Become such a powerful conservative evangelical Republican leader and appellate court justice? There is a cancer of lies and darkness gnawing at what is left of the soul of what was once the Grand Old Party of Lincoln. Time to burn it down and start over.

From the Texas Tribune:

Paul Pressler, a Southern Baptist leader and Republican activist at the center of a massive sex abuse scandal, died on June 7 at the age of 94. His death was kept quiet until Saturday when Baptist News Global first reported on the memorial service.

Pressler’s death came six months after he confidentially settled a high-profile lawsuit with a former member of his youth group who accused him of decades of rape.

As part of the suit, at least six other men came forward alleging they were abused or solicited for sex by Pressler in various incidents from 1978 to 2016. Pressler denied the allegations and was never criminally charged.

Pressler was one of the most influential, if lesser-known, evangelical leaders of the last 50 years. He co-led a movement that pushed the nation’s second-largest faith group to adopt literal interpretations of the Bible, condemn homosexuality and more closely align with the Republican Party.

He served on Texas’ 14th Court of Appeals for 14 years, where he helped plot and lead the Southern Baptist Convention’s “conservative resurgence,” successfully pushed for bans on female pastors and solidified white evangelical support for the Republican Party. He was also an early member of the Council for National Policy, a secretive network of powerful business, religious and media elites that has pushed the GOP toward deregulation and to further infuse conservative Christian views into public life.

Hehehe!

Condemns homosexuality and screws boys!

Par for the course!

Just more proof that power corrupts.

quote:

How does someone so obviously evil ...Become such a powerful conservative evangelical Republican leader and appellate court justice? There is a cancer of lies and darkness gnawing at what is left of the soul of what was once the Grand Old Party of Lincoln. Time to burn it down and start over.

The Truth shall set you free, or OTOH just make up your own Truth, freely.

Raping Christian boys ... raping the country... all the while successful and rewarded, supported and praised, for ideological reasons and goals.

It's a common story if you look in the Right places. (pun intended)

Council for National Policy

https://www.splcenter.org/hate...olicy-behind-curtain

THE COUNCIL FOR NATIONAL POLICY: BEHIND THE CURTAIN

https://www.washingtonpost.com...cil-national-policy/

God, Trump and the Closed-Door World of a Major Conservative Group
What internal recordings and documents reveal about the Council for National Policy — and the future of the Republican Party

https://newrepublic.com/articl...ight-wing-conspiracy

A Rare Peek Inside the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy
The Council for National Policy, a secretive network of powerful conservatives

https://www.politico.com/news/...-driven-party-463944

Here’s What Happens to a Conspiracy-Driven Party
The modern GOP isn’t the first party to embrace huge conspiracies. But the lessons should be sobering.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/...t-conservative-group

Trump Staff in Secret Conservative Group

https://wapo.st/4b0PCzC

Trump and his allies have plans to remove the guardrails in a second term

https://www.npr.org/2019/10/29...-mastery-of-politics

'Shadow Network' Offers A Lesson On The American Right's Mastery Of Politics
OCTOBER 29, 201910:30 AM ET

No different to Trump calling his social media TRUTH!

When he has no clue what the word means!

The current Speaker of the House was slated to become the Dean of the Pressler School of Law and, I think, was paid as such for two years but the school never happened.

quote:

Pressler School of Law

https://baptistnews.com/articl...ssler-school-of-law/

Baptist News Global

New speaker of the House once led never-opened Paul Pressler School of Law
ANALYSISCHRISTOPHER SCHELIN | OCTOBER 25, 2023

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
Just more proof that power corrupts.

Actually, it's proof that the corrupt seek power.

In this thread we're talking again about Christian Nationalism, their hypocrisy, rationalizations, justifications, means and goals.

I think I understand why such people, per the OP, and Trump and all the crooks and sycophants who ride his train are activists for the cause.

It should be obvious by now to everyone.

The question is, in light of such conflation of church and state, religion and politics, God's supposed will vs a secular govt, why is it acceptable, perhaps desirable for the means to include such people as Pressler, Trump, MAGA Mike, Gym Jordon, etc., hypocrites and liars all, and spawn such orgs as the Heritage Foundation, Council for National Policy, with plans such as Project 2025, and media such as Fox?

We know the answer. Admit it.

Evil begets evil. Or, as I said, "the corrupt seek power" by any means.

Here's a short video.

Don't let the messengers distract from the message.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news...a5f4396ceccae&ei=125

The effort to 'turn this country into a theocratic state' is being mainstreamed by the GOP

Christian Nationalism is based on the myth that America was founded as a Christian nation. It puts Christianity at the center of American life, and aims to install believers into all areas of public life including, and perhaps especially, the government. Last year, a survey by the Public Religion Research Institute found that 40% of Americans believe that our laws should be based on Christian values. “White Evangelicals especially thought that they were the ones who were able to bring God into this nation,” says UPenn’s Chair of Religious Studies Anthea Butler. “So when you hear talk from people like [Speaker] Mike Johnson … about America as a Christian nation, what they're saying to you is that they want white men to be part of that leadership in this Christian nation.”

Personally, I don't like the above messaging because "white men to be part of leadership" isn't the problem. "Christian Nation" run by the indoctrinated, whether white, black, men or women or in between, is the problem. But other aspects of the video seem ok.

There are Christian organizations who oppose Christian Nationalism.

https://act.faithfulamerica.or...tionalism-resources/

I thought you funny lot who never stop telling us what to do have separated religion from government??

Bloody hypocrites!

quote:

Originally posted by Magine Enigam:

quote:

Originally posted by Aspen Hill Adventures:
Just more proof that power corrupts.

Actually, it's proof that the corrupt seek power.

Yes. I can agree with this.

The Christian network media was abuzz about this.

It shows the in-fighting, the struggle for power, influence, direction and control, and the internal politics of Baptist theology.

If you care to read about it, here's a sample:

https://baptistnews.com/articl...verwhelming-sadness/

Pressler’s death brings overwhelming sadness
OPINIONBENJAMIN COLE | JUNE 16, 2024

(excerpt - final paragraphs)

I owe it to my friend to publicly state that in 30 years of our friendship, I never witnessed or experienced anything like what others have accused Judge Pressler of having done. On the other hand, for almost those same 30 years, I’ve seen multiplied and convincing evidences of what his onetime convention collaborator has been alleged to have done, repeatedly and without a hint of remorse.

I truly grieve Pressler’s death this week, although I can respect the sense of closure and even moral satisfaction that his accusers must feel. And in a weird way, I similarly grieve the shell of a man I saw struggling to perambulate while grousing in Indianapolis. In the providence of God, the effects of aging and his ultimate death kept Pressler from attending recent annual meetings where he would have been forced to walk the halls and endure potential scowls and sneers.

Patterson, on the other hand, chooses to attend the annual meetings and cast his ballots for those candidates and causes that reflect his own warped views on abuse reform and his increasingly eccentric theological commitments. He also got to see a censure motion against one of his former seminary colleagues brought to the floor, an experience Patterson himself never has endured. In a way, it was both tragic and poetic.

And the fact remains that it never had to be this way. In the end, it is my prayer that Pressler’s lost reputation and death alongside Patterson’s continued legal jeopardy and diminished stature will serve as a permanent warning to all Southern Baptists — be they powerful seminary presidents or activist laymen — of what can happen when zealous ecclesiastic reform gets entangled with personal ambition, political machinations and the corrupting power that still haunts the nation’s “largest Protestant denomination.”

https://www.tennessean.com/sto...-report/70086730007/

High-profile SBC lawsuit ends in win for former leader, loss for abuse reform proponents

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paige_Patterson

Paige Patterson