Belief

Liberal Georgia-based journalist Zaid Jilani, who was raised Muslim, has a long history of criticizing the Religious Right. Jilani, back in the 1990s and 2000s, often argued that while there's nothing wrong with faith and religion, "theocracy" has no place in a constitutional democratic republic like the United States.

But in an op-ed published by the New York Times on September 26, Jilani lays out some reasons why he finds 2025's MAGA Christian nationalists much more troubling than the fundamentalist evangelicals he criticized in the past.

"As the George W. Bush years rolled on," Jilani recalls, "I joined my fellow liberal activists in watching documentaries like 'Jesus Camp,' which warned of an impending Christian theocracy. I argued vigorously for separation of church and state, and I waited on pins and needles for the end of a movement I viewed as stifling freedom of religion and freedom of expression. But I'm starting to miss the Christian conservatives I grew up with. Unlike the Christian Right of my childhood, today's variations — some of which see President Trump as a religious figure — seem incapable of being compassionate toward outgroups like mine."

Jilani recalls that after al-Qaeda's 9/11 terrorist attacks, then-President George W. Bush was careful to make a distinction between jihadist and non-jihadist Muslims. Bush described Islam as a "great religion," making it clear that he didn't blame all Muslims for 9/11.

"I think back to the days right after September 11, when Mr. Bush — the politician most closely associated with the 21st-Century Christian Right — visited a mosque in Washington, D.C., to emphasize that Muslims were just as American as anyone else," Jilani explains. "It's easy to laugh this off, given what happened afterward — he set off a bungling war on terrorism that included an unnecessary war in Iraq that led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people. Yet Mr. Bush set the tone for the millions of devout Christians who voted for him."

MAGA's "Christian nationalism," Jilani laments, "can be distinguished more by cruelty than kindness."

"These new Christian conservatives are represented by people like Matt Walsh, a popular right-wing Catholic commentator," the Georgia-based journalist warns. "Conservatives spent years working across the aisle on criminal justice reform. Mr. Walsh has floated the return of whipping and amputations as punishments and said that by resisting Mr. Trump's militarization of law enforcement in Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson had committed treason and should be 'given the requisite punishment for a capital offense'…. There is no issue where the current crop of Christian Right politicians departs more from the old than immigration."

Zilani, who is Pakistani-American, adds, "Christians like Mr. Bush condemned nativism. These new activists embrace it."

During a Sunday, September 21 memorial for Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Arizona, a speech from his widow, Erika Kirk, was followed by a speech from President Donald Trump — who told attendees that unlike her, "I hate my opponents."

The following day on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," host Joe Scarborough discussed Trump's call for revenge with one of his guests: New York Times columnist and fellow Never Trump conservative David French, who warned that the obsession with revenge is one of the things white evangelical Christians like about Trump.

French told Scarborough, a former GOP congressman, "You have, on the one hand, a church that will rise and rightly applaud the incredible words of Erika Kirk and then turn around and happily go to the polls not in spite of Trump's vengeance, but because of Trump's sense of vengeance….. If you've been paying attention to American religion and American politics over the last decade, it wouldn't surprise you to see that Erika Kirk speech and to hear the applause and then to hear the Donald Trump speech and hear the laughter and applause to that as well — and realize that, in many ways, that is what politics is doing to American Christianity."

French continued, "It is creating this face of vengeance. Because Americans know he has the power to work his vengeance because of the church. It is the church that put him into office — the evangelical church — more than any other American constituency. And so, what we watched unfold in front of us — when he spoke like that, this wasn't in contradiction of what so many Christians wanted out of their president here. It is exactly why so many Christians voted for this president…. That is the frustrating complexity of what is happening in this moment."

Scarborough, who was raised Baptist in the South, argued that the vengeance theme of Trump's speech was a major contrast to what former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) — a vehement critic of Trump — said about the U.S. president.

Scarborough told French, "This takes me back to practicing Catholic Nancy Pelosi saying that she prayed for Donald Trump every day. As Jesus commanded us in Matthew 5, you love your enemies. You pray for those who persecute you."

'I hate my opponents': Trump at Charlie Kirk memorial www.youtube.com

Far-right MAGA pundit Candace Owens is claiming that Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk was getting ready to convert to Catholicism near the end of his life, but evangelical Christian fundamentalists are denying that claim. And reporters Sam Stein and Will Sommer appeared skeptical about that alleged conversion during a conversation for the conservative website The Bulwark.

Kirk, who was 31 when he was fatally shot in Utah, was closely identified with evangelical Christian nationalism. And The Guardian's J. Oliver Conroy, in an article published on September 20, reports that Christian nationalists are "positioning Charlie Kirk as a martyr for their movement."

After Kirk's murder, his widow, Erika Kirk, posted, on Instagram, that the "world is evil" and declared, "They have no idea what they just ignited within this wife."

Author Jeff Sharlet, known for his writings on Christian nationalism, discussed Erika Kirk's comments with The Guardian — warning, "That's holy war, that's accelerationism, and it's incredibly powerful."

Conroy notes some of the other things far-right Christian nationalists have been saying since Kirk's death.

In a video, megachurch pastor Matt Tuggle said of Kirk's murder, "If your pastor isn't telling you the left believes (in an) evil demonic belief system, you are in the wrong church."

Sean Feucht, a Christian nationalist pastor who worked with Kirk, said, "We know that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. The devil is not gonna win. The forces want us to be silent; they want us to shut up.… We need to be more bold."

Conroy describes Christian nationalism as "the belief that the U.S. is and should be an explicitly Christian nation."

"Kirk had been an evangelical Christian since childhood but earlier in his career, expressed reluctance at politicizing his religious views," Conroy explains. "That changed during the peak of the early pandemic, when Kirk made the acquaintance of several charismatic megachurch pastors protesting church lockdowns. He began to traffic in ideas influenced by the (New Apostolic Reformation), including the seven-mountain mandate. Turning Point USA also began to forge partnerships with churches."

Read J. Oliver Conroy's full article for The Guardian at this link.

THE WOODLANDS — Thousands gathered Friday night to kick off a conference of young Republicans in which Charlie Kirk, the conservative activist killed last week, was memorialized as a “martyr” whose death is galvanizing youths across the nation.

Speaker after speaker, from state lawmakers to influential MAGA cultural tastemakers, shared stories at the Texas Youth Summit about how Kirk — who began rallying young conservatives as a teenager — made them and others feel like their Christian-guided views mattered and their perspectives were shared by many.

They called him a “hero,” “miracle,” and “martyr for Christ." Amid the mourning, they said that the fight Kirk had embarked on was far from over but one that could be won by the young people in attendance.

And it appeared, according to some of the speakers, that more people were learning Kirk’s name and his vision for a faith-led American future every day since his death.

The speeches caused roars of applause from the mostly young audience, some wearing white t-shirts that said “We are Charlie,” which glowed in front of bright red and blue stage lights.

“Be like Charlie,” Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, the final speaker of the night, told the crowd, which had thinned by the time he took the stage past 10 p.m. but was still several hundred strong. The state’s junior senator recounted how he texted Kirk upon hearing about the shooting, asking if he was OK.

“I’m praying for you right now,” Cruz said he texted, adding: “Obviously, I never got an answer.”

Kirk was killed Sept. 10 while speaking at a Utah university, the first stop of his group’s “The American Comeback” tour. He often debated students who disagreed with him on his tours while firing up young conservatives.

“There's a lot of value in a bunch of young conservatives coming together and (feeling) like they're not alone. Charlie created that environment — single handedly,” U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Houston said in a video that was played. “No one else did that kind of thing.”

The memorial was just the latest instance of Texans gathering to share their sorrow over Kirk’s death. Vigils at college campuses, town squares and churches have drawn thousands, with speakers and attendees saying Kirk changed how they viewed politics, debating and their own beliefs. Others vehemently opposed what Kirk stood for but attended the homages to condemn his killing as an unacceptable act of political violence.

“We weren’t alive for JFK or MLK, and this is the first big assassination,” said Harley Reed, one of more than 1,000 who gathered last week at Texas A&M for one such candlelight vigil. “This is the first big movement, if you will, that we’ve seen interrupted in a way.”

Also grieving publicly are the state’s leaders, including some Republicans who are set to speak at the conference on Saturday. Some have also urged a close examination of reactions to Kirk’s death from educators and students; Gov. Greg Abbott, for one, has called for the expulsion of students who publicly celebrated Kirk’s death, prompting blowback from critics who say such calls run afoul of the First Amendment’s free speech protections.

Such scrutiny has done little to slow the momentum that’s erupted among conservative youth who just became old enough to vote or will reach the threshold in time for next year’s midterms.

Turning Point USA, the group Kirk launched as an 18-year-old to organize other young conservatives, said it received an explosion of more than 50,000 requests to establish new chapters at colleges and high schools in the days after its founder’s death.

In Texas, where the GOP has dominated state government for longer than current college-age students have been alive, organizers of this weekend’s youth summit said they anticipated record-breaking attendance after getting an influx of interest leading up to the event.

“Charlie Kirk cannot be replaced,” Christian Collins, the summit’s founder and leader, said Friday night. “But what I will say is, what will happen in this community, and in this country, is thousands of Charlie Kirks will rise up.”

The event was another example of how Kirk’s death has invigorated a growing movement of young conservatives nationwide, and added fuel to efforts from Texas’ GOP leaders to turn the red state an even deeper shade of red.

State GOP leaders and lawmakers have pointed to that outburst of interest and solidarity as evidence of a Christian awakening among the state’s youth that they say will only grow stronger and usher in a new culture in America.

While the state’s leading young Republican organizations were once lukewarm on Trump, the voter bloc they represent proved crucial to Trump’s victory last year throughout the country.

The president has reportedly said that was thanks, in large part, to Kirk’s work.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/09/20/texas-youth-summit-republican-charlie-kirk-memorial/.

Many right-wing media figures, from Fox News' Jesse Watters to "War Room" host Steve Bannon, continue to blame liberals and progressives for the murder of MAGA activist and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk — even though Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York), former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and countless other Democrats vehemently condemned the murder in no uncertain times. But among themselves, right-wing media pundits are battling over the role that Kirk played in the MAGA movement.

In a video posted by the conservative website The Bulwark on September 18, two of their writers — Sam Stein and Will Sommer — examined the role religion plays in far-right MAGA influencer Candace Owens' efforts to exploit Kirk's "legacy."

Sommer told Stein, "She puts on a pretty good face about being this, like, aggrieved friend who's going to get to the bottom of this…. The fact is that Charlie Kirk's legacy is a very valuable thing — and in particular, the political capital that can be gained from it, and the money and the donors. And so, I think she is making a claim — and Tucker Carlson — to at least a slice of that legacy."

When Stein noted that "religion gets into this in a really profound way," Sommer elaborated on that point.

Sommer told Stein, "Religion here, I think, is something that is really volatile. And I think for some people in MAGA, what Candace Owens says about Charlie's religion is actually even more important than what she said about him and Israel. Because she says: So, Charlie was an evangelical Christian, and we've seen, in the aftermath of his murder, that there's this sense of, like, people saying, 'There's going to be a religious revival. The pews are going to be packed. Everyone's going to become Christian now.' But Candace says: Well, actually, Charlie…. was on the verge of converting to Catholicism."

Stein asked Sommer if there was "any evidence" of Kirk getting ready to become Catholic — to which he responded, "I believe his wife was originally Catholic, although she said, a year ago, she no longer was."

Many Christian nationalists and far-right MAGA Republicans have claimed that "holy war" or "jihad" is a concept that is unique to Islam. But quite a few religious scholars strongly disagree, emphasizing that is nothing inherently violent about either Islam or Christianity — and that an obsession with "holy war" comes from one's interpretation of the religion, not from the religion itself.

In an article published by on September 16, The New Republic's Gil Duran outlines the role that, in 2025, "holy war" is playing in Christian nationalism and the MAGA movement.

"Last week, in the hours after Charlie Kirk's assassination, the words 'demon' and 'evil' trended on X as some on the right portrayed his murder as the work of supernaturally possessed Democrats and leftists," Duran explains. "Major right-wing influencers echoed Carl Schmitt's ideas, calling for a political crackdown on Kirk’s critics. Chris Rufo, a prominent right-wing propagandist, called on law enforcement to 'infiltrate, disrupt, arrest, and incarcerate' the 'radical left.' This is where apocalyptic rhetoric always leads."

READ MORE: 'Something is wrong': MAGA pundits say Trump is 'lying to us' about Charlie Kirk shooting

Duran notes that in Christian fundamentalist and MAGA circles, one is seeing a surge in "devil talk" and fear of The Antichrist.

"Over time, the identity of Satan's Little Helper has shifted from Native Americans to Communists, Hitler and Saddam Hussein and Barack Obama — even barcodes and microchips have been implicated," Duran observes. "From colonial days to the AI era, the hunt for the Antichrist continues. Today's QAnon conspiracy theorists believe they are battling a cabal of cannibalistic Satanists. 'Unhumans,' a 2024 book praised by (Vice President) JD Vance, equated progressives with bloodthirsty 'unhuman' creatures. This turns politics into a zero-sum holy war."

Duran points to tech mogul and billionaire donor Peter Thiel as an example of a prominent figure in MAGA World who is obsessing over The Antichrist. In the past, Thiel was more of a libertarian. But in recent years, he has taken a decidedly MAGA turn.

"Thiel is not a theologian, scholar, or prophet," Duran writes. "So why pay attention to his biblical musings? Because Thiel is one of the world's most influential men, and his Antichrist speeches reveal his deep belief that religion is a weapon for political warfare —and he's right. Thiel's Antichrist fixation fits a long tradition in American politics. Since the nation's founding, Americans have sought to name the Antichrist — usually by pointing the finger at their political enemies."

READ MORE: 'Deeply troubling': Military expert warns Trump is unilaterally 'deciding to kill people'

Duran notes what historian Robert Fuller, author of the 1995 book "Naming the Antichrist: The History of an American Obsession," had to say about that role that "holy war" plays in Christian fundamentalism.

Duran quotes Fuller as saying, "The symbol of the Antichrist has played a surprisingly significant role in shaping Americans' self-understanding. Because they tend to view their nation as uniquely blessed by God, they have been especially prone to demonize their enemies…. Once we label our adversaries in these cosmic terms — all good versus all evil — now, there's going to be no compromise."

READ MORE: 'We don't care': Fox host downplays murder of Democratic lawmaker in profane meltdown

Read Gil Duran's full article for The New Republic at this link.

For decades, one of the most consistent findings in religion research has been that women tend to be more religious than men. This holds true across dozens of countries and on nearly every measure of religiosity, from how often someone prays to how important faith is in their lives.

The far-right National Conservatism Conference used to be an event that many traditional Goldwater and McCain conservatives made a point of avoiding. But with President Donald Trump's MAGA movement now dominating the GOP, NatCon is drawing a lot more attention in Republican circles.

In an article published on September 13, Salon's Heather Digby Parton points to growing interest in NatCon as a troubling example of how much Christianity's lunatic fringe is influencing the GOP and the MAGA movement.

Describing the most recent NatCon gathering — which was held in Washington, D.C. in early September — Parton explains, "'Overturn Obergefell' was one featured panel, the AP's Joey Cappelletti reported. 'The Bible and American Renewal' was another. The conference, he wrote, 'underscored the movement's vision of an America rooted in limited immigration, Christian identity and the preservation of what speakers called the nation's traditional culture' — which is putting it very mildly. It certainly doesn’t seem there was much talk of individual freedom, free markets or liberty of any kind, and that is a big change from the conservative movement that has dominated Republican politics since the Reagan Administration."

READ MORE: 'Doing a pretty terrible job': Trump official mocked over response to dismal economic data

The far-right NatCon gathering should not be confused with National Council for Mental Wellbeing event that is also abbreviated NatCon. The health event was held in Philadelphia in May, not in Washington, D.C. in early September, and has zero connection to the political event.

This year's political NatCon, Parton observes, featured some prominent figures in the Trump Administration — including National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard; Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget and a key architect of Project 2025; and border czar Tom Homan.

"But perhaps the most revealing moment was a viral speech by Missouri GOP Sen. Eric Schmitt titled 'What is an American?' in which he made the claim that the country belongs to the descendants of white Europeans who took the land from the violent Native Americans fair and square because they were just plain superior," Parton observes. "He said straight out: 'America doesn't belong to them — it belongs to us.… We can no longer apologize for who we are. Our people tamed the continent, built a civilization from the wilderness. We Americans are the sons and daughters of the Christian pilgrims who poured out onto the ocean's shores.'"

Schmitt, Parton adds, even promoted the Great Replacement Theory during his speech.

READ MORE: 'Republican for Trump': Alleged Kirk shooter's grandmother confirms entire family is MAGA

A recurring theme of NatCon, Parton warns, is that the U.S. is not only a Christian nation — it is a white Christian nation.

"It's tempting to write off NatCon, and Schmitt's speech in particular, as an example of a bunch of right-wing kooks indulging their little fever dream of creating a white Christian autocracy," Parton stresses. "But these are powerful people now, and if there's any person in government who is trying to create 'a pastiche of past glories' — largely by erasing the true American past, both good and bad — it's the most powerful one of all, Donald Trump, who has certainly discovered that 'you can just do things!'"

Parton continues, "Nobody paid attention to Project 2025 until it was too late, and look where that got us. It would be foolish to make that same mistake again."

READ MORE: 'Doing a pretty terrible job': Trump official mocked over response to dismal economic data

Heather Digby Parton's full article for Salon is available at this link.

Proponents of separating church and state on Monday decried US President Donald Trump's pledge to protect prayer in public schools, warning that the administration is advancing the agenda of far-right Christian nationalists seeking to impose their religious beliefs upon everyone.

Speaking at a meeting of the president's so-called Religious Liberty Commission at the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, Trump announced upcoming Department of Education guidance "protecting the right to prayer in our public schools, and it's total protection."

"We're defending our rights and restoring our identity as a nation under God," Trump said. "To have a great nation, you have to have religion. I believe that so strongly. As president, I will always defend our glorious heritage, and we will protect the Judeo-Christian principles of our founding."

The president added that it is "ridiculous" that the nation's public school students are "indoctrinated with anti-religious propaganda, and some are even punished for their religious beliefs."

Trump also launched his "America Prays" initiative, which asks the faithful to "join with at least 10 people to meet each week for one hour to pray" for the country.

In response to the president's speech, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) said on social media: "We've never been 'one nation under God.' There's nothing to restore. Our true identity is freedom of conscience—the right to believe in any faith, or none at all."

"A great nation isn't built on religion—it's built on equality, liberty, and justice for all," FFRF added. "Our strength comes from We The People, not belief in a god."

Rachel Laser, president of the group Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in a statement that Monday's event "once again demonstrated that this commission isn't about religious liberty; it's about rejecting the nation's religious diversity and prioritizing one set of Christian beliefs."

"From the professions of Christian faith to the chorus of 'amens' during Christian prayers to the exclusively Christian speakers this morning, this government hearing was more like a church service," Laser noted. "Once again, President Trump is using religion to promote his self-aggrandizement and political agenda, all the while perpetuating the lie that America is a Christian nation and that religion is under attack."

Laser continued:

The Trump administration is advancing this Christian nationalist agenda with the launch of his 'America Prays' initiative, which calls on Americans to pray for our country. People who care about religious freedom don't need to be told when or how to pray; they need leaders who are committed to separation of church and state.At a hearing focused on religious freedom and public schools, the commission ignored the most serious threats. From mandates to display the Ten Commandments and teach from the Bible to Christianity-infused curriculum and the installation of school chaplains, Christian nationalists and their political allies are trying to impose their personal religious beliefs on America's public school children.

"Our country's promise of church-state separation means that families—not politicians or public school officials—get to decide how and when children engage with religion," Laser added. "Yet many of the organizations represented at today's meeting and members of the Religious Liberty Commission have tried to undermine this fundamental American principle and turn our public schools into Sunday schools."

Monday's event came as some GOP-led states push forward with plans for more overt displays of religiosity in public schools. Most notably, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton—a US Senate candidate—is urging schools to display the Ten Commandments in spite of a federal judge's recent injunction on a law requiring the Judeo-Christian religious and ethical directives to be displayed in all classrooms.

Paxton is also urging all schools "to begin the legal process of putting prayer back in the classroom and recommending the Lord's Prayer for students."

Responding to Paxton's push, gun control advocate Fred Guttenberg said last week on social media: "Hey Ken, many have said that you committed adultery. Shouldn't you worry about your own morality before imposing this on others? Looks like you are using religion for personal gain."

Recent polls have shown a significant drop in the number of Americans who identify as Christian in recent decades, an all-time low in belief in "God," and a steady overall decline in religiosity among younger Americans.

President Donald Trump has never been shy about promoting far-right conspiracy theories, but during Labor Day Weekend 2025, Trump himself became the subject of a conspiracy theory. Trump, for a few days, had been keeping a relatively low profile — and conspiracy theorists claimed that the 79-year-old president had died. Those false claims were refuted when new photos of Trump were posted online and showed that he was very much alive.

Nonetheless, Trump's health is receiving a lot of discussion. And Salon's Chauncey DeVega, in an article published on September 4, emphasizes that Trump's response to health concerns is clearly aimed at his evangelical Christian fundamentalist supporters.

"I am agnostic about Donald Trump's health," DeVega explains. "When I look at him, I see Roy Cohn's protégé, a man animated by his life's mission of attaining unlimited power. Men with that kind of drive tend to live a long time. So last weekend, amid all the speculation about the president's health, I remained dispassionate. Admittedly, the circumstances were strange. By Saturday, (August 30), Trump hadn't been seen since his epic three-hour Cabinet meeting four days earlier — unusually long for someone who loves public attention as much as he does."

READ MORE: Economist Paul Krugman says Trump 'telling the truth' on this issue — but there's a catch

DeVega continues, "This fueled wild and baseless rumors that the White House had been relying on body doubles, that Trump had been felled by a stroke or some other catastrophic health event, and that the whole thing was being covered up — and that it was all being hidden like something out of Stalinist Russia or some other autocratic regime."

Trump, according to DeVega, is responding to concerns about his health by "continuing a weeks-long pattern of emphasizing his salvation anxieties to gain and retain the loyalties of the white Christian Right."

"For those who come from an evangelical background, his strategy is unmissable," DeVega argues. "But for many members of the mainstream media and political establishment, most of whom were not brought up in a culture that functions by using coded verbal cues and emotional pleas for understanding and support, Trump's tactics aren't as obvious…. By any honest assessment of his professed faith, Trump is also a willful sinner. Yet his popularity among white Christians has not suffered; if anything, he fits their 'Cyrus prophecy' about how wicked men can be used to fulfill God's plans for the nation."

DeVega continues, "But even this exhaustive list is incomplete. Trump also functions as a type of preacher. He is using the presidency's bully pulpit to address, manipulate and control his congregation — the MAGA movement — or, in evangelical terms, his 'church family.' As his authoritarian power and aspirations grow, Trump will likely only amplify this aspect of his persona."

READ MORE: 'Sound familiar?' Mitch McConnell lobs parting shot at 'America First' Republicans

Trump is by no means universally loved within Christianity. In politics, it isn't hard to find churchgoing Christians, both Catholics and Mainline Protestants, who are vehement critics of the president — from former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, an Episcopalian, to Catholics who include Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and former President Joe Biden. But Trump continues to have a very strong bond with far-right white evangelical fundamentalists.

"When Trump shares his worries about heaven and his soul, he is activating similar feelings among his MAGA followers," observes DeVega, himself a scathing Trump critic. "This makes him seem like a more authentic and relatable leader."

READ MORE: 'Trump takes this snub personally': Conservative mocks 'saddest little dictator'

Chauncey DeVega's full article for Salon is available at this link.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Monday said that the vast majority of schools in the Lone Star State should still plan on displaying the Ten Commandments in classrooms even after a federal judge ruled against it last week.

In a statement, Paxton said that "schools not enjoined by ongoing litigation must abide" by a state law that requires the display of the Ten Commandments in all public and secondary school classrooms.

"The woke radicals seeking to erase our nation's history will be defeated," he said. "I will not back down from defending the virtues and values that built this country."

Paxton asserted that only nine Texas school districts are affected by the injunction and said that all other districts "must abide by the law once it takes effect on September 1, 2025."

The Texas attorney general's defiant stance on the Ten Commandments earned him a quick rebuke from Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), who accused him of grandstanding instead of doing his job as the state's chief law enforcement official.

"Paxton's job is to uphold the Constitution, which guarantees the separation of church and state—not the Ten Commandments," he wrote on X. "Our public schools should focus on educating Texas students, not stoking culture wars."

The Freedom From Religion Foundation also rebuked Paxton for failing to uphold the Constitution's prohibition of the government establishment of a religion.

"The Constitution, not the Ten Commandments, built this country," the foundation said. "Forcing students to observe one religion’s rules is a blatant violation of the First Amendment regardless of what Ken Paxton claims. Public schools are for education, not religious indoctrination."

Paxton's declaration came less than a week after US District Judge Fred Biery of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction against the state law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed.

In his ruling, Biery argued that the classroom displays "are likely to pressure the [students] into religious observance, meditation on, veneration, and adoption of the state's favored religious scripture, and into suppressing expression of their own religious or nonreligious background and beliefs while at school."

On Thursday, August 21, James Dobson — founder of Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council — passed away at 89. Dobson was one of the most influential far-right evangelical Christian fundamentalists in the United States; along with the Moral Majority's Rev. Jerry Fawell Sr. and the Christian Broadcasting Network's (CBN) Pat Roberson, Dobson played a key role in the Religious Right's takeover of the Republican Party during the 1980s.

Dobson was an extremely polarizing figure, pushing a movement that drew scathing criticism from both the left and the left. Liberal television producer Norman Lear founded People For the American Way to combat the Religious Right, a movement that conservative Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) believed was terrible for the GOP and terrible for conservatism.

Esquire's Charles P. Pierce didn't mince words in a blistering article published the day of Dobson's death, commenting, "One of the most truly horrible humans ever inflicted on this country has ceased to be, and all say, 'Amen' and 'about g------ time." And Anthea Butler, a religious studies professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, was highly critical of him in an op-ed published by MSNBC that day — arguing that Dobson championed a "harsh, disciplinarian Christianity" and "vilified gay people."

READ MORE: Bill Maher hits raw nerve with detailed warning of Trump's 'slow-moving coup'

Gay author Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez examines Dobson's use of anti-gay "conversion therapy" in an article published by Religion News Service on August 22, emphasizing that his experience with that practice brought him nothing but misery.

"For LGBTQ+ people like me," Rodriguez laments, "his legacy was one of shame, rejection and the lie that we needed to be 'cured.' His radio show and books reached millions, and his political influence stretched from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump. Dobson was the man who dared a generation of parents to discipline strong-willed children and to guard their homes against what he claimed were corrupting cultural influences, especially homosexuality…. For parents listening to Dobson in their minivans, for youth pastors playing his cassette tapes for their students, that wasn't just commentary — it was a license to treat queer people as dangerous and sexuality as something that needed to, and must be, changed."

Rodriguez, author of the forthcoming book, "Conversion Therapy Dropout: A Queer Story of Faith and Belonging," adds, "I know, because I was one of those queer kids sitting in the audience."

"Conversion therapy," according to Rodriguez, is not only traumatic and harmful to gays — it doesn't work.

READ MORE: MAGA is panicking as Trump finally meets his match

"Conservatives mourning Dobson this week will call him a defender of the family," Rodriguez writes. "Franklin Graham praised him as someone who 'stood for morality and Biblical values.' Others say his impact will echo for generations; they're not wrong. But for LGBTQ+ people like me, his legacy means broken families, rejection and years lost to self-hatred…. I do not celebrate James Dobson's death, but I will not mourn him the way his followers do."

Rodriguez continues, "His influence shaped American evangelicalism for nearly half a century, and for LGBTQ+ people, that influence was beyond toxic — it was tragic. His death doesn't heal the lives or families torn apart by his teachings. And it doesn't absolve him of the shame and hatred he spread in the name of Christian love."

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Timothy Schraeder Rodriguez's full article for Religion News Service (RNS) is available at this link.

The word "empathy" usually has a positive connotation. But during an interview with vodcast host Joe Rogan in February, Tesla/SpaceX/X.com head Elon Musk railed against "suicidal empathy" and declared, "The fundamental weakness of western civilization is empathy, the empathy exploit."

Musk's critics were quick to pounce, arguing that his disdain for "empathy" underscores the lack of compassion that plagues the far right and President Donald Trump's MAGA movement.

Musk, however, isn't the only one who claims that "empathy" is a bad thing.

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In an article published on August 21, Associated Press (AP) reporter Tiffany Stanley takes a look at far-right white evangelical Christian fundamentalists who "are preaching that" empathy "has become a vice."

Allie Beth Stuckey, author of the 2024 book "Toxic Empathy: How Progressives Exploit Christian Compassion" and host of the podcast "Relatable," told AP, "Empathy becomes toxic when it encourages you to affirm sin, validate lies or support destructive policies."

Another anti-empathy book is evangelical pastor Joe Rigney's "The Sin of Empathy: Compassion and its Counterfeits."

According to Stanley, the "anti-empathy arguments" coming from Stuckey, Rigney and others "gained traction in the early months of President Donald Trump’s second term."

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But not all Christians are buying into the anti-empathy arguments coming from white evangelicals and MAGA Republicans.

Historian Susan Lanzoni, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts, told AP that empathy is "the whole message of Jesus."

The Rev. Canon Dana Colley Corsello of the Washington National Cathedral takes issue with the evangelical anti-empathy trend as well.

Corsello told AP, "Empathy is at the heart of Jesus’ life and ministry…. It’s so troubling that this is even up for debate."

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Read Tiffany Stanley's full Associated Press article at this link.

A federal judge on Wednesday shot down a Texas law that would have mandated all public school classrooms across the state display the Ten Commandments.

As reported by local news station KSAT, US District Judge Fred Biery of the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas issued a preliminary injunction, ruling that the state's law crossed the line from education to proselytizing on behalf of a specific sect of Christianity.

Noting that "the Ten Commandments set out in Texas's Ten Commandments law differs from the version observed by some Protestant faiths, and most adherents of the Catholic and Jewish faiths," Biery argued that the law violated the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which states that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion.

Biery imagined the uproar that would ensue if the city of Hamtramck, Michigan, which is majority Muslim, passed a law mandating that all public schools post passages from the Quran in all classrooms. He then argued that such a law would be just as unconstitutional as the Texas Ten Commandments law.

"While 'We the people' rule by a majority, the Bill of Rights protects the minority Christians in Hamtramck and those 33% of Texans who do not adhere to any of the Christian denominations," he wrote.

The judge also argued that the classroom displays "are likely to pressure the [students] into religious observance, meditation on, veneration, and adoption of the state's favored religious scripture, and into suppressing expression of their own religious or nonreligious background and beliefs while at school."

Organizations that advocate for the separation of church and state were quick to praise Biery's decision to strike down the law, which had been due to go into effect on September 1.

Tommy Buser-Clancy, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of Texas, said that the ruling affirmed that the state cannot coerce any Texans into adopting a particular religious faith.

“Today's ruling is a major win that protects the constitutional right to religious freedom for Texas families of all backgrounds," he said. "The court affirmed what we have long said: Public schools are for educating, not evangelizing."

Rabbi Mara Nathan, one of the plaintiffs who sued to get the law overturned, welcomed the ruling and stated that "children's religious beliefs should be instilled by parents and faith communities, not politicians and public schools."

Freedom From Religion Foundation co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor similarly said that "religious instruction must be left to parents, not the state, which has no business telling anyone how many gods to have, which gods to have or whether to have any gods at all."

Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, hailed the ruling and said that it sends a "strong and resounding message across the country that the government respects the religious freedom of every student in our public schools."

Far-right white evangelicals are applauding a new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rule that allows pastors to make political endorsements in the pulpit, including the Family Research Council. But Christianity is far from monolithic, and individual churches don't necessarily approve of the practice even though the IRS is now allowing it.

In Kenosha, Wisconsin, the Rev. Jonathan Barker found that out the hard way.

Barker, until recently, preached at the Grace Lutheran Church, where the liberal/progressive Mainline Protestant pastor planned to give a sermon endorsing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) for president in the United States' 2028 election. But when the church objected — regardless of the new IRS rule — he ended up resigning, according to the New York Times.

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Barker still gave the pro-AOC sermon, but not in the Grace Lutheran Church pulpit.

In an article published on August 19, Times reporters David A. Fahrenthold and Elizabeth Dias explain, "The odd battle that played out last week over one sermon for one Lutheran congregation in Kenosha, an industrial city on Lake Michigan, was an illustration of the sharply different ways that American churches have responded to the IRS' surprise reinterpretation of the decades-old law. It may have also foreshadowed many similar fights to come."

The journalists continue, "The fight was set in motion by a lawsuit that two Texas churches and a group of religious broadcasters filed against the IRS last year, seeking to invalidate a 1954 law called the Johnson Amendment. That law, introduced by then-Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson, said that churches and charities could lose their tax-exempt status if they endorsed candidates for office. The plaintiffs said it was an unconstitutional limit on free speech."

Back in 1993, the late Rev. Jerry Falwell Sr.'s show "The Old-Time Gospel Hour" was fined $50,000 by the IRS and lost its tax-exempt status for two years because of his overtly political activity in the pulpit. Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority and father of former Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr., was a leading religious right figure who drew scathing criticism from the late Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) — an influential conservative who believed that Falwell and other far-right evangelicals were terrible for the GOP and the conservative movement.

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Fahrenthold and Dias note that Christian churches are hardly in lockstep when it comes to political endorsements.

"The Family Research Council, an advocacy group that promotes conservative values, is already trying to organize 18,000 pastors for next year's midterm elections," the Times reporters explain. "But leaders of the Roman Catholic Church and some Mainline Protestant denominations, including the Evangelical Lutherans, have told their pastors to refrain from endorsements, maintaining their earlier practices. Many said they worried that endorsing candidates would drive away members, and drag their divine lessons into the mud of earthly politics."

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Read the full New York Times article at this link (subscription required)

Pastor Douglas Wilson, who heads Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, isn't as well-known in the white evangelical world as the Rev. Franklin Graham, the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins or ex-Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. But Wilson, now 72, is expanding his influenced in the GOP — especially among MAGA Republicans.

Never Trump conservative David French, in his August 14 column for the New York Times, lays out some reasons why Wilson is so disturbing and the ways in which he mirrors President Donald Trump.

From his praise of the 19th Century to his views on women, French warns, Wilson's views are extreme.

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"To simply call him patriarchal is too mild," French argues. "The body of churches he co-founded, the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, includes pastors who believe that the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote, should be repealed and replaced by something called 'household voting,' where it's no longer one person, one vote, but one household, one vote."

The conservative Times columnist continues, "And who is the head of the household? The husband — a man who might consult with his wife, but would absolutely have the authority to make the final decision."

Despite Wilson's extreme views, French laments, more Republicans are openly embracing him — including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

"To say that a pastor like Wilson exists no more condemns all of evangelical Christianity — indeed, Wilson faces vigorous opposition in the evangelical church — than to say that the existence of radical imams condemns all of Islam," French argues. "A better question is to ask whether a person this cruel and extreme has real stature and influence — and whether his influence is on the wane or on the rise. As for Wilson, the answer is clear: His influence is growing."

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French adds, "Hegseth made that plain this month when he posted his support for Wilson after Wilson reiterated to CNN his support for Christian nationalism.

One of the "many reasons for Wilson's rise," according to French, is "squarely rooted in politics."

"When Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016, he inherited a recent Republican tradition: The Republican president isn't just a political leader — he's a de facto religious leader as well," the Never Trumper explains. "Leaders inspire imitators, and all too many people are open to pastors exhibiting the same values as the president they admire so much…. It's not that men like Wilson had no audience before Trump; it's that there is a new demand for Wilson's message because it matches the Trumpist spirit of this evangelical age. Trump is a profane, authoritarian man who delights in attacking his critics. Wilson is also a profane, authoritarian man who similarly delights in personal attacks."

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David French's full New York Times column is available at this link (subscription required).