I am trying to stay up-to-speed on this evangelical Lost Cause conference known as The Road to Majority. Read our first post here.
Here is Ted Cruz:
Some responses:
What Cruz is doing here is political fundamentalism It is one of the most common forms of anti-intellectualism we see today in the United States. Thinking people, and all citizens of a Democratic society, must be able to hold two or more ideas or truths in tension. We must “defend” American values and at the same time must be willing to openly criticize our country when we fail to live up to those values.
At the 3:13 mark Cruz says “revival is coming.” It is unclear whether he is referring to a spiritual revival or a value of American ideals. In the minds of his audience, these two revivals are the same thing. (See yesterday’s post on Greg Laurie and my lecture to a group of scholars at a recent conference on religion and the American Revolution). Notice Cruz’s reference to the “eternal principles” America is built on.”
In 2015, I published an article at Christianity Today and another one at The Washington Post arguing that Ted Cruz was a Seven Mountains Dominionist. (Christianity Today published a response to my pieces). Seven Mountain Dominionism believes that Christians must gain “dominion” over the so-called “seven mountains” of cultural influence: government, church, family, business, education, media/arts & entertainment, and the military. Some Dominionists believe that Christian control of these “mountains” will usher in the second coming of Christ. At the 4:44 mark, Cruz notes that the secular Left controls media, education, Hollywood, journalism, and “culture.” This is Seven Mountain Dominionism language. “If you want to hold on to your faith, if you want to hold on to your freedom,” Cruz says, “then you have to rise and answer the call to defend America.” He adds that “politics is culture.” He essentially wants evangelical churches to rise-up and take back the culture.
8:40: A revival of Christian nationalism is at the heart of Cruz’s message. It’s about awakening. It’s about “waking-up.” It about “winning.”
9:35: Cruz trashes critical race theory and boasts that he know what it means. He then defines it in a way that no critical race theorist would recognize. I don’t know of any critical race theorists who say that “every white person is a racist.” I also don’t know of any schools that teach kids that “every white person is a racist.” (Although if John McWhorter is right, it is happening in some places). Cruz is clearly afraid of critical race theory. In the end, he doesn’t care about dealing with the racial problems in the United States or making sure Black voices are heard in American schools. He wants to use critical race theory as a bogeyman to fire-up his base and keep him and his GOP cronies in political power. That is what this entire Faith and Freedom rally is all about. Rally the base.
Here’s more:
Ronny Jackson voted against the Juneteenth federal holiday:
Marsha Blackburn is there:
Upon hearing that Thomas Jefferson was elected in 1800, frightened New England evangelicals thought that the new president’s henchmen would soon be coming to their towns and homes on a mission to take away their Bible. Blackburn seems to be echoing Jefferson here. The politics of fear.
And then there was Mike Pence. Sounds like he delivered a boilerplate Pence speech:
Not all the evangelical Trumpers were happy with Pence:
