For white evangelical Protestants, the degradation of democracy is not regrettable. It's desirable.

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

https://www.editorialboard.com/p/for-white-evangelical-protestants


Members of the pundit corps seem to believe white evangelical Protestants (WEPs) have politicized their faith. They seem to believe the disgraced former president is the reason why. To be sure, there is something to this. After all, some adherents, especially younger ones, have fled congregations, increasing the ranks of mainline churches, according to the latest Pew poll. But on the whole, the idea that WEPs have politicized their religion overlooks a reality few are capable of seeing: It’s always been politicized.

Jennifer Rubin argued Monday that white evangelical Protestants are “panicking,” as their numbers shrink and they lose purchase on democratic politics. As a result, the Post columnist said, WEPs are embracing the Republicans anti-democratic efforts. As WEP “churches turn into MAGA political clubs, many who otherwise may have found a spiritual home with them have fled because they are alienated—if not horrified—by the politicization of their faith and the abandoning of values such as inclusion and empathy,” she said. “The price of politicizing religion is therefore bad not only for our politics (by heightening polarization and converting policy disputes into existential crises), but also for religious communities that chase away potential adherents.”

Rubin has been right more often than not since 2016. In this, however, she’s dead wrong. She continues giving WEPs a kind of benefit of the doubt that so-called “exvangelicals”1 would never give, because they know better. WEPs are not panicking. They are not embracing anti-democracy out of fear of losing their place in the republic. WEPs are anti-democratic because that’s what it means to be a white evangelical Protestant. Young adherents are leaving not because the faith has become politicized but because they have realized how deeply political the faith already was.

What exvangelicals know that normal people like Jennifer Rubin cannot know, because they did not emerge from that religious tradition (I think she’s Jewish), is that WEPs believe they are God’s chosen (or will be). They tend to believe the United States was given to “real Americans” by God to be ruled in His name. Those who are not God’s chosen are pretty much disposable. (After all, He knows who the righteous are.) The WEP identity is furthermore based not so much of what they are but on what they are not. We are not them. They are enmeshed in the world. We live here temporarily until The End. They represent a multiracial republic. We believe Christ is our King. The degradation is democracy isn’t regrettable. It’s desirable. Theocracy is the goal.

*snip*

[The Magistrate]

1. Indeed, Ma'am --- These Types Are 'One Man And God Is A Majority' Sorts

A democratic government might well (and given Man's fallen nature likely would) disregard or put aside or openly defy God's Will.

This cannot be allowed, it is something they believe will make their deity chastize the land and all its people. Including them, if they fail to prevent it....