Journalists & Scholars

JUST REPORT THE FACTS
Hesitancy to challenge religious beliefs is a real issue. The “live and let live” principle is still very much alive in America. Historically this principle has protected religion, but now, in this season of exploding Christian Nationalism, the “live and let live” principle is a handicap — not a virtue.

While the “live and let live” principle regarding inter-religion and intra-religion relationships is still active in most denominations, it is not a feature of Christian Nationalism. In fact, one of the goals they work towards is conversion of all religions to the Christian Nationalism brand of Christianity. They say that America was founded as a Christian nation and should be restored to its former status. This means, simply, that everyone converts to an extreme form of evangelical Christianity — or else. How this would happen remains to be seen, but it is sure to be a violent process that will affect all Americans — including those who are not religious.

Even if Christian Nationalists didn’t plan on taking over the other six of the seven mountains of American culture, their goal of religious elitism should be enough to arouse all other religious Americans to actively confront Christian Nationalism. Journalists have the skills, platforms and responsibility to arouse that activity.

Unfortunately, Christian Nationalism’s threat to other religions is barely on the threat assessment chart.  Much journalistic work needs to be done to elevate the threat to the red zone. Handfuls of niche religion media are leading the effort to raise awareness, but it has not yet become an issue worth reporting for mainstream media.

How to investigate religious beliefs with a mind to expose errors in belief is a daunting task that is sure to dissuade even the most zealous opponents of Christian Nationalism. There is so much going on in the world of Christian Nationalism that just keeping up with daily events is enough to keep most journalists occupied. The good news is that whoever wants to go down this new reporting track is not totally alone.

Confronting Christian Nationalism one source of news and perspectives about Christian Nationalism. Religion Detox Network and Make the World Better: Love Your Neighbor are other sources that compare religious beliefs found in the literal words of the bible with the spiritual meanings of bible Symbols, Signs, Types, Parables, Allegories, Copies, and Shadows. These comparisons expose the hypocrisy, lies and abuses of Christian Nationalism. This is where the investigation begins.  It ends with analysis and reporting. There is enough material in these resources to keep journalists and scholars busy for many years.

The basic hypotheses that justify investigation are these:

    • Christian Nationalism is a scam.
    • Christian nationalism is injustice.
    • What Christian Nationalists say they believe does not agree with what the bible says about how people should relate to one another.
    • Christian Nationalists are hypocrites.

The incriminating details about Christian Nationalism and its many deceptions are revealed in these resources:

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The facts about Christian Nationalism beliefs are fair game for investigation because Christian Nationalists claim to believe in and obey what the bible says. The facts are that they lie when they advertise their Christian beliefs to build trust with individuals and churches for purposes of exploiting money and votes from religious Americans. When the truth is exposed, the world will know that Christian Nationalism is the biggest scam ever designed.

The investigative proposition for Christian Nationalism is  the similar to clergy abuse scandals. First the facts and then the coverups were reported. Soon, Americans and the whole world knew the ugly truth. As the truth became widely known, abuses in many religions were similarly exposed. What followed was a general decline in affiliation with all brands of Christian churches. It all began with courageous journalistic investigation and reporting.

In the matter of Christian Nationalists, claims that they are bible-believing, Jesus-following Christians deserve to be exposed as lies, hypocrisy and idolatry. Even people who are not Jews or Christians will be interested in this scandal. Even people who do not believe in God can compare what Christian Nationalists do with God’s commands and judge that Christian Nationalist claims about being a lover of God and follower of Jesus don’t line up with what the bible says. Not only is the movement a scam, it is hypocrisy at its worst.

Because Christian Nationalism depends on money and votes to do its dirty work, this hypocrisy can also be labeled conspiracy with intent to defraud Americans of their money and votes. This scam is bad for individuals who have been duped into donating money and sacrificing their votes, and it is bad for the nation that has been victimized by this scam, but the truth is that Christian Nationalists are guilty of many other crimes.  Prohibitions Against Giving and Receiving Bribes and  Attitudes and Behaviors in Religion and Politics discuss these issues in detail.

Christian Nationalists use false reports about American history and the religious roots of their movement to justify myriad abuses of the American public and erosion of the rule of law. They call these abuses “preservation of family values.” For Christian Nationalism, America’s Christian heritage is preserved by putting righteous political leaders in office. They claim that they are God’s chosen agents to correct these historical wrongs. These all seem to be plausible, virtuous goals, but they are not what they seem. They are deceptions that conceal hunger for political power and money, but this truth remains unknown for lack of reporting.

Christian Nationalists use the money they scam from gullible followers to fund politicians who enact abusive laws that affect millions of Americans and erode the rule of law. They don’t just steal money, they hurt American with the money they steal by passing legislation that limits personal freedoms. Worse yet, they make it difficult for many Americans to vote and receive justice in courts. These crimes are difficult to discover and almost impossible to prosecute in courts that are stacked with Christian Nationalists.

What the bible actually says about God’s instructions to his people about how they should relate to one another and the truth about American history are the smoking guns that convict Christian Nationalists of crimes against humanity and treason. The evidence exists, is irrefutable and is easily accessible. It just needs to be reported. With respect to God’s commands about how to relate to one another, this evidence is the strength that Confronting Christian Nationalism brings to the effort. Examples of critical truths about God’s commands and Christian Nationalist lies appear in Truth vs Lies.

It is a hard truth to embrace, but religious leaders and their unscrupulous, political, co-conspirators are the reason America is divided. They did this ignorant of God’s commands about Not Judging with Favoritism and Partiality. Endless generations of religious leaders created the religious environment that spawned and nurtured the Christian Nationalism movement. Then they amped up their pursuit of personal glory by teaming up with power-hungry politicians to create and implement a long-range plan that would accomplish their mutual goals for political and religious control of America. Christian Nationalism is the name of their movement.

Formation of this conspiracy verifies that there is something insidious about religious and political power that attracts people of questionable character to it. This fact indicates that Americans cannot depend on politicians or religious leaders to strategically confront the Christian Nationalism movement. Judge Character When Choosing Friends, Making Alliances and Voting reports God’s guidance about judging character in all kinds of relationships.

If liberal/progressive politicians knew how to deal with Christian Nationalism, they would have done it a long time ago. Furthermore, considering the partisan makeup of legislative bodies around the country, many politicians are immune to challenges of any kind from any sector because they benefit from the movement. Because many religious leaders are co-conspirators to the movement, they will actively resist efforts to reform their religious beliefs with truths that contradict their cherished religious doctrines. What remains as targets for truth telling are rank and file Christians. They are the ones who have been abused and scammed. They are the citizens who have the ability to vote Christian Nationalists out of office. They will not vote to remove Christian Nationalists out of office unless journalists alert them to the scam.

Rank and file Christians don’t know it, but they have the most to gain by knowing the truth because they are the primary targets for Christian Nationalist propaganda that suckers them into sacrificing their money and votes for the sake of the movement. That means that rank and file Christians should also be the primary target when confronting Christian nationalism.

The fact that Christians are not a monolithic sector of the population complicates the task of reaching them with truth. Perhaps as much as one-third of all American Christians qualify as Christian Nationalists. They are spread across a broad spectrum of denominations, and some are religiously unaffiliated. These facts strongly suggest that outreach must be more of a shotgun strategy than focused. Thus, journalist truthtellers are needed to share the truth across all media platforms.

Getting the truth out is the easy part of outreach. The hard part it will be to convince Christians that they are victims of a conspiracy to defraud, abuse, and control them. That is where journalistic activism becomes critical. Logic, reason and gentle persuasion always complement truth.

To grasp the scale of the challenge, it is useful to imagine that one-third of American Christians — and no one knows how many international Christians — have been ensnared in a cult that rivals the Illuminati and New World Order conspiracies. The big difference is that Christian Nationalism is a very real and present threat.

It won’t be easy to convince Christians that they have been ensnared in a conspiracy because it is in the nature of all Christians to trust human leaders. It will be very hard, therefore, to convince Christian Nationalists that they have made wrong choices of political and religious leaders because these choices are informed by deep-seated religious and political beliefs. Feeling under constant media attacks by liberals and progressive, Christian Nationalists are experienced in fending off challenges to the movement, its leaders, and its policies with polished rhetoric. This means that efforts to share truth about particular politicians and policies will be quickly rebuffed and discounted as liberal propaganda.

Christian Nationalists always have their antennae tuned to attacks from liberal politicians and media. And they always have party-line rhetoric on the tips of their tongues whenever they sense that they are under attack. That is why it is important follow the civility protocols identified in these links:

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Here are the reasons for employing these subtle strategies:

    • Christian Nationalists expect in-your-face attacks from liberal/progressive media.
    • Christian Nationalists expect in-your-face attacks from liberal friends, neighbors and co-workers.
    • Christian Nationalists have willfully joined a cult and willfully support cult leaders with money, adoration and votes.
    • Christian Nationalists cannot be persuaded to abandon the cult, its leaders and cult relationships by logic, reason and facts.
    • Christian Nationalists will respond to attacks, logic and reason with greater resolve to remain true to the cult, its leaders and cult relationships.
    • The only reason Christian Nationalists will abandon the cult is if their hearts and minds are changed.
    • Hearts and minds are changed when people learn truth that exposes wrong beliefs.
    • The truth that Christian Nationalists must learn is that religious beliefs taught by religious leaders regarding Christian Nationalism do not agree with God’s commands..
    • Christian Nationalists may accept these truths from people who do not condemn their politics and/or religion.
    • Christian Nationalists will not accept these truths from people who condemn their politics and/or religion.
    • It is impossible to predict who will receive truth or when they will receive it.
    • Christian Nationalists may need to hear truth many times from many different sources before it becomes real and changes their hearts and minds.

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When considering this strategy, it is useful to recall that Christian Nationalism’s strategy for gaining adherents is to repeat lies over and over again.  The idea is, of course, that repetition of a lie from many sources lends credibility to the lie and the lie-tellers. This principal is well-known and practiced in education, religion and politics. Christian Nationalism leaders understand the principal well and use it effectively. It can also a  winning strategy for journalist truthtellers.

The strategy to change hearts and minds through repetitive exposure to truth may work with some Christians and not with others. And it may work quicker with some Christians than it does with others. There is no way of predicting these outcomes. This speaks to the necessity of having many journalists telling the same truths in many platforms.

What we can reliably predict, however, is that hearts and minds will not change unless a large team of truth-tellers relentlessly shares truth often, in many venues, without condemnation. And we can also reliably predict that Christian Nationalism will remain a powerful, evil force in American politics and culture if hearts and minds do not change.

There are no guarantees about the speed or efficacy of the hearts and minds strategy. But we can be confident that as a strategy, it holds much more promise than attacking leaders and policies with logic and reason.

The subtle, wise, under-the-radar strategy to change hearts and minds also holds promise because Christians, in general, are not accustomed to having their beliefs challenged. They have their guards up to defend their politics, but not so much their religious beliefs because no one ever challenges political beliefs. That means that the venues for sharing truth must be outside common venues in which Christian Nationalists gain information. And that means that truth-tellers must be creative and discreet when choosing what to share, when to share it and where to share it.

Christianity in general, and Christian Nationalism in particular, would not exist without trust in religious leaders. It is hard, therefore, for Christians to admit that they have misplaced their trust and believed lies about their religion, their leaders, or the Christian Nationalism movement. Such is the power of religious pride and arrogance. Humility about religious beliefs does not come easily to Christians. Despite these obstacles, it is not fruitful to condemn Christian Nationalists as being so irredeemably stuck in their politics and beliefs that their hearts and minds cannot be changed when they do hear the truth.

Anyone who has tried to use logic, history and facts to reason with a Christian Nationalist knows that it can’t be done. It is like arguing with a drunk. Biblical truth, however, has the potential to succeed where logic, facts and reason fail.

No one can predict who will, and who will not, accept biblical truth. That is between each person and God. What we can predict, and what we hope for, however, is that those who are humbled by truth about their beliefs will be highly motivated to share that truth with co-religionists who have also been caught up in the cult of Christian Nationalism. Wherever that happens, we have the spark for an outpouring of truth that organically multiplies the volume of truth that journalists generate.

Beyond sharing with others, here are several other possible good results that we would expect from this outpouring of truth:

      • Adherents stop supporting the Christian Nationalist movement with money.
      • Adherents stop supporting religious organizations that are attached to the movement.
      • Religious people stop supporting and listening to religious leaders who are attached to the movement.
      • Adherents stop associating with Christians who are attached to the movement.
      • Adherents stop consulting right-wing news and social media associated with the movement.
      • Adherents advocate against politicians who are associated with the movement.
      • Adherents vote for political candidates that are not associated with the movement.

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Every time someone is dissuaded from trusting Christian Nationalist leaders, the potential exists for that same result with others. Sooner or later there will emerge a quiet countermovement to Christian Nationalism. Because the extent of that countermovement may not be known until the next election, it is necessary for all members of the team to keep laboring in faith that it is happening. But, even if the extent of the countermovement is not known in 2024, journalists must continue their effort because the potential for Christian Nationalism to raise its ugly head will always exist.

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