Christian nationalism in Texas is an ‘oxymoron’

[Risky Thicket]

From Georgia - my home state - to Florida to Texas, and the bible belt red states, Christian nationalists keep pimping Christian Nationalism. Yes, it concerns me and it has for a while.

Full disclosure, I am not a Christian.

I was a Christian. Most all of my family and extended family, most of my friends are Christians. And I'm fine with that. I respect their faith and I respect them. We never talk about religion. OK, there are a few exceptions. I have a first cousin and his wife who are concerned about my soul and rarely miss the opportunity to tell me about it. As nicely as I can - more than once - I have told them to avoid that around me. I don't often see them for that reason. They are fine people otherwise but they are born again pains in the ass.

Over the years I have served on local, state and national committees and boards with Christians, Jews, Agnostics, Muslims including one Black Muslim, a Sikh, a Hindu, Native Americans who practice their native faiths, Buddhists and I think there were a couple of Wiccans in there somewhere. EVERYONE shared one common belief and that was to serve in a way that would help make the world a better place. That was it. A common goal.

Christian nationalism bothers me. Any religious nationalism bothers me. I don't want it and my country doesn't need it.

I am a Buddhist. No shining example of one. I damn sure don't want to see any Buddhist nationalism in the US.

Here is a recent occurrence, in progress, in Texas that concerns me. I hope it stays in Texas. In Arizona our current governor wouldn't cotton to the Christian nationalist laws being written, passed and signed in Texas. Our legislature, however, would attempt to pass Christian nationalists law in a heartbeat.

The Texas Legislature has raised eyebrows and hackles in recent weeks as lawmakers advanced a trio of religion-related education bills championed by conservative Christian activists and lambasted by liberal critics as evidence of Christian nationalism.

The bills include one that would allow public schools to hire chaplains, another that would mandate Texas classrooms to hang a donated version of the Ten Commandments and a third that would allow schools to set aside time for staff or students to pray or read religious texts.

One prominent critic of at least two of those bills, Democratic Texas state Rep. James Talarico, is a Presbyterian seminarian, and his public, faith-infused back-and-forth with another lawmaker over the Ten Commandments bill caught fire on social media last week.

Full article here.

 

[dseag2]

From Georgia - my home state - to Florida to Texas, and the bible belt red states, Christian nationalists keep pimping Christian Nationalism. Yes, it concerns me and it has for a while.

Full disclosure, I am not a Christian.

I was a Christian. Most all of my family and extended family, most of my friends are Christians. And I'm fine with that. I respect their faith and I respect them. We never talk about religion. OK, there are a few exceptions. I have a first cousin and his wife who are concerned about my soul and rarely miss the opportunity to tell me about it. As nicely as I can - more than once - I have told them to avoid that around me. I don't often see them for that reason. They are fine people otherwise but they are born again pains in the ass.

Over the years I have served on local, state and national committees and boards with Christians, Jews, Agnostics, Muslims including one Black Muslim, a Sikh, a Hindu, Native Americans who practice their native faiths, Buddhists and I think there were a couple of Wiccans in there somewhere. EVERYONE shared one common belief and that was to serve in a way that would help make the world a better place. That was it. A common goal.

Christian nationalism bothers me. Any religious nationalism bothers me. I don't want it and my country doesn't need it.

I am a Buddhist. No shining example of one. I damn sure don't want to see any Buddhist nationalism in the US.

Here is a recent occurrence, in progress, in Texas that concerns me. I hope it stays in Texas. In Arizona our current governor wouldn't cotton to the Christian nationalist laws being written, passed and signed in Texas. Our legislature, however, would attempt to pass Christian nationalists law in a heartbeat.



Full article here.

Well said. I grew up in the Southern Baptist religion and, if anything, it led me away from Christianity. Seeing the Man Behind the Curtain was eye-opening.