people that vote for them, then we will be the party that continues to grow without having to chase down certain identities or chase down certain segments of people,” she said. “We just need to represent Americans and most Americans, no matter how they vote, really care about the same things and I want to see Republicans actually do their job.”

Greene has made similar comments before, saying of Christian nationalism on a podcast last week: “I think that’s an identity that we need to embrace, because those are the policies that serve every single American, no matter how they vote.”

Though most Republican voters identify as Christian today, not all Republicans are and the number who do identify with this religion has been decreasing over the last few decades, particularly among younger voters, according to the Pew Research Center.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for the constitutional separation between church and state, fired back at Greene last month for similar remarks she made, saying she is conflating the term “nationalism” with patriotism.

“Loving your country is not nationalism,” the foundation’s co-presidents said in a letter to her that was shared publicly. “Nationalism is what led Europe into centuries of endless wars over imagined borders and notions of national superiority. Like the unification of state and church, this is an embarrassing misstep in European history that Americans should be proud we have learned from. Nationalism is inherently divisive and dangerous.”

Greene’s advocacy of a religious-themed party comes amid nationwide discussions on the separation of church and state due to a recent spate of rulings by the conservative-majority U.S. Supreme Court.

These include rulings that allow prayer on a public school’s football field, taxpayer money going to religious schools in Maine, and the flying of a flag featuring a Christian cross at a government building.

The first clause in the Bill of Rights, the establishment clause, is widely seen as keeping religion and government separate as a means to prevent government officials from promoting any particular faith.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” it states.

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), another conservative firebrand, advocated for abolishing that clause last month, saying “the church is supposed to direct the government” and that she’s “tired of this separation of church and state junk.”

Representatives with the Republican National Committee did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment Sunday.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

https://news.yahoo.com/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene-says-202722384.html

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Ella Lee, USA TODAY
Tue, August 9, 2022 at 5:01 AM·6 min read

On numerous recent occasions, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene described herself as a "Christian nationalist," calling the political ideology and cultural framework "actually a good thing" and claiming it's an "identity that (Republicans) need to embrace."

"I am being attacked by the godless left because I said I’m a proud Christian Nationalist," Greene, R-Ga., wrote on Twitter on July 25. "The left has shown us exactly who they are. They hate America, they hate God, and they hate us."

Greene defended her use of the description on Friday at CPAC, the conservative political conference in Dallas.

Other right-wing politicians like Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert, and Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who is the state's GOP nominee for governor, have advocated for blurring – or erasing – the lines between church and state. Former President Donald Trump in recent comments at a Turning Point USA summit claimed that "Americans kneel to God, and God alone."

As conservative calls to tear down the wall separating church and state grow more explicit, here's what to know about Christian nationalism.

Poll: Number of US adults who believe in God has dropped 6% since 2017, poll shows

What is nationalism?

Nationalism is "loyalty and devotion to a nation, especially (involving) a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups," according to an analysis by the dictionary Merriam-Webster.

It differentiates itself from patriotism, which is a "love for or devotion to one's country," by saying that a nation isn't only great, it's better than all the others — and its interests and culture should reflect that.

What is Christian nationalism?

Christian nationalism is the idea that America was founded as a Christian nation, by Christians, and that all its laws and institutions are based on Christianity, according to Yale sociologist Philip Gorski, author of "The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy."

Joseph Williams, associate professor of religion at Rutgers, said people who subscribe to "Christian nationalism" believe that maintaining a close relationship to Christianity as a nation will allow it to "fulfill its God-given destiny."

It also could be the conflation of service to a nation with the service of God, according to David Scott, a Methodist historical researcher at the United Methodist Church.

“Christian nationalism gives moral cover for actions, even unseemly ones, taken in pursuit of national or political goals," Scott said, according to the United Methodist Church.

Gorski suggests that Christian nationalism is inextricably tied to white nationalism.

What does the Constitution say about the separation of church and state?

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution is most frequently cited when discussing the separation of church and state. It reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

The founders made clearer their views on America's relationship with religion in signing and ratifying the 1797 Treaty of Tripoli, which reads that "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion."

Thomas Jefferson famously coined the phrase commonly used today in an 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptist Association, in which he wrote that the establishment clause of the Constitution built a “wall of separation between the church and state.”

A short history of American Christian nationalism

In his book "The Flag and the Cross," Gorski and co-author Samuel Perry, a sociologist at the University of Oklahoma, argue that American Christian nationalism goes back to the Colonial era, when colonists proclaimed the belief that the land rightly belonged to them – as white, Protestant Britons – not indigenous people.

The ramifications of growing Christian nationalism in the U.S. span from using the Bible to justify slavery to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, where rioters offered prayers thanking God for the strength to show "tyrants, the communists and the globalists that this is our nation, not theirs.”

Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee, told the Center for American Progress in April that while violent expressions of Christian nationalism are most eye-grabbing, subtler expressions are dangerous in their own right.

"The more subtle ones – like state legislative efforts to promote the teaching of the Bible in public schools or to require the posting of 'In God We Trust' in public schools and other public places – are also dangerous in that they perpetuate the false narrative that to be a true American one must be Christian – and often a certain type of Christian," she said.

Politicians increasingly lean into Christian nationalism

While Greene's comments made major headlines, she's not alone in efforts to shift the narrative around Christian nationalism — and her suggestions aren't new.

In 1948, the so-called Christian Nationalist Party nominated for president a pastor who publicly preached anti-Black, antisemitic views, openly sympathizing with Nazi ideologies, according to the New York Times.

In 2016, Trump won the vast majority of evangelical voters by amping up religious rhetoric, and new politicians have followed in suite.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., in 2021 described Capitol Hill politics as a "spiritual battle" and urged "strong, God-fearing patriots" to fight back against Democrats' supposed "tyranny."

Boebert, the Colorado congresswoman, said in June that she's "tired of this separation of church and state junk that’s not in the Constitution," the Washington Post reported.

What are Americans' views on the separation of church and state?

Americans are largely in favor of keeping church and state separate, according to Pew Research Center.

Almost three-quarters (73%) of Americans say religion and government policies should be kept separate, a Pew survey from spring 2022 found. Keeping church and state separate is agreed upon by a majority of Democrats and Republicans, though fewer Republicans (61%) hold the belief than Democrats (84%).

However, America is split on whether the Christian Bible should influence U.S. laws, according to a 2020 Pew survey. About half of adults say the Bible should influence laws a great deal (23%) or some (26%), while the other half say the Bible shouldn’t influence U.S. laws much (19%) or at all (31%). Republicans are more likely to believe the Bible should influence laws by a two-to-one margin.

More than a quarter (28%) of Americans said the Bible should prevail over the will of the people if the two are conflicting.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Politicians embrace Christian nationalism. What is that ideology?

https://www.yahoo.com/news/marjorie-taylor-greene-other-conservatives-090148902.html