Don't forget Ukraine -- and how deeply it is woven into Christian nationalism globally and here, in the United States. Trump, Mike Johnson, and MAGA want you to forget.
A thought-provoking thesis worth considering: "In short, the events in Ukraine are oddly interwoven with American politics — since Trump’s first impeachment in 2019 when the then-president withheld military aid to Ukraine as part of a quid-pro-quo to enlist their aid in his election campaign against Joe Biden. And, as I said in these articles, the events in Ukraine are part of a larger, global move away from democracy and human rights toward an emerging global alliance of ethno-theocracies."
Thank you for reposting these two articles. I have been thinking about them for several weeks and hoping you would write more about what you wrote in these articles. How about a course entitled or an essay on "A Christian Western Christianity takes another look at WW11. " Or why were the generations born in the US now taught more thoroughly about the US involvement in WW1 and 2? I think from your writing I have some ideas about the answers and even why there is so much turmoil in education in the US now. Maybe History Majors took Eastern history way back when I was in college but the only history required at my school was Western Civilization (at least at my first college) hymmn what did others experience.? The school I transferred to accepted it soooo Almost late night ramblings, so I'll sign off. Peace!
Have you read Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum? For me it puts Russia's aggression on Ukraine in an accurate historical context (which I prefer when trying to understand the current context). I think it is very much worth the read if you haven't. Basically, Ukraine has been at the whim of Russia for centuries. It seems there isn't much talk about Stalin's enthusiastic slaughtering of Ukrainians during WWII in our recent discussions of the current horror (for example). So many slaughtered that I believe there must be a God because Ukraine is very strong despite - or perhaps because of - their fierce history. Sadness, happiness, fierceness, intelligence, resourcefulness. I will continue to pray for Ukraine.
Thank you for both of these clearly written, insightful articles: both shocked and saddened me and have added immmmmmmmensely to my understanding of what is going on in Ukraine, Russia, (and, by extrapolation) here in the US, and the world.
Possibly turn us all over to dear leader if there is a buck in it. Please note, in his last administration it was Russians who (secretly) were his first visitors. The U.S. didn't know about it until they saw the news and photos from Russian news sources.
The war is not a civil war. The war is not centered in the United States of America. The war did not start in Ukraine.
The war uses Republicans, Democrats, and the obscenities that pass for Christianity in the united Sates of America and around the world as weapons.
We humans have caused a great and swift extinction event that is drawing to a conclusion. E. O Wilson - whose book “The Creation” I recommend highly - noted even in the 1990’s the most significant truth of our time, which has been saliently ignored in public discourse. We humans have been literally “shredding” our habitat, and so we have been committing species suicide by way of ecocide.
We thrive through killing other species.
Vandana Shiva has noted that how we get our food determines how we treat each other.
All culture is agriculture: when we get our food by killing life on earth, we desecrate the planet and ourselves.
E. O Wilson grew up in the Deep South of the USA, in a place haunted by the demonic presence of what passed for Christianity. By the time he was a widely recognized scientist and teacher, he had left that behind to become a secular humanist.
He could see then what many scientists now conclude: our species has declared war on the planet. We have herded the precious wild life out this planet onto already-tiny and shrinking reservations as we make them go extinct at a faster pace each day.
Meanwhile, the global resource war being fought by humans increasingly erupts into obvious human genocides - Ukraine and Palestine are the focus right now. They are the focus because they keep out attention away from the fact that we have become a species that is killing life on planet earth, and of course Christianity has become “arm candy to empire” by constantly distracting people with false theological narratives. Together with the false historical and political narratives that dominate our culture, these who serve the ecocidal system can comfortably pretend to be righteous while literally blaspheming God by rendering the holy Creation a toxic stew, and condemning the last generations - now here - to short and brutal lives.
We are ruled by elderly malignant narcisissists for a reason. We have been cultivating leadership to behave like criminal sociopaths for decades.
Jesus noted in Matthew 23 that human civilization even then had developed leaders who were criminal sociopaths and malignant narcissists. In Matthew 24 Jesus speaks of how this process would become so terrible that one day the love of many would grow cold. That is a far more chilling statement than all of the previous “Woe unto you” statements preceding. I notice that Matthew 25 ends with a passage which highlights the reality that we enter into the kingdom of heaven only when we live with great empathy here and now. Caring in a loving way for the least of these is contrasted with the malignant narcissism that is modeled in our culture - and especially in Christian churches - as maturity and leadership.
We have declared war on planet earth, and yet you cannot connect the dots here. You act as if we are not already fascists. You are the blind leading the blind.
We are deeply in to ecological and civilizational collapse, and yet you speak and write as if things will get back to normal for wealthy white Christians after we have a little chat and get everyone on the same page about American history, religion, and politics.
My best impression of your writing is this: “There is no crisis - nothing to see here, folks! We are doping everything right! Other people are messed up, but those of us in dire the magic circle are righteous and pure, and we will come to no harm at all. And we will teach everyone else to be righteous and pure like we are, too!”
Am I missing something here?
Do you write to comfort the already comfortable who are suddenly worried that they might not be who they thought they were?
E. O. Wilson, again:
“Humanity today is like a waking dreamer, caught between the fantasies of sleep and the chaos of the real world. The mind seeks but cannot find the precise palace and hour.
We have created a Star Wars civilization, with Stone Age emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.
We thrash about. We are terribly confused by the mere fact of our existence, and a danger to ourselves and the rest of life.”
Like many people today - especially young people I talk with - the thing that really matters is your theology of betrayal. What is your theology of ecocide? What is your theology of extinction?
If you cannot include overshoot, ecocide, and extinction in your story you are not even paying attention.
Every Tuesday at Women’s Bible Study we pray for Ukraine, Palestine, Israel and all the hordes of people throughout the world impacted by war! That includes ourselves who with the constant news coverage are distressed and only by the belief in the Father do we survive! Continued prayers of these things !
And prayerfully go to the polls and make your voice heard !
Scary times, these. I watched Timothy Snyder's class on Ukraine on You Tube, though I stopped after the discussion of the suffering of the Ukrainians during WWII only to be starved by the Russians immediately after the war, to the tune of 1,000,000 victims. I couldn't take anymore.
This next election could be our last if Trump gets in. Democracy is a joke to him and his cronies at CPAC. They say their plans out loud. To sum it up, there will be a purge and with the eradication of the Justice Department, Homeland Security, and with the military directly under Trump's control it would seem that now is not the time to sit back and wring your hands. You will feel much better by working to keep that from happening.
I kept getting info from Hopium Chronicles on Substack and after I saw Simon Rosenberg on MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell's show I looked into it, started reading the free content and I was hooked. They have had great success in writing postcards, texting, phoning and donating to select candidates, etc. with direction to select races and states. I am clearing my calendar of anything that can't wait till after the election. Better to put myself to work in this group and hopefully get Dems elected than get an ulcer worrying about what will happen if we get any part of our government under Republican control since most seem willing to do the outrageous.
Ms Bass, you, Heather Cox Richardson and Timothy Snyder keep me from despair. Not that any of you don't spell out in excruciating detail the challenges of the moment. You all do. Yet, each with such profound and intuitive overview, release a sort of (spiritual) activism. I wish (this is meant sincerely) the three of you would take on a project to articulate what democracy MIGHT possibly look like once this tumult subsides. It will, like a wave in a cold choppy sea. But what does democracy look like after. After Ukraine wins, after Ukraine falls, after Trump wins a second term, after he loses, during and after autocracy as the fabric of democracy will still be there. It didn't come out of nothing and it will not evaporate into nothing. So, I ask of you three thinkers to describe all possible configurations. What does Christianity look like after --
There is so much to unpack here (including the links to your previous posts). I very much appreciate your historical perspective and I learned a great deal. Thank you. This is definitely worth sharing.
I recently saw the documentary God & Country, which is having a limited run in movie theaters. It provides insight into what is Christian Nationalism, it's history and how it is playing out in the United States. Well worth seeing.
As a contemplative, direct non-violent activist, I always am wondering why Jesus prophetic gospel of non-violence isn’t preached as loudly and consistently as the Christian voices that have been co-opted by the mentality of powers and principalities of empires? Violence, war, and domination are failures of the church’s mission to transform the hearts and minds of the people. This truth needs to be front and center of all Christian teaching. Brian McLaren 7 themes found in scripture is a good start. Violence always cycles into more violence. I always dream of the day a war is called by the earthly powers that be and no one goes to fight in it! I believe that is at the core of the gospels.
And yesterday, Trans-Dnistria (not sure about the spelling), that part of Moldova where many Russians live and want to claim.
A thought-provoking thesis worth considering: "In short, the events in Ukraine are oddly interwoven with American politics — since Trump’s first impeachment in 2019 when the then-president withheld military aid to Ukraine as part of a quid-pro-quo to enlist their aid in his election campaign against Joe Biden. And, as I said in these articles, the events in Ukraine are part of a larger, global move away from democracy and human rights toward an emerging global alliance of ethno-theocracies."
Thank you for reposting these two articles. I have been thinking about them for several weeks and hoping you would write more about what you wrote in these articles. How about a course entitled or an essay on "A Christian Western Christianity takes another look at WW11. " Or why were the generations born in the US now taught more thoroughly about the US involvement in WW1 and 2? I think from your writing I have some ideas about the answers and even why there is so much turmoil in education in the US now. Maybe History Majors took Eastern history way back when I was in college but the only history required at my school was Western Civilization (at least at my first college) hymmn what did others experience.? The school I transferred to accepted it soooo Almost late night ramblings, so I'll sign off. Peace!
Have you read Red Famine: Stalin's War on Ukraine by Anne Applebaum? For me it puts Russia's aggression on Ukraine in an accurate historical context (which I prefer when trying to understand the current context). I think it is very much worth the read if you haven't. Basically, Ukraine has been at the whim of Russia for centuries. It seems there isn't much talk about Stalin's enthusiastic slaughtering of Ukrainians during WWII in our recent discussions of the current horror (for example). So many slaughtered that I believe there must be a God because Ukraine is very strong despite - or perhaps because of - their fierce history. Sadness, happiness, fierceness, intelligence, resourcefulness. I will continue to pray for Ukraine.
Thank you for both of these clearly written, insightful articles: both shocked and saddened me and have added immmmmmmmensely to my understanding of what is going on in Ukraine, Russia, (and, by extrapolation) here in the US, and the world.
Slava Ukraini! Heroyam Slava!
People say that part of Trump's post-election plan is to give Alaska back to Russia if Putin pays Trump's legal costs.
That's silly. Please stick to evidence, not rumors and conspiracies.
If Trump gets money from a foreign source, there will be quid pro quos, etc. But this has little to no credence.
Possibly turn us all over to dear leader if there is a buck in it. Please note, in his last administration it was Russians who (secretly) were his first visitors. The U.S. didn't know about it until they saw the news and photos from Russian news sources.
The war is not a civil war. The war is not centered in the United States of America. The war did not start in Ukraine.
The war uses Republicans, Democrats, and the obscenities that pass for Christianity in the united Sates of America and around the world as weapons.
We humans have caused a great and swift extinction event that is drawing to a conclusion. E. O Wilson - whose book “The Creation” I recommend highly - noted even in the 1990’s the most significant truth of our time, which has been saliently ignored in public discourse. We humans have been literally “shredding” our habitat, and so we have been committing species suicide by way of ecocide.
We thrive through killing other species.
Vandana Shiva has noted that how we get our food determines how we treat each other.
All culture is agriculture: when we get our food by killing life on earth, we desecrate the planet and ourselves.
E. O Wilson grew up in the Deep South of the USA, in a place haunted by the demonic presence of what passed for Christianity. By the time he was a widely recognized scientist and teacher, he had left that behind to become a secular humanist.
He could see then what many scientists now conclude: our species has declared war on the planet. We have herded the precious wild life out this planet onto already-tiny and shrinking reservations as we make them go extinct at a faster pace each day.
Meanwhile, the global resource war being fought by humans increasingly erupts into obvious human genocides - Ukraine and Palestine are the focus right now. They are the focus because they keep out attention away from the fact that we have become a species that is killing life on planet earth, and of course Christianity has become “arm candy to empire” by constantly distracting people with false theological narratives. Together with the false historical and political narratives that dominate our culture, these who serve the ecocidal system can comfortably pretend to be righteous while literally blaspheming God by rendering the holy Creation a toxic stew, and condemning the last generations - now here - to short and brutal lives.
We are ruled by elderly malignant narcisissists for a reason. We have been cultivating leadership to behave like criminal sociopaths for decades.
Jesus noted in Matthew 23 that human civilization even then had developed leaders who were criminal sociopaths and malignant narcissists. In Matthew 24 Jesus speaks of how this process would become so terrible that one day the love of many would grow cold. That is a far more chilling statement than all of the previous “Woe unto you” statements preceding. I notice that Matthew 25 ends with a passage which highlights the reality that we enter into the kingdom of heaven only when we live with great empathy here and now. Caring in a loving way for the least of these is contrasted with the malignant narcissism that is modeled in our culture - and especially in Christian churches - as maturity and leadership.
We have declared war on planet earth, and yet you cannot connect the dots here. You act as if we are not already fascists. You are the blind leading the blind.
We are deeply in to ecological and civilizational collapse, and yet you speak and write as if things will get back to normal for wealthy white Christians after we have a little chat and get everyone on the same page about American history, religion, and politics.
My best impression of your writing is this: “There is no crisis - nothing to see here, folks! We are doping everything right! Other people are messed up, but those of us in dire the magic circle are righteous and pure, and we will come to no harm at all. And we will teach everyone else to be righteous and pure like we are, too!”
Am I missing something here?
Do you write to comfort the already comfortable who are suddenly worried that they might not be who they thought they were?
E. O. Wilson, again:
“Humanity today is like a waking dreamer, caught between the fantasies of sleep and the chaos of the real world. The mind seeks but cannot find the precise palace and hour.
We have created a Star Wars civilization, with Stone Age emotions, medieval institutions, and godlike technology.
We thrash about. We are terribly confused by the mere fact of our existence, and a danger to ourselves and the rest of life.”
Like many people today - especially young people I talk with - the thing that really matters is your theology of betrayal. What is your theology of ecocide? What is your theology of extinction?
If you cannot include overshoot, ecocide, and extinction in your story you are not even paying attention.
Every Tuesday at Women’s Bible Study we pray for Ukraine, Palestine, Israel and all the hordes of people throughout the world impacted by war! That includes ourselves who with the constant news coverage are distressed and only by the belief in the Father do we survive! Continued prayers of these things !
And prayerfully go to the polls and make your voice heard !
Amen!
Scary times, these. I watched Timothy Snyder's class on Ukraine on You Tube, though I stopped after the discussion of the suffering of the Ukrainians during WWII only to be starved by the Russians immediately after the war, to the tune of 1,000,000 victims. I couldn't take anymore.
This next election could be our last if Trump gets in. Democracy is a joke to him and his cronies at CPAC. They say their plans out loud. To sum it up, there will be a purge and with the eradication of the Justice Department, Homeland Security, and with the military directly under Trump's control it would seem that now is not the time to sit back and wring your hands. You will feel much better by working to keep that from happening.
I kept getting info from Hopium Chronicles on Substack and after I saw Simon Rosenberg on MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell's show I looked into it, started reading the free content and I was hooked. They have had great success in writing postcards, texting, phoning and donating to select candidates, etc. with direction to select races and states. I am clearing my calendar of anything that can't wait till after the election. Better to put myself to work in this group and hopefully get Dems elected than get an ulcer worrying about what will happen if we get any part of our government under Republican control since most seem willing to do the outrageous.
Ms Bass, you, Heather Cox Richardson and Timothy Snyder keep me from despair. Not that any of you don't spell out in excruciating detail the challenges of the moment. You all do. Yet, each with such profound and intuitive overview, release a sort of (spiritual) activism. I wish (this is meant sincerely) the three of you would take on a project to articulate what democracy MIGHT possibly look like once this tumult subsides. It will, like a wave in a cold choppy sea. But what does democracy look like after. After Ukraine wins, after Ukraine falls, after Trump wins a second term, after he loses, during and after autocracy as the fabric of democracy will still be there. It didn't come out of nothing and it will not evaporate into nothing. So, I ask of you three thinkers to describe all possible configurations. What does Christianity look like after --
There is so much to unpack here (including the links to your previous posts). I very much appreciate your historical perspective and I learned a great deal. Thank you. This is definitely worth sharing.
I recently saw the documentary God & Country, which is having a limited run in movie theaters. It provides insight into what is Christian Nationalism, it's history and how it is playing out in the United States. Well worth seeing.
As a contemplative, direct non-violent activist, I always am wondering why Jesus prophetic gospel of non-violence isn’t preached as loudly and consistently as the Christian voices that have been co-opted by the mentality of powers and principalities of empires? Violence, war, and domination are failures of the church’s mission to transform the hearts and minds of the people. This truth needs to be front and center of all Christian teaching. Brian McLaren 7 themes found in scripture is a good start. Violence always cycles into more violence. I always dream of the day a war is called by the earthly powers that be and no one goes to fight in it! I believe that is at the core of the gospels.