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this country belongs to God Almighty a powerful minority is on the rise with a particular vision of America 's politics you can't take them out of our government
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it's one of the oldest and most influential currents in U.S politics but in a country deeply divided the Christian right has found a new voice we desire to live in a judeo-christian
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nation with judeo-christian values it claims Christianity is under attack and that God belongs in government with pastors preaching its message in churches and its beliefs guiding
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ultra-conservative candidates in the midterm elections I'm a Christian and I say it proudly we should be Christian nationalists the movement is known to many as Christian nationalism and the far right is taking it to the
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extreme we are the Christian Taliban some are warning that this is fundamentally undemocratic it was Amplified by Donald Trump we're going to protect Christianity and I can say that
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I don't have to be politically correct powered by his election loss it broke cover at the storming of the capital on January 6 last year [Music] you can't diminish what happened on
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January 6 from what's happening in some sanctuaries on Sunday morning their Crusade is starting from the ground up and education is the front line our school board meetings have police officers at the meetings to escort
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people out who get too out of control to understand this moment in U.S politics you have to understand this movement I met people across the country who feel their battling for the soul of America [Music]
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foreign [Music] County known for conservative churches wealthy white neighborhoods and good schools it's America's largest Republican urban
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community and it helped elect Donald Trump but in 2020 Joe Biden won here by a hair this politically crucial corner of Texas has become a testing ground for how
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conservatives can maintain their grip it's 6 30 in the morning like every parent Laney Haws is rushing to get her children ready for the day but in the past few months she spent more and more of her time focused on
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schooling fighting back against what she believes is growing conservative and Christian influence in the classroom when we first got here everything was mild school board meetings were boring and then everything ramped up to this
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and this is where we are now and it's a fight right our school board meetings have police officers at the meetings to escort people out who get too out of control school boards are Ground Zero of the
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culture wars taking place across the country in Tarrant County they're churning with disputes over what children are taught about sexuality gender identity the history of racism and over what they should be allowed to
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read there's only two genders and guess what teachers shouldn't be forced to use your freaking made evasive censorship is much more than politics this is about wives queer youth
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are to substantially higher rate for suicide compared to the national average for adolescents not having support from your home your peers and your school means adverse mental health effects and
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eventually suicide attempts transforming low profile elections into high-stakes political conflicts and Central to that is Christianity but not through the pews remember when America stood for things
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like honor Freedom personal responsibility and Faith enter a Texas cell phone company on a mission to protect Conservative Christian values Patriot mobile spent nearly half a
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million dollars supporting 11 candidates in four districts all of them won we took over 11 11 11 11 11 11 seats on scoreboard took over four it's part of a new Playbook by Republicans to take over
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politics from the ground up backed by political operatives like former Trump adviser Steve Bannon one of the keys is these school boards right the school boards are the key that picks the lot talk to us about what you did in Tarrant
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County since then those school boards have begun to put new restrictions on books and gender identity issues the owner of patriot mobile Glenn story recruited long-time political operator
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Lee wamsganz to help mobilize the company's Christian message as a mother and of you know school-aged kids it's really quite concerning we have never in a time in in these cities that we
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were dealing with had Christianity so so attacked attacked what do you mean oh look at some of the public the public comments in school boards and people calling Christianity a terrible racist
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bigoted thing and the reason we started with school boards is because that is the level of government that is in fact that is most impacting the future of our country what we were seeing is the
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leftist indoctrination instead of education so you feel you have a responsibility to bring God back into the schools in some way no question that's what you're doing no question we need to have a little bit more of faith
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in schools in the sense of we have to remove what I feel is ungodly stuff out of the school or put what he feels is Godly into the school recently
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Texas passed a law saying schools had to display posters of the national motto if they were donated Patriot mobile delivered hundreds Laney and other parents saw an opportunity to take a stand I'll grab
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this one shravan Krishna has two children in school he asks students to design signs that would include them these were the voices he felt were unheard Arabic speakers transgender and gay kids
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the school board initially rejected the signs the issue has gone to court schools shouldn't be a place where you have people competing with which guard is the best car right but that's where
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we are yeah so it should never be that you know keep keep your religion to yourself your religious institutions churches temples right houses or accept all gods yeah or make it a place where
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everything exactly absolutely yes Fellaini and shravan the signs may have been a political stunt but they see something much more Sinister at work we see the Republican Party who has decided one of their goals is to bring God into
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schools and that is the plan long term is to bring God also into the government so to me it's anti-American to try and bring Christian ideology into our schools or into our government our
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country is based on allowing people to make that choice for themselves I raised the sign controversy with Patriot mobile it's created a great uproar because folks just hate the concept of in God we
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trust and so and my response is look it's the national motto we're not doing anything other and if you don't like it take every bill out of your pocket and throw it away because it says every bill every coin you don't think it was an
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issue of who's God and who's God do we trust no because the Alternatives brought forward were in Arabic and it was more political than just the word
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God right all right you guys ready for all parents here this boils down to the future of their children and who gets to shape what that will become the concerns I found in Texas echo
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resoundingly through the Conservative Christian establishment this fear of a cultural takeover by what they label the radical left the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville Kentucky is one
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of the largest in the world training leaders who are shaping the future of the Evangelical Church have you and other Christian leaders taking on a more overtly political role well inevitably because you know
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Christian preachers didn't have to preach about lgbtq issues in any sense we as we do now because those weren't issues in the culture no one was talking about them for molar this shift has been a fundamental change for both the country
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and the church I think for conservative Christians there has been a Dawning awareness of the fact that whereas the society basically agreed with us on almost every important issue I mean the the overlap if you take a Venn diagram
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was so overwhelming that Outsiders would call the United States a Christian Nation so something's clearly changed and conservative Christians in this country are now in a paradox or a predicament I think that's why you see
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such a well you know it'd be called by those who don't like it the rise of the new Christian right or uh the uh The Awakening of uh the Christian vote in the United States well there's a reason
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for that the rise of the new Christian right is called Christian nationalism by some the belief that America was founded as a Christian Nation and that the government should keep it that way blurring the
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line between church and state so Christian nationalism is a new term for a very old phenomenon so it privileges a religious identity with
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citizenship in its most virulent form it turns out to also have an ethnic or racial component to it in the U.S that component has been around European descent or whiteness really as it has
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developed in the country so uh when I talk about Christian nationalism in the U.S I usually talk about white Christian nationalism Donald Trump was seen as defending their cause when he entered the white house we're going to protect
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Christianity and I can say that I don't have to be politically correct or and it was the storming of the capital that showed just how much religious and political identities had begun to merge on the right bonded by a belief that the
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election had been stolen amen many reject the Christian nationalist label as a leftist smear but a few right-wing politicians are embracing its holy rhetoric we need to
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be the party of nationalism and I'm a Christian and I say it probably we should be Christian nationalists the church is supposed to direct government not the opposite uh wait the church is
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supposed to influence government and and we need to be so involved in what is going on in our government online extremists have taken it even further we are the Christian Taliban this is this
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is the era of Christian nationalism well it's different now is that the country's no longer majority white and Christian as recently as 2008 when Barack Obama was first running for president our
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first African-American president the country was actually 54 percent white and Christian so comfortably majority white and Christian that number today is 44 and I think that threat right white
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Christians are no longer knowing they're in control demographically culturally politically it's why we're seeing it kind of come to the fore and in the current context prominent voices in the black church are
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also sounding the alarm about the racial implications of the movement and warned that the spirit of the January 6th attack was not contained in the capital you can't diminish what happened on
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January 6 from what's happening in some sanctuaries on Sunday morning you can't separate this passion to overthrow the nation's capital with violence on
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January 6 from the rhetoric that you hear on Christian radio you can't separate this desire to pull down elected officials and maybe even call for their murder versus what we hear
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frankly from people all across the nation even elected officials who are praying for the death of the president many pastors were at the Capitol that day oh there he is I traveled to
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Tennessee deep in the Bible Belt where one of them continues to preach so Pastor Ken has asked me to meet him here on this overpass to watch him waving flags seems a bit of a patriotic stunt I
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think he does it a lot hello Foster Kent Hey Hi how are you good how are you doing good thank you God bless you thank you very much and God bless America and God bless Donald Trump
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Ken Peters has denounced the violence of the capital Riot but still defends what he sees as a patriotic Mission come on we do feel like God has a special plan for this country and he
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still has a plan for this country and on January 6 you felt that was under threat oh absolutely absolutely we felt like the the enemy meaning leftists uh who don't like Christians
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um had stolen our nation Peter's Patriot church is one of a growing number of non-denominational startup congregations that say they want to take back the country for God
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I was a little unsure of what to expect as someone who grew up in the church what I heard here was not the gospel I knew political activism as an act of worship the lgbtq and the left is saying
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oh you're a church separation of church and state get in the stands you can't fight if I can't play in the game Church preachers you you had separation an aggressive
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response to a sense of being under siege Christians are going to have to get feisty they're gonna have to get in the fight a little bit and quit sticking their head in the sand and being completely pacifist when it comes to politics
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for him that means a crusade against abortion hey if God can overturn Roe v Wade he and ending same-sex marriage yeah I want to exclude certain types of
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relationships sexual relationships from the term marriage it's special to us it's in the Bible it's something we really care about and you want a government that would impose that I want a government that keeps marriage when
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it's always been what he preaches from the pulpit is meant to be taken to the polls indoors Monty Fritz we endorse him and his message seems to be resonating
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Patriot churches have expanded to several locations Peters says they're attracting followers from more liberal states to me this isn't anything new it's just how I even grew up God family
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country that it's there's nothing wrong with that and um some try to you know shame us for loving our country this is where God placed us we wanted to come and find a place that
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wasn't afraid to take a stand that wasn't afraid to speak out if there were issues that they thought needed to be spoken about or we are definitely a Christian Nation it should be a Christian Nation so to try to
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separate politics from the churches asinine it cannot be done and if you're doing it you're PR if you are doing that you're probably doing something wrong I wanted to know if most churches in
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Tennessee felt the same way so I continued my journey to the city of Franklin south of Nashville in a county that's been called the New Frontier for American Evangelical Christianity father we thank you for this day we
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thank you for another week I joined an early morning meeting of community activists who work with the homeless led by Pastor Kevin Riggs he grew up as a conservative Evangelical and had dreams
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of becoming a mega church pastor but a close reading of the Bible convinced him God cared more about social justice there's division within the church like I haven't seen it I've had friends who
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were pastors of churches and because they spoke out against the religious right or against President Trump then they're asked to leave their Church what's the threat do
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you think what's the danger you hear the term a lot in in Evangelical circles that were fighting a cultural war and I think you could very easily replace the word culture was civil and that's kind of where we are and it's been a cold
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Civil War where it's all been about ideology and fighting for these things but that could very quickly become violent um it could become you know the the um the the right
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will have a tendency to take up arms um to protect their their right there are pastors who seem to court controversy even Thrive off it Greg Locke burned Catholic rosaries and Harry
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Potter books on Halloween night objects of sorcery and Witchcraft he called them we don't have to be so careful with what we say I met him in his Studio near Nashville where he films his popular webcast about faith and politics the
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social media that's the biggest part of it I think it's about 4.6 million people across all the you know Facebook and all the platforms of course no more Twitter I was suspended for life from Twitter but at the end of the day we literally
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have millions of people that watch and then that brings a lot of people to the church good evening family give the Lord some praise in his house block made a name for himself as a trump pastor but he really took off by
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challenging the coveted shutdown and yes he was also at the capital Riot you ain't seen the Insurrection yet he preaches politics to his following that can sound like extremist rants
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hating communist America you'll find out what an Insurrection is cause we ain't playing your garbage we ain't playing your mess my Bible says that the Church of the Living God so you also said in your church that Democrats are demons do
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you really believe that absolutely what does that mean the Democratic party is demonically energized and so I told him look if you believe in butchering babies and you celebrate stolen elections and you don't want freedom and you're
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against the Second Amendment or even the First Amendment then leave You're Gonna Leave anytime you want to it's one thing to be tired of a party it's another thing to say they are evil they are demonic right but I don't mind saying that couldn't this be a way of inciting
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to violence those people who listen to you either in your church or online because they might take it a step further if this is evil I should go after it you know every bucket sits on its own bottom people been saying that for years oh if you follow Jesus then that means you're going to make a whip
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and go into a church and run people out that's not quite the same thing it's exactly the same thing you're calling fellow Americans evil and putting it in the context of an apocalyptic battle between good and evil there is an apocalypse a battle between so that is
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the kind of language that could be used to incite violence against such people it could be and he is or two very different things that's not my responsibility I have a responses you don't see that as a responsibility to stay away from possibly inciting
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violence no I'm not inside violence I'm preaching the Bible of pastors Locke is now preaching the Bible with a growing emphasis on deliverance from demons there's none of a political rhetoric
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tonight really knows how to draw a crowd this is emotional dramatic he knows how to develop the followings [Music]
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service people gathered at the front seeking prayer to be freed from their demons this kind of mass Deliverance service is tapping into a very old tradition of Pentecostal Revival in the United States
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it breaks through in new ways when people are hungry for the experience of a living and mighty God for those here the spirit of God was moving but how is this mix of charismatic
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evangelism right-wing politics and trumpism playing out in the midterm elections I do think we're seeing kind of a test run of some of this rhetoric in the midterms and I think it is a kind of dip the toe in the water see how this
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plays on The Campaign trail with a rev up to 2024. one of the best examples of a candidate backed by this new religious right is the Republican Contender for Pennsylvania Governor Doug mastriano
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he's a former military man campaigning as a Christian Warrior framing this election as spiritual warfare don't be held in bondage by those lies and tricks of the enemy because Satan sees the potential you have in Jesus Christ here
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to change the course of history we stand at a crossroads right now in Pennsylvania and this is our time we're taking our country back and it starts right here [Music] in Albania to find out what voters were
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thinking traveling deep into Amish Country Jeff and Janice Gavin at a campaign event their friends Chris and Bobby Foley were visiting from out of state I'm gonna be voting conservative not
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necessarily Republican because I look at both sides but most of what I hear from the Democratic side is anti-may I don't align with that message and uh what
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about mastriano mastriano I am well behind I I he has to win for the state to recover do you believe that mastriano has been called by God yes abs
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absolutely what do you think that God has called them to do to get involved politically well if you read the Bible and all the stories in the Bible he uses people to move and to do things in God's
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Will and God is called upon many people to take back this world from this God calling to take back America now well I think he appointed he did appoint
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Trump this is going to be a long turn too it's not going to be something that's going to happen with this election I mean it's going to take a while to get this country back the way it was because it took 30 40 years to to
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turn it around right now but but I think it may take a couple may take 20 24. now 2022 is going to be a really big real effective effective it'll definitely set the the pace on what's going to happen
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from there on out but I think God's going to come down and he's going to make things change and when you've taken the country back what is that going to look like um I think it's gonna look good because you have the you'll have God back in the
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in the government you get God back in the schools you get God back you get the Ten Commandments think about living by The Ten Commandments none of our kids even know the Ten Commandments after we spoke they headed to an event where the Christian right is finding a
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new voice where are my Christian nationalists at in this room thank you this is the reawakened tour a traveling Roadshow attracting tens of thousands of
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people as it crisscrosses the nation you cannot separate God from politics you can't take him out of our government its attendees are anti-vaxx anti-mask and they're invoking God to stop the
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steel on the sidelines hundreds of people queued to be baptized by water and by the spirit this really feels like a church service and it's felt like a church service
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several times today but then again it felt also like a political rally so it's both I mean I've never really seen such a mixture of religion in politics top billing was shared by a handful of trump loyalists the general who served two
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presidents then convicted of lying to the FBI BBC the political operative convicted of lying to Congress collecting money for his legal fees Eric
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try and the man himself dialed in while his son was on stage [Music] it's a carnival of chaos those who are preaching election fraud and covered conspiracies and Christ and that's the
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power of the message the midterm election will be the first test of how this plays out at the polls this new Christian right is out of step with the direction of the country fighting against changing moral values
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framing that as a battle against evil role of our nation what it ends up doing is turning political opponents into enemies right and that's a kind of
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threat to the whole Democratic project I hope it ends up in US finding a way to have our own maybe regions of the nation and living peacefully together you get
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demons it's my party but backed by powerful politics and if Republicans win big it could become an outsized influence pushing the party and the church further to the right
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thank you [Music]
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