It amazes me that the label of “Christian” can be self-applied without the slightest sense of shame by someone who clearly expounds the most un-Christian attitudes and lives a most un-Christian existence. The violent vanquishing of those who disagree with you is most definitely not a Christian virtue. Nor is humiliating or cruel behavior to your neighbor. Along with Hegseth’s selective historical facts and disinterest in the parts that don’t support his paranoid ideas, he seems to have a deep ignorance of Christianity. The America he envisions more than anything resembles Putin’s Russia—nominally Christian, but only insofar as he can make it justify totalitarian government.
"... as Muslim reformer Shireen Qudosi phrased it in speaking of Islam’s desperate need of reformation, 'either Islam needs to evolve or it needs to die'."
"... philosopher Anthony Flew who justifiably concluded, in his review of Ibn Warraq’s 'Why I’m Not a Muslim', that 'Islam is flatly incompatible with the establishment and maintenance of the equal individual rights and liberties of a liberal, democratic, secular state'. ...."
"[secular? Muslim] Mr. Salim Mansur (Professor of Political Science, University of Western Ontario, As an Individual): ... ' I would like members to note that I come before you as a practising Muslim who knows out of experience, from the inside, how volatile, how disruptive, how violent, how misogynistic is the culture of Islam today and has been during my lifetime, and how it greatly threatens our liberal democracy that I cherish, since I know what is its opposite' ..."
Pete Hegseth's Crusade for Christian Nationalism: The Next Front in the MAGA Takeover
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s sycophantic cheerleader, white supremacist propagandist, and sexual predator, isn’t just gunning for Defense Secretary—he’s also targeting the education of military families. This dangerous ideologue, dripping with the rhetoric of Christian nationalism, sees his potential role as a gateway to infuse Pentagon schools with a toxic mix of whitewashed American history, evangelical Christian theology, and thinly veiled authoritarianism.
As a veteran, I find his views absolutely horrendous! Not only is he unqualified, he’s down right STUPID! I cannot see this individual being a serious nominee for SECDEF. Period😡
"Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception."
May be somewhat moot as to whether it's the Democrats or the Republicans who are banging that drum the loudest.
But interesting and quite thorough essay, though not sure that it says much against the many quite solid reasons why the Democrats are likely to be wandering in the wilderness, at least for the next two years:
It amazes me that the label of “Christian” can be self-applied without the slightest sense of shame by someone who clearly expounds the most un-Christian attitudes and lives a most un-Christian existence. The violent vanquishing of those who disagree with you is most definitely not a Christian virtue. Nor is humiliating or cruel behavior to your neighbor. Along with Hegseth’s selective historical facts and disinterest in the parts that don’t support his paranoid ideas, he seems to have a deep ignorance of Christianity. The America he envisions more than anything resembles Putin’s Russia—nominally Christian, but only insofar as he can make it justify totalitarian government.
A trend in Trumpland is many of these people have clearly had more books published than they’ve read.
Very well-written. But...
Judeo-Christian values established the moral foundation for our modern civilization, the Enlightenment, and the American experiment.
The founders cited these values repeatedly.
Now... what exactly has Islam done for society?
I'll wait here.
In case you missed a real howler published here recently:
"Contrary to Western Understanding, Islam Is a Liberal Faith: No religion can be properly understood based on its most extreme proponents"
https://www.theunpopulist.net/p/contrary-to-western-understanding
From my comments there:
https://web.archive.org/web/20180405214735/https://www.thepostmillennial.com/islam-sharia-secular-democracy/
"... as Muslim reformer Shireen Qudosi phrased it in speaking of Islam’s desperate need of reformation, 'either Islam needs to evolve or it needs to die'."
"... philosopher Anthony Flew who justifiably concluded, in his review of Ibn Warraq’s 'Why I’m Not a Muslim', that 'Islam is flatly incompatible with the establishment and maintenance of the equal individual rights and liberties of a liberal, democratic, secular state'. ...."
"[secular? Muslim] Mr. Salim Mansur (Professor of Political Science, University of Western Ontario, As an Individual): ... ' I would like members to note that I come before you as a practising Muslim who knows out of experience, from the inside, how volatile, how disruptive, how violent, how misogynistic is the culture of Islam today and has been during my lifetime, and how it greatly threatens our liberal democracy that I cherish, since I know what is its opposite' ..."
https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/41-1/CIMM/meeting-51/evidence#Int-7696927
Though Young's article may give some weight to the argument that Christianity is only marginally better.
You need psychiatric help.
And you didn't answer the question.
You’re a stupid troll. I’m not going to waste 2 hours of my day responding to everything you write.
Two invectives as opposed to rational debate. Perfect for X, not Substack.
Pete Hegseth's Crusade for Christian Nationalism: The Next Front in the MAGA Takeover
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s sycophantic cheerleader, white supremacist propagandist, and sexual predator, isn’t just gunning for Defense Secretary—he’s also targeting the education of military families. This dangerous ideologue, dripping with the rhetoric of Christian nationalism, sees his potential role as a gateway to infuse Pentagon schools with a toxic mix of whitewashed American history, evangelical Christian theology, and thinly veiled authoritarianism.
Read more...
https://substack.com/@patricemersault/note/c-81778178?utm_source=notes-share-action&r=4d7sow
As a veteran, I find his views absolutely horrendous! Not only is he unqualified, he’s down right STUPID! I cannot see this individual being a serious nominee for SECDEF. Period😡
You didn’t have to sell me on him
So you really read all that and said, "This is the guy we want running the Pentagon"?
Wow.
See, this is the nice thing about Substack. We’re all mixing it up again like it’s 2002 or something.
That ain’t the own you think it is.
"Kill a commie for Christ!" 🙄
https://www.artic.edu/artworks/146819/kill-a-commie-for-christ-plate-sixteen-from-peace-is-patriotic
"Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception."
https://newrepublic.com/article/124711/mark-twain-said
May be somewhat moot as to whether it's the Democrats or the Republicans who are banging that drum the loudest.
But interesting and quite thorough essay, though not sure that it says much against the many quite solid reasons why the Democrats are likely to be wandering in the wilderness, at least for the next two years:
https://samharris.substack.com/p/the-reckoning
Even if the "cure" might well be somewhat worse than the "disease" ...
Is this guy serious?