A Timely Reminder About the Religious Right, in light of TX SB8

Abortion wasn't the animating force behind the formation of the Religious Right. It was segregation.

Sep 2, 2021

The Mood

there's no joy in having your worst fears about the trajectory of the country under minority christian nationalist rule realized

The Content & Context

Yesterday, the state of Texas banned abortion services after six-weeks.

With such a drastic ruling impacting over 50% of the population that experts are saying effectively overturns Roe v. Wade without requiring a SCOTUS ruling (but they did chime in overnight by refusing to overrule the TX law), now is a good time to remember that the formation of the modern Religious Right was not catalyzed by opposition to abortion, but rather by segregation:

Blake Chastain @brchastain

Today is yet another day to remember that abortion was not the catalyst that led to the formation of the modern Religious Right, it was the federal govt challenging the tax-exempt status of Christian colleges that wanted enforce segregation.

politico.comThe Real Origins of the Religious RightThey’ll tell you it was abortion. Sorry, the historical record’s clear: It was segregation.

This is not speculation. These are incontrovertible facts corroborated by multiple authors and researchers across the decades.

One of the best recent books about the topic is The Power Worshippers by Katherine Stewart:

Blake Chastain @brchastain

These are incontrovertible facts that are verified by multiple authors. .@kathsstewart has an entire chapter of her book The Power Worshippers dedicated to it (Ch. 3, Inventing Abortion):

bookshop.orgThe Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism a book by Katherine StewartFor readers of Democracy in Chains and Dark Money, a revelatory investigation of the Religious Right’s rise to political power. For too long the Religious Right has masqueraded as a social movement preoccupied with a number of cultural issues, such as abortion and same-sex marriage. In her deeply re…

Regarding the claim that the Religious Right was animated by pro-life concerns, Stewart does not mince words:

Her book is so vital to understanding the goals, strategies, and tactics of Christian nationalists in the US that I re-released our conversation from last fall today:

This conversation is part of season 1 of Powers & Principalities, which focused on Christian nationalism.

Please read her book & listen to this interview. It is of vital importance.

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Assorted Tweets

I’ve been publishing primarily on Twitter about this, because things have been happening so fast.

Here’s a thread about some of the books that shifted my thinking on white evangelical politics:

Blake Chastain @brchastain

Today's also a good day to explain that my current views about the harm white evangelicalism causes did not form in a vacuum. I grew up in this environment & was dedicated to it, and grew to question it at Christian college. I also learned a whole hell of a lot about it. 1/

Hang in there, everybody. There’s lots of work to do.

Blake Chastain @brchastain

stay-in-your-lane is helpful not just b/c it helps you talking to things that are beyond your lived experience or ability to speak to well, but ALSO b/c the number of conflicts we have to manage in this godforsaken country is dizzyingly high and requires *focus.*