Republican AG Rejects Christian Nationalist Attack on Religious Freedom
A Republican attorney general opposed some members of his own party while defending religious freedom in his state.
Oklahoma Attorney General Genter Drummond vowed to take his state to court as soon as a state-funded Catholic school opens. When asked why his state was funding religious education, Drummond told Politico,
I think its genesis is in Christian nationalism. There are believers that are confusing true religion — and religious liberty, and faith in God — with political power. And this Christian nationalism is the movement that is giving oxygen to this attempt to eviscerate the Establishment Clause.
In a July 4 op-ed for The Dallas Morning News, I pointed out that disestablishment of religion benefited both our personal liberty and the health of religious groups, which lose religious authority when they become tainted with political power. I quoted James Madison's "Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments," which argued against Virginia's funding of religious education in 1785. Here's another relevant quote from that piece that I didn't include:
Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects? that the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only of his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?
Drummond made a similar point to Politico:
There will be a day in America where Christianity is a plurality, and not a majority. That day may not come in my lifetime, but it will come in the lifetime of my children or grandchildren. We need to be careful of the establishment of laws, and rules of law, that will take what we’ve considered sacred these last 250 years and do away with it.
NYT columnist David French pointed out last month that this debate in Oklahoma is emblematic of a larger debate between the liberty right and authoritarian right.
If I had to sum up the current debate within the American right, I’d describe it as a contest between liberty and authority. To what extent should the political project of the conservative movement focus on the preservation of individual and institutional freedom versus expanding the power of the state to advance conservative ends?
"I believe we have stepped over a line into the inhumane."
Texas Governor Greg Abbott has continued former President Donald Trump's legacy of cruelty toward migrants. The Houston Chronicle broke the story of a memo from an unnamed state trooper detailing the, in his words, "inhumane" treatments they were ordered to inflict on migrants crossing the border. Watch coverage of this developing story here:
Former Murdoch Allies: Fox Became 'Disinformation Machine'
Preston Padden, Ken Solomon and Bill Reyner, three men who helped Rupert Murdoch launch Fox News, expressed their "deep disappointment" at what Fox News has become.
In our opinion, the Fox News Channel has had many negative impacts on our society. Arguably the worst has been Fox’s role in promoting Trump’s “Big Lie” about alleged widespread fraud in the 2020 election and, in our opinion, Fox’s role in contributing to the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol that undermined our democracy. In fact, the connection between Fox and the January 6 attack is so strong that multiple Jan 6 defendants have pleaded not guilty arguing they were suffering from “Foxitis” — a disease caused by watching false news on Fox!
Through months long email exchanges in 2020 and 2021, Preston gained first-hand knowledge of Rupert Murdoch’s thinking about former President Trump and alleged fraud in the 2020 election. Murdoch made it very clear to Preston that he understood that the 2020 election had not been stolen. Nonetheless, during the same time period, Fox continued to perpetuate the “Big Lie” and promote the Jan 6 “Stop the Steal” rally in D.C.
More Republicans Like Religion But Not Going to Church
… People like the *idea* of religion, without the actual trappings of said religion. They are the kind of folks that talk about concepts like biblical values without every stepping foot inside a church. They want (primarily) Christian values to be protected, but they don’t actually want to spend much time understanding the theology around the values.
For them, religion has become a social and cultural marker - not a spiritual one. It’s basically become another cudgel in the culture war. So, when the debate heats up over issues of sexuality, gender, or abortion these are the kind of folks who will post memes on Facebook that include references to scripture verses, despite the fact that they themselves never read the Bible.