America is indeed at a crucial inflection-point. We must AWAKEN and face this melding of QAnon & MAGA forces dangerously morphing into a strange Christian nationalist movement taking shape in our nation. ‘Q’, anonymous online ‘conspiracy-prophet’, began in 2016, telling ‘followers’ that JFK & JFK Jr, were still alive, and that Bill & Hillary Clinton were running a child-sex-ring from a Washington D.C. pizza parlor basement; which led a crazed gunman to terrorize the business in his attempt to self-investigate the supposed rumors. The once merely wacky conspiracy group is now a huge lunatic-fringe political movement, as religious dissidents join with folks in dire need of mental health services to praise their self-proclaimed ‘savior’, Donald John Trump. Trump’s ‘SAVE AMERICA’ rally in Ohio on 9/17/22, looked more like a megachurch service, with praise, song, chanting, as the attendees swayed in unison to the QAnon theme-song playing, their right arms lifted to the sky, their index fingers pointing to the heavens, signifying “ONE …. where we go one, we go all”.
Trump’s fundraising machine, called ‘Save America’, is backing many state-wide & federal GOP candidates, who along with many pastors are telling people that “to vote wrong is to be unfaithful to God”. One pastor, Mark Burns, at a rally in Post Falls, Idaho, said, “I’m coming to declare war on every demonic, demon-possessed Democrat that comes from the gates of Hell!” As many churches are at an all-time low for attendance, this Christian nationalism is serving as a blasphemous alternative for people’s need to express their fervor for something. History has witnessed this kind of misplaced fervor before, with the brown-shirts hailing Hitler as their ‘savior’. That Christo-fascist movement ended with the deaths of nearly 80 million human beings!
Political rallies are serving as megachurch services for multitudes. I suggest you read, “Donald Trump’s bizarre altar call in Ohio”, by Rev. Nathan Empsall, Episcopal priest, (CBS news online 9/20/22). Rev. Empsall said, “instead of worshipping the divine, crowds are heralding the malign, with Donald Trump’s hateful, intentionally-divisive politics, which is leading & has led to real-world violence. Under Christo-fascism, the only thing that matters is that conservative Christian leaders & their allies hold power. There is need neither for democracy nor for equal rights.”
A South Texas evangelical church pastor has given a church office, to ‘first Mexican-born immigrant, GOP, U.S. Congresswoman’, Mayra Flores, to proselytize her message from, in her reelection bid in November. Her campaign poster reads, “Make America Godly Again”, MAGA.
Trish Forsyth Voss
****** Post-pandemic, with all the folks who’ve quit church attendance, and all the folks who’ve never attended church, even with the partial break for in-person schooling & subsequent online schooling, there seems to be now an even wider gulf or fracture that needs mended, a rift in society, a separation to be filled, for connection & continuity among humankind. People are starved for like-minded community to belong to; it’s a basic human need, for people to belong to something they feel is greater than themselves. People want to belong to something that holds their attention & speaks to them emotionally, that charges them up, that makes them feel alive. A lot of things or groups can do that. Churches can do that; school can be that for students.; military service can do that for soldiers; political office & social services can be that, for those who are service-minded, or for the power-hungry. The QAnon/MAGA ‘philosophy’ gives an emotional message, it gives some folks a clear-cut, understandable ally & enemy, a challenge & mission, a group to be part of, amidst an ever-increasingly disconnected worldview. It’s going to take a miracle to rein this energy in & turn it toward benevolence, for all humanity. For those who believe in prayer, I urge us all to pray for a MIRACLE for America, for the world, and for planet Earth, Gaia, and to send loving energy to all beings. We can all join in positive thought to hold this intent for our nation and our world!
I urge all you readers to read “Politics shaping more people’s religion, professor’s research finds”, written by Duane Bonifer, published in 10/9/22 issue of the Register-Mail newspaper of Galesburg, IL. The article speaks to this very divide, how a study & survey by Audette & Hafner “found that 52% of the survey’s respondents had shopped for a church”, once or more, on how people are “church-shopping”, based on political views, placing their political views above their religious views, or showing how political views are impacting & reshaping their perceived religious views, how our political views are pushing people farther to the Left or Right, and dividing “our social institutions in a political way”. The article stated, “a recent Pew Research Center poll indicated that 44% of church-goers have switched religion or stopped attending church altogether”. Monmouth political science professor, Andre Audette, suggested that we may experience ‘cognitive dissonance’ as we sit through church sermons, trying to align the lessons thereof with our worldview, in our heads & hearts, and what we believe at our core about humanity, our beginnings, and our current place in this world.
I would ask, “Do you feel you are here ‘on purpose’, on a mission, for a purpose; what could it be?” And concerning this entire line of thought, I conclude with this image I saw recently, a huge banner waving from a porch, it read: “Jesus is my savior, and Donald Trump is my president”. The homeowner obviously merging ‘his’ religion with his political views, infusing his favored political candidate with a definite religious fervor. This is the illusion or reality of our times. Trish Forsyth Voss
Oct 10 2022
Christian nationalism is serving as a blasphemous alternative. Chisto-fascism is the result.
America is indeed at a crucial inflection-point. We must AWAKEN and face this melding of QAnon & MAGA forces dangerously morphing into a strange Christian nationalist movement taking shape in our nation. ‘Q’, anonymous online ‘conspiracy-prophet’, began in 2016, telling ‘followers’ that JFK & JFK Jr, were still alive, and that Bill & Hillary Clinton were running a child-sex-ring from a Washington D.C. pizza parlor basement; which led a crazed gunman to terrorize the business in his attempt to self-investigate the supposed rumors. The once merely wacky conspiracy group is now a huge lunatic-fringe political movement, as religious dissidents join with folks in dire need of mental health services to praise their self-proclaimed ‘savior’, Donald John Trump. Trump’s ‘SAVE AMERICA’ rally in Ohio on 9/17/22, looked more like a megachurch service, with praise, song, chanting, as the attendees swayed in unison to the QAnon theme-song playing, their right arms lifted to the sky, their index fingers pointing to the heavens, signifying “ONE …. where we go one, we go all”.
Trump’s fundraising machine, called ‘Save America’, is backing many state-wide & federal GOP candidates, who along with many pastors are telling people that “to vote wrong is to be unfaithful to God”. One pastor, Mark Burns, at a rally in Post Falls, Idaho, said, “I’m coming to declare war on every demonic, demon-possessed Democrat that comes from the gates of Hell!” As many churches are at an all-time low for attendance, this Christian nationalism is serving as a blasphemous alternative for people’s need to express their fervor for something. History has witnessed this kind of misplaced fervor before, with the brown-shirts hailing Hitler as their ‘savior’. That Christo-fascist movement ended with the deaths of nearly 80 million human beings!
Political rallies are serving as megachurch services for multitudes. I suggest you read, “Donald Trump’s bizarre altar call in Ohio”, by Rev. Nathan Empsall, Episcopal priest, (CBS news online 9/20/22). Rev. Empsall said, “instead of worshipping the divine, crowds are heralding the malign, with Donald Trump’s hateful, intentionally-divisive politics, which is leading & has led to real-world violence. Under Christo-fascism, the only thing that matters is that conservative Christian leaders & their allies hold power. There is need neither for democracy nor for equal rights.”
A South Texas evangelical church pastor has given a church office, to ‘first Mexican-born immigrant, GOP, U.S. Congresswoman’, Mayra Flores, to proselytize her message from, in her reelection bid in November. Her campaign poster reads, “Make America Godly Again”, MAGA.
Trish Forsyth Voss
****** Post-pandemic, with all the folks who’ve quit church attendance, and all the folks who’ve never attended church, even with the partial break for in-person schooling & subsequent online schooling, there seems to be now an even wider gulf or fracture that needs mended, a rift in society, a separation to be filled, for connection & continuity among humankind. People are starved for like-minded community to belong to; it’s a basic human need, for people to belong to something they feel is greater than themselves. People want to belong to something that holds their attention & speaks to them emotionally, that charges them up, that makes them feel alive. A lot of things or groups can do that. Churches can do that; school can be that for students.; military service can do that for soldiers; political office & social services can be that, for those who are service-minded, or for the power-hungry. The QAnon/MAGA ‘philosophy’ gives an emotional message, it gives some folks a clear-cut, understandable ally & enemy, a challenge & mission, a group to be part of, amidst an ever-increasingly disconnected worldview. It’s going to take a miracle to rein this energy in & turn it toward benevolence, for all humanity. For those who believe in prayer, I urge us all to pray for a MIRACLE for America, for the world, and for planet Earth, Gaia, and to send loving energy to all beings. We can all join in positive thought to hold this intent for our nation and our world!
I urge all you readers to read “Politics shaping more people’s religion, professor’s research finds”, written by Duane Bonifer, published in 10/9/22 issue of the Register-Mail newspaper of Galesburg, IL. The article speaks to this very divide, how a study & survey by Audette & Hafner “found that 52% of the survey’s respondents had shopped for a church”, once or more, on how people are “church-shopping”, based on political views, placing their political views above their religious views, or showing how political views are impacting & reshaping their perceived religious views, how our political views are pushing people farther to the Left or Right, and dividing “our social institutions in a political way”. The article stated, “a recent Pew Research Center poll indicated that 44% of church-goers have switched religion or stopped attending church altogether”. Monmouth political science professor, Andre Audette, suggested that we may experience ‘cognitive dissonance’ as we sit through church sermons, trying to align the lessons thereof with our worldview, in our heads & hearts, and what we believe at our core about humanity, our beginnings, and our current place in this world.
I would ask, “Do you feel you are here ‘on purpose’, on a mission, for a purpose; what could it be?” And concerning this entire line of thought, I conclude with this image I saw recently, a huge banner waving from a porch, it read: “Jesus is my savior, and Donald Trump is my president”. The homeowner obviously merging ‘his’ religion with his political views, infusing his favored political candidate with a definite religious fervor. This is the illusion or reality of our times. Trish Forsyth Voss
By spiritspeak • Uncategorized 0