Christian Nationalism Vs The U.S. Constituton; and Matt Meyer: Movement Building Post-Trump

Christian Nationalism Vs The U.S. Constituton

Two weeks ago the United States Supreme Court made a 5 to 4 decision in the case of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn and Agadith Israel of America versus Governor Mario Cuomo which reversed a precedent and crashed through the wall separating church and state.

The men who wrote United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights,which separated church and state, were mostly non-Christians. America was not created as a Christian country. That is a myth. Nor was it founded on Judeo-Christian principles. This is another myth. The founding fathers were deists. They were products of the enlightenment. They did not believe in a god that played any role in human affairs. They understood from European history the terrible consequences of not separating church and state.

Today’s Christian nationalists and evangelicals, mostly Trump supporters, are relentless in their attempts to tear down the wall of separation. These people have substantial political power. They are much of Trumps base. They succeeded in getting Amy Comey Barrett appointed to the Supreme Court.

Two weeks ago she along with four reactionary Catholic judges, Alito, Kavanaugh ,Thomas and Gorsuch, prevented Governor Cuomo and his scientific advisors from limiting the number of people who attend Roman Catholic and ultra Orthodox Jewish services in Brooklyn. This decision will cost lives in New York and nationally as it ties the hands of governments trying to limit the human toll of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Guest ” Attorney Andrew Seidel, a Constitutional litigator with the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the author of the just published book The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American.

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Matt Meyer: Movement Building Post-Trump

In a 2018 Gallup poll half of Americans called the state of moral values in the United States “poor, and 37 percent say moral values are “only fair. Over the past four years,a perfect storm of incompetence, misinformation, and reckless decisions by Donald Trump have left a stain not just on moral values but also on democratic institutions and the rule of law. In a chillingly politicized decision, for example, the new overtly right-wing Supreme Court has signaled its preference for religion over public health in its first opinion limiting states rights to protect residents from the Covid-19 virus.

As we transition from what no doubt will go down in history as the worst presidential administration in American history, much of the nation is plagued by widespread depression and hopelessness. But bad times for the country provide new opportunities for social justice organizing.

Longtime activist and writer Matt Meyers recent blog for Waging NonViolence is called 6 ways to stay focused on movement-building amid the post-election chaos. He offers concrete suggestions”in effect a moral assignment for the masses– for surviving, and acting”in the wake of four exhausting years under a divisive narcissist.

Write to David Gilbert here.

Guest – Matt Meyer, author of several books on resistance and social change chiefly published by PM Press and Africa World Press. He is the Secretary General of the International Peace Research Association, a long-time leader of both the War Resisters League and Fellowship of Reconciliation, the Senior Research Scholar of the Resistance Studies Initiative, and an advisory board member of Waging Nonviolence. He is also on the board of the New York-based A.J. Muste Institute, funding grassroots activist initiatives for half a century.

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