NPR : New Book Examines Christian Nationalism

NPR : New Book Examines Christian Nationalism

Journalist Michelle Goldberg, a senior writer for the online magazine Salon, and covers the Christian Right. In her new book, Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, she writes that Christian nationalists believe the Bible is literally true -- and they want to see the nation governed by that truth. This is copied from "Fresh Air" page. Look at the link and you can hear Terry Gross' interview with Michelle Goldberg. It is really scary. A wake up call??

The following is copied from Bruce Prescott's Blog Mainstream Baptist and he is quoting Buddy Shurden of Mercer College:

IT CAN HAPPEN HERE


Let me tell you why I believe it can happen here, this idolatrous mixing of church and state.

It can happen here because "Generation Joshua" is loose in our country. Have you heard of "Generation Joshua?" It is an effort by Michael Farris, founder of Patrick Henry College, to
turn Christian, home-schooled students into political foot soldiers to gain political power in order to subsume everything -- entertainment, law, government, and education -- under their right wing version of Christianity. Like Joshua of the Hebrew Bible, Generation Joshua's job is to possess the land,
to conquer the land, or, in the words of the religious right, "to take back the land." And, according to Michael Harris, in the spring semester of 2004, Patrick Henry College had more interns in the White House than any other college in the
nation. It can happen here because of a religious right-wing militancy.

It can happen here because by 2004 The Christian Coalition gave 42 out of 100 United States senators a rating of 100%. More than half of the senators received ratings of 83% by the militant Christian Coalition. It can happen here
because sincere religious ideologues are rampant in our country, and they mean business.

It can happen here because a recent survey of 100,000 high
school students in America concluded that one out of three students believes that the First Amendment goes TOO FAR in the rights it guarantees! That last sentence ought to be absolutely horrendous to your ears. In fact, that sentence
reminds me of a phone call we got about 12:30 one night when we were living in Louisville, Ky. The call was from Wayne Dehoney, pastor of Walnut Street Baptist Church in the city. He said, "Walter, this is Wayne Dehoney, I just received a call from Cullman, Ala., and Grady Nutt was killed in a plane crash tonight. I knew that you were close friends, so I am calling to tell you so that you can go be with his wife." It was my first and only death notice in the middle of the night. I remember saying in stunned shock and disbelief, "Wayne, you are going
to have to say that again." He said, "I understand." And then, with all those years of pastoral care under his belt, he slowly said once more, "I received a call from Cullman, Ala., and Grady Nutt was killed in an airplane crash tonight."

I do not trivialize my dear friend Grady Nutt's death by
saying to you that, if you hear it carefully, the sentence about the high school students and the First Amendment has all the tone and sound of a death announcement in the middle of the night about someone you love. So I want to repeat it, slowly, so that it will sink in: ONE IN THREE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THIS REPUBLIC SAYS THAT THE FIRST AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES GOES TOO FAR IN THE RIGHTS IT GUARANTEES TO YOU AS A CITIZEN!

The survey did not end there, however. It contained more surprises. More shocking still, only one-half of the students surveyed said that a newspaper should be allowed to publish freely without government approval of stories.

My friends, we are talking about my grandchildren's future here! This is America's tomorrow speaking! One third of them want the freedoms of the First Amendment curbed. And one half of them want newspapers to secure government approval for their stories!! These are astonishing and inconceivable attitudes for high school students in the United States of America. This survey is a terrible, scary phone call in the middle of the night about what has happened and what is happening in our nation. It can happen here because of ignorance of our History.