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God and Country

Yes, I do agree. It has not always been that evident to me. I tend to prefer granting people the benefit of the doubt where their stated beliefs are concerned. But, over time, I have also seen that he is very much anti-learning. He would never be able to understand something as simple as learning being a good thing in itself. Not advanced for political points. Just knowledge for its own sake, not in interest to jobs or money. If one likes learning, thrives where ideas flow freely, and deeply, then the academic setting is enlivening. It’s not for everyone, but he seems to view the academic world as having hurt American society. Propaganda facturies. Professors wielding ulterior motives.

The God and Country thread is an example of where this aspect of American civilization, the marriage of religion and beliefs about America’s purpose in history, intersect. Present from our earliest beginnings. It can be very interesting to examine our culture and civilization from that perspective. AI-O-Meter neither understands, nor appreciates any of that. He is anti-learning.
Agreed.

One minor elaboration, don't think there are no agendas in academia, like any other large organized group. Maybe they aren't entirely overt, but they are there. There are teachers more interested in indoctrination than free exchange of ideas. I've seen it myself in my academic pursuits, and we've seen it through our children. I've had professors who stood in front of the group and said, maybe not in so many words, that their goal was to teach us what to think, the "right" way to think about the topics. Not how you analyze or exchange ideas, but what ideas we should entertain and how we should react to those ideas. We saw the same thing at the secondary level with our own kids. One such project was a I think it was 5th or 6th grade teacher asked my daughter's class to write a letter to the president about the war in iraq. In an of itself the assignment was fine, until we read the instructions, which explicitly instructed the kids to tell the president why they are against the war and why getting involved in iraq was wrong. That's crossing a line to indoctrination.

I'll grant these are likely the minority, but the element exists and that is reason for concern, considering the influence and reach of academics in general.

But I think we can all agree, Al is a troll.
 

Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance appeared Saturday at a town hall event organized by top Christian nationalist leaders who promote election denialism and portray Vice President Kamala Harris as a “demon.”

The event’s host, Lance Wallnau, who emceed the live event and introduced Vance’s first town hall on the campaign trail, is a leading figure in the fast-growing New Apostolic Reformation, a movement that preaches Christian supremacy through a blend of prophecy and hard-right politics.

Though a campaign official said Vance and Wallnau didn’t speak to each other, Vance’s appearance at Saturday’s event was the latest example of the Trump campaign intersecting with once-fringe figureswho now have wide followings.
 

in the final moments of the last day, some 2,000 people were on their feet, arms raised and cheering under a big white tent in the grass outside a church in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. By then they’d been told that God had chosen them to save America from Kamala Harris and a demonic government trying to “silence the Church.” They’d been told they had “authority” to establish God’s Kingdom, and reminded of their reward in Heaven. Now they listened as an evangelist named Mario Murillo told them exactly what was expected of Christians like them.

“We are going to prepare for war,” he shouted, and a few minutes later: “I’m not on the Earth to be blessed; I’m on the Earth to be armed and dangerous.”

That is how four days under the tent would end—with words that could be taken as hyperbolic, or purely metaphorical. And on the first day, people were not necessarily prepared to accept them. But getting people ready was the whole point of what was happening in Eau Claire, an event cast as an old-fashioned tent revival, only not the kind involving Nilla wafers and repentance. This one targeted souls in swing states. It was an unapologetic exercise in religious radicalization happening in plain sight, just off a highway and down the street from a Panera. The point was to transform a like-minded crowd of Donald Trump–supporting believers into “God-appointed warriors” ready to do whatever the Almighty might require of them in November and beyond.

So far, thousands of people have attended the traveling event billed as the “Courage Tour,” including the vice-presidential candidate J. D. Vance, who was a special guest this past weekend in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. The series is part of a steady drumbeat of violent rhetoric, prayer rallies, and marches coming out of the rising Christian movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation, whose ultimate goal is not just Trump’s reelection but Christian dominion—a Kingdom of God. When Trump speaks of “my beautiful Christians,” he usually means these Christians and their leaders—networks of apostles and prophets with hundreds of thousands of followers, many of whom stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, a day preceded by events such as those happening now.

Although Murillo headlined the Eau Claire revival, the chief organizer is the influential prophet Lance Wallnau, who exhorted his followers to travel to Washington, D.C., on January 6, casting efforts to overturn the election as part of a new “Great Awakening.” Kindred events in the coming weeks include a series of concert-style rallies called “Kingdom to the Capitol,” aiming to draw crowds to state capitals in Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina, and Georgia, with a final concert in D.C. just days before the election. A march called “A Million Women” is planned for the National Mall in mid-October. Every day, internet prophets are describing dreams of churches under attack, Christians rising up, and the start of World War III, acclimating followers to the prospect of real-world violence…..

……When mainstream evangelicals were rejecting Trump during the 2016 GOP primary, it was Wallnau who popularized the idea that God had anointed Trump for a “special purpose,” activating a fresh wave of so-called prophecy voters. By now, he was a Mar-a-Lago regular. He had about 2 million social-media followers. He had a podcast where he hosted MAGA-world figures such as the political operative Charlie Kirk, and frequently spoke of demonic forces in U.S. and global politics. He was a frequent guest on a streaming show called FlashPoint, a kind of PBS NewsHour for the prophecy crowd, where he’d implied that the left was to blame for the July assassination attempt against Trump. Lately, he’d been saying that Harris represented the “spirit of Jezebel.”

“America is too young to die. It has an unfinished assignment,” Wallnau told the crowd now.

“Tomorrow,” he went on, “I want to talk to you about your unfinished assignment.”
 
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in the final moments of the last day, some 2,000 people were on their feet, arms raised and cheering under a big white tent in the grass outside a church in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. By then they’d been told that God had chosen them to save America from Kamala Harris and a demonic government trying to “silence the Church.” They’d been told they had “authority” to establish God’s Kingdom, and reminded of their reward in Heaven. Now they listened as an evangelist named Mario Murillo told them exactly what was expected of Christians like them.

“We are going to prepare for war,” he shouted, and a few minutes later: “I’m not on the Earth to be blessed; I’m on the Earth to be armed and dangerous.”

That is how four days under the tent would end—with words that could be taken as hyperbolic, or purely metaphorical. And on the first day, people were not necessarily prepared to accept them. But getting people ready was the whole point of what was happening in Eau Claire, an event cast as an old-fashioned tent revival, only not the kind involving Nilla wafers and repentance. This one targeted souls in swing states. It was an unapologetic exercise in religious radicalization happening in plain sight, just off a highway and down the street from a Panera. The point was to transform a like-minded crowd of Donald Trump–supporting believers into “God-appointed warriors” ready to do whatever the Almighty might require of them in November and beyond.

So far, thousands of people have attended the traveling event billed as the “Courage Tour,” including the vice-presidential candidate J. D. Vance, who was a special guest this past weekend in Monroeville, Pennsylvania. The series is part of a steady drumbeat of violent rhetoric, prayer rallies, and marches coming out of the rising Christian movement known as the New Apostolic Reformation, whose ultimate goal is not just Trump’s reelection but Christian dominion—a Kingdom of God. When Trump speaks of “my beautiful Christians,” he usually means these Christians and their leaders—networks of apostles and prophets with hundreds of thousands of followers, many of whom stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, a day preceded by events such as those happening now.

Although Murillo headlined the Eau Claire revival, the chief organizer is the influential prophet Lance Wallnau, who exhorted his followers to travel to Washington, D.C., on January 6, casting efforts to overturn the election as part of a new “Great Awakening.” Kindred events in the coming weeks include a series of concert-style rallies called “Kingdom to the Capitol,” aiming to draw crowds to state capitals in Pennsylvania, Arizona, North Carolina, and Georgia, with a final concert in D.C. just days before the election. A march called “A Million Women” is planned for the National Mall in mid-October. Every day, internet prophets are describing dreams of churches under attack, Christians rising up, and the start of World War III, acclimating followers to the prospect of real-world violence…..

……When mainstream evangelicals were rejecting Trump during the 2016 GOP primary, it was Wallnau who popularized the idea that God had anointed Trump for a “special purpose,” activating a fresh wave of so-called prophecy voters. By now, he was a Mar-a-Lago regular. He had about 2 million social-media followers. He had a podcast where he hosted MAGA-world figures such as the political operative Charlie Kirk, and frequently spoke of demonic forces in U.S. and global politics. He was a frequent guest on a streaming show called FlashPoint, a kind of PBS NewsHour for the prophecy crowd, where he’d implied that the left was to blame for the July assassination attempt against Trump. Lately, he’d been saying that Harris represented the “spirit of Jezebel.”

“America is too young to die. It has an unfinished assignment,” Wallnau told the crowd now.

“Tomorrow,” he went on, “I want to talk to you about your unfinished assignment.”
The delusion of religion has been the source of more suffering for mankind than just about any other human social construct. Nothing quite like invisible gods telling us to kill each other for power-hungry men to latch onto to further their agendas. A modern-day Spanish inquisition. Right when we start to think we are more advanced then the middle ages you get **** like this.
 
The delusion of religion has been the source of more suffering for mankind than just about any other human social construct. Nothing quite like invisible gods telling us to kill each other for power-hungry men to latch onto to further their agendas. A modern-day Spanish inquisition. Right when we start to think we are more advanced then the middle ages you get **** like this.
Always said I wanted to live in “interesting times”. Living when we find out we may be an evolutionary dead end-failed species qualifies, but I was hoping for “flying saucers landing on the White House lawn” as the highlight of my time on Earth. Oh well…lol.
 

Marrying church and state in one volume…..

“Superintendent Ryan Walters isn’t just talking about buying Bibles for schools.

Bids opened Monday for a contract to supply the state Department of Education with 55,000 Bibles. According to the bid documents, vendors must meet certain specifications: Bibles must be the King James Version; must contain the Old and New Testaments; must include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights; and must be bound in leather or leather-like material”.
 

Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to pray for America’s atonement and for Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Organizers of the event, billed “A Million Women,” described the gathering — and next month’s presidential election — as “a last stand moment” to save the nation from forces of darkness. For hours, the gathered masses sang worship songs, waved flags symbolizing their belief that America was founded as an explicitly Christian nation and prayed aloud for Jesus to intercede on behalf of Trump in November.

“If we don’t stand now,” said Grace Lin, who traveled from Los Angeles for the rally and came wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, “then the enemy will take over our country. If that happens, that’s the end.”

Lou Engle, the self-described prophet who organized the event, said God told him in a dream to call on a million women to march on Washington in order to restore God’s dominion over the nation. Engle is a leader in the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement of charismatic Christians who for years have portrayed U.S. politics as a spiritual clash between good and evil and Trump as a flawed leader anointed by God to redeem the nation.

“Listen to the cries of your people,” Engle shouted Saturday as thousands of followers lifted their hands to the sky. “Save us, God!”

From a stage overlooking the Washington Monument, Engle and other speakers warned of a multitude of threats they say are facing America: crime, religious persecution, abortion and the growing acceptance of LGBTQ people.
 

Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to pray for America’s atonement and for Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Organizers of the event, billed “A Million Women,” described the gathering — and next month’s presidential election — as “a last stand moment” to save the nation from forces of darkness. For hours, the gathered masses sang worship songs, waved flags symbolizing their belief that America was founded as an explicitly Christian nation and prayed aloud for Jesus to intercede on behalf of Trump in November.

“If we don’t stand now,” said Grace Lin, who traveled from Los Angeles for the rally and came wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, “then the enemy will take over our country. If that happens, that’s the end.”

Lou Engle, the self-described prophet who organized the event, said God told him in a dream to call on a million women to march on Washington in order to restore God’s dominion over the nation. Engle is a leader in the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement of charismatic Christians who for years have portrayed U.S. politics as a spiritual clash between good and evil and Trump as a flawed leader anointed by God to redeem the nation.

“Listen to the cries of your people,” Engle shouted Saturday as thousands of followers lifted their hands to the sky. “Save us, God!”

From a stage overlooking the Washington Monument, Engle and other speakers warned of a multitude of threats they say are facing America: crime, religious persecution, abortion and the growing acceptance of LGBTQ people.
This is a good way to prove there is no God. Because I'm sure plenty more are praying he loses. So you can decide based on which side he chooses. If Trump wins, either there is no God or God is evil, so this will be telling. Either way those people are praying that God let's the devil win. What does that say about Christians then?
 
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  • Hmmm
Reactions: Red

Tens of thousands of evangelical Christians gathered on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Saturday to pray for America’s atonement and for Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

Organizers of the event, billed “A Million Women,” described the gathering — and next month’s presidential election — as “a last stand moment” to save the nation from forces of darkness. For hours, the gathered masses sang worship songs, waved flags symbolizing their belief that America was founded as an explicitly Christian nation and prayed aloud for Jesus to intercede on behalf of Trump in November.

“If we don’t stand now,” said Grace Lin, who traveled from Los Angeles for the rally and came wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, “then the enemy will take over our country. If that happens, that’s the end.”

Lou Engle, the self-described prophet who organized the event, said God told him in a dream to call on a million women to march on Washington in order to restore God’s dominion over the nation. Engle is a leader in the New Apostolic Reformation, a movement of charismatic Christians who for years have portrayed U.S. politics as a spiritual clash between good and evil and Trump as a flawed leader anointed by God to redeem the nation.

“Listen to the cries of your people,” Engle shouted Saturday as thousands of followers lifted their hands to the sky. “Save us, God!”

From a stage overlooking the Washington Monument, Engle and other speakers warned of a multitude of threats they say are facing America: crime, religious persecution, abortion and the growing acceptance of LGBTQ people.


Grape juice or Kool-Aid?


-Grape juice for communion is passed out during the “Million Women” rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.Maansi Srivastava for NBC News
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Good vs. Evil….


Part revival, part rally, the Louisiana stop of the Rescue America Tour reflected the mood inside a powerful MAGA voting bloc in the countdown to Election Day. The organizers, superstars in an ascendant Christian nationalist movement, assured the crowd they could “take back” the nation from “enemies” within weeks, if only faithful Republicans did their duty and voted for Donald Trump.


“We have every right there is to tell the Devil: ‘You take your hands off this nation!’” roared televangelist Kenneth Copeland, who put on a U.S. flag jacket and red MAGA hat when he took the stage.

The overall message of the gathering outside New Orleans, which was organized by the popular Christian television show “FlashPoint,” was that an existential fight for America is unfolding at the grass roots, with the election offering a historic opportunity to remake the nation. But the schemes of the enemy were of such magnitude, speakers warned the audience, that only an overwhelming Christian turnout could guarantee Trump’s return.

“Go register and find out where you’re supposed to go, and go over there and do your God-granted, honorable thing to live in a democratic republic. Hallelujah!” Copeland said to applause. “That vote is a sacred honor, and that ballot is precious.”

Christian nationalism has been intertwined with conservative politics for decades, scholars say, picking up steam in the 1970s after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a ban on school-sponsored prayer in public education. The ideology gradually seeped into the mainstream through conservative campaigns such as the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition in the Reagan era, and later through tea party figures.

Scholars debate how fast Christian nationalism is growing in terms of followers — the ideology spans denominations and has no central leadership — but they agree that it has expanded in influence and visibility by rooting itself at the heart of Republican Party politics during the Trump era.

A Public Religion Research Institute report based on interviews last year with more than 22,000 adults in all 50 states found that roughly 3 in 10 Americans are “adherents or sympathizers” of Christian nationalism.

Extremism monitoring groups say Christian nationalists have played an outsize role in pro-Trump organizing, from recruiting poll workers to writing draft policies, such as those outlined in Project 2025, that they hope to see implemented should he return to office.
 
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