article: violent Christian Extremism

[alreadyGone]

 

Note:  I think this article is itself extreme, no more than sensationalist clickbait, but I offer it here for general interest and discussion..

 

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/02/04/qanon-christian-extremism-nationalism-violence-466034

 

For two decades, the U.S. government has been engaging with faith leaders in Muslim communities at home and around the world in an attempt to stamp out extremism and prevent believers vulnerable to radicalization from going down a path that leads to violence.

 

Now, after the dangerous QAnon conspiracy theory helped to motivate the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, with many participants touting their Christian faith — and as evangelical pastors throughout the country ache over the spread of the conspiracy theory among their flocks, and its very real human toll — it’s worth asking whether the time has come for a new wave of outreach to religious communities, this time aimed at evangelical Christians.

(more at the above link)

 

[♦ Fuego ♦]

I remember my own pastor being ticked at me for believing in conspiracy in the church, and in retrospect I still think I was right. But this was a different kind of conspiracy, and had nothing to do with thinking we could shoot our way to the kingdom of God. My pastor was embracing some New Age ideas and saying they were perfectly valid for Christians because Jesus was the "spirit guide". I told him that these techniques he was starting to use were not found in the Bible anywhere, not even in concept. Some couple was promoting the idea that one could revisit past trauma but this time see Jesus there to comfort instead of the trauma. Essentially using imagination to pretend that something else happened, but believing that it really did happen the new way with Jesus, and that God would use this technique and work his magic to make it real. 

 

This was during the popularity of Constance Cumbey's books "Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow" and some other I can't recall. Dave Hunt was another very popular author at this time, echoing her views and warning Christians about embracing Hindu concepts of the New Age, and saying that a witch doctor is still a witch doctor even if he wears a business suit and talks from a pulpit. My pastor hated these books (Cumbey made some really far fetched claims that are now echoed by the current lot on nuts).

 

My pastor at the time was far more concerned with appearance, and would rubber stamp anything that claimed to be scriptural, even misquoted scripture. And calling out cults like the Mormons was only done begrudgingly because he wanted to fit in with the other pastors in the area.