Republicans have a solution for what ails America; every problem in the U.S. can be solved if we all just embrace their concept of a Christian theocracy.
Leading the charge is former Baptist minister and Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. The conservative television host wants the government to double down on Christianity, telling a crowd at the 2014 Values Voter Summit in Washington, D.C. that the country must find out who in the government are the true believers, and fire those who are not. Huckabee did not consider this idea’s blatant unconstitutionality.
Huckabee’s belief in making the government religiously pure fits right in line with the statements of Rand Paul, who published an op-ed in Time claiming that the issues the U.S. is facing could be solved if we would all just “seek God.” Not only did Paul attack secularism, he conflated belief with the Affordable Care Act saying, “Obamacare tries to force us to separate our faith from our business. Fortunately, the Supreme Court thought otherwise.”
Huckabee and Paul, both known for attacking President Obama’s "abuse" of the U.S. Constitution, seem to have no problem discarding the First Amendment and rebooting the U.S. as a Christian nation.
And while politicians attack secularism, the NFL went after one of its players, Husain Abdullah, after he dropped to his knees to make a brief Muslim prayer after scoring a touchdown. Many fans immediately took to social media to criticize the officials, correctly noting that former quarterback Tim Tebow is a Christian known for genuflecting on the field, a practice that became known as “Tebowing.” The NFL quickly realized its mistake and lifted the penalty against Abdullah.
But politicians and pro sports leagues aren't the only ones brimming with Christian exceptionalism this week; an Arkansas gun range owner has proudly boasted that her business is now a, “Muslim-free zone.” Gun range owner Jan Morgan boasted not once, but four times on Twitter this week that her “Business is a Muslim-Free Zone.” But Morgan claims what she wrote is neither hateful or discrimination. She says she’s only making the “Muslim-free” claim for the security of her business, saying, “I will do whatever is necessary to provide a safe environment for my customers, even at the cost of the increased threats and legal problems this decision will likely provoke.”
Christians have also found an unlikely new target this week: Alcoholics Anonymous. A Baptist church in Louisiana has stopped AA from holding meetings on its campus, claiming that allowing such support groups to meet there would eventually require the church to perform same-sex weddings. In a letter to the AA group, the church wrote:
“As I am sure you are aware, God’s church, his written word, and its values and principles have come under a constant and aggressive attack from the homosexual and lesbian community. Churches and businesses alike, across our nation, are being forced, by our legal system, to accommodate these groups in the use of their buildings/facilities to perform marriages ceremonies, receptions, etc. The court’s decision was based on the fact that the churches/businesses were accepting and accommodating other public entities and therefore must also accommodate the homosexual and lesbian community.”
No church in the U.S. has ever been forced to perform a marriage ceremony, but perhaps the church is right, as everyone knows seeking help for addiction is a gateway to same-sex marriage.
Christians have never been big fans of Charles Darwin or the theory of evolution, but one of reality television’s most well-known personalities wants you know that the British naturalist —and science—are behind the Holocaust. Jessa Duggar, one of the siblings on the TLC series "19 Kids and Counting" declares that science dehumanizes people and makes atrociities like the Holocaust possible.
Posting on Instagram upon visiting the Holocaust Museum, Duggar wrote:
“Very sobering. Millions of innocents denied the most basic and fundamental of all rights—their right to life. One human destroying the life of another deemed ‘less than human.’ Racism, stemming from the evolutionary idea that man came from something less than human; that some people groups are ‘more evolved’ and others ‘less evolved.’ A denying that our Creator—GOD—made us human from the beginning, all of ONE BLOOD and ONE RACE, descendants of Adam. The belief that some human beings are ‘not fit to live.’”
It turns out Duggar isn’t alone in this belief. It's a popular claim among creationists who conflate evolution with eugenics. Many actually believe that if Hitler had not known about natural selection, he would not have caused the deaths of millions of innocent people.
But the Duggar family took it a step further, claiming that the U.S. is in the midst of its own holocaust—abortion. Writing on the family’s blog, the clan stated:
“A couple of weeks after we went to the Holocaust Museum it dawned on us that there is a Holocaust taking place right here in America! More than 56 million lives have been destroyed in our country! That is over 4000 babies being killed and 4000 women being wounded each day.”
Nazi analogies are common in right-wing Christian arguments. Texas State Senator Charles Perry warned an audience that a government without God is similar to the Holocaust under Nazi Germany.
“There were 10,000 people that were paraded into a medical office under the guise of a physical. As they stood with their back against the wall, they were executed with a bullet through the throat,” said Perry. “Before they left, 10,000 people met their fate that way.”
“Is it not the same than when our government continues to perpetuate laws that lead citizens away from God?” he asked. “The only difference is that the fraud of the Germans was more immediate and whereas the fraud of today’s government will not be exposed until the final days and will have eternal-lasting effects.”
Perry pointed out that abortion and same-sex marriage have turned the U.S. against God and that the nation will eventually pay for its sins.
“Roe v. Wade condemned 55 million innocent and defenseless souls that cried out for righteousness from a God who is just — we will answer for that as a nation,” he told the crowd.
Regardless what Jessa Duggar and Charles Perry think of abortion or same-sex marriage, their rhetoric is tone-deaf and only serves to diminish the seriousness and brutality of the Holocaust.