The New Yorker has a piece out presumably about Doug Mastriano, a Republican state senator from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. So what’s the big deal about a state senator? The New Yorker reports that he urged constituents to attend the January 6 rally at the Capitol, saying, “I’m really praying that God will pour His Spirit upon Washington, D.C., like we’ve never seen before.”
OK. So he’s a Christian and also a Republican. He’s also white, which has one sociologist hearing dog whistles.
[Mastriano] has come to embody a set of beliefs characterized as Christian nationalism, which center on the idea that God intended America to be a Christian nation, and which, when mingled with conspiracy theory and white nationalism, helped to fuel the insurrection. “Violence has always been a part of Christian nationalism,” Andrew Whitehead, a sociologist and co-author of “Taking America Back for God,” told me. “It’s just that the nature of the enemy has changed.”
…
The election of Donald Trump intensified certain strains of Christian nationalism. He fanned fears of pluralism with Islamophobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric. He often invoked Christianity, albeit in terms that were largely about ethnic identity rather than faith. “The greatest ethnic dog whistle the right has ever come up with is ‘Christian,’ because it means ‘people like us,’ it means white,” Samuel Perry, a sociologist at the University of Oklahoma and co-author of “Taking America Back For God,” told me.
So two sociologists who co-authored a book called “Taking America Back for God” think “Christian” means “white” to other Christians. Here’s the summary of “Taking America Back for God” from Amazon:
Why do so many conservative Christians continue to support Donald Trump despite his many overt moral failings? Why do many Americans advocate so vehemently for xenophobic policies, such as a border wall with Mexico? Why do many Americans seem so unwilling to acknowledge the injustices that ethnic and racial minorities experience in the United States? Why do a sizeable proportion of Americans continue to oppose women’s equality in the workplace and in the home?
Why do liberals ask so many dumb questions?
•Raphael Warnock called himself “REVEREND” in all his campaign materials when he ran for the Senate; 👇🏾
•It never seems to occur to leftists that they ALWAYS hear “dog whistles” that only right-wingers are supposed to hear;
•Samuel Perry is a moron. pic.twitter.com/Nz3taj8gMD
— Too Bright For Your Gaslight (@LNSmithee) May 13, 2021
@SirajAHashmi, I offer prayers for your uncle and this tweet for your list.
— Tom Riddle (@GodFamilyBeer) May 13, 2021
So this guy wasn't a Christian then? pic.twitter.com/T0rRvrxLGj
— 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐟𝐢𝐭 (@_RuthlessMisfit) May 13, 2021
Since “dogwhistle” is already taken, what’s a catchy word for “thinly veiled coastal elitist hatred of middle America”?
— Old Army Fight (@OldArmyFight) May 13, 2021
You know who knows a lot of Christians? New Yorker writers. https://t.co/Wr8faTYsJk
— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) May 13, 2021
That makes no sense. What also makes no sense is that you apparently understand and support it. Painting with a broad brush is dangerous.
— 🅲🅷🆁🅸🆂 🅻🅸🆃🆃🅻🅴 (@THEChrisLittle) May 13, 2021
Really? Really? " Christian" means white?
— The Way We Talk Now (@EcclesiastesSun) May 13, 2021
So black people cannot be Christian? 🤔
— Obianuju Ekeocha (@obianuju) May 13, 2021
Christian means that I try and be a follower of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Redeemer.
Amy other misconceptions I can clear up for you, please let me know.
— Anonymous Anonymizer (@JonathanLingo) May 13, 2021
There were Christians (and Jews) in Africa before there were Christians and Jews in Europe. Most of the world's oldest continuously Christian communities are black Africans. African-Americans are more Christian than white Ameriacns.
— You Should Have Voted For Jo (@colorblindk1d) May 13, 2021
The audacious racism of the New Yorker to accuse Black people of not being Christian. Not only are they Christian.. they are Christian in overwhelming numbers in the Carolina’s. So take your racist drivel somewhere else.
— The Carolina Bellwether Podcast (@CBPradio) May 13, 2021
Either this quote from @socofthesacred is completely out of context, or his premise is moronic.
Ever been to any number of Baptist churches in the south?
— Howard Beale’s hate child (@BealesHateChild) May 13, 2021
Do you guys not realize the percentage of African Americans that identify as Christian? It’s pretty high.
— Chris Edwards (@Chris5piece) May 13, 2021
It was a weak attempt to frame yet another identity tag in terms of race. Gotta get that magazine out after all.
— KL Norman (@kerrinorman) May 13, 2021
This is a terrible take as the future of Christianity actually lies in Africa and Asia. The Christian populations are growing on those two continents while they shrink in North America and Europe.
— The Feaz (@Feaz87) May 13, 2021
There’s about 1 billion Christians in Africa and Asia, and hundreds of millions more in Latin America. @NewYorker is the enemy of the people
— Charles Martel 🔨 (@MartelBot) May 13, 2021
Christians are every shade and every ethnicity, @socofthesacred.
According to the book of Galatians, "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."
— Bᴜʀᴋʜᴀɴ Kʜᴜɴʙɪsʜ (@CircusSyndicate) May 13, 2021
Of course black churches being used by the Democratic Party as political pulpits is just fine. I’m told pretty often Jesus would want higher marginal tax rates. Everyone is a hypocrite, including me.
— Stephen Carlson (@swcarlson1) May 13, 2021
This is what passes for Sociology in the higher learning institutes of America these days! No wonder recent graduates can't make a decent wage or even pay off their bloated, worthless, education loan debt.
— Tom Hambright (@tomhambright) May 13, 2021
Sociologists really are idiots.
— coureur de bois (@plandericus) May 13, 2021
Prove him wrong.
Related:
Not The Babylon Bee: Sean Penn calls on the Vatican to impeach evangelical Christians https://t.co/bqi6rgSA7X
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) February 15, 2021
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