The Rise Of Christian Nationalism
One of the core positions of the Republican party, and particularly with MAGA Republicans, is that America should embrace Christian Nationalism in order to become an outright Christian nation.
A state has now passed a law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public school classrooms, and other states are considering doing the same.
Republican politicians are claiming that there isn’t a separation of church and state and that the US isn’t a secular nation, defiantly ignoring what the Constitution has defined.
There is no subtlety to this movement. They are directly discussing how they either believe America is already a Christian nation or laying out the plans for how to make it one.
“The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our Founding Fathers intended it. I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk that’s not in the Constitution.”
That was said by Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert. Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said this today:
“The separation of church and state. I challenge anyone who says that to go find me those words in the first amendment. They don't exist. It's a metaphor that was breathed into the first amendment by liberal supreme court in the 1930s.”
The 1st amendment states that: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”
This has been determined to mean that there is a separation of church and state, a meaning that has been accepted for hundreds of years.
In 1802 Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association:
“I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church and State.”
There was no 1930s Supreme Court case that fundamentally changed anything about the interpretation of the First Amendment, and a separation of church and state had been accepted well before then, with some Supreme Court cases even referencing Thomas Jefferson’s letter.
Landry may have been referring to Everson v. Board of Education, a 1947 ruling that determined that the First Amendment also applied to states and the federal government because of the 14th Amendment. When the 14th Amendment was introduced, the Supreme Court chose to hear cases on whether each constitutional right/amendment should apply to state laws instead of deciding all rights applied to the states in one fell swoop.
While the phrase “separation of church and state” isn’t written in the Constitution, it doesn’t have to be. That is why we have the Supreme Court to examine the intent of the Constitution and how it is applied to laws and regulations. Many things aren’t explicitly written out, such as parental rights, the right to get married, and even the separation of powers that Republicans keep referencing while Democrats call out the ethical issues of Justices Thomas and Alito. To look for exact matching phrases in the Constitution instead of reading the Constitution and working to understand the intent is a recipe for ignorance. In this case, willful ignorance to push forward an agenda.
Why was the governor of Louisiana weighing in on the separation of church and state? Because Louisiana just passed a law requiring that the Ten Commandments be hung on the wall of every public classroom. A law that appears to be a clear violation of the 1st Amendment.
Texas had previously been working on a law that required the Ten Commandments to be in classrooms but failed to get it through the state legislature. Now that Louisiana has passed its law, Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick vowed to get a Ten Commandments law passed for Texas this year.
Donald Trump weighed in and said:
“I LOVE THE TEN COMMANDMENTS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PRIVATE SCHOOLS, AND MANY OTHER PLACES, FOR THAT MATTER. READ IT — HOW CAN WE, AS A NATION, GO WRONG???”
The irony of Trump having broken the majority of commandments seems completely lost on him and other Republicans.
While it is expected that Louisiana’s law will be overturned, the current Supreme Court, which has been making controversial decisions and eroding rights, makes it tough to be sure of anything.
In 2022, the Supreme Court weighed in on the case of a high school assistant coach who was fired from his position after the school had asked him to stop holding prayers on the football field, with players present, while in his official duties of the school.
In a 6-3 ruling along party lines, the Supreme Court sided in favor of the coach, with the liberal justices dissenting, stating that the school was within its rights to fire the coach due to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Forcing the Ten Commandments to be displayed in public classrooms is a much more blatant violation of the 1st Amendment and, therefore, should be easier to overturn. But this law is just one example of the Republican party’s slide into Christian Nationalism.
A poll conducted in 2023 found that 54% of Republican voters were in favor of Christian Nationalism. The same survey found that 75% of Independents and 83% of Democrats were against Christian Nationalism.
Not surprisingly, the same poll found that people who watched far-right media were more likely to embrace Christian Nationalism, with 79% support from those viewers.
MAGA politicians have been emboldened by their base to declare publicly, while in office, that America should become a Christian nation.
"We need to be the party of nationalism. I am a Christian and I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists." - Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene
“We ought to take the Pride flag out of schools and put the Bible back in." - Sen. Josh Hawley:
“God called a man who was not a politician to run for office, and I believe he was anointed for that position. He answered that call,“ - Rep. Lauren Boebert
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson gave a speech claiming that God spoke to him and told him he was to be the Moses who would lead the GOP. Johnson has also spoken out about how he believes his work is to save a “depraved” America from God's wrath.
A Fox News poll conducted in 2019 found that 45% of Republicans believed that God wanted Trump to be President. Many Evangelical leaders continue to say that Trump was chosen by God today despite all of his scandals, criminal acts, and how many commandments he has broken.
Combine the Republican view of Christian Nationalism with Project 2025 which seeks to move far more power into the hands of the President along with the far right political operatives working to push courts to be even more conservative, and suddenly a future America that has been forced into a Christian nation is not unthinkable.
If you believe it could never happen, look back at other issues you thought would never occur, such as the overturning of Roe v Wade, the attacks on IVF and contraception, the continual removal of gun laws, and Justice Clarence Thomas wanting to revisit gay rights.
The Republicans are determined to fundamentally transform our nation according to their far-right vision. Everyone else needs to be just as determined to defend our Constitution and our rights.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdf
Exploiting the Electoral College
Every Presidential election renews the discussion on whether to switch from the Electoral College to the popular vote. The Electoral college is flawed: It gives more weight to votes from small states and less to votes from large states. A voter in Wyoming is 4x as powerful as a voter from Texas.