"Peace through strength is the gospel of every authoritarian regime. ...

American Christians often like to recall Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Karl Barth as fellow Christians who stood up to the violence of authoritarianism when Hilter was on the rise in Germany."

~ William J. Barber, II and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

#authoritarianism #fascism #religion #Hitler #Nazis
/1

https://ourmoralmoment.substack.com/p/advent-peace-when-there-is-no-peace

"Peace through strength is the gospel of every authoritarian regime. ...

American Christians often like to recall Dietrich Bonhoeffer or Karl Barth as fellow Christians who stood up to the violence of authoritarianism when Hilter was on the rise in Germany."

~ William J. Barber, II and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove

#authoritarianism #fascism #religion #Hitler #Nazis
/1

https://ourmoralmoment.substack.com/p/advent-peace-when-there-is-no-peace

From @jackmjenkins

UPDATE: Another Chicago-area church has put up an immigration-themed Nativity scene.

A church member at Urban Village Church sent this one along, where Mary, Joseph and Jesus are gone and replaced with a sign that reads: “Due to ICE activity in our community, the Holy Family is in hiding.”

#Christmas #ICE #Fascism #Religion

From @jackmjenkins

UPDATE: Another Chicago-area church has put up an immigration-themed Nativity scene.

A church member at Urban Village Church sent this one along, where Mary, Joseph and Jesus are gone and replaced with a sign that reads: “Due to ICE activity in our community, the Holy Family is in hiding.”

#Christmas #ICE #Fascism #Religion

"There was no doubt at all. And it just didn't make any difference. And so I think that's like the big picture."

White Christians own the Trump presidency, its corruption, its manifold cruelties, its attacks on immigrants and racial minorities and LGBTQ people, its lethal lies about vaccines and medical research, its war crimes, its destruction of USAID and the resulting deaths of millions of children.

#authoritarianism #religion #Trump #MAGA #WhiteChristians #WhiteChristianNationalism
/11

Ruth Ben-Ghiat offers an essay adapted from a keynote address on “Religion and Authoritarianism” that she just gave in New York at a conference on Religious Resistance to Authoritarianism. It was sponsored by the Interfaith Center of New York, Union Theological Seminary, Riverside Church, The Beacon, and the Interfaith Alliance.

#authoritarianism #religion
/1

https://lucid.substack.com/p/religion-and-authoritarianism-collaboration

"There was no doubt at all. And it just didn't make any difference. And so I think that's like the big picture."

White Christians own the Trump presidency, its corruption, its manifold cruelties, its attacks on immigrants and racial minorities and LGBTQ people, its lethal lies about vaccines and medical research, its war crimes, its destruction of USAID and the resulting deaths of millions of children.

#authoritarianism #religion #Trump #MAGA #WhiteChristians #WhiteChristianNationalism
/11

"And 6 in 10 white Catholics have supported Trump every time he has been on the ticket. And it's been very, very steady. So you might think, okay, in 2016, maybe people were giving him the benefit of the doubt.

Maybe they had voted Republican all their lives, and so it was a kind of knee-jerk thing. But by this last election in 2024, everybody knew what they were voting for."

#authoritarianism #religion #Trump #MAGA #WhiteChristians #WhiteChristianNationalism
/10

Jones answers,

"Well, I know. So everybody keeps saying, OK, well, white evangelicals, right, 8 in 10 support him is true. And in the last election it was 85 percent of white evangelical Christians. But I think the thing that you look at the numbers, what everybody's forgetting is, is that 6 in 10 white non-evangelical Protestants supported Trump every time he's been on the ticket."

#authoritarianism #religion #Trump #MAGA #WhiteChristians #WhiteChristianNationalism
/9

"Now, what do I mean by that? And that is that, you know, what we see is that every time Donald Trump has been on the ticket, it has been white Christians that have overwhelmingly supported him. And everybody knows, I think by now, the kind of one stat people can quote is like 8 in 10 white evangelicals."

Jonathan Hartgrove replies: "But you keep saying white Christians."

#authoritarianism #religion #Trump #MAGA #WhiteChristians #WhiteChristianNationalism
/8

Robert P. Jones and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove talk about Trump and where his support comes from: Jones says,

"So how do we end up with this authoritarian president that we have and the MAGA takeover of one of our two political parties? And there's really only one answer to that question, right? And that is white Christians have allowed this to happen."

#authoritarianism #religion #Trump #MAGA #WhiteChristians #WhiteChristianNationalism
/7

https://www.whitetoolong.net/p/advent-hope-in-a-time-of-authoritarianism

"Faith institutions are called to act, and help people in their congregations to arrive at their own reckoning with the costs of this inhumane administration.

With autocracy expanding around the world, and repression intensifying in America, it is more important than ever to know how religious resistance has unfolded around the world and how faith institutions may best respond to attacks on our freedoms."

#authoritarianism #religion
/6

"We are seeing this potent moral charge every day now in the United States as ordinary people and clerics protest the brutal ICE raids and disappearances. The Rev. Michael Woolf, who was thrown to the ground and arrested for protesting in Chicago, along with other clerics, has diagnosed a 'spiritual emergency' in America."

#authoritarianism #religion
/5

"In fact, the more corrupt and violent they become, the more they must surround themselves with an aura of holiness." But:

"Faith communities in authoritarian contexts can work to defeat authoritarian tendencies within their ranks; dialogue with other faith communities in the nation to encourage elite defections; and collaborate with other sectors of society on resistance actions."

#authoritarianism #religion
/4

"This is the context for the bargains autocrats strike with media, religious, business and other elites. Those elites get profits and power in return for loyalty to the leader, no matter what he says or does. These deals tend to be durable, but every autocrat fears 'elite defection' which creates cracks in the edifice of his power.

Autocrats need religious leaders on their side to give them legitimacy."

#authoritarianism #religion
/3

She notes both the persistent tendency of some strands of religious groups to support authoritarianism and the equally persistent tendency of other strands in the same religious groups to push back against authoritarianism and assist those oppressed by authoritarian regimes.

"As lying, violence, and corruption are institutionalized, criminals are lionized as patriots, and truthtellers treated as criminals. Over time, a state of moral collapse is reached."

#authoritarianism #religion
/2

Ruth Ben-Ghiat offers an essay adapted from a keynote address on “Religion and Authoritarianism” that she just gave in New York at a conference on Religious Resistance to Authoritarianism. It was sponsored by the Interfaith Center of New York, Union Theological Seminary, Riverside Church, The Beacon, and the Interfaith Alliance.

#authoritarianism #religion
/1

https://lucid.substack.com/p/religion-and-authoritarianism-collaboration

Ruth Ben-Ghiat offers an essay adapted from a keynote address on “Religion and Authoritarianism” that she just gave in New York at a conference on Religious Resistance to Authoritarianism. It was sponsored by the Interfaith Center of New York, Union Theological Seminary, Riverside Church, The Beacon, and the Interfaith Alliance.

#authoritarianism #religion
/1

https://lucid.substack.com/p/religion-and-authoritarianism-collaboration