The Seeds of Political Violence Are Being Sown in Church

[douglas9]

On Thursday night in Castle Rock, Colorado, a group called “FEC United” (FEC stands for faith, education, and commerce) held a “town hall” meeting that featured a potpourri of GOP candidates and election conspiracy theorists. Most notably, the event included John Eastman, the Claremont scholar who authored the notorious legal memos that purported to justify the decertification and reversal of the 2020 election results.

During the meeting, a man named Shawn Smith accused Colorado secretary of state Jena Griswold of election misconduct. “You know, if you're involved in election fraud, then you deserve to hang,” he said. “Sometimes the old ways are the best ways.”

“I was accused of endorsing violence,” he went on. “I’m not endorsing violence, I’m saying once you put your hand on a hot stove, you get burned.” As soon as he said, “you deserve to hang,” an audience member shouted “Yeah!” and applause filled the room. You can watch the moment here.

The moment, almost entirely ignored by the national media, is worth noting on its own terms, but perhaps the most ominous aspect of the evening was its location—a church called The Rock.

https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/p/the-seeds-of-political-violence-are

[Dr. Shepper]

1. Same as it ever was

Violence at the hands of the “faithful” is nothing new.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. So much for "Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall inherit The Earth."

[lees1975]

6. They're throwing out all Biblical teaching, it's not about that any more

they have discovered that political power works better than the spiritual principles they claim. They threw those out the window when they went scurrying and bobbing after Trump, who told them all of that "love your neighbor" and "turn the other cheek" stuff was just nice nonsense.

[Walleye]

3. These are mostly grown man who would rather yell at people than work for a living.

[tanyev]

4. They can go FEC themselves.

[Magoo48]

5. It's no wonder. Have ya ever read that book those folks follow? It's shot through with violence.

So to speak.

[Hortensis]

7. Notably, Russia foments populist insurgencies through corruption

of already angered conservative religious sects in various countries. Religionists are only one type who can be radicalized and weaponized against themselves. That's what political warfare is, and enemies of democracy both domestic and foreign have been at it for some decades now.

All RW and LW populist insurgencies, religious and secular, have notably used the same anti-democracy "big lie" technique" that Democrats were stealing elections and it was right to overset our evil plans by illicitly taking them back. Also divide-and-conquer lies to destroy every demographic voting group's ability to represent its interests through democratic processes.

This is about democracy, and its critical to realize that, although all destructive populist factions claim to be patriots with noble goals, and many even believe it, their techniques for getting power are all intrinsically anti-democracy -- they have to somehow overcome the will of the majority. And their joint successes so far have been devastating.

Religious popuilsts plan a theocratic-dominated authoritarian state with themselves in charge.
Susan Sarandon openly hopes, as many do, that tRump's election will have been so destructive that it'll lead to collapse and socialist revolution.
tRump wants a nightmare fascistic dictatorship for himself.
Kleptocracy for depraved RW billionaires.
A white male-dominated authoritarian state for those.

And of course for Russia, a former superpower too busy scrambling for survival to even be able to protect itself.