Republicans revel in divine plan to turn Kansas into 'conservative sanctuary'

[RandySF]

TOPEKA — Adam Peters laced his sermon for Reno County Republicans with conspiracy theories about a liberal plot to turn their children against them, LGBTQ-friendly church pastors who signed a contract with Satan, the ubiquitous travesty of critical race theory, and make-believe enemies working to “foment violent conflict.”

Peters, the GOP chairman in Ellis County and an author for far-right publications, talked for two hours at the March 2 meeting at Riverside Baptist Church in Hutchinson, where he was joined by two state legislators and local GOP officials. He outlined his plans — tinted by hints of violence and the assurance that God is on their side — to turn Kansas into a conservative sanctuary.

The conversation, secretly recorded and shared with Kansas Reflector, celebrated religious beliefs that correspond directly with policies embraced by the Legislature during this year’s session. From the meeting’s opening prayer to the ending prayer, a divine calling was made clear: Republicans must purge the state of anyone who disagrees with their extremist positions on the LGBTQ community, reproductive health care, education and race.

“If you can make it hostile to that group of people, that small sliver of society, and have them move elsewhere, that does a huge amount to shut this down,” Peters said. “It’s both sides of it: You need to attract the good people here, and you also need to make it clear to the bad people, this isn’t gonna go well for you.”

Kansas Reflector is examining the influence of religious beliefs on state government through a series of stories.

With supermajority control of both the Senate and House, Republican lawmakers routinely entertain policy ideas shaped by fringe religious views — restrictions placed on transgender residents, anti-abortion propaganda, tax dollars for private schools, a refusal to acknowledge systemic racism.




https://kansasreflector.com/2023/05/15/church-and-state-republicans-revel-in-divine-plan-to-turn-kansas-into-conservative-sanctuary/

[riversedge]

1. So sad for the folks in Kansas who do not want Religion pushed into their faces

[atreides1]

2. It's sad.

But the reality is that their options are limited...they either leave that cesspool of a state...or they face conversion, by being denied basic rights!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

3. America's enemies seek to hyperpolarize states and then sew secession, badly weakening the USofA. nt

[2naSalit]

5. +1

[The Unmitigated Gall]

9. If they succeed...

IMO, it will be by exploiting fault-lines that have existed in this country since it’s founding, that we have never fully addressed as a people. Racism, inequality, our own ‘murican caste system might ultimately prove our downfall.
It was in ‘96 that my father-in-law declared that “all democrats should just be put up against a wall and shot”. Putin was years away from power at that point, but GOP radicalization was well underway.
We’ve left ourselves open to these attacks; only a matter of time before our enemies figure a way to tear them open.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. Yes. . . .nt

[TheRealNorth]

12. Well, it's kind of ironic that it is Kansas

Since one could argue that the Civil War began in Kansas (ie. "Bleeding Kansas" and the violence that occurred between the abolitionists and pro-slavery factions).

[Permanut]

4. "First, they came for the Socialists..."

Martin Niemoller.

[Freethinker65]

6. What I don't understand is why any business that needs intelligent employees would locate there?

Sure one can profit by offering services to the ignorant and fearful, but one needs employees and higher ups on site to make it work. Who in their intelligent right mind would agree to relocate their family to such a State. I bet conservative legislators that say they desire this, will move their families, if they have any, across State lines so as not to subject their families to the State mandated ignorance.

[dalton99a]

7. Republicans working 24/7 to foment violent conflict

Typical GOP projection

[gratuitous]

8. Allow me to share some funny stories from Matthew's gospel

Chapter 4, verses 8-10:

Again, the devil took [Jesus] to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’"

See yourself anywhere in this passage, Adam Peters? And if your house is built on such shaky ground (Matthew 7:26-27) that a "small sliver of society" can topple it so completely, perhaps you shouldn't build there? Or are you foolish and not wise?

[tanyev]

10. And if they succeeded in removing "that group of people",

the next step would be to attack members of their own group who fail any purity tests.

It’s the inevitable progression of any theocratic authoritarian state.

[Initech]

13. Conservatives are drunk with power and out of control.

They need to be taken down several notches. They're completely removed from reality and that's scary.

[Wingus Dingus]

14. Wait, I thought they already did that a decade or two ago and

then flipped back to sane--they "De-Brownbacked", as it were. They're going to try again?

[TheRealNorth]

15. Brownback's "Trickle down" economic experiment failed miserably......

But that doesn't mean they have turned their backs on the culture wars.