In a clip from an interview with the Daily wire's Michael Knowles, posted Tuesday to the social media platform X, Vice President J.D. Vance augmented that knowledge with the impressive insight that in today's world, even proressives and atheists worship their secular idols using christian forms.
In fact, Vance described that secular worship as "a disgusting butchering of the Nicene Creed."
"One of the really interesting things about the secular, hyper-progressive, hyper-liberal age that we live in," the vice president said at the beginning of the clip, "is you realize how many of the rituals and institutions and practices of Catholicism show up in the modern world completely divorced from the God part and the grace part of it."
Therein lies the key to Vance's argument- secular progressives have adopted Christian rituals divorced from God and grace. Hence the deceptive allure of that which they worship.
"So," he continued, "we're thankfully- thanks to Donald Trump, I would say- we're past the point where most people, at least that I see, hang out those hideous signs in their yard that say "in This House We Believe- blah blah blah blah blah- love is love, science is science, no person is illegal.'"
Indeed, those multi-colored, virtue-signaling political signs amounted to a blight on many residential neighborhoods earlier this decade.
"That sign," the vice president added, "is like, such a disgusting butchering of the Nicene Creed."
Vance then characterized that butchering as evidence that "people still have this desire to profess, to do it very publicly, and even to do it in this kind of cadence that you see in the Nicene Creed, and of course they do it in this very politically motivated way."
In all fairness, J.D. Vance isn't a dud. But in all accuracy, he's making this stuff up. The Nicene Creed was initially adopted by the First Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. and altered by the Second Ecumenical Council in 381. This was when Christianity was Christianity, not divided among Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestant, hence 1136 years before the start of the Protestant Reformation. The current iteration was approved in 2011 by a Roman Catholic group, the International Commission of English in the Liturgy.
The Nicene Creed is more commonly invoked in the Catholic mass than in Protestant worship service. However, in its current version it is accepted by virtually all Protestant denominations (of which there is a boatload) because it is a statement of the Christian faith, not peculiarly Catholic.
Vance maintains that the In This House We Believe sign utilizes a "kind of cadence that you see in the Nicene Creed." But the Creed begins only with "we believe," an unmistakably generic phrase. It does not begin with "In This _____ We Believe," as do the yard signs. "In This House We Believe" is eloquent and assertive, whatever the ensuing message. It's hard to believe that the signs are meant to be reminiscent of "rituals and institutions and practices of Catholicism." The cadence is not being copied.
The Vice President could have stated his disagreement with a) "Black Lives Matter"; b) "Women's Rights Are Human Rights"; c) "Science Is Real"' d) "Love Ia Love"; or e) "Kindness Is Everything". But his is a party whose fuhrer has said "I love the poorly educated," so respecting your supporters enough to explain your disagreement is prohibited. Instead, it is branded as "hideous.... virtue-signaling" and hatred of God.
Most of all, it probably was an effort by preppry "J.D." to prove his Roman Catholic bonafides. He believes he needs to do that on the chance that he'll have to run in the 2028 Republican presidential primaries rather than simply being elevated to the presidency upon invocationof the 25th Amendment to the Constitution.
On the left, Charlie Pierce is entirely correct, though I'd go further.
I’d like to thank MLB for exercising its longtime power for turning molehills into mountains, and giving the no-life Right something else to scream about. Let them wear what they want. https://t.co/kTrfD5xLiX
Major League Baseball has issued a statement critical of players who wrote Bible
verses on their Pride Night hats after an incident at a San Francisco Giants
game last week.
MLB celebrates Pride month during June and most teams choose
a home game to acknowledge the LGBTQ community and its baseball fans. The
Giants, who are based in a city with a large LGBTQ population, often make an
extra effort.
However, those efforts often clash with the league’s
players, many of whom come from conservative, religious backgrounds. During
Friday’s game against the Chicago Cubs, Giants pitchers Landen Roupp and JT
Brubaker wrote Bible verses on their Pride caps. Another Giants pitcher, Sam
Hentges, chose not to wear the cap at all.
On Monday, MLB issued a statement on the subject. “The
writing on the cap violates our rules, and consistent with normal practice, we
have warned the players about future violations,” said MLB chief communications
officer Pat Courtney.
Roupp wrote “Gen 9:12-16” on his cap. The verse contains a
reference to a rainbow, one of the symbols of Pride. The verse reads in part:
“Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the
everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the
Earth.”
Many- disproportionately so- major league players do come from conservative, religious backgrounds. However, one does not have to have been raised in a conservative and Christian milieu to realize that Major League Baseball is wrong. Ironically, right-wing Rob Schneider, who supports the players, doesn't seem to understand this. "Christians," he tweeted, "cannot be made to wear anything that is against their deeply held religious beliefs" and in another tweet, promised to pay any fines issued and maintained "MLB is ANTI-CHRISTIAN".
The league has since issued a warning to the three pitchers and the Giants' organization has released a cryptic statement. Republican senator Josh Hawley of Missouri has blasted an "apparent pattern o fdiscriminating against Christians while promoting left-wing ideologies."
As Pierce recognizes, this does give "the Right something else to scream about." And that is supposed anti-Christian bias which, given the content of Genesis 9:12-16, is ironic because the passage in question is theistic, not specifically Christian. Genesis is the first chapter of the Old Testament and is generally believed to have been authored by Moses, a Jew. It is the first of the first five books of The Bible, known as the Pentateuch. Jews, as well as Christians, and Muslims (sort of) are called upon to believe in the Old Testament. Genesis 9:12-16 reads
And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”
But this chain of events was not started by the three players. They did not arbitrarily cite the passage. Major League Baseball sponsors a Pride month- a political act- during the month of June. In turn, the Giants organization decides how to celebrate it- a political act. In response, the players promoted a passage from Scripture which- again ironically- does not pertain in any way to sexual or gender orientation or practice. Pride month advocacy is imposed upon all of the players, and three responded respectfully.
Management/ownership of each baseball team decides for itself how to promote Pride month. Only one, the Texas Rangers, does nothing, similar to what each team does for Heterosexual Month. (No, that does not exist.) That's fine; politics has always been a part of sports and any effort to eliminate it probably would be futile and probably mistaken.
One need not be a card-carrying member, nor be sympathetic to, the Christian right to want to draw attention to the ninth chapter of Genesis. Nor does a professional athlete have to be partial to that specific passage to be pleased that his employer is boosting Pride Month. Major League Baseball decided to go all in on the cause and and shouldn't be surprised if a few individuals among its 780 players have a mind of their own.
The Fox News banner during an argument between network host Kayleigh McEnany and network contributor Harold Ford reads "TALARICO IS WORSE" TRUMP SAYS TX SEN CANDIDATE WORSE THAN GRAHAM PLATNER." I
It's odd to believe that a guy who has said that he believes communion "is a form of asking for forgiveness" and that with it "I feel cleansed" is qualified to refute James Talarico's biblical arguments, but here we are. I don't know precisely what preceded the portion of the McEnany/Ford confrontation but the remarks of the onetime Trump 45 press secretary are intriguing. McEnany comments
There is a one-and-a-half, three minute clip of Charlie Kirk. It is epic A breakdown of how nine of the thirteen original states required you to be a Bible-believing Chistian- the original states of the United States. He goes on to list thirteen of thirteen required a declaration of faith. Several of them said "profess Christ as Lord and Savior." You're lying to say this is not a Christain nation. You're lying to say that God is several genders. You're lying to say that Christianity is not a religion of eclusivity.
Say what you will but President Trump is very spot-on to say the greatest danger and I believe and I will cross the Democratic Party is not Graham Platner for his moral indiscretions. There are people in the Republican Party who have moral indiscretions, too. It is someone who lies about Scripture and that is what this man is doing.
Kayleigh: He says we are not a Christian nation—false
Ford: The constitution never mentions the bible.
Kayleigh: Go read the original 13 colonies and their constitutions. Nine of the 13 required you to be a bible-believing Christian. pic.twitter.com/4t5uhmDXbA
If the Center for the Study of the American Constitution is reliable, McEnany is not entirely wrong when she remarks that "thirteen of thirteen required a declaration of faith. Several of them said 'profess Christ as Lord and Savior.'" While only one- Delaware- referred to Jesus Christ, all of them required what McEnany presumably means by "a declaration of faith,".adherence to a specific religion.
And what would that religion be? McEnany's clear implication- "Bible believing Christian" and "declaration of faith"- is that all of these states required an office-holder to be a Christian. However, that applies only to five of the states- the aforementioned Delawar, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Massachusetts. The other four- New Jersey, North Carolina,, Georgian, and New Hampshire- required the individual to be a Protestant Christian. It was expressed as "professing belief in the faith of any Prorestant sect" (N.J.); "no person, who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant religion" (N.C.) "of the Protestant religion" (Ga.); and "shall be of the Protestant religion" (N.H.).
So to be clear: not all of the 13 originals were the same. It has been a very long time that voters required thought that non-Protestants were unqualified because they were of the wrong (in their view) branch of Christianity.
Fortunately, the framers of the USA Constitution believed similarly.and inserted the No Religious Test Clause, which reads
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the
Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial
Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound
by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test
shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under
the United States.
The Constitution forbids a religious test clause. Individuals who identify as Protestant, Roman Catholic, or Orthodox Christian are equally entitled to serve in public office, as are members of any religion, or individuals who have unconventional religious beliefs or none at all.. Further, a growing number of Americans identifies religiously as "none and aside from Jews, an increasing number of citizens are of the Muslim faith or another. Approximately 45% of individuals of a Christian religion admitted (split infinitive alert!) in a 2025 survey of the Baptist Press to not attending church, and many of the others are lying.
I would like to be a strong safety in the National Football League, or maybe a nuclear engineer. Kayleigh McEnany would like this to be a "Christian nation". But wishing doesn't make reality, and for better or worse, this hasn't been a Christian nation for a very long time, is not one now, and won't be one in the future.
Leave it to a MAGA Republican, an infamous "Stop the Steal" activist and influencer, to atttack the one accurate remark made by a Democrat. The following evidently comes from a speech the current Democratic nominee for governor of Texas made in October, 2021 on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives when he was a member of that body.
I FOUND IT!
Here’s the video of democrat James Talarico calling God non-binary.
“God is both masculine & feminine & everything in between.”
In the same breath, Talarico said, “[Trans children] are perfect, beautiful, & they are sacred.”
God obviously is is not binary, though it's understandable- albeit inaccurate and reprehensible that the Republican right would reinforce the myth that God is male. In the first book, verse 29 of chapter 15, of Samuel the prophet Samuel (probably) says "he who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind." In verse 24 of chapter 4 of the gospel of John, the apostle John (very likely) states "God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth." God is non-binary.
I don't know what Talarico actually believes God is but unless the Bible is wrong on this point, God is non-binary. His statement "God is both mascline and feminine nd everything in between" is open to interpretation. Although Scripture consistently refers to God in masculine terms (e.g., "father")
God created humanity in His image-both male and female (Genesis 1:27)-showing that all people reflect His likeness. This underscores God’s transcendence above human gender divisions. He is neither male nor female in the physical or biological sense. The masculine pronouns convey how God relates to humanity and expresses His authority and intimacy, not that He has a human body defined by gender.
There has been less backlash against Talarico for the comment about transsexual (uh, er, "transgender") children, possibly because that remark made less sense.
Trans children are God's children, made in God's own image. thee's nothing wrong with them. Nothing at all. They are perfect. They are beautful, and they are sacred.
Collins Dictionary defines "sacred" as "holy and having a special connection with God"; Cambridge as "considered to be holdy and deserving espect, especially because of a connection with a god; Merriam-Webster as "dedicated or set apart for the worship of a deity.' How Talarico gets from there to transsexual children or trans children (or straight children, were that his preference) are "sacred" is a mystery to me, and probably to himself.
Trans/transexual children arebeautiful- just as straight children are. Except that most of them, as with most of us, are simply not beautiful. A world of mostly beautiful people? Awesome! (It would be almost as awesome as a blog post with only complete sentences. And far less likely.)
And then we come to the characterization of transexual/trans children as "perfect". Yes, a Christian seminarian said that a whole class of people is perfect. Yet he no doubt read the "Teacher" (presumably Solomon) write in Ecclesiastes 7:20 "indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins". We move to the New Testament, where in Romans 3:23 the apostle Paul asserts "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God".
These are not outliers. If individuals- trans or whomever- were perfect, there would have been no need for a Jesus Christ. We're not perfect, and cannot be.
It's disappointing that an individual who received a Master of Divinity degree from a Christian seminary would understand this. However, Talarico attended Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian Church in the USA school.
The PCUSA long ago lost its way theologically. Fortunately, James Talarico, a supporter of abortion rights and opponent of state-mandated religious displays in public schools, has not lost his way politically. Of course, he is superior to opponent Ken Paxton in approximately 3,283 ways, spanning both political ideology and personal character. But suggesting that trans children possess virtues which other children and adults do not is both biblically unsound and, frankly, weird.
Texas senator Ted Cruz responded to Joy Behar's remarks with "Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Entirely correct; also, off-point. Behar argued "Jesus himself did not run around saying 'I'm the Messiah, I'm the Messiah.'"
That's accurate. Jesus did not run or run around; he walked. He did claim to be the Messiah, though less often his than equality with God. In John, chapter 4 while on his way from Judea to Galilee, Jesus stopped at a pool in Samaria and struck up a conversation with a woman who came by for water. When he mentioned that she had had five "husbands," the woman identified him as a prophet and Jew and (as recounted in verses 21-26).
“Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming
when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for
salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now come when the
true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they
are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his
worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is
coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”
Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am
he.”
In Mark 14: 61b-62a, Jesus was asked "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One" and responded "I am..."
By comparison, Jesus claimed divinity on several occasions Perhaps most famously was the reference Senator Cruz made, from John 14:6. Also
Mark 14:62: after claiming to be the Messiah, Jesus stated "And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
John 5:22: "Moreover, the Father judges no one but has entrusted all judgment to the Son."
John 11:25- 26: "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, yet shall he live and whomever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
Mark 2:28: "So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath."
And simultaneously asserting divinity and pre-existence, the latter a triumph of eloquence and decisiveness over proper grammar:
John 17:5: "And now, Father glorify me in your ownpresence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed."
John 8:58: "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
There also were instances in which other individual(s) contended, or that Jesus implied, that Christ was divine. Those contrasted, at least in degree, with those occasions in which he himself was definitive.
Behar can't believe that Jesus called himself the Messiah because he "was more modest than that." Well, for the rest of us, even Donald Trump, it would be extraordinarily immodest and boastful. Of course, the rest of us are only mortal, did not exist at the creation, do not miraculously heal the sick, and will not be executed and raised from the dead.
Pretty impressive resume. Or as Walt Whitman is thought to have said, "if you done it, it ain't bragging."
We knew Pope Leo XIV was in trouble with President Trump when in the first week of January when Robert Francis Prevost remarked
The good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail
over every other consideration This must lead to the overcoming of violence, and to
the pursuit of paths of justice and peace, guaranteeing the sovereignty of the
country, ensuring the rule of law enshrined in its constitution, respecting the
human and civil rights of each and every person, and working together to build
a peaceful future of cooperation, stability and harmony, with special attention
to the poorest who are suffering because of the difficult economic
situation.
Justice and peace? National sovereignty? Rule of law? Human and civil rights? Cooperation, stability and harmony? In an earlier time, a priest might as well have preached celibacy to (the late) Wilt Chamberlain. These are not things Trump believes in.
And now the Pope has gone and done it again. In March, he said "I am praying for peace. I hope that [a] ceasefire would be the most effective way to work together to find peace for all parties, to respect all parties and to come to a solution." Earlier this month, he seemed to take a swipe at Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, remarking that Jesus Christ "does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war."
Pope Leo is WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy.
He talks about “fear” of the Trump Administration, but doesn’t mention the FEAR
that the Catholic Church, and all other Christian Organizations, had during
COVID when they were arresting priests, ministers, and everybody else, for
holding Church Services, even when going outside, and being ten and even twenty
feet apart. I like his brother Louis much better than I like him, because Louis
is all MAGA. He gets it, and Leo doesn’t! I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s
OK for Iran to have a Nuclear Weapon. I don’t want a Pope who thinks it’s
terrible that America attacked Venezuela, a Country that was sending massive
amounts of Drugs into the United States and, even worse, emptying their
prisons, including murderers, drug dealers, and killers, into our Country. And
I don’t want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because
I’m doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low
Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History. Leo should
be thankful because, as everyone knows, he was a shocking surprise. He wasn’t
on any list to be Pope, and was only put there by the Church because he was an
American, and they thought that would be the best way to deal with President
Donald J. Trump. If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the
Vatican. Unfortunately, Leo’s Weak on Crime, Weak on Nuclear Weapons, does not
sit well with me, nor does the fact that he meets with Obama Sympathizers like
David Axelrod, a LOSER from the Left, who is one of those who wanted
churchgoers and clerics to be arrested. Leo should get his act together as
Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a
Great Pope, not a Politician. It’s hurting him very badly and, more
importantly, it’s hurting the Catholic Church! President DONALD J TRUMP
Pope Leo must be so weak on crime that he was criticized by the president who pardoned
1,583 people arrested in connection with the Capitol attack.
It covered not only the misdemeanor trespassers who wandered through the
building taking selfies, but also those convicted of assaulting police officers
with bear spray and flagpoles, members of militia groups found guilty of
conspiracy to overthrow the government, and individuals who had pleaded guilty
to some of the most serious charges the Justice Department had brought in its
history.
at least 33 insurrectionists who have been rearrested, charged or sentenced for other crimes since January 6, 2021. The charges range from possession of child pornography to sexual assault, child molestation and aggravated kidnapping. Many incidents occurred before the pardons; only four insurrectionists allegedly reoffended since receiving their pardons.
“I found it really disturbing that the pardons put people on the street again who had been held to account,” Honl-Stuenkel said. “All that was swept away with the stroke of a pen. And that has consequences mostly for the women and children in the orbit of these insurrectionists.”
At least six of the pardoned insurrectionists are charged with committing child sex crimes; five were charged with illegal possession of weapons, including two who had previous domestic violence convictions; and two were charged with rape.
So Donald Trump accusing someone of being soft on crime is akin to, oh, Wilt Chamberlain criticizing someone for being promiscuous. Trump's "landslide" included winning a minority, 49.97%, of the popular vote. In Venezuela, "the state-embedded drug trafficking structure is also largely intact." If Trump ordered the kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro to end the drug traffic into the USA, he failed miserably. And Pope Leo is no advocate for proliferation of nuclear weapons.
No doubt His Holiness is sincere, even more so since Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby threatened war against the Vatican in a private meeting with Pope Leo's then-ambassador to the USA at the Pentagon in January. "America haas the military power to do whatever it wants in the world. The Catholic Hurch had better take its side" will tend to focus the mind.
It was Trump being Trump in his Easter Sunday message to the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and spiritual leader of over 50 million Americans and hundreds of millions abroad. He has ratcheted up the division, disunity, and hatred in the USA.
Donald could have said something simple, such as "I admire Pope Leo as a religious figure but He doesn't have the intelligence available to us and is misugided." Trump still would have been wrong about the war but he wold have goten his point across. He would have been wrong but he wouldn't have been cruel and hateful. And how better for President Trump to prove he's a honest-to-God believing Christian? Oh, yea- there is one way:
An award is not a kegitimate award if it's created for a particular individual rather than because it's something worthy of creating for itself.
Just when you thought the GOP couldn’t be a more embarrassing cult, Speaker Mike Johnson presented Donald Trump with the “first-ever America First Award”:
“We have created a new award. We are going to do something we’ve never done before. We will honor him with a new award…… pic.twitter.com/CduOTi6k5X
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) March 26, 2026
The Republican Party gave the first-ever "America First
award" to President Donald Trump on March 25, an achievement that follows
backlash from legislators over his receiving of these newly created honors.
The award was presented to Trump at the National Republican
Congressional Committee annual fundraising dinner by House Speaker Mike
Johnson, who said it was created with the president in mind.
"We’re going to do something we've never done before.
We’re going to honor him with a new award that we'll present annually from this
point forward, but he is the suitable and fitting recipient of the first-ever
America First award," Johnson said. "We can think of no better title
for what that is...that's this beautiful golden statue here, appropriate for
the new golden era in America."
Not silver, not bronze, black or white, but gold, President Trump's favorite style of decoration. But now it has gone to a new level, one which has historical precedent. In Exodus 32
When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down
from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods[a]
who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt,
we don’t know what has happened to him.”
Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your
wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So
all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took
what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf,
fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,[b] Israel, who
brought you up out of Egypt.”
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the
calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” So the
next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented
fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to
indulge in revelry.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your
people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been
quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol
cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it
and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’
“I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and
they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn
against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great
nation.”
However, Moses persuaded God to back off- temporarily. When Moses actually
approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain. And he took the calf the people had made and burned it in the fire; then he ground it to powder, scattered it on the water and made the Israelites drink it.
A day or two later
Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”
The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
A golden calf, then a few thousand years later, a golden statue, an idol Republicans will bow down to as a fancy representation of their earthly god. This has gone beyond fondness and even reverence and now constitutes worship- an award created out of whole cloth, specifically for one person. It is no longer an earthly god alongside a heavenly one; the former has replaced the latter.
When the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin. There are consequences, God reminded Moses. Punishment already has come upon the American people for the great sin of worshipping a mere mortal, Donald J. Trump. But the real punishment awaits.
was aimed exclusively at the Trump/GOP voter base. That base
-- the last people in America who still admire and respect Trump -- doesn't
want the president and Congress to pass a bunch of laws. The people in the base
want Trump to make them feel good, partly through simple-mided flag-waving
patriotism, but mostly through endless Democrat-bashing. Like the rest of us,
they've stopped expecting the political system to improve our lives. But
they're content if Trump hurts the people they want to see hurt, demeans the
people they want to see demeaned, and declares that America is strictly
Republican.
The President presented a master class in mythmaking and "simple-minded flag-waving patriotism" designed to make people feel good. A moment or two into his speech, Donald offered one of his golden oldies, "winning too muc," when he boasted
People are asking me, please, please, please, Mr. President,
we’re winning too much. We can’t take it anymore. We’re not used to winning in
our country until you came along, we’re just always losing. But now we’re
winning too much. And I say, no, no, no, you’re going to win again. You’re
going to win big. You’re going to win bigger than ever. And to prove that
point, to prove that point, here with us tonight is a group of winners who just
made the entire nation proud. The men’s gold medal Olympic hockey team. Come on
in.
And then, at his command, out strode the men's gold-winning USA hockey team. It was a dramatic moment brought to the audience by a man expert in the ways of Hollywood through The Apprentice, which followed a stint as an awful businessman in New York City.
He spoke of the "spirit of 1776," and introduced 100-year-old Buddy Taggart, who fought in the Battle of Manila and earned a Purple heart and a bronze star. "From 1776 to today," declared Captain Bone Spurs, "every generation of Americans has step (sic) forward to defend life, libety and the pursuit of happiness."
The flag-waving segued effortless into mythmaking, such as when he claimed "we just received from our new friend and partner, Venezuela, more than 80 million barrels of oil," an estimate off by more than 50 million. He later stated
Moving forward, factories, jobs, investment and trillions and trillions of dollars will continue pouring into the United States of America because we finally have a president who puts America first. I put America first. I love Aaerica. For decades before I came along, we had the exact opposite.
Trump consistently exaggerates the amoung of investment made in this presidenial term, but that's not where the critical myth lies. "I love America," states the man who called the USA "evil" and its people "bloated, fat, and disgusting." "I put America first" contends the man who in December released from prison former Honduran President Juan Carlos Hernandez, who had been sentenced to 45 years in prison for conspiring to distribute more than 400 tons of cocaine and related firearms offenses.
Loving America and putting America first is a myth invented by the man who in his first term alone on at least six occasions- most famously, with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki- sided with foreign governments over the USA. In Tuesday's State of the Union address itself, Trump condemned his immediate predecessor four times, including an accusation that Biden "gave us the worst inflation in the history of our country" (which did not occur then) and that he "created (our) housing problem," which was ludicrous. Directly criticizing a former President while you yourself are President is virtually unprecedented.
Nonetheless, the most intriguing and very significant myth has gone unexplored, for fear of any politician, news organization, or pundit being accused of "political incorrectness" or worse. After boasting of an initiative of the First Lady, Donald said
I’m very proud to say that during my time in office, both
the first four years and in particular this last year, there has been a
tremendous renewal in religion, faith, Christianity and belief in God. This is
especially true among young people, and a big part of that had to do with my
great friend Charlie Kirk. Great guy. Great guy.
So last year, Charlie was violently murdered by an assassin.
And martyred, really, martyred for his beliefs. His wonderful wife, Erika is
with us tonight. Erika. Please stand.
Thank you. Erika, thank you a lot. In Charlie’s memory, we
must all come together to reaffirm that America is one nation under God. And we
must totally reject political violence of any kind. We love religion, and we
love bringing it back.
The only accurate portion is that Charlie Kirk was murdered, and for his beliefs, though even that is not confirmed. There is a critical myth circulating in respectable conservative circles that "there has been a tremendous renewal in religion, faith, Christianity and belief in God."
It is reflected in the Gallup headline from last June "More Americans See Religion Increasing Its Influence in U.S." The article's author wrote "thirty-four percent of U.S. adults believe religion is increasing its influence in American life, similar to the 35% measured in December but up from 20% a year ago."
Nevertheless, he says the increase "likely does not reflect a change in Americans' personal religious commitment, as 47% of U.S. adults say religion is 'very important' in their lives, unchanged from a year ago." Americans, as far as we can tell, are not becoming more religious- they believe others are. (It's a comforting thought.)
The reason for this is quite simple. Americans keep hearing, from Trump and others. that religious faith is booming in this country. Donald is an accomplished actor, thus an extraodrinarily convincing liar, especially because practice makes perfect. Most of his lies are fact-checked at one point or another. However, bold would be the man or woman who would dare to check for veracity the claim that religion is gaining influence in society. "Anti'Christian" would be the least of the attacks leveled.
Gallup found also
The most notable increase occurred after the 9/11 terror
attacks, when 71% in December 2001 saw religion as increasing its influence, up
from 39% in February of that year. The 71% reading is the highest in Gallup’s
trend, which dates back to 1957.
A second surge occurred amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In April 2020, 38% of U.S. adults believed religion was becoming more influential, up from a pre-pandemic reading of 19% in December 2019. The April 2020 figure was the highest Gallup had measured since 2006.
In 2016, a Duke University academic explained
After the Sept. 11 terror attacks, many expected American
houses of worship to be jammed with parishioners seeking refuge, community and
a place to grieve.
And that spike in church attendance did in fact occur.
Briefly.
But the attacks did not have a lasting effect on American
religiosity, says Mark Chaves, a Duke professor of sociology, religious
studies, and divinity. Chaves directs the National Congregations Study, which
examines American religious places of worship over time. He says the jolt to
church attendance following the attacks lasted just a few weeks.
“People thought this type of crisis of national significance
would lead people to be more religious, and it did,” he says. “But it was very
short-lived. There was a blip in church attendance and then it went back to
normal.”
Religious behavior isn’t usually affected in the long term
by single events, Chaves says. Rather, religious practice in a society tends to
change slowly over a long period of time, often owing to demographic changes.
For example, changes to family structure -- like people marrying later, or not
at all, or choosing not to have children -- have led to changes in church
attendance and other sorts of religious involvement, Chaves says.
And though church attendance spiked briefly after 9/11,
America’s overall participation in religious activities was actually in decline
at that time -- a trend that was slow enough not to be identified until
recently. The best data point to a slow, steady drop in religious involvement
dating back to at least the 1970s, he says.
There was a flurry of increase, which then evaporated, in church attendance after the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01, whereupon religiosity continued its long-term decline in the USA. And the effect of Charlie Kirk's murder upon the American psyche, despite the GOP's effort to create the myth that Kirk was an overarching figure in society whose death mobilized right-thinking people everywhere, was perhaps 1-2% as great as "9/11." Donald is eager to perpetuate the myth- hence, the invitation to his widow and the claim that her "great guy" was "martyred."
There is also the the disingenuous notion that America is "one nation under God." The idea emanates from the Pledge of Allegiance, which was written in 1892 without a reference ro religion. "Under God" was added by President Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 in response to "the second Red Scare, a period when U.S. politicians were keen to assert the moral superiority of U.S. capitalism over Soviet communism, which many conservatives regarded as "godless."
Typically, individuals who believe in God recognize God as all-powerful and "in control." The "under God," was added to the Pledge to emphasize our superiority to communist nations, To Donald Trump, a little less obviously to other individuals wishing to exploit religion for political ends,"under God" now asserts superiority over every other nation.
It's absurd to argue that the USA, under the leadership of Donald Trump, is guided by the hand of God. That may be good and may be bad, and is probably both. It would an improvement generally over Donald John Trump- but lends easily to the claim that America is a "Christian nation," all others be damned..
However,crushing truths perish from being acknowledged, especially those persisting to make us feel good. The untruth that our country is a land of Christian faith led by a benevolent patriot is only one. But it's bad enough.
Decades ago, we had the "if you don't love it, leave it" crowd, as reflected in the unfortunately good country song "The Fightin' Side of Me." We no longer hear those exact words but we have their descendants, the "shut up and think as we tell you" crowd.
“It brings up mixed emotions to represent the U.S. right now… Just because I wear the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the U.S.” - Team USA Olympic Skier Hunter Hess
The anti-ICE, liberal athletes are already insufferable at the Olympics…
Hunter Hess, identified as Team USA freestyle skater, states
I have mixed emotions to represent the USA now, I think. It's a little hard. There's obviously a lot going on I'm not the biggest fan of and I think a lot of people aren't...
If it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I'm representing it. Just because I wear the flag, doesn't mean I represent evetything that's going on in the U.S. I want to do it for my friends, my family, the people that supported me getting here.
The critics of such athletes have sunk to an even lower level than the "if you don't love it, leave it" crowd of yore. The old timers believed that individuals who criticize the country should get out. These folks believe if an individuals criticize a man- a human being, the President- they are not worthy of participating in the Olympics (so much for the advocates of "merit"). As one of them put it, "take your uniform off" and "stay in Italy."
Even more disturbing to some of us is the frequent reference to God and/or Christian symbolism in the bios. One refers to Christ and 1 Peter 3:15. Another is "MAGA Christian." They all are exclusionary and, less obviously, elitist.
Unsurprisingly, that echoes President Trump. Christian Peter Wehner recently wrote in The Atlantic
In a rambling, 75-minute speech at the Prayer Breakfast
yesterday, we saw the quintessential Trump. His comments were grievance-filled,
narcissistic, conspiratorial, factually false, divisive, and insulting. He
referred to his critics as “lunatics.” He engaged in projection, comparing them
to “dictators” and “the gestapo.” He labeled Republican Representative Thomas
Massie a “moron” because he won’t cast legislative votes the way Trump wants.
Joe Biden is “Crooked Joe,” while Jacob Frey is “the horrible fake mayor” of
Minneapolis. Trump praised El Salvador’s authoritarian President Nayib
Bukele—Bukele has referred to himself as “the world’s coolest dictator”—for his
“very strong prisons.” (The prison that Trump celebrates, Centro de
Confinamiento del Terrorismo, known as CECOT, is notorious for its cruel and
inhumane conditions.) Trump emphasized that Bukele—who also spoke at the
National Prayer Breakfast—is “one of my favorite people.”
And yet, in the very same speech in which his critics were
labeled “lunatics” and “moron” and “Gestapo,” President
Trump took credit for churches “coming back stronger than
ever” and for religion being “hotter than ever.” He claimed he has “done more
for religion than any other president”—apparently, before the age of Trump,
Christians couldn’t say “Merry Christmas” in public—and argued that his
predecessors in the White House “bailed out” on religion. “I don’t know how a
person of faith can vote for a Democrat. I really don’t,” he said, adding,
“They cheat.”
The President invoked the term "religion" twenty times, though his most brazen and transparently phony probably was "all of these good things I'm doing, including for religion. You know, religion is back now hotter than ever." He added "but I said even though I did that and so many other things, I named things, I said I won't qualify. I'm not going to make it to heaven."
When evangelicals mention "religion," they're invariably doing so in a neutral matter or- more frequently- as a negative (source: Gemini- but accurate). They usually view religion as a pejorative to describe non-man-made efforts to earn salvation. a non-denominational, evangelical and Protestant site explains
Christianity is not about signing up for a religion.... God eants us to know Him, to draw near to Him, to pray to Him, and love Him above everything. That is not religion; that is a relationship.
Nonetheless, in what is no more surprising than hypocritical, Wehner notes "the audience of some 3,500- the great majority of whom undoubtedly claim to be followers of Jesus- responded to Trump's remarks with a standing ovation." In an article written a couple of weeks earlier, he had observed that the Trump Administration "has welcomed Christians into a theological twilight zone, where the beatitudes are invoked on behalf of a political movement with authoritarian tendencies."
This applies to many MAGA tweeters, whose allegiance to the political movement clearly outweighs their devotion to God, Scripure, of the Christian faith. This attempt to merge Christianity with personality-driven, far-right politics, imperils the future of Christianity, or what, the President wishes to have us believe, he means by "religion."
So, too, is there a connection when Wehner argues persuasively
Unless you've spent time in the evangelical world, fully appreciating the level of antipathy that exists toward Democrats and progressives is difficult. The only thing that exceeds it is the loathing reserved for the Christians and conservatives who broke with trump because their commitment to their faith, and to cherished moral truths, required them to speak ou against him.
Though Wehner was speaking primarily about theologians and members of the clergy, his criticism applies also to many MAGA tweeters, whose allegiance to a personality-driven, far right political movement clearly outweighs whatever their devotion to God, Scripture, or the Christian faith. The Olympic skater maintained, referring to what evidently are his cherished moral truths, "if it aligns with my moral values, I feel like I'm representing it."
Enraged, the Trump disciples lashed out at Hess. Speaking not specifically about such individuals but more generally
Huge numbers of American fundamentalists and evangelicals—not
just cultural Christians, but also those who faithfully attend church and
Bible-study sessions and prayer gatherings—prefer the MAGA Jesus to the real
Jesus. Few of them would say so explicitly, though, because the cognitive
dissonance would be too unsettling. And so they have worked hard to construct
rationalizations. It’s rather remarkable, really, to see tens of millions of
Christians validate, to themselves and to one another, a political movement led
by a malignant narcissist—who is driven by hate and bent on revenge, who mocks
the dead, and who delights in inflicting pain on the powerless. The wreckage to
the Christian faith is incalculable, yet most evangelicals will never break
with him. They have invested too much of themselves and their identity in Trump
and what he stands for.
They will never acknowledge that damage: subtle, persistent, and immeasurable.
One of the finest liars in the Trump Administration, however, is the Director of National Intelligence, now in Georgia scouring, probably illegally, for those 11,780 votes from 2020
OMG 🚨
Tulsi Gabbard says Biden was never calling the shots.... and neither was Kamala
She says Hillary, Obama, Blinkin Jake Sullivan and the Deep State
They needed a figurehead they can control
They used the Autopen to run a shadow Govt... and the media wasn't interested pic.twitter.com/jBhWiZDRva
President Biden used an autopen just as have most recent presidents, including Donald Trump himself. This myth began ten months ago by the Liar-in-Chief when he contended about pardons issued by Biden "in other words, Joe Biden did not sign hem but, more importantly, he did not know anything about them!"
In a written opinion of July, 2005, the Office of Legal Counsel, argued
The President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill he approves and decides to sign in order for the bill to become law. Rather, the President may sign a bill within gthe meaning of Article 1, Section 7 by directing a subordinate to affix the President's signature to such a bill, for example by autopen.
This may have been an unsound opinion, not unlike that of the same office when it decided that sitting presidents cannot be prosecuted. (Mr. anti-deep state has not specifically criticized either opinion.
If there were any evidence that President Biden didn't know whom he was pardoning- let alone that there was some sort of "Deep State"- there would have been at least a hint of evidence. None ever has been produced, notwithstanding the Republican Party's enthusiasm for condemning Biden and Democrats' avoidance of defending him- because there is no reason to believe J. Sullivan, A. Blinken, B. Obama, or Hr Clinto had any control whatsoever over the 46th President.
However, my favorite Tulsiism is the following because it is not only preposterous but indicative of deep-seated hypocrisy on the part of the DNI.
One of the main reasons I left the Democrat Party was because of their hostility towards God and those who have faith in or are trying to cultivate their love for God. Those so-called 'protestors' who tried to intimidate and terrorize innocent women, children, and men in the…
Fourteen months ago, a Hawaiian news organ explained that in 2015 during her second term in the US House of Representatives
Longtime political activists here were raising alarms about
her connections to the Science of Identity Foundation, an offshoot of the Hare
Krishna movement launched in the 1970s by a Kailua surfer, Chris Butler.
Gabbard’s family, including her father, Sen. Mike Gabbard, were adherents of
Butler’s and Tulsi Gabbard grew up going to schools run by the group.
Over the years, Gabbard has stopped short of denying her
membership in the foundation, which many consider a cult. She married a man
whose family also was part of the organization. Questions were raised when she
hired friends she’d grown up with in the organization to help advise her on
policy and run her congressional office. Later, she paid others affiliated with
the Science of Identity Foundation to work on her campaign.
Longtime political activists here were raising alarms about
her connections to the Science of Identity Foundation, an offshoot of the Hare
Krishna movement launched in the 1970s by a Kailua surfer, Chris Butler.
Gabbard’s family, including her father, Sen. Mike Gabbard, were adherents of
Butler’s and Tulsi Gabbard grew up going to schools run by the group.
Over the years, Gabbard has stopped short of denying her
membership in the foundation, which many consider a cult. She married a man
whose family also was part of the organization. Questions were raised when she
hired friends she’d grown up with in the organization to help advise her on
policy and run her congressional office. Later, she paid others affiliated with
the Science of Identity Foundation to work on her campaign.
When Gabbard decries Democrats' alleged "hostility towards God," it is not clear what she means by "God." There was this from six years ago: "Imagine there's no heaven; easy if you try. No sky above us; no religion, too."
Gabbard has re-invented herself as a cultural right-winger to a left-winger, now to a right-winger in the Trump orbit (and Administration). She may have found the God of the Old and New testaments, but it's not probable. In either case, it's rich that someone who belonged to a Hindu cult and promoted John Lennon's atheism should now accuse Donald Trump's critics of "hostility towards God."
It may have been sheer ambition that Tulsi Gabbard, after being squashed in her bid to become the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, decided to swithc jerseys. Her afffinity for Vladimir Putin's Russia may have been a factor. And that may not be all.
At the 50th anniversary gala in 2016 of ISKCON, the International Society of Krishna Consciousness, Gabbard remarked
Real spiritual understanding, or real religion, transcends sectarianism. Each and every one of us, whether we call ourselfves a Muslim, a Christian, a Hindu or any other designation, we each have this intrinsic opportunity to cultivate our own personal loving relationship with God.
Muslim, Christian, Hindu. It's not surprising that the same individual who absurdly slams President Biden would omit the party of Jake Sullivan, Chuck Schumer, and J.B. Pritzker. Or maybe Tulsi Gabbard is just generally clueless.
As far as I can tell, a broadly smiling Karolyin' Leavitt is "praying" "Lord Jesus, please give us the strength, the knowledge, the ability to articulate our words and have fun, all this in Jesus' name. Amen."
That's quite a demeanor for someone sincerely praying, or would be if she were sincere. Paul warned the Galatians that the "fruit of the Spirit" includes "love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." In her press briefings, Leavitt never exhibits love, peace, kindness, or gentleness, and her only faithfulness is to the lies continually spun by her master, Donald Trump. Wisely, she usually conspicuously wears a cross, so calling her out would be politically incorrect.
By contrast, Jesus admonished "when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father... in secret" After some pro football games, many players- presumably many sincere and others insincere- join together in prayer on the field. Praying even before the game is not uncommon for Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud.
Stroud played miserably in the Texans' loss on Sunday to the New England Patriots. After the game ended, he joined many of his fellow athletes in prayer. And then- without even donning a cross- there was this:
Perspective 🙏🏻🙌 C.J. Stroud played his worst game when the Texans needed him most. But he praises the Lord in the bad times, not just the good. pic.twitter.com/FbjiZELs55
Thanking the Son for his great and good fortune and humbling himself without professing to be humble, Stroud remarked
The first,before I do anything, I want to give out glory to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Without him I'm nothing and I just appreciate him giving me, the opportunity, this platform, to play this great game for this great organization
We can be C.J. Stroud. Or we can be Karolyin' Leavitt, who can tell a reporter "it's funny to me that you actually consider yourself a journalist. You are a far left hack who nobody takes seriously, including your colleagues in the meda, they just don't tell you that to your face." But be sure to wear a visible cross at the same time so that your commitment to Jesus Christ is loudly proclaimed for all those naive enough to buy it.
