Christian Nationalism: Where More Than Cruelty Is the Point
Forcing everyone to live for their vicious, angry, venomous God is the point (Scroll to the end to listen)
The cruelty is the point.
In October 2018, Adam Serwer at The Atlantic wrote an essay titled “The Cruelty Is the Point.” He broke down the unbridled cruelty of 45’s administration. Here’s a sample:
We can hear the spectacle of cruel laughter throughout the Trump era. There were the border-patrol agents cracking up at the crying immigrant children separated from their families, and the Trump adviser who delighted white supremacists when he mocked a child with Down syndrome who was separated from her mother. There were the police who laughed uproariously when the president encouraged them to abuse suspects, and the Fox News hosts mocking a survivor of the Pulse Nightclub massacre (and in the process inundating him with threats), the survivors of sexual assault protesting to Senator Jeff Flake, the women who said the president had sexually assaulted them, and the teen survivors of the Parkland school shooting. There was the president mocking Puerto Rican accents shortly after thousands were killed and tens of thousands displaced by Hurricane Maria, the black athletes protesting unjustified killings by the police, the women of the #MeToo movement who have come forward with stories of sexual abuse, and the disabled reporter whose crime was reporting on Trump truthfully. It is not just that the perpetrators of this cruelty enjoy it; it is that they enjoy it with one another. Their shared laughter at the suffering of others is an adhesive that binds them to one another, and to Trump.
Source: The Atlantic
We don’t make a habit of discussing 45 around here. I’m not breaking that rule today. The Christo-fascists behind him are too dangerous, too determined for us to allow him to soak up all the oxygen.
I’m here to encourage readers to think about THEM. The Christian Nationalists. The Christo-fascists. The Republican Party. It’s all the same thing.
Liberal writers have glommed onto the phrase the cruelty is the point to describe everything Republicans do. I get it. Denying pregnant people life-saving abortions is cruel. Forcing women to have children is cruel. Restricting female travel is cruel. Attacking no-fault divorce to keep women trapped in abusive marriages is cruel. Arresting women for miscarriages is cruel. Raining hatred on the LGBTQIA+ community is cruel. Embracing racism is cruel. Bullying transgender human beings is cruel. Putting immigrants in animal cages is cruel. Taking children from their parents is cruel.
But I challenge readers to consider something deeper: To Christian Nationalists, their GOD is the point.
Their vengeful, angry, venomous God is the reason for every cruel thing they do. Sure, we call them cruel because it’s true, but I want everyone to focus on what they really are: Religious fanatics who are determined to force us all to live by their interpretation of the Bible.
What is their interpretation of the Bible?
Women deserve to be subjugated forever because Eve ate the forbidden fruit first and tempted Adam to fall with her.
Black and Brown people are cursed by God because Noah’s grandson got him drunk and tricked him into sleeping with his daughter. God gives Christian Nationalist Republicans permission to treat them as inferior.
Every bad thing that happens to someone is God judging them for hidden sin. Instead of helping people who suffer, we must let them endure God’s punishment because it might lead to their healing.
LGBTQIA+ people choose sinful lives and must reject who they are. And if they refuse to go back to their closets, Christian Nationalist Republicans will bully and shame and harass and imprison them.
Every urge that doesn’t build treasure in heaven is evil and wicked and must be suppressed. With bullying and force if necessary.
God meant for (white) men to rule the world.
I don’t personally care what Christian Nationalist Republicans believe. They can worship however they want and believe whatever speaks to them. But I’m tired of tiptoeing around the blatant radicalized fanaticism on display in the Republican Party.
We cannot stand for it. They cannot force us to practice their intolerant, obscene version of faith. They cannot impose their vile beliefs on you. Or you. Or you.
If forcing every American to accept their God is the point, I want nothing to do with it. I know where a coerced relationship with their God leads: To stunted, bewildered, broken people who don’t know how to be.
I lost over two decades of my adult life to these religious extremists. I made every mistake imaginable. No matter how much I work on myself, I always find more ick to unpack. Despite therapy and reading and self-love and a decent toolbox, I will never be fully functional.
This Substack exists because I don’t want that reality for any American. Boldly call out this religious fanaticism. Tie their cruelty to their God. Renounce the awfulness they embrace. They are unhinged. We CAN call them that. We CAN reject that.
And something extra today:
The perfect word for getting pleasure from other’s misfortune and pain is the German word - schadenfreude. Millions of Germans during WWII experienced it from the evil side while others embraced the joy. Often we use the English word - psychopath in this instance to describe people who get enjoyment in this manner..
So how does extreme religious organizations grow these “psychopaths” and is it possible to reach them? If we cannot “save” them from their own mental “illness”, how can we defeat them? Reasoning seems impossible because every part of the brain is closed off from compassion, fairness and logic. There aren’t enough deprogrammers in the world!
The above observation does not mean that people cannot escape and build a healthy world for themselves. I know you feel like the work you have done to save yourself seems inadequate or incomplete. But I have to remind you that just a little bit of your old life is your super power. You have a knowledge that I can never fully understand or replicate. Perhaps you need to give yourself some grace and continue to channel all those emotions into your dedicated work.
You know what you do is so very important and when we all succeed into taming the “devil within Christian Nationalists” you will have received your reward for your hard work.
Another great article! I look forward to reading your thoughts every day.
You rock! I admire your willingness to go all out.