QAnon has merged with Christian envangelicals, experts say. The results could be lethal

[Nevilledog]

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Andrew Feinberg
@AndrewFeinberg
NEW: Extremism experts and ex-GOP officials are warning that QAnon-type conspiracy theories are becoming more intertwined with White evangelical Christianity in a way that echoes the Islamic fundamentalist movement that gave rise to al-Qaeda & Isis

QAnon has merged with Christian envangelicals, experts say. The results could be lethal | Andrew...
‘It can and likely will get very bad’
independent.co.uk
8:35 AM · Mar 4, 2021

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/qanon-march-4-white-christian-evangelicals-b1812490.html

The House of Representatives has left Capitol Hill for the week, but the National Guard soldiers standing watch around a hardened post-insurrection security perimeter could have their work cut out for them today.

“We have obtained intelligence that shows a possible plot to breach the Capitol by an identified militia group on Thursday, March 4,” the Capitol Police department said Wednesday in a statement, noting that they were “taking the intelligence seriously”. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security also issued a bulletin of their own, cautioning that domestic extremists had formed “plans to take control of the US Capitol and remove Democratic lawmakers on or about 4 March”.

The FBI and DHS bulletin also warned that the “perception of election fraud and other conspiracy theories associated with the presidential transition… may contribute to [domestic violent extremists] mobilizing to violence with little or no warning”. House leaders were quick to heed both warnings, announcing late Wednesday that the lower chamber would not be in session the next day.

The reason for all the alarm? After the January 6 insurrection failed to stop lawmakers from certifying Biden’s win and the new president was sworn in on January 20, QAnon believers and other Trump-centric cultists repurposed a decades-old conspiracy theory to fit their delusions. In short, their new narrative posits that Donald Trump will be sworn in as the nation’s 19th “real” President on the fourth day in March, which was the date set in the Constitution for presidential inaugurations until the 20th Amendment was adopted in 1933.

The general thrust of QAnon mythology goes something like this: Trump is engaged in a sub rosa battle against a powerful, secretive cabal of baby-eating pedophiles who control Hollywood, legitimate news outlets, the Democratic Party, non-Trump-supporting factions of the Republican Party, and many foreign governments. Every development — even his loss to Biden — is part of a long-running plan that will end with mass arrests and executions of Democrats, journalists, and Hollywood figures. The date for such a putsch, known in QAnon parlance as “the storm,” has shifted numerous times, most recently to March 4 (after Biden took office and Trump did not declare martial law to stop it on January 20).

*snip*

[Miguelito Loveless]

1. The most dangerous zealots

are religious zealots, since they believe they are on a mission from "God".

[RKP5637]

2. Not surprised ... n/t

[NotASurfer]

3. Maybe if somebody suggests a random upcoming date is the date of the Rapture

And that only those who give away all their worldly possessions and gather in the nearest McDonald's parking lot (where the Golden Arches focus all the Rapture energy) on, say, Flag Day in June will be taken up to Qeaven by Qesus to live in Qaradise with Qod

I think I've had too much coffee this morning. Sorry.

[niyad]

6. Excellent idea. Love the Golden Arches bit. I am reminded of a favourite old bumper sticker: Come

the Rapture, can I have your house?

[H2O Man]

4. Recommended.

[Beastly Boy]

5. I always had an impression that it was the Evangelicals who gave rise to Qanon.

And the common grounds for both can be found in a common argument used by Evangelicals to end and declare victory in just about any debate they are about to lose. It goes something like this: "Do you believe in science? Well, I believe in Jesus!"

Once you convince yourself that science (or reason) is not based on facts, but is rather a product of a belief system that is equivalent in every respect to a religious dogma, you are entering into a cult territory. It is a very small step from here to a quasi-secular belief system of conspiracy theories.

[Initech]

7. Nothing good can happen when you start mixing crazy with crazier.

[RKP5637]

11. Yep, it becomes exponential!!! n/t

[CrispyQ]

8. Who's surprised? They're cut of the same white Christian patriarchy cloth. -nt

[IA8IT]

9. We're on a mission from Stupid

[RKP5637]

10. K&R!!! The crazy keeps getting Crazier!!! n/t

[kysrsoze]

12. What's new? It's been hate, racism and denial of reality masked as "Christianity" for decades.

[cynical_idealist]

13. Not a big leap from believing their christian mythology to the Q

There's a sucker born every second...

[roamer65]

14. Religion is poison.

Chairman Mao was right on that point.

[Blue Owl]

15. Extra strength Kool Aid

[FakeNoose]

16. Well, to me the Q People don't seem to be particularly religious

... unless you count gun-worshipping. The Q People are just crazy online-conspiracy-freaks who got lost in their own bubble and never came back out.

Christian evangelicals are a whole 'nother brand of crazy and they really do believe that "God and Jesus are on their side." They think they're doing the Lord's work and have no inkling that they're being jerked around by the libertarian one-per-centers. They're actually doing the one-per-centers' work.

The Q People don't seem to be religiously inspired, but perhaps it's because I don't know many of them. It's mainly from what I've read on DU and other sources.

[Solly Mack]

17. K&R

(Duh)