 So let's talk about Russell Moore. For those of you who don't know who this is, this is a prominent evangelical pastor who was once a higher-up at the Southern Baptist Convention, and he's now the editor-in-chief of the magazine Christianity Today, and he's also sending the alarm about Christianity in America saying that he believes it's in full-on crisis mode. Now, there's a number of reasons why he believes this is the case. First and foremost, he thought that the Southern Baptist Convention mishandled a sexual abuse crisis. He also says that he's seen an increase in tolerance for white nationalism within the church, and additionally, he says that some congregates, specifically the ones who love Donald Trump, have even criticized the message of Jesus Christ in a way that he believes is very alarming. So as Ross Story explains, in an interview with NPR, Moore said that multiple pastors had told him disturbing stories about their congregates being upset when they read from the famous Sermon on the Mount in which Christ espoused the principles of forgiveness and mercy as central to Christian doctrine. Quoting multiple pastors tell me essentially the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount parenthetically in their preaching, turn the other cheek, and to have someone come up after to say, where did you get those liberal talking points more revealed? And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, I'm literally quoting Jesus Christ, the response would not be, I apologize. The response would be, yes, but that doesn't work anymore. That's weak. He adds, when we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we're in a crisis. In other words, this is another classic case of, well, I never thought that the leopards would eat my face as person who voted for the leopards eating people's faces party. And the thought of them quoting Jesus Christ and the Trump loving congregates coming up and saying that sounds like some liberal bullshit to me is so fucking hilarious to me. I love it so much because I mean, what did you expect? Now to be charitable to the to this guy in particular, he was one of the few evangelical leaders to come out against Trump when he started to rise to prominence. But in doing so, he was shunned by other evangelical leaders, which is what probably led to a lot of introspection about the movement that he was a part of. And the trumpification of the evangelical movement in part is why he resigned from the Southern Baptist convention back in 2021. Now he also says that he believes part of the problem is that quote, almost every part of American life is tribalized and factionalized. And that has extended to the church. And that right there to me is so interesting because the phenomenon that he's describing is in large part due to his church and his religion. Remember evangelicals weren't necessarily overtly political as a movement until they got in bed with Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. And that was when he decided to exploit their aversion to cultural changes by becoming their new culture war daddy. And in a 2021 op-ed for the Washington Post, professor of history Steven M. Gillan explains Reagan's first term record was a mixed bag as far as cultural conservatives were concerned. Even so, four years into his presidency, Reagan saw an opportunity to use religion to forge a new political realignment in the South. Addressing a crowd of 10,000 religious leaders at an economical prayer breakfast during the 1984 Republican convention, the president delivered a rousing speech. Reagan willfully blurred the line between church and state, quote, religion needs defenders against those who care only for the interests of the state. The truth is politics and morality are inseparable. And as morality's foundation is religion, religion and politics are necessarily related. He concluded, if we ever forget that we're one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under. Not surprisingly, the Republican platform that year reflected the agenda of white evangelicals. It called for a constitutional ban on abortion with no exceptions and the appointment of federal judges who opposed abortion. It supported voluntary school prayer. Ignored the equal rights amendment which Republicans had supported in every platform from 1940 to 1976 with only two exceptions, 1964 and 1968 and rejected equal pay for women. Jerry Falwell, founder of the moral majority, closed the 1984 Republican convention by triumphantly calling the incumbent ticket God's instruments in rebuilding America. Now I want to pause right there to give you some additional context. So a lot of people don't know this, but Jimmy Carter was actually originally supported by evangelicals disproportionately because he himself identified as a born again Christian. However, when he was in office, he didn't deliver for them. He mishandled abortion according to them, as well as other cultural issues. But more importantly, at this time, it's important to know that the evangelical movement was exploding. So the number of Americans who identified as born again Christians jumped by 15 points between 1963 and 1978 and the Southern Baptist convention grew by the tune of millions. So Reagan saw that and he took that opportunity to cynically weaponize this movement for political purposes and guess what? It worked. It was wildly successful. We're still dealing with the ramifications of that alliance today. And even though he was obviously a political puppet for elites and large multinational corporations, all that he had to do to get these evangelicals to clap like seals was play the greatest hits when it came to the culture war. And this is all really important context because the rise in Christianity coincided with the rapid social progress that they were seeing at this time. Gillian continues, The rise of Christian fundamentalism represented a backlash against the cultural liberalism of the 1960s. In the minds of many evangelicals, the federal government and the liberals who staffed it had engineered America's alleged moral decline. They felt traumatized by a string of perceived defenses, the Supreme Court's decisions legalizing abortion and banning school prayer, the gay rights and women's rights movements challenging traditional gender roles, and the internal revenue services decision to remove the tax exam status of private Christian schools outraged. These Americans became a major force in politics, leading campaigns against LGBTQ rights, playing a key role in stopping the ERA's ratification and fighting for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion, offering an upside for the party that could capture their loyalty. So this blending of evangelicalism and Reaganomics killed the New Deal era and it also put our country on a very destructive path that resulted in, well, everything we're seeing today, right, hyper late stage capitalism and the mixing of church and state. Now, the problem is America is changing. Not only are we undergoing another period of rapid social progress, but newer generations are less white and less religious, meaning that the church is in crisis mode, which is why the Republican Party has to resort to gerrymandering and voter suppression to win elections. See, that alliance was very beneficial to evangelicals and the Republican Party for a time when demographics favored them. But now, as America continues to change, the demographics are less favorable to them. And what we're hearing from them are the dying cries of this movement that was once arguably the strongest force in American politics. But getting back to Russell Moore, because again, he said that part of the problem is that America is too factionalized and tribalistic. Well, yeah, you did that, brother. And when the church and politics blends together, I mean, what do you expect? You shouldn't be surprised that a demagogue like Trump came along and usurped your literal deity because you opened that door. Your movement wanted this. And now it's coming back to bite you in the ass. And he sounds even a little bit defeated, arguably, because he also told NPR that he doesn't think that this is a battle for the soul of Christianity at the national level. Really, it's about making a change at the local level with your community and with your family. But see, the problem is that evangelicals know that the only way to maintain hegemony is to use the state to shove their religion down our throats, hence the sudden rise in Christian nationalism from politicians who want to force the state and religion to become one, because the local level is where we saw firsthand how hateful this institution is. I mean, we all experienced it. And that's why we left. That's why Christian nationalists are trying to just use the state to force us all to subscribe to their religious values, because we're not willfully doing it like we did in the 80s and the 90s. But look, I'll be honest, I am glad that evangelicalism is imploding. I know that people are going to take issue with that, but I'm glad that this religion, at least in America, is dying. Because as a former Christian evangelical myself, whose childhood was ruined by this hateful cult, I am happy to see that the seeds of divisiveness that they sowed are now coming back to bite them in the ass. You reap what you sow.