"Confessions of a (Former) Christian Nationalist"

[Nevilledog]

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/09/rob-schenck-confessions-of-a-former-christian-nationalist/

In 2014, at an elegant gala inside the Supreme Court’s gilded Great Hall, a tuxedoed Justice Clarence Thomas turned to me and voiced his approval for my work. I glanced over to where Chief Justice John Roberts and his wife, Jane, were entertaining two of my associates, trustees of the Supreme Court Historical Society, a private, nongovernmental entity for which Roberts served as honorary chair. At that moment, I knew the secretive operation I had run, aimed at emboldening Thomas and his conservative colleagues to render the strongest possible decisions in favor of our right-wing Christian agenda, had succeeded.

My organization, Faith and Action in the Nation’s Capital, had created an initiative we called “Operation Higher Court” that trained wealthy couples as “stealth missionaries,” befriending Thomas and his wife, Ginni; Samuel and Martha-Ann Alito; and Antonin and Maureen Scalia—­lavishing­ them with meals at high-end restaurants and invitations to luxurious vacation properties. Alongside these amenities, our ministry offered prayers, gift Bibles, and the assurance that millions of believers thanked God for the decisions this trio of justices rendered on abortion, health care, marriage, and gun ownership.

The Supreme Court was the pinnacle of my success, but I had started with Congress, advanced to the White House, and only then took on the judicial branch. Under the banner of Faith and Action, our mission, in evangelical parlance, was “to bring the Word of God to bear on the hearts and minds of those who make public policy in America.” Backing me were some 50,000 donors, spread across the country, along with hundreds of church leaders and several prominent lawmakers. The goal was to convert a “secular culture” into a God-fearing, foundationally Christian, socially conservative, and politically Republican one. To achieve it, we raised tens of millions of dollars, mobilized activists, and lobbied lawmakers relentlessly. We accomplished all of this from the headquarters I procured in Washington, just across the street from the Supreme Court.

In effect, we were like other lobbyists and pressure groups, only our visits to offices included saying a prayer or reading a Bible verse with the occupant. Clergy, often arrayed around the stately benches where members of both houses of Congress sit during official proceedings, accompanied us to more formal meetings. Our large public events, like the annual National Memorial for the Pre-Born and Their Mothers and Fathers or the US Capitol Bible Reading Marathon, would turn government venues into temporary church sanctuaries. “Christian nationalist” was yet to become a common expression, but my allies and I were that in every way. We believed America was founded as a Christian nation and needed to be preserved as such.

*snip*

[Arne]

1. I'm disgusted by every word of this. nt

[keithbvadu2]

2. 1+

[Karadeniz]

3. Excellent read.....

[usonian]

4. Rob Schenck disavows his past. He wrote a book titled "Costly Grace"

Last edited Thu Sep 26, 2024, 10:03 AM - Edit history (2)

Subtitled.
An Evangelical Minister's Rediscovery of Faith, Hope, and Love

Here is the blurb from the publisher:

The author recalls his life as a controversial Washington, D.C. evangelical minister and spiritual advisor to America's political class. He begins with his conversion from Judaism to born-again Christianity, and then finding his calling in public ministry. He chronicles his years as an activist leader of the most extreme wing of the anti-abortion movement, brazenly mixing ministry with Republican political activism. Finally he reflects on his unconscious abandonment of Christian principles in the face of fame and influence, and ultimately his return to the lessons Jesus imparted. Today Schenck works to liberate the evangelical community from a politicized gospel, urging partisan conservatives to move beyond social battles and forsake the politics of hate, fear, and violence.

From the book:

When I began to listen with an open heart to everyone—including those I had considered my “enemies”—I began to understand that I, and my community, had committed a grievous sin: we distorted the true gospel of our Lord for our immediate spiritual from the temporal, generating confusion among many believers about their Christian and political identities, exposing them to the temptation of political idolatry. What had happened to the German Christians was happening to us.

My rediscovery of Bonhoeffer brought me back to an appreciation of the true meaning of the gospel. It also led to a rebirth of love and commitment in my marriage and with my children and a reconfiguration of my public mission. But there were inevitable, sadly necessary losses. My relationship to a community I once held dear was strained almost to the breaking point by political calculations that seemed profoundly compromised.


Mine has been an odyssey of hope found, then lost, but rediscovered. In recounting my modern-day pilgrimage, during a time of great spiritual pain and national discord, I hope to give others reason to believe—maybe for the first time, or, after faith has been lost, to believe again.

Bonhoeffer taught me that a minister must be engaged fully with the world, and I have been especially blessed to have enjoyed a life crowded with a fascinating array of people, some of whom have touched my word positively, and others in ways much less so. I write with no judgment of them here—my judgment is directed internally. These stories are not intended to impugn, insult, or disparage others, because I believe, with soul-deep conviction, that we are all sinners saved by God’s Amazing Grace. I cannot expect more or better of others than I can of myself. I am deeply aware of my own flaws: my pride, my ambition, and my capacity to rationalize actions I know, deep in my heart, are wrong. A basic fact of our humanity is that we are all capable of the very worst of human behaviors. As one of my early mentors, a Lutheran pastor, once said, “Everybody has a little good and a little bad. Don’t ever forget that.” I haven’t. And in these pages, I will share my reckoning with both.

So, while he has turned his life around, as always, the evil that people do lives with them, not just after them, and if we hope for others to disavow the "gospel of hate, fear, violence and idolatry", we had better plan for their re-entry into society. I personally favor positive restorative action to undo what damage can be undone.

I think that Rob is trying, since he wrote the book and got into plenty of hot water for doing so. Is it enough? I don't know.

Plenty of people still cling to that "gospel of hate, fear, violence and idolatry.

Reading through, what sprung him loose was the horrific murder of 5 Amish girls near his home. The killer had tried to kill 10 of them, one of those deeds that cannot be undone. The Amish community was very forgiving of the parents of the killer.

After that, he noted:

thought of my own encounters with this version of tragedy: the lasting effect of the suicide of my mother’s first husband; the murders of two Capitol Hill police officers in 1998 who were shot when I was in the building; and the murders of Drs. Gunn and Slepian.[1] It seemed to me that gun violence wasn’t just a social problem; it could be a spiritual and theological one. I wondered if our community might be too cavalier about lethal firepower.

My faith had in too many ways become something other than Christlike. Instead of being a conduit of unmerited favor and kindness, as I had learned Christianity should be long ago at Elim Bible Institute, mine was now a cudgel for beating ideological opponents into submission. I began to consider just how much politics had corrupted my faith

Personal note. I don't agree with his theology, but wanted to give an insight into his "conversion" from the gospel of maga, more positive than the confession above.

EDIT TO ADD
https://archive.is/uiaBz
I Was an Anti-Abortion Crusader. Now I Support Roe v. Wade.


[1] Drs. Gunn and Slepian ( and others) were murdered by anti-abortion activists.
More here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/29/us/30abortion-clinic-violence.html ( https://archive.is/Cc2dV )

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/25/nyregion/abortion-doctor-in-buffalo-slain-sniper-attack-fits-violent-pattern.html
( https://archive.is/awu99 )

[eppur_se_muova]

5. I like how their "holy" work has to be done mostly in secret, and in thoroughly underhanded ways.

Maybe they're confused about which deity they worship.

[DET]

6. Disgusting

These people are either mentally ill or exploiters of the mentally ill, a fact that the author was finally forced to confront after doing considerable damage. How dare they try to impose their warped sense of morality on everyone else? And the hypocrisy is astonishing. I’ve actually started to wonder if all of these ‘holier than thou’ fake Christians are secret self-hating gays (no offense intended to the LBGTQ community). It is disturbing that the alliance between real or fake oligarchs like Trump and the religious quacks has not been seriously explored by the media. These people - whatever their motives - are killing our country.

[UpInArms]

7. My DH and I have long believed that the churches

are where the evil begins. These awful places of hate and disinformation exhort gullible cult followers into doing horrific deeds and voting for abominable people.

[Nevilledog]

8. Morning kick