On Sept. 11, 2024, two months prior to the 2024 election, the Secretary of Homeland Security designated Jan. 6, 2025, as a “National Special Security Event.” The press release announcing this decision explained this designation had been made based on recommendations from…
Trump’s false narrative on January 6 is gaining traction
Four years after the January 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol, the Republican narrative that what happened was peaceful and legitimate appears to be gaining some ground. Not only because Donald Trump — widely credited as the instigator of…
January 6 anniversary vigil calls for Christians to remember and respond
An interfaith prayer vigil lamenting and commemorating the January 6 insurrection called Americans across the religious spectrum to resist the attacks on democracy and social justice anticipated during the second Donald Trump presidency. The fourth annual “Faith in Democracy” vigil…
Rep. Barry Loudermilk pushes democracy to the brink
A Republican-controlled subcommittee of the U.S. House Oversight Committee has unleashed an attack on the peaceful transfer of power in federal government. Led by Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R.-Ga., this subcommittee conducted its own investigation of the January 6 insurrection at…
How Christian extremists are co-opting the book of Esther
I first became aware of far-right Christians co-opting the Book of Esther for political ends when I heard the extremist group Moms for Liberty use Esther 4:14 as its slogan. Since then, the phrase “for such a time as this”…
Abortion, immigration and January 6: Christians from both sides react to VP debate
While Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate between Ohio Sen. JD Vance and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was a notably civil and issue-focused affair, Christian supporters rallied online for their preferred candidates and, more often, attacked the opposing candidate. The debate…
Anthea Butler explains the Catholic version of Christian nationalism
While much of the discussion about Christian nationalism focuses on white evangelical Christians, there’s a parallel and equally dangerous movement in Catholicism, Anthea Butler told a group of journalists and scholars Sept. 10. Butler, professor of American social thought at…
NAR prophets still declaring Trump is God’s man, scholar warns
Among the most ardent Christian nationalists today is a subgroup most Americans are not aware of but that is having an outsized influence on conservative politics and culture. That group, the New Apostolic Reformation, is a focus of research done…
What if everyone forgets?
Remember Tiananmen Square? I was reminded of those halcyon and tragic days last week when I ran across an article in the New York Review of Books from May 20, 2014. It marked the 25th anniversary of that fervent outbreak…