Yesterday, the radio opera was “Theodora” be George Frederick Handel. This is sort of the opposite of last week, when an opera traditionally staged was presented in concert. Theodora was written as an oratorio, intended to be performed in cocert – but the Royal Opera House (London) fully staged it. It actually stages well, including – maybe especially – in modern dress (which thet used). I have a VCR of it from the seventies, directed by Peter Sellars (not the Englishman who spelled it with an “e” and was then already no longer with us, but the Australian who spells it with an “a” and is still very much alive and quirky), also in modern dress. I believe he was the first to fully stage it, but staging it has since become relatively normal. Sellars is a phenomenon in himself, but I won;t go into that today. The story is about a Christian woman – Theodors – who is in love with a Roman soldier – Didymus – at a time when Christians were still being hunted down by the Empire This can’t end well – and it doesn’t. Of course ther are other characters, and plot twists and turns. Handel actually wrote a lot of Italan style operas in his younger days, and Theodira would probably have been one of them had not John Gay and John Rich come along with “The Beggar’s Opers which made Italian opera obsolete overnight. Of course, without that happening, “Messiah” might never have been written (neither would “The Threepenny Opera,” but I digress.)
Cartoon –
Short Takes –
The Colorado Sun – Two Colorado students figured out how to clean an oil spill using human (their own) hair
Quote – Front Range Community College computer science instructor Diane Rhodes says the pair succeeded in part because they had a good idea, backed it with solid engineering and modeling work, and put in the time to overcome physical problems and fix broken parts. But their personalities also made a big impact, Rhodes said. Doing well at innovation competitions requires interaction, practice in public, and a bit of sales, Rhodes said. “They were very enthusiastic, and very knowledgeable. They were able to articulate their problem in a concise way. And they were not shy,… [a]nd I never once had to tell them to put their phones down.” Click through for story. Good news is always welcome. And human (and canine) hair is a renewable resource.
Robert Reich – The Republican Party: God, guns, forced birth, and strongmen
Quote – The connections between these strands of rightwing ideology are growing clearer and louder — theocratic Christianity, gun violence, the subjugation of women through forced birth, and strongman authoritarianism. Christian nationalism now taking over the Republican Party envisions vigilante justice — “good guys with guns,” neighbors eavesdropping on neighbors, and action to stop what they call “abortion trafficking” — women crossing state lines to access legal abortions. Widespread access to guns is essential to keep everyone under control, suppress protests, and fuel fear. To call this a “culture” war is to understate its true meaning and potential danger. Those of us who still believe in separating church and state, guarding reproductive rights, ensuring racial equality, ending gun violence, and protecting democracy must understand that much of the Republican Party now stands for the exact opposite of these values. Click through for details. Iam seeing many who write about American politics describe the nation as “asleep” – or “sleepwalking.” I fear that is accurate. REally, our best hope is that they have overstepped and that there will be enough outrage from liberals and other decent human beings to give us a Democratic sweep in both the House and Senate – preferably with no DINOs. If that doesn’t happen, this won’t end well.
Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”
This article is several months old, but I missed it when it was new. It deals with something I have literally opposed since I was nine – forcing religion into government. I have never grasped why more people don’t recognixe the horrors of losing the separation of church and state – horrors which are even worse for the church than they are for the state (when the church beomoes about nothing but temporal power, it becomes the worst kind of cult.) Of course, now, after seeing the lengths of insanity to which “conservatives” have gove (the latest is that norses are now witches -seriously) – I still don’t understand it, but a least I have a clue why I don’t understand it.
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How ‘In God We Trust’ bills are helping advance a Christian nationalist agenda
City vehicles in Chesapeake, Virginia, will soon be getting religion.
At a meeting on July 13, 2021, city councilors unanimously voted in favor of a proposal that would see the official motto of the U.S., “In God We Trust,” emblazoned on every city-owned car and truck, at an estimated cost to taxpayers of US$87,000.
Meanwhile, the state of Mississippi is preparing to defend in court its insistence that all citizens, unless they pay a fee for an alternative, must display the same four-word phrase on their license plates. Gov. Tate Reeves vowed last month to take the issue “all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court should we have to.”
“In God We Trust” became the national motto 65 years ago this month. But over the past few years a string of bills and city ordinances has sought to expand its usage and presence. Such efforts include legislation requiring or encouraging the motto be displayed in government buildings and schools, on license plates and on police vehicles.
The rise of bills across the country at this time is no coincidence. It fits with a concerted effort by Christian nationalists who view the motto as a tool to help legitimize an agenda of passing legislation that privileges conservative Christian values.
Christian nationalism is a political ideology that fuses conservative religious beliefs with a – usually white – American identity. Christian nationalists assume that the laws of the land should be based on Christian morals.
As a scholar of religious and political rhetoric, I have observed how Christian nationalists are using what I call “theistnormative” legislation – government-endorsed policies, rituals, laws and symbols that use vague religious references, such as “God” – to encourage people to view the United States as a theistic collective – that is to say, as a nation of believers in God.
From coins to national motto
Christian nationalists played a key role in getting “In God We Trust” put on coins during the Civil War and ever since have attempted to use the motto as “proof” that the United States is a Christian nation.
Early Christian nationalists criticized the Founding Fathers for failing to recognize the United States as an explicitly Christian nation in the Constitution. An early Christian nationalist organization, The National Reform Association, pushed for a “Christian Amendment” that would correct what they called the “original sin” of not recognizing Jesus Christ in the Constitution.
Their efforts failed. But Christian nationalists had better success in getting the more ambiguous motto “In God We Trust” put on coins in 1864. It followed a report to the U.S. Treasury by the director of the U.S. Mint, James Pollock, an active member of the National Reform Association, in which he asked: “We claim to be a Christian Nation – why should we not vindicate our character by honoring the God of Nations in the exercise of our political Sovereignty as a Nation?”
Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase amends ‘In God is our Trust’ to ‘In God We Trust’ in an 1863 letter to James Pollock, director of the Philadelphia mint. National Archives and Records Administration
Amid fears of “atheistic communism” during the Cold War a century later, Christian nationalists in the U.S. again tried and failed to pass a “Christian Amendment.” But they again found success in advocating for legislation that used vague religious references, culminating in the adding of “under God” to the pledge of allegiance and making “In God We Trust” the national motto on July 30, 1956.
Two years before making ‘In God We Trust’ the national motto, President Eisenhower introduces a stamp carrying the slogan. Bettmann / Getty Images
Earlier this year, Mississippi state Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith justified legislation that would ban voter registration on Sundays by holding up a dollar bill and saying, “This says, ‘The United States of America, in God we trust.’ … In God’s word in Exodus 20:18, it says ‘remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.‘”
While most Christian nationalists claim to support religious freedom – which would seemingly apply to all faiths – most believe Christianity, specifically white conservative Christian values, should be privileged in the public sphere.
‘Project Blitz’
Christian nationalists have increasingly turned to “In God We Trust” bills as a way to further legitimize their agenda. This is particularly evident in the “Project Blitz” initiative, led by the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation, which states its aim as “restoring Judeo-Christian principles to their rightful place.”
Project Blitz started in 2015 with the purpose of “blitzing” the country with legislation advancing Christian nationalism. As David Barton, a leader in the initiative, explained in a 2018 conference call with state legislators: “It’s kind of like whack-a-mole for the other side; it’ll drive ‘em crazy that they’ll have to divide their resources out in opposing this.”
After Project Blitz generated negative publicity in 2018, it was misleadingly rebranded as “Freedom for All.” During a recorded strategy meeting that was later circulated by the social justice think tank Political Research Associates, Lea Carawan of the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation explained, “As soon as we understood that they knew they were on to us, we changed the name; shifted things around a little bit […] we’ve renamed and moved on but it’s moving just as strong and just as powerfully.”
While those behind “Project Blitz” claim the bills are not about converting people to Christianity, they also argue that the U.S. should be a Christian nation whose laws and policies “reflect Judeo-Christian or biblical values and concepts.”
As such, “In God We Trust” bills set the foundation for more explicitly conservative Christian legislation.
The playbooks suggest “In God We Trust” bills can “shore up later support for other governmental entities to support religious displays” to help America accept its “Christian heritage.” The Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation also recommends legislators push for other types of bills including, as stated in their 2018-2019 playbook, a resolution to establish policy “favoring intimate sexual relations only between married, heterosexual couples.”
The risk of opposing
What makes “In God We Trust” bills so successful is that they often receive bipartisan support. In Louisiana, for example, it was a Democratic governor who signed the 2019 bill requiring the motto be displayed in all schools. Politicians who do oppose “In God We Trust” bills run the risk of being labeled as “anti-faith.”
Despite its being the national motto for only 65 years, Christian nationalists have framed “In God We Trust” as part of the U.S.‘s founding tradition. Moreover, the motto has become an important rhetorical weapon for Christian nationalists – using it to advance their belief that governments and people are to “trust in God,” and more specifically their perception of a conservative Christian God.
================================================================ Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, a sweet little phrase like “In God We Trust” sounds so harmless, so innocent. But it isn’t. In the first place, it’s a lie – we don’t all trust in God (least of all those who so loudly claim to do so). In the second place, it’s lazy – and dangerous – to “trust in God” in lieu of doing what you should be doing. I could go on, but all of us probably could. What was the matter with “E pluribus unum“, for the sweet sake of the sweet universe? At least it was pro-diversity, as our national motto should be. “Christian Nationalism” is nothing but a way to destroy Christianity and the nation (whatever nation gets caught up oin it) simultaneously.
(P. S. I just heard Beau define “heritage” as “peer pressure from the dead.” I could not possibly have said it better.)
A Dominionist cult, commonly known as ‘the family’ holds a supposedly non-partisan annual religious event called the National Prayer Breakfast. Presidents (and Residents) of the United States routinely attend. It’s normally pretty low key, as the family uses it to present themselves as mainstream and cover up who they really are and what they really do. But someone forgot to tell that to the criminal Fuhrer Trump*.
At the 68th, and perhaps last, National Prayer Breakfast, the main remarks were made by the former president of the American Enterprise Institute (and Post columnist) Arthur C. Brooks, who spoke on the themes of his wonderful 2019 book “Love Your Enemies.” President Trump then prefaced his speech by saying: “Arthur, I don’t know if I agree with you. But I don’t know if Arthur’s going to like what I’m going to say.”
It was a strange moment in U.S. religious history. The command to love your enemies, of course, came from Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. “Love your enemies, bless those that curse you, do good to them that hate you.” It might be expected for a president to express how difficult obeying such a mandate can be. Trump decided to dispute the command itself. And some in the crowd laughed.
The purpose of Trump’s sermon at the Hilton was, in fact, to put his enemies on notice. Those who pursued impeachment were “very dishonest and corrupt people.” “They know what they are doing is wrong,” he continued, “but they put themselves far ahead of our great country.” Congressional Republicans, in contrast, had the wisdom and strength “to do what everyone knows was right.”
Trump proceeded to make a thinly veiled attack against Mitt Romney of Utah, the only Republican senator to vote for the president’s removal: “I don’t like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong.” And then a shot at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.): “Nor do I like people who say, ‘I’ll pray for you,’ when I know that is not so.”… [emphasis added]
Portman has his head up Trump’s* ass. The only message that Senate Republicans delivered is that there is nothing too evil for Senate Republicans to help Trump evade the consequences for doing it.
Joe should not be surprised that the so-called believers there sided with Trump instead of Jesus. The NPV is sponsored by the Fellowship Foundation, aka ‘the family’. A Dominionist cult, they believe that they need to take over government to make the earth fit to receive Republican Supply-side Jesus on his return. Their vehicle they use to achieve this end is the Republican Reich. They are NOT Christians. Not all Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians are Dominionists, but all Dominionists are Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians.
