Category: Opinions

The most extreme congregations believe that the government is using the COVID scare to grab control of people’s religious freedoms and individual rights, says another religious studies scholar, Carmen Celestini.

“They actually refer to the masks we wear as face diapers.”

Read the full article by Luisa D’Amato on The Waterloo Record.

As per the definition of Katherine Stewart in her book The Power Worshippers, Christian nationalism is based upon the myth that the American republic was created and founded as a Christian nation, and as such, the legitimate government “rests not on the consent of the governed but on adherence to the doctrines of a specific religious, ethnic, and cultural heritage.”

Under this definition, the laws of the land should not be based upon deliberation of democratic institutions, but upon idiosyncratic interpretations of the Bible. . . . The belief that America has always been and remains a Christian nation is not an idea that is held solely by self-described Christian nationalists. The Public Religion Research Institute found that almost one third of Americans believe this, and that four in ten Americans believe America was a Christian nation but no longer is.

Read the full article on H-Nationalism.

Recently Facebook and their subsidiary social media platforms blocked QAnon accounts and other related content. While many of the QAnon believers are not primarily active on these platforms, they are conduits to engaging new adherents. QAnon members interact on other platforms, both mainstream and that are created for right wing “freedom of speech,” in response to social media’s perceived censorship. Adherents also interact within groups on cellphone messaging programs such as Telegram.  

Read the full article on H-Nationalism.