{"id":27900,"date":"2026-05-18T17:34:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T00:34:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/?p=27900"},"modified":"2026-05-25T13:29:42","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T20:29:42","slug":"superficial-christianity-on-full-display","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2026\/05\/18\/superficial-christianity-on-full-display\/","title":{"rendered":"Superficial Christianity on Full Display"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Things said at last weekend&#8217;s prayer rally, and how they strike me as unhinged from reality;<\/li>\n<li>Heather Cox Richardson&#8217;s take: a turning away from &#8220;Enlightenment values of natural rights, equality, and self-government to one that requires Americans to accept that some people are better than others and to defer to their leaders&#8221;;<\/li>\n<li>Short items: Rubio wants to preach the gospel to the world; an Illinois Republican wants to stamp a religious slogan on all federal buildings;<\/li>\n<li>Robert Reich suggests that Trump&#8217;s Republican Party has become a criminal enterprise;<\/li>\n<li>And John Pavlovitz asks why MAGA Christians hate their neighbors? (My take: it&#8217;s because MAGA is about OT tribalism, not anything Jesus said in the NT).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div align=\"center\">&#8211; &#8211; &#8211;<\/div>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.theatlantic.com\/thumbor\/FiUI6Sc-IZsMYbqyc_hGIAnOwIw=\/0x0:2000x1125\/976x549\/media\/img\/mt\/2026\/05\/2026_05_18_rededicate_250\/original.jpg\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Atlantic, Stephanie McCrummen, today<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/politics\/2026\/05\/trump-prayer-rally-charismatic\/687207\/\">Spiritual Warfare Comes to the National Mall<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;What Trump\u2019s prayer rally revealed about where American Christianity is heading&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>By 10 a.m. yesterday, the line of people wishing to dedicate America to God was more than three hours long. They came ready with prayer flags to wave the Holy Spirit into action, and shofars to scatter demonic forces. They wore T-shirts declaring the sort of Christians they were. A muscular man wore one that read <span class=\"smallcaps\">Prayer Warrior<\/span>. A woman in cargo shorts announced that she was an <span class=\"smallcaps\">Intercessor for America<\/span>. An elderly woman wore one that read <span class=\"smallcaps\">I Am the Weapon<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are here to bring the Earth into alignment with God,\u201d a man named Joel Balin, who had come with a friend from Atlanta, told me. \u201cTo bring the kingdom of heaven to Earth.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>How long is this going to take? You&#8217;ve had two thousand years, already.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The rally, called Rededicate 250, was billed as a \u201cjubilee of prayer, praise and Thanksgiving\u201d for \u201cGod\u2019s presence\u201d in American history. It was part of a series of events celebrating the nation\u2019s anniversary put together by a Donald Trump\u2013aligned nonprofit called Freedom 250, which is being funded by a public-private partnership that includes corporate donors such as Exxon Mobil, Lockheed Martin, and Palantir and for which Congress has allocated $150 million. Critics of the event denounced the reliance on government funds, the participation of administration officials, and the near-total lack of religious diversity as an attempt to make a certain version of Christianity a national religion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Followed by many, many examples,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose own theologies do not exactly align with the movement, told stories about God deploying miracles at key moments in the nation\u2019s history, leveraging these anecdotes to argue that the United States was founded to be a Christian nation. Historians say this is a clear misunderstanding of the American Revolution.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>[Balin] said that church-state separation is a \u201cmyth\u201d and that, really, any separation from God is a foolish denial of the cosmic reality of the spiritual battle underway. He said that people he knows are tired of \u201cmaterialism\u201d and \u201cdualism\u201d and \u201can Enlightenment mindset\u201d that fails to account for how supernatural forces affect earthly life. \u201cThere are so many things happening in the supernatural realm, and in the ancient world and other cultures, they recognized this\u2014there was no separation,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we are rediscovering that as Americans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is what we\u2019ve been praying for, for our country to turn back to God,\u201d Debbie Cloud, a retiree, told me as she began to cry.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cModernism told us, <em>Let\u2019s know our chemistry. Let\u2019s know our physics. Science can explain the world<\/em>,\u201d [Adriel Lam, from Hawaii] said. \u201cThen postmodernism said, <em>Let\u2019s question the foundations of everything<\/em>. Post-postmodernism is people saying, <em>Let\u2019s go back to zero. Let\u2019s go back to the first century, when Jesus united the physical and the spiritual.<\/em> God is moving our generation for renewal.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe underestimate what\u2019s going on in the invisible realm,\u201d [David Hitt from Atlanta] said. \u201cOur assembly, our worship, our prayer is creating openings for God to do his will.\u201d He elaborated that he meant actual openings, portals where the Holy Spirit could enter into battle against actual demonic forces. He estimated that the prayer of just one person could put 1,000 demons in flight, and the prayer of two people could eject 10,000.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>These people are unhinged from reality. I know it&#8217;s impolite to say so, but these people sound and act like loony-bins. They are so saturated in their mythology, living inside a bubble, the real world makes no impression on them.<\/p>\n<p>\\<\/p>\n<p>An historian&#8217;s view.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/heathercoxrichardson_498x517.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/heathercoxrichardson_498x517-289x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"289\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Letters from an American, Heather Cox Richardson, last night<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/heathercoxrichardson.substack.com\/p\/may-17-2026\">May 17, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Thousands of people gathered today on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to engage in an eight-hour taxpayer-funded evangelical worship event to \u201crededicate\u201d the nation to Christianity.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cRededicate 250: A National Jubilee of Prayer, Praise &amp; Thanksgiving\u201d event is part of the Trump administration\u2019s attempt to use the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence to rewrite America\u2019s history, turning it from one that champions the Enlightenment values of natural rights, equality, and self-government to one that requires Americans to accept that some people are better than others and to defer to their leaders.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The last phrase is a theme of her book DEMOCRACY AWAKENING (reviewed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2025\/01\/26\/heather-cox-richardson-democracy-awakening-post-3\/\">here<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>As is her wont, she provides much historical perspective on these current events. The post ends:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The theme of obeying the leader runs deep in Trump\u2019s politics, and in MAGA more generally. The Bible passage Trump read on video today emphasizes obedience, warning the chosen people that if they \u201cforsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you,\u201d then they will be destroyed. Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin read the same passage at the January 6, 2021, insurrection, suggesting that overturning democracy for Trump was obeying the Lord. Laura Jedeed of Firewalled Media reported that vendors at today\u2019s event handed out buttons that said: \u201cWIVES SUBMIT, HUSBANDS LOVE, CHILDREN OBEY.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But blindly obeying authority has never been the story of America.<\/p>\n<p>From its origins in resistance to the British government, the story of America has been the opposite of obeying. It has been about questioning, debating, criticizing leaders, and working to build \u201ca more perfect Union,\u201d as the Framers charged us to do. The story of America is how those who believed in the principles of democracy, those ideals articulated by the Founders however imperfectly they lived them, have struggled to make the belief that we are all created equal and have a right to have a say in our government, come true.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\\\\\\<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/jmgrubio18may26.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/jmgrubio18may26-300x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>JMG, today<\/strong>, from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2026\/05\/17\/rededicate-250-christian-religious-trump-national-mall\/90080631007\/\">USA Today<\/a>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.joemygod.com\/2026\/05\/rubio-we-must-preach-the-gospel-to-the-world\/\">Rubio: \u201cWe Must Preach The Gospel To The World\u201d<\/a><\/li>\n<li>No, we mustn&#8217;t. You&#8217;re missing the point of the United States. It&#8217;s not a theocracy.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\\<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!6cdp!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffda26774-47ac-4ca0-94d4-d60959585d1a_1200x682.png\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Friendly Atheist, today<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendlyatheist.com\/p\/mary-millers-in-god-we-trust-bill\">Mary Miller\u2019s \u201cIn God We Trust\u201d bill is Christian Nationalism in a nutshell<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Subtitled: The Illinois Republican wants a religious slogan on federal buildings while Americans struggle with real problems<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<blockquote><p>In a symbolic move intended to promote Christian Nationalism while helping nobody, Illinois <strong>Rep. Mary Miller\u2014<\/strong>one of the more bigoted Republicans in a party full of them\u2014introduced a bill that would <a href=\"https:\/\/marymiller.house.gov\/media\/press-releases\/rep-mary-miller-introduces-god-we-trust-act-commemoration-america-250\">force all federal buildings<\/a> to display or inscribe the words \u201cIn God We Trust.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.duckworth.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/duckworth-rep-mary-miller-should-resign-after-praising-hitler-at-capitol-hill-rally-moments-before-yesterdays-violent-mob\">Hitler-praising<\/a> Miller, who once said the overturning of <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em> was a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2022\/06\/26\/1107710215\/roe-overturned-mary-miller-historic-victory-for-white-life\">victory for white life<\/a>,\u201d said \u201cWe will never apologize for being one nation that places its trust in Almighty God.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Dim.<\/p>\n<p>\\\\<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not an accident that the religiously fervent don&#8217;t care about ordinary law.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!DALZ!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F878dc9ea-9ee3-4699-90a7-31ac836d18f6_1080x684.avif\" width=\"300\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Robert Reich, today<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/robertreich.substack.com\/p\/is-trumps-republican-party-now-a\">Has Trump&#8217;s Republican Party Become a Criminal Enterprise?<\/a>, subtitled &#8220;Trump&#8217;s purge of all political opponents, including Senator Bill Cassidy, leaves it with no purpose other than helping Trump achieve his lawless goals&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>On Saturday, Trump took revenge on Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy for Cassidy\u2019s vote five years ago to convict Trump, in his second impeachment, for instigating an attack on the U.S. Capitol.<\/p>\n<p>Cassidy thereby became the first GOP senator defeated by a Trump-endorsed candidate in a Republican primary. (Other Republican senators who have stood up to Trump \u2014 such as North Carolina\u2019s Thom Tillis and Utah\u2019s Mitt Romney \u2014 saw the writing on the wall and didn\u2019t seek reelection.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\\<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/$s_!i07z!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F08c5d429-5bf8-4518-b98e-cbc4f61ec8f0_1720x982.png\" width=\"400\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>John Pavlovitz, 16 May 2026<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/johnpavlovitz.substack.com\/p\/dear-maga-christians-why-do-you-hate\">Dear MAGA Christians, Why Do You Hate Your Neighbor?<\/a><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Trump-Supporting Christian, maybe you can help me clear something up.<\/p>\n<p>You see, I used to think I was a Christian.<\/p>\n<p>I was raised in a Christian home and went to a Christian school. After a few meandering spiritual wilderness years, I attended a Christian seminary, became a Christian pastor, and served in Christian churches for most of the past thirty-five years of my life.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve read and studied and preached the Scriptures extensively, led community Bible studies and student retreats and overseas mission trips, ministered in tiny rural chapels and massive gleaming megachurches.<\/p>\n<p>As a result of these decades immersed in the Christian tradition both personally and vocationally, I thought I had at least the gist of Jesus.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I think maybe I\u2019ve been doing this wrong all these years.<\/p>\n<p>For my entire life, I assumed something that perhaps I shouldn\u2019t have: I thought Christians were supposed to care about people.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>With many examples of what Jesus said.<\/p>\n<p>Yet another example of how MAGA, claiming to be Christian, really only express the priorities of OT tribalism. The Ten Commandments. I think I read that none of the speakers at the rally over the weekend actually quoted anything Jesus said. But that&#8217;s second-hand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Things said at last weekend&#8217;s prayer rally, and how they strike me as unhinged from reality; Heather Cox Richardson&#8217;s take: a turning away from &#8220;Enlightenment values of natural rights, equality, and self-government to one that requires Americans to accept that &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/2026\/05\/18\/superficial-christianity-on-full-display\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,90,96,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservative-resistance","category-conservatives","category-human-nature","category-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27900"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27934,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27900\/revisions\/27934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.markrkelly.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}