The Linguistic Marginalization of Christians Continues

Christian Marginalization in the Public Square

It's That Matter Podcast. My name is John Harris. I wanted to show you some things from the mainstream and fringe media today concerning Christianity and whether or not Christians should have a voice in the public square.

Of course, this is an issue that is coming up more frequently, and I think we see the future of what this might look like in the coming years of the Biden administration, especially. But just as the culture changes, I don't know that you necessarily need a Democrat-run administration or a Republican-run administration.

I think these issues would be there either way. First, though, a word from our sponsor, which is Gold River Trading, Gold River CO, Gold River Company. You can go to GoldRiverCO .com and get yourself some of the best tea and hot chocolate.

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Reading Primary Sources on Russia and Ukraine

Now, let's get into it today. I want to talk about first this, because I just read this. I'm not going to get into the details. I just want to encourage everyone, check it out. This is from the president of Russia.

So this is en .kremlin .ru. But it's February 21st, and it's a Security Council meeting. The president held a meeting of the Russian Federation Security Council at the Kremlin. And I am a big believer in when you can, you should go to the primary sources to understand an issue.

And this would be going to a primary source. I know some of you, I'm not going to go listen to what Russia says, but well, you're going to get it either way. It's either going to be talk show hosts and media personalities explaining to you what the president of Russia says, or you can go and you can read for yourself.

Here's what the president of Russia says. And I found this extremely interesting because I haven't been paying close attention until more recently. I had a general idea of what was going on, but I've been hearing, and it doesn't matter right or left, it seems like you're going to hear a certain narrative coming from our media on this whole situation with Ukraine.

And I feel as though things have been a little misrepresented to me about what the Russians are seeking in this. Now, I'm not saying I trust everything the Russians say. I'm just saying you're going to get a better understanding if you just read the statements from, I was going to say both presidents, but if you read the statements from our president, I'm not sure how lucid they would be.

The statement from actually Putin is very well put together compared to what we're used to from Biden and even Trump and certainly Trump, actually, and even Obama and Bush. I mean, it's just a little embarrassing, actually.

And I'm like, why is it that, you know, anyway, that's that's who we've elected or selected, as the case may be, perhaps in a certain election that just happened. But I digress. You're just going to get a fuller understanding of what's going on.

And it really changed or solidified some things in my mind. And I'm not going to say in what direction because I don't have time to get into all of it. And I know there's going to be objections probably if I do.

But I'm just encouraging you go to the primary sources, check it out, see what's being said. And I think you're going to get a different picture. And I'll just I'll leak this little thought I have. I think that our country and it's not just our country, but the politicians in Washington, I think they want war.

I really do. I really believe that they and China is the threat right now, guys. China is the big threat defending Taiwan against an imminent potential Chinese invasion. Much more important if you're looking at the geopolitical stuff than this issue with Russia and Ukraine.

I yeah, I'll just I'll leave it there. I really think that there's other interests involved that want to instigate something with Russia. And I mean, even look at the size of Russia's economy and military compared to China.

We we are we are ignoring the elephant in the room. And anyway, let's let's get into what I really want to talk about today, though. Let's talk about some mainstream media articles. We're going to start here with Salon.

Salon, Christian Nationalism, and the Fear of Evangelical Influence

Yes, Salon. Christian nationalism is rooted in stupid, tough guy misogyny. What would Jesus say? Yeah, this is the caricature that the unbelieving world and more the progressives on the left especially believe about Christianity.

Those who are unfamiliar with Christianity, this is how they're trying to portray it. I make the case. I'm going to make the case on Wednesday that those who wanted media attention and the limelight to represent Christianity are not going to get it.

Even if they had a position, the media is going to focus on the ones that they want to identify as crazy. That's just how they are. So you have here a whole entire article on a mainstream media website targeting Christian nationalism.

And I want you to really listen to this particular line. The author and again, this is an author from the secular world. As I understand it, Christian nationalism is an idea now widely accepted within the evangelical church that the U .S. is a Christian nation founded upon Christian principles, no matter what it may say in the Constitution.

OK, so as if the Constitution just overturns this idea. This guy has no clue about civics, but this is the basic understanding. And I think this is why evangelicals who are more conservative in their political leanings, they get upset when this term is just thrown out there because this is what they're hearing too.

They're hearing, well, you're just saying that if we think that the U .S. is a Christian nation, meaning that it's founded upon some Christian principles, that we're these horrible people. You know, why would you vilify that?

And then, of course, you have the David Frenches of the world saying, you know, you're just not understanding. You're ignoramus. You know, it's so much nuance, so much understanding you must have to know what Christian nationalism is.

And you must come to me where, because I listen to the right people who talk about it, and you get into arguments over that. We're doing the same thing with critical race theory. You just get into arguments over the term.

But this, I think this guy nailed it. That's exactly what this battle is over right now. If you think that the United States was founded on Christian principles, you're basically a Nazi. And John, why would you say that?

Because that's what they're trying to do. It's Oderno's F-scale, and it's trying to come up with equivalents in the United States. And they've come up with a few of them. Toxic masculinity, neo-confederate.

But Christian nationalist is a better term for them to use right now because, look, you know, only a certain demographic is going to be, you can try to use the spear neo-confederate. I've had it, you know, deployed against me.

You know, if you have any kind of love for your ancestors who might have been confederates, or if you have any kind of southern identity, or if you even think Robert E. Lee was a good role model, you're automatically a neo-confederate.

Well, that's only a certain demographic. That's not the whole list of people that the left wants to go after. I mean, they could, you know, maybe win that war, that media war, which in some ways they have.

But they're not, and what I mean by that is they've effectively neutralized and they've poured so much scorn on people that would feel that particular way that it's caused all the other supposed conservatives to back off and say, well, we don't want to associate with anyone who could be called that.

And so they've kind of gotten what they've wanted. They've been able to marginalize a group of people. Now they're doing it with Christian nationalists because this is a broader group of people and it's their number one enemy, the evangelical conservative Christians who tend to vote for Republicans.

They can call them a smear and it basically, and it all comes back to, you know, they're Nazis or they're racists of some kind. They're evil. They're oppressors. That's all this is. They're oppressors.

They hate certain people. Then they can effectively neutralize and do the same play again. They can marginalize them and it's working. It's working the same way. It always works. No one wants to be a toxic, masculine person.

No one wants to be part of the patriarchy. Yeah, there are certain people, you know, rah, rah, I'm part of that. But you know, in the mainstream, it's not acceptable in the mainstream. It's not acceptable to be, to think that your Southern ancestry is worth preserving their memory.

It's not acceptable now to think that Christianity has anything to do with our civics and the way that our country, our identity as Americans. Christianity shouldn't be even part of that. And of course, this is a big change from the whole entire history of our country, but now here we are.

And so this is what they keep doing. And I just thought that was interesting. I think this, you know, is David French going to go after this writer at Salon that he doesn't understand Christian nationalism?

No, he won't. Of course he won't. Because these are the people David French, and I'm picking on him, but it's really, that's a lot. It's a big group of people in the elites in quote unquote Christianity.

These are the people they want to get approval from. So Christian nationalism is based not in the Bible or the teachings of Jesus, but on the idea of the traditional American family. Oh my goodness. What could be worse?

I mean, and seriously, separating the Bible and the teachings of Christ from the traditional American family? I mean, what do you think created the traditional American family? What do you think really inspired in many ways, many aspects of that?

Well, it's the Bible. So I mean, the divorcing the two is just stupid. The roles of women have changed and divorces become more common. Same sex marriage gains a firmer footing. And now with the movement for transgender rights and the visibility becoming more public, the panic of the Christian nationalists becomes even more desperate.

Oh man. All right. So let's get to the final point on Christian nationalism is around all the macho tough guy stuff that seems to be on the tips of every right-wing leader. Being tough seems to be the only thing conservative commentators and evangelical leaders care about.

Trump is supposedly the epitome of that and his little posse loves him for it. You see the scorn dripping. This is actually so funny. This is like playground stuff. This guy is is so, um, just, just, uh, immature in the way he writes.

I won't pretend to understand it. After I graduated middle school, being tough just didn't seem that important, but yeah, I can tell this guy not tough at all, but for people like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Jerry Falwell Jr. and of course Trump, it's important to keep pretending that they are a bunch of tough guys.

Yeah. Well, Sean Hannity is a Catholic. Tucker Carlson is, I believe, an Episcopalian. Jerry Falwell Jr. just claimed, and he never claimed to really be, uh, at least since his, uh, role at Liberty, uh, in the provost position, he never claimed, or the chancellor, he didn't claim to be a Christian.

And recently he said, look, I'm not, I'm not a religious person. Uh, Trump, of course he's Trump. Uh, he's, you know, you know, take that for what it is. Uh, yeah, these aren't exactly your evangelical choir boys here.

Uh, but, uh, this is, you know, all the hatred and, you know, the people that vote for Trump are evangelical. So, um, he says, I'm no tough guy. Well, yeah, I don't know. Pretty tough on the people you don't like here, but I'm happy to offer a challenge to any of these fake tough guys.

Debate me anywhere, anytime I am truly blue collar, a member of the American working class. Yeah. You're writing for one of the most elite publications, pouring scorn on people who are of working class.

So like you've, you know, this is, uh, I don't know what we even call that a turn code or, you know, what? Um, I'm a Bible believing minister and a flaming liberal. Oh, wow. I believe that the Christian nationalist message comes from the devil himself.

All right. I'm going to stop. This is just immature. It's, it's laughable. It's so ridiculous, but, uh, this, this is just a rant against in salon against Christians who would be tough. Now, what's the purpose of something like this?

What do you think it is? This is, I think, what Christian elites often miss. They see something like this and their reaction is, oh no, oh no, we have to run the opposite direction. How can we be associated with those tough guys?

They're offending people. They're not, they don't like us. And I mean, I really want to be liked by people in salon and the Washington post and New York times and USA today and et cetera. I really do.

So I'm going to run the opposite direction and I'm going to show them I'm a really nice, compassionate guy. Look, I, I just, you know, LGBT, is it a sin? I mean, I don't know. Let's just have a conversation.

Let's get a cup of coffee. Let's talk about it. I mean, uh, you know, there's so many sins out there and what, what is sin? Well, this is, this is the tactic that's being deployed so often. You know, they try to, you know, here's where I can agree with you.

Here's the common ground we have. I'm not like those other guys and the separation firmly exists. That's why they have to distance themselves constantly from folks on their right. Constantly. They're looking to their right, finding someone they can cast to the outer darkness because then they can, they can showcase themselves to media elites and secularists that are well, uh, totalitarian secularists who might have the power to cancel them.

They can virtue signal to them that look, I'm not like the guys you hate. And I really think that's what's going on here more than anything. They're looking at the people with the power and trying to ingratiate themselves to them.

Now, uh, what is that? So that's the response I would say most evangelical leads would have. What's the proper response? If you read this article by Nathaniel Manderson is his name. You're actually finding out what the left is afraid of.

They're telling you their fears, telling you exactly what they don't want. Why would they feel the need to publish a piece like this? Because they have to try to convince people to reject this kind of thing because they're afraid of it.

They don't want it. And, and this whole thing is, is, is yeah, there's, there's all kinds of disdain, but there's fear here. Why is the, the, the panic level at 10? Because this gentleman is afraid for some reason that these guys get power into powerful positions and he doesn't want that.

And this is the, uh, this is the takeaway I think that people should have, uh, who are on the right politically and, uh, evangelical Christians who, uh, believe in biblical orthodoxy. They should look at this and say, huh, let's crank it up a little more.

Let's crank it up to 10. You know what? There, there, there's something working. We're over the targets. That's why we're catching flack. It doesn't mean you become like Jerry Foley Jr. or Donald Trump or Sean Hannity.

Um, cause that's not ultimately what they're afraid of. Uh, those are just representations in the mind of this particular author. They're afraid of, the article talked about it, the traditional family.

They're afraid of thinking that, uh, Christianity is part of the, somehow part of the, uh, foundation for the principles that led to the formation of the government of the United States. So there's some identity that Christianity has a link to, uh, if you're an American.

There's, they're afraid of, uh, Christians exerting the, their influence on the political and public stage. Do it more. They're telling you what's working and what they don't want you to do. Instead, most Christian elites do exactly what, uh, the media wants them to, and they just retreat more.

So, uh, that's from Salon. Now, um, there's a, there's a little article from the, uh, let's see, is this the one I wanted to, no, I wanted to start here. Okay. We'll start here. All right. This is an article from the Jacobin Magazine.

Evangelicals, Jews, and the Anti-Semitism Accusation

Jacobin, uh, actually used to be the word that people just use for communists really, but it is a communist magazine and there's an article in it recently. Uh, what's the date on this? It's very recent.

It says, I don't think it says the date. Okay. Well, it's a, it is a recent article. I know that. And it's the anti-Semitic face of Israel's evangelical allies. Uh, so it shows John Hagee here addressing a bunch of pro-Israeli state of Israel, uh, people.

And, and the thing is, let me just boil this whole article down for you. If you want to evangelize Jews, you believe in the conversion of Jews to Christianity, you are an anti-Semite. Okay. That's, and this is a communist magazine saying this.

It is a way to try to fracture any kind of relationship that might exist between and cooperation between, uh, the Christians and Jewish people. We saw that in the last election to some extent, especially the more conservative.

And I don't mean the conservative, uh, sect of Judaism. I mean, the conservative, uh, traditional Jews, uh, tended, they were veering more Republican and alliance is forming. And I suspect that might be why a piece like this would go out.

There's an attempt to paint evangelicals on the right, uh, politically as anti-Semites because they want to convert Jews. They want to evangelize them. And so it doesn't matter how pro-Israel they are that, you know, that's a real problem.

So, uh, there's, there's an attempt here, you know, and they bring up more things as well, um, that, that to try to create this rift. But this is, this is the strategy. I want to show you this from Jacobin magazine, because this is where the mainstream media ends up usually going.

It's, this is the hard, hard, hard left. What, why would the Jacobins, why would the communists want to create this? Well, you know, I think it's obvious they want to destroy, they want to fracture. They want to split the right up.

They want people at each other's throats. They want, uh, to try to, um, also marginalize Christians. And that's exactly what they're doing. And guess what? Here's an article, uh, from, uh, not too long ago, Tennessee Bible history, uh, teacher proselytize made anti-Semitic comments.

Mom says, this is NBC news in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Now, of course, I don't believe this story because I cannot trust NBC news, but, uh, it's their version of it. A mother of a Tennessee middle schooler claims a class on the Bible as literature included Christian proselytizing and comments, uh, and comments offensive to Jews and other non-Christians.

So she made a post on Facebook about this and, uh, the way her daughter feels. And I really don't know what the truth is in all this, but, um, you know, that's what's happening, uh, on NBC there. Uh, and so I don't know if this was just, I don't know what it was.

I don't know, but the anti-Semitic stuff is there's an uptick in accusing Christians of this. And I suspect that might be one of the next things. I don't know if it is the next thing, but I think that might be one of the things that the left might try to get some traction out of, uh, calling Christians anti-Semites for things as simple as evangelizing or pro-Christianity means anti-Judaism.

I mean, this narrative has been sitting there for a long time. I got a good dose of it in my Holocaust class. Uh, and, uh, I learned about it at least, and it's, it's been sitting there and I think it may be picked up again.

Public School Revival, Evangelism, and the Constitution

Uh, just, just, uh, telling people to be aware. Um, this is, uh, another, uh, story is from NPR students walk out at West Virginia school after Christian revival. And I don't, again, I can't, I don't know it's NPR.

I don't know exactly what happened here, but there was some kind of an evangelism effort at the school of some kind and a teacher was involved. And now it's this big, I mean, in these people, just the civics is so horrible.

Uh, you know, the teens were asked to give their lives over to Jesus. Uh, who, uh, those who did not follow the Bible will go to hell. They were told a basic gospel message, and this is in West Virginia.

And, uh, the high school junior asked, is this legal? And the answer, according to the U S constitution is no. You know? Yeah, of course they, right. According to the U S constitution, no, according to maybe, uh, the way that certain precedents of court decisions are being interpreted.

The answer is no, the U S constitution doesn't weigh in on this. They are public schools, even legal, according to the U S constitution, federal funding for them. I mean, is that even the business of the federal government?

How about that being the answer? No, but this is where NPR is at. So, um, students are, you know, having a major walkout because they're so offended by this preacher coming in and speaking to them. And I really don't know exactly.

It's kind of unclear what exactly happened here, but, uh, anyway, this, you know, this is the way the media views Christians. This should not be a surprise. It should not be a surprise. And I'm, I'm actually happy, um, that this, this was back in January.

Um, but I just saw the daily beast report on it. I think I had seen it on a lesser publication, but I'm glad the daily beast is reporting on this. Um, there, and, and I guess if it was, the headline is X miss America's contestants, husband shot dead in front of Todd toddler while evangelizing.

They put that in quotes. Uh, I, I guess if she wasn't married to an X miss America, who knows whether this would have even made the headlines, but, uh, anyway, he was out evangelizing and he was shot dead.

And Thomas hand jr. Is the man's name. Uh, and this happened in Alabama, Montgomery, Alabama, of all places, uh, 4 37 PM, uh, or, or I guess, I don't know when he was, when the altercation occurred. Uh, very sad though.

Persecution, Evangelism, and Christian Courage

I mean this look, uh, persecution does happen in the United States. So the whole, to tie everything together here, um, there is an uptick in, uh, marginalization of Christians. Uh, there's real persecution that does exist out there, even in this country, uh, that, that kind of thing can happen.

And look, this has always happened, but I do sense there is somewhat of an increase and the media is, um, for the most part on board with the marginalization of Christians. And, and this is, and so what are Christian elites going to do?

What are the people that lead the organizations and the big churches and the publishing conferences, all that, whether in conservative or whatever world they're in, what are they going to do about this?

What, how are they going to react to the what's coming? And I think what's coming is going to make what has happened look like nothing. I truly do. We're 2020 at some point, I don't know when, I don't know, I don't know the timeframe.

I just know that the trajectory is to figure out ways to marginalize Christians more and more and more, make them out to be freaks, weirdos, haters, people that aren't fit to be in society and have any kind of influence whatsoever.

They're dangerous. Hide your kids, hide your wife. Um, it's, that's what's going on. That's what's happening. And it's working to some extent. And I think evangelical elites are helping it along by trying to then say, Oh, we're not that we're not that as if the problem is, Oh, these secular elites just misunderstand.

They just don't know how Christians really are good citizens. And we're going to show, no, look, you misunderstand why they hate you. They, it's a power thing. They hate you because of what you represent.

You represent a moral vision that is in conflict with theirs. They don't want traditional families. Of course not. They want individuals and they want a government and they want the government to make everything fair.

And of course, carving out a spot for them at the top. And they want individuals to be the, uh, the basis upon which society is built, not families. They don't, you're throwing a complete wrench in their gear system when you're a traditional Christian and you vote that way and you're public about it.

So back down, don't be masculine. Hey, stop trying to convert other people. That's, that's going to be antisemitism in certain cases. Um, don't hold your evangelism rally at a public school. That's, uh, against the constitution, right?

We're going to define for you what our legal documents actually mean. And you're not allowed to say that there's a Christian foundation to any of this. That's just a myth. And what did the Christian elites do?

Yes. We agree with that narrative. Uh, in fact, we're good Christians and we're, we're going, you know, we're not a threat to please don't ban Christianity. Bad, bad tactic, bad tactic. None of the apostles would have taken this tactic.

And of course they didn't when they were met with these kinds of things. I mean, they look in Ephesus, people had to hold the other Christians had a whole Paul back because he wanted to go confront a whole entire Coliseum or, yeah, I guess that would be the, would that be the word I get there?

I was there in Ephesus. I forget the, the stage, that big stage, uh, anyway, where there's people, probably thousands of them shouting great as Artemis of the Ephesians. And you know, they're Paul's the number one hated guy.

I mean, they would kill him. It would rip him apart if he showed up because he was putting the idol makers out of business and he wanted to go confront him and, and share the tree. He wasn't, oh my goodness.

Yes. You're, you're so right. We, we need to care about these idol makers because their livelihoods are being challenged and all they have kids to feed. And yeah, that wasn't Paul. We, we must take responsibility for, uh, what, what we're doing when we convert people to Christianity because it's having this negative effect.

No, no, of course that wasn't Paul. He wasn't weak. He was very strong. So it was Jesus. So it was Peter. It took risks. They were okay being on the outs with the other elites in certain societies in which they operated.

Not so today with those who have the responsibility of leading Christian institutions. And it's part, I'm going to talk about it tomorrow, but it's, I think partially because of the way that Christian leaders are identified and platformed is we're not actually putting leaders out there.

We're putting managers out there and we don't need managers right now. We need leaders. We need men with backbone. So that's the podcast today. Hope that was helpful for you. Um, I know it's a little discouraging.

Remember God's in control. Remember, uh, he remember the stories of inspiration from the old Testament, especially of, I think of Daniel and a hand and I, Michelle as a Raya, I think of, um, the prophets of Elijah, just remember those stories.

And I have to remember them. I have to preach them to myself because I see things getting darker. I live in a very secular state. I live in a very secular area and I see things all the time. I mean, there's, uh, I, I moved away for four years.

I came back and now I'm seeing there's, I mean, I was at Barnes and Noble the other day and there's a, uh, right at the entrance on the display is a book on spells. Uh, I was getting a donut not too long ago.

Uh, and, and we crossed the street that never was there before as a place I used to go all the time is now a, uh, a Wicca shop of some kind. I mean, this is what's going on in my neck of the woods. Don't get discouraged though, because we, we must remember who our God is and we must remember that the existence that we inhabit is so far beyond the physical world that we see.

So remember the unseen world. God bless.