Watch: Charlie Kirk says he is 'not a fan of democracy' after falsely declaring the US a 'Christian country'

Watch: Charlie Kirk says he is 'not a fan of democracy' after falsely declaring the US a 'Christian country'
Image via screengrab.
Bank

Right-wing Daily Wire commentator Charlie Kirk and Timcast Media host Ian Crossland both proclaimed their opposition to "democracy" on Tuesday's edition of the Timcast IRL podcast.

"I actually even think we're even more divided, in some ways, than we even were leading into the American Civil War," Kirk, the founder of the conservative Turning Points USA Political Action Committee, said. "At least it was a Christian country back then, now we have different metaphysics and we have all sorts of different types of views."

Kirk's statement is inaccurate. Although most Americans have historically identified as Christian, the United States has never officially been a "Christian country" because the First Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the government from favoring one faith over others.

READ MORE: Watch: Charlie Kirk calls separation of church and state a 'fabrication'

"(I)t does me no injury for my neighbor to believe in twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg," Thomas Jefferson once wrote.

CNN's Mark Edwards expanded on that notion in 2015, explaining that "if, by the question, one is asking whether the Founding Fathers relied on Protestant Christian principles in drafting the essential documents and in organizing the new governments, then the answer is a resounding 'no.'"

Edwards added:

The majority of the founders also believed that religion was necessary for maintaining moral virtue and assumed that the nation would remain culturally Christian. But people should be cautious about reading too much into the religious rhetoric during the founding period. From where did the idea of America's founding as a Christian nation arise? In a nutshell, it arose in the early 19th century as later generations of Americans sought to establish a national identity, one that distinguished and exemplified the founding by sanctifying the nation's origins. This is the origin of the 'Christian nation' myth.

Regarding the Antebellum era, former Gettysburg College Professor of History Allen Guelzo recalled in a 2015 Atlanticpiece that "it was a time when Christianity allied itself, in the most unambiguous and unconditional fashion, to the actual waging of a war."

READ MORE: Watch: Charlie Kirk calls for 'an all-out attack on the administrative state'

Guelzo further pointed out that "for every Northern divine claiming God's favor for the Union, and every Southern one claiming God's favor for the Confederacy, there were far more who could not make up their minds what to say about slavery. And taken together, they created a popular perception that religion had nothing reliable or coherent to say about the greatest American issue of the 19th century."

"But we have some things working in our favor which is the great hope is that we can de-escalate the national politics and go back into the hyper-local community and just say I don't like the person in Portland, I don't like the person in Wichita but I'm not going to try to imperialize their life. Until we get to that the project is going to fall apart.

Both men then revealed their aversion to the democratic process, which typically requires compromise in order to function.

"Absolutely, I was thinking about the word democracy and how it comes from demos which means the people and it's basically..." Crossland opined before Kirk cut him off.

"Yes, I hate the word democracy but yeah," said Kirk.

"It allows the mob to make decisions for the whole," Crossland said.

"Yes. I'm not a fan of democracy, yeah," Kirk declared.

"It's pretty brute," Crossland stated.

Watch below via Media Matters for America or at this link.

READ MORE: Charlie Kirk's attempt to call out left's hypocrisy goes up in flames

Understand the importance of honest news ?

So do we.

The past year has been the most arduous of our lives. The Covid-19 pandemic continues to be catastrophic not only to our health - mental and physical - but also to the stability of millions of people. For all of us independent news organizations, it’s no exception.

We’ve covered everything thrown at us this past year and will continue to do so with your support. We’ve always understood the importance of calling out corruption, regardless of political affiliation.

We need your support in this difficult time. Every reader contribution, no matter the amount, makes a difference in allowing our newsroom to bring you the stories that matter, at a time when being informed is more important than ever. Invest with us.

Make a one-time contribution to Alternet All Access, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you.

Click to donate by check.

DonateDonate by credit card
Donate by Paypal
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}
@2022 - AlterNet Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. - "Poynter" fonts provided by fontsempire.com.