LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

It's starting- the disintigration of the connections between the Republican Party and the extreme Christian right.

From the Sioux City Journal:

A day after the Democratic sweep of the midterm elections, Woodbury County Republican Chairman Steve Salem had harsh words for his own party, lambasting the influence of the conservative Christian right wing.

Salem said he coined a new phase: "You've heard of IslamaFascists -- I think we now have Christian fascists. What is the definition of a fascist? Not only do they want to beat you, but they want to destroy you in the process."

Salem said "if things keep going the way things are going locally and statewide, it is going to be more and more difficult for Republicans to recruit candidates. We have elements of the party who are moral absolutists, who take the approach that if you don't take my position every step of the way, not only will I not support you, but I will destroy you."

I have a feeling that this will be happening in Republican strongholds across the country.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

There have been some wonderful posts in this community of late, including some excellent articles and commentary. One thing has been overlooked, though- and that is tagging. Tags help future researchers find articles and posts in this community, so adding a tag or two to your post will help make it part of the research database that should be forming.

I'll admit that I have been lax in this myself, and will correct that problem. It is easy to edit a post to add tags, and we have a large selection to choose from. So please, tag your posts. Later readers and researchers will thank you.

LJ-SEC: (ORIGINALLY POSTED BY sunfell)

Michelle Goldberg, author of "Kingdom Coming" has written an article at the Huffington Post about the changes this election has wrought:

In The New York Times Book Review today, John Wilson wrote a version of a piece I've been seeing a lot of lately. He argued that the danger of the Christian right has been wildly overstated, offering as examples books like my Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, Kevin Phillips American Theocracy, and the documentary Jesus Camp.

"Will the evangelical Red Guards soon be storming the Museum of Modern Art? How worried should you be?" he asks, then answers, "Not very." This, of course, is absolutely correct. It also absolutely misses the point. I can only speak for my own book, but what I sought to describe was not an imminent theocratic takeover of America, but a slow, often subtle, but ultimately profound change in American life and government. As I wrote, "I want to be clear, however, that I am not suggesting that religious tyranny is imminent in the United States. Our democracy is eroding and some of our rights are disappearing, but for most people, including those most opposed to Christian nationalist agenda, life will most likely go on pretty much as normal for the foreseeable future." There is a vast distance between democracy and theocracy, and even a small shift along that spectrum strikes me as cause for concern. The writers denouncing "theocracy hype" don't engage with these incremental alterations, instead suggesting that since we're not quite slouching towards Gilead, there's nothing much to be concerned about.

It's an excellent article.