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Donald Trump attends a worship service in Las Vegas when he was a presidential candidate in 2016. Trump won over many white conservative Christians by wrapping their traditional priorities in with his own particular cultural fixations. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption

Donald Trump attends a worship service in Las Vegas when he was a presidential candidate in 2016. Trump won over many white conservative Christians by wrapping their traditional priorities in with his own particular cultural fixations.

When Ronald Reagan accepted the 1980 Republican presidential nomination, he ended his speech with a pious request.

"I'll confess that I've been a little afraid to suggest what I'm going to suggest I'm more afraid not to that we begin our crusade joined together in a moment of silent prayer," he said.

It was the preface to a presidency that would help make white evangelicals the staunchly Republican voting bloc they are today.

Fast-forward to a 2015 campaign event, when Republican consultant Frank Luntz worked to pin down soon-to-be-President Donald Trump on a simple question of faith:

"Have you ever asked God for forgiveness?" Luntz asked Trump twice, before getting this answer: "I'm not sure I have. I just go and try and do a better job from there. I don't think so."

Trump benefited from the white evangelical support that Reagan helped solidify, but he also presided over a country that, religiously, looks far different from the one Reagan took over after 1980. Trump's presidency is one early case study in how the Republican Party which has long associated itself with conservative Christian values may attempt to deal with a country that's less and less religious.

In fact, the U.S. recently passed a religious milestone: For the first time, a majority of Americans are not church members, Gallup found this spring.

Over the last decade, the share of Republicans who are church members fell from 75% to 65%, according to Gallup. That's a solid majority but also a sizable fall.

The key bloc of white evangelicals is also shrinking as a share of the population, while the share of religiously unaffiliated Americans grows.

This makes religion one key part of a looming, long-term demographic challenge for Republicans, says Whit Ayres, a Republican pollster.

"Republicans clearly have a stronger hold among the religiously affiliated, especially evangelical Protestants. And consequently, any decline in evangelical Protestant affiliation is not good news for the GOP," he said.

The upshot, to Ayres, is that a party still deeply entwined with conservative Christianity and, particularly, white evangelicals will eventually have to win over more Christian conservatives for example, among the growing Hispanic electorate or make gains among substantially less-religious groups, like young voters.

A change in tone

For now, it's fair to say that in the Republican Party, overtly religious rhetoric is being replaced by broader culture war issues, Ayres said.

"While religiosity may be declining, people attracted to culturally conservative causes may not be cancel culture, TV shows and movies that exalt more left-wing values, that cast aspersions on right-wing values," he said.

That dovetails with another trend in American politics of people increasingly centering their identities on their partisan affiliations. It's a trend that can give pastors headaches that have nothing to do with whether church attendance is rising or falling.

Christian Gaffney, pastor at Expectation Church in Fairfax, Va., says congregation members have pushed back when he has preached about things like masks, as well as race.

Gaffney said that conflict arises for him when congregants center their lives on their partisan identities rather than their Christian beliefs.

"I think it goes back to the idea of culture wars the idea that everything is so polarized and because there's this trajectory of polarization, Trump kind of gives a lightning rod for one of those poles, one of those sides to really rally around and adhere to," he said. "My job as a pastor is to show people it's not about rallying around either side; it's about rallying around the person Jesus Christ."

Though he considers himself conservative, Gaffney said that right-leaning congregation members have accused him of being "liberal" when he has questioned Republican orthodoxy.

Christianity vs. Christian culture

Gaffney's church has been growing. But on the whole, the shrinking American Christian church may, counterintuitively, tighten the bond between the Republican Party and conservative Christianity.

"These kinds of data about the shrinking share of the population of white evangelicals or declines in church membership actually intensify the relationship [between the GOP and conservative Christians]," said Sarah Posner, author of two books critical of white evangelicals' politics.

"As those numbers shrink, the demography is not in [the GOP's] favor. And so intensifying their relationship becomes ever more important, in terms of winning elections and so forth," she said.

Through statements like saying he had never asked for forgiveness, as well as infamously referring to the biblical book typically called Second Corinthians as "Two Corinthians," Trump showed that he didn't have the churchgoing bona fides of rivals like Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who invoked God regularly at his campaign events.

Indeed, Trump early in the 2016 primaries appealed more to Republicans who identified as Christian but weren't regular churchgoers. More observant Republican Christians preferred Cruz.

But Trump did eventually win over stauncher Christian conservatives. In the process, he wrapped more traditionally conservative Christian issues like abortion in with his own particular cultural fixations, such as race and grievance politics.

At this point, Posner added, Christianity and politics can be so muddled together on the right that they can be hard to separate.

"There is an entire constellation of organizations and media and social media and other ways of getting these ideas, ideas about what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be an American, what it means to be an American Christian, what it means to be a patriot, what it means to fight the left or cancel culture," she said.

Jackson Avery, president of the College Republicans at George Mason University and a Christian himself, said he doesn't hear his fellow young Republicans talking a lot about their faith, but he nevertheless thinks maintaining a Christian identity is good for the party.

"I don't think the Republican Party saying, 'We are not the party of not only the Christians, but atheists' I think that drives away more people. You know, you only need enough percentage to win," he said.

He believes that the GOP won't hit its Reagan-era heights again but also suggests it may not need to, at least in the short term.

"There's this idea where like they go back to Ronald Reagan, where he gets like 60% of the popular vote," Avery added. "Republicans will never, never get that, at least in our lifetimes. I don't think so."

Read more here:
How Is The GOP Adjusting To A Less Religious America? - NPR

In recent months Republican lawmakers in close to a dozen states have aggressively made legislative advances against the GOPs latest culture war target: critical race theory. Idaho governor Brad Little last month signed a bill supposedly designed to bar state-funded schools and universities from indoctrinating students into the view that any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, color, or national origin is inherently superior or inferior. While Idahos law, which is the first of its kind, may not sound disagreeable in theory, it is a different story in action, as the legislation could ostensibly ban educators from teaching that present-day financial inequality is linked to Americas history of systemic racism. Critics of the legislation have also warned that it will stifle the First Amendment rights of teachers. Oklahoma, Georgia, Louisiana, Florida, Missouri, West Virginia, New Hampshire, Iowa, and Rhode Island have all introduced similar bills or amendments, or have proposed state mandates that would have a similar impact on schools.

While endorsing this legislative push during a presser with members of the House Freedom Caucus last month, GOP rep. Ralph Norman insisted that the country is in the middle of cultural warfare today, adding, Critical race theory asserts that people with white skin are inherently racist, not because of their actions, words, or what they actually believe in their heartbut by virtue of the color of their skin. Normans Freedom Caucus colleague Rep. Lauren Boebert accused Democrats of trying to teach our children to hate each other. Donald Trump deployed a similar narrative while issuing an executive mandate that barred federal agencies from giving certain sensitivity training. They were teaching people that our country is a horrible place, its a racist place, and they were teaching people to hate our country, explained Trump, whose order was ultimately rescinded by Joe Biden after previously being blocked by a federal judge.

Oklahoma governor Kevin Stitt signed a law last month similar to that in Idaho. It claims to put a stop to schools teaching that moral character is inherently determined by his or her race or sex and bans lessons that could potentially cause students to feel discomfort or guilt on account of his or her race or sex. But the law will actually limit how openly Oklahomas educators, who teach in a state that was home to one of the worst instances of racial violence in U.S. history, can discuss racism and inequality. With Americas classrooms serving as the battleground for this culture war, educators even fear that their livelihoods will be caught in the crossfire. During an interview with NPR, a high school teacher in Oklahoma City explained that she is now unsure whether she is allowed to discuss present-day civil rights issues, including the murder of George Floyd. We need to do it, because our students desire it, Telannia Norfar told the outlet. But how do we do that without opening Oklahoma City public schools up to a lawsuit? Oklahoma City School Board chairperson Paula Lewis expressed the anxiety that the new legislation has caused for teachers, remarking to NPR, What if they say the wrong thing? What if somebody in their class during the critical thinking brings up the word oppression or systemic racism? Are they in danger? Is their job in danger?

The ACLU has condemned the new batch of legislation and questioned if the proposals violate the free speech rights of educators and students. A nationwide attempt to censor discussions of race in the classroom is underway, the free speech advocacy group wrote in a statement. These bills dont just set back progress in addressing systemic issues, they also rob young people of an inclusive education and blatantly suppress speech about race. Its up to state governors across the country to veto these harmful bills.

The Republicans push against antiracism teaching is only likely to accelerate ahead of the midterms, as Axioss Margaret Talev wrote this week that the partys strategy for the 2022 elections and beyond virtually assures raceand racismwill be central to political debate for years to come. Given that the right has struggled to demonize Biden, who enjoys higher approval ratings than his predecessor, it seems inevitable that Republicans will seize on culture war battles in hopes of winning back Congress next year. As pollster Christine Matthews told NPR, Republicans are wanting to make this about othering the Democrats and making them seem as extreme and threatening to white culture as possible.

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The GOPs Critical Race Theory Freakout Is Spreading Across America - Vanity Fair

During last weeks Louisiana House debate over restricting the rights of transgender teens to participate in school athletics, newly elected Rep. Laurie Schlegel, the Jefferson Republican handling the bill, was asked for a single example of this being a problem.

She answered that it happened recently in Connecticut, before jumping into a speed reading of all the states she said had passed similar bills. Schlegel then refused to take any more questions.

Actually, what happened in Connecticut was a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit claiming female athletes were put at a competitive disadvantage to women listed as male on their birth certificates. Of the 28 states considering similar legislation, only a few have turned them into law, including Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Legislation that would bar transgender teens from participating on sports teams that do not align with their assigned gender at birth won fina

What hasnt been turned into law or even cleared the necessary hurdles is the tax revamp promised by Republican legislative leadership. They made a session goal of simplifying the states complex tax system with lower rates for all not just special interest taxpayers represented by high-priced lobbyists in Baton Rouge.

Those promises have been sidelined, so far, by grievance politics that these days not only energize the GOP base, but core Democrats as well.

It was Chalmette Republican Rep. Ray Garofalos House Bill 564 banning the teaching of divisive concepts, which include not assigning fault for racially based policies and not criticizing capitalism. He made some unfortunate comments, which he took back immediately, but that led Democratic House members to withhold their necessary support on issues such as changing taxes that need a two-thirds majority.

It wasnt until Wednesday, a month into the delay and 15 days from the end of the session, that House Speaker Clay Schexnayder, R-Gonzales, officially removed Garofalo from his chairmanship on the House Education committee. The previous night, conservative Republican House members, angered by the fractious nature of their near supermajority status, began by-invitation-only caucus to better exert GOP influence.

The chairman of the House Education Committee was formally removed from his post Wednesday night, ending a monthlong controversy ignited by a

The first thing caucus chair Rep. Jack McFarland, R-Jonesboro, said was that tax policy, not culture wars, is the foremost interest of most House Republicans.

Still, they voted for transgender restrictions and school curricula impositions, such as requiring public schools toteach World War II and the Holocaust in greater detail as well as an emphasis on the nations important documents.

Not that such subjects are bad for Louisiana students to learn, but patriotic education is a strategy that crowds out conversations about race and its impact on American society. Louisiana educators oppose legislators dictating curriculum.

Southern legislatures since the 1920s have tried to tell educators what to teach. Evolution, for instance, was banned for three decades and even through the 1960s teachers were prevented from discussing the philosophical basis of communism, which at the time ruled half the world.

Republican-controlled legislatures are taking up measures that would ban or limit the teaching of critical race theory in public schools. Idaho, Texas, Tennessee and Oklahoma have passed laws similar to the ones the Louisiana House advanced last week and now sit in the Senate Education Committee.

An academic concept developed in the 1970s, critical race theory holds that unresolved racism has become so ingrained in U.S. history and systems that laws and policies hinder minority advancement. Though the term is rarely uttered, the theory is at the root of more diverse faculty hirings and holistic admissions that open university doors to more minorities by placing more emphasis on grades than on test scores.

Grappling with a volatile topic, the Louisiana House on Monday night approved a bill that would require high school students to get instructio

As president, Donald Trump created the 1776 Commission to counter teaching concepts based on critical race theory in schools. President Joe Biden dismantled that commission on his first day in office.

Still, 44% of White eighth graders 14% of Black students were found to have math proficiency in 2019 by the National Assessment of Educational Progress. From education to housing to health care to criminal justice, disparities between White and Black people have remained pronounced and statistically evident. A reasonable argument can be made that understanding the history of racial inequities is a better use of time for Louisiana students than hearing again that Adolf Hitler was a bad man.

All of which was underscored on the House floor last week when Denham Springs Republican Rep. Valarie Hodges, who sponsored the two curriculum measures, acknowledged with huhs that she didnt know about the middle passage used to transport Black people across the Atlantic to work as slaves.

Read more from the original source:
Mark Ballard: Culture wars bills get in the way of legislative substance, like tax reform - The Advocate

Are the UKs culture wars real, imagined, exaggerated or manufactured? This is becoming one of the key questions of our times, but, as with so much else in culture war debates, you can always find evidence to support your preferred interpretation.

For example, our new study shows that three-quarters of the public think that the media often makes the country feel more divided than it really is. Nearly half agree that politicians invent or exaggerate culture wars as a political tactic, and only one in ten actively disagree with this.

More generally, few people have very strong feelings on many of the cultural issues at the heart of prominent debates. For example, only one in ten or fewer strongly agree or strongly disagree that UK culture is changing too fast, or that theyd like the UK to be the way it used to be.

Originally posted here:
Opinion: We should take the idea of Britain's 'culture wars' seriously understanding division is important - The Independent

Did the pictures of Boris Johnsons third, secret wedding charm and disarm you? Spellbound, were you, by the images showing his barefoot bride in a crown of fresh flowers and a rented designer dress (45)?

Millions clearly were. Anything resembling the frock was sold out online. In one masterstroke, these two made themselves into the nations sweethearts.

Those devastating accusations made by Dominic Cummings, Carries costly flat makeover paid for by the Cabinet Office, lies daily tossed out by key government ministers, were all forgotten as the sun shone down on the couple. Cynicism was as unwelcome as a fart at the laden table.

A guide to today's talking points, straight to your inbox

For voters interested in gung-ho pursuits, the Government lays on daily brawls in public spaces between the un-woke proud patriots, protectors of buffed histories and defenders of the realm and their imagined enemies.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden, a man of low presence and low cunning, appears to be on a cultural cleansing mission. Arts and heritage institutions and academia are packed, or so he feverishly believes, with Marxists and other traitors. Board members suspected of being liberal, left or egalitarian are being edged out and replaced with men and women loyal to the Governments agenda.

A new Heritage Advisory board has been created, chaired by Trevor Phillips, the black Briton most trusted by the great and the good from left to right. He agrees with Mr Dowden, who wants institutions to retain and explain symbols of contested histories. How will establishment bowdlerizers explain slavery and the oppression of the powerless in this country and the colonies?

A new, large survey by Ipsos Mori for the Policy Institute at Kings College, London, found that 44 per cent of those polled think politicians invent or exaggerate culture wars as a political tactic. Furthermore, only a minority are not proud to be British, or are uncomfortable with the pace of change.

These findings will not discourage right wing- media outlets or government ministers and their well-chosen friends in high places. They will carry on serving their own interests indefatigably.

Juvenal, a Roman poet from the early second century, fretted about the way people, diverted by bread and circuses, were failing in their civic duties to hold rulers to account. Our population is similarly appeased with circuses, even though millions are wretched or falling into indescribable hardships.

Among them are two million private renters who will no longer be protected from eviction at the end of this week. According to the homelessness charity Shelter, 72 per cent are terrified of losing their homes. They have already cut back on heating and food bills. Their children are hungry.

Shelter, where I once worked, was set up in 1966, a time when the country had a massive housing crisis, slum dwellings, and an unseen, unheard underclass few cared about. Ken Loachs film Cathy Come Home, which depicts a young, homeless family and was shown in that year, shamed and aroused the nation. During the pandemic, 37,000 people sought help from Shelter. But today most folk are indifferent to their plight and pain.

Our state schools are falling ever further into disrepair. Tory and collation governments alike have delayed embarking on this major, urgent project and now the bill has reached 11bn. Just before lockdown I went to one school in the East End of London. The toilet walls were black with damp; there had been a rat infestation in the kitchen and the classrooms were truly grim. To the governing elite men like Ian Duncan Smith, George Osborne, David Cameron, Boris Johnson or Rishi Sunak these lost and failed children must be collateral damage, or perhaps sacrifices to appease the gods of capitalism.

According to government estimates from March this year, up to 14.5 million people one in four were in poverty in 2019-20. The Big Issue reports that another 700,000 people were plunged into hardship during the pandemic.

The Chancellor has given some state help to needy households, but not nearly enough. More than 3 million self-employed citizens have had nothing.

The Trussell Trust, which runs 1,200 food bank centres, had distributed 2.5 million food parcels in the year between April 2020 and March 2021, the equivalent of more than two parcels every minute and vastly more than ever before.

Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror recently reported that Sunaks billionaire wife claimed 100,000 in furlough money last December; while Samantha Cameron claimed thousands to pay her staff. Mr Johnson and his missus got 27,000 of posh organic food delivered to them in unmarked bags, some of it paid for by the wife of a Tory donor, according to the Daily Mail.

Britons should be full of wrath, but most are occupied by the frolics of Mr and Mrs Johnson and performative populism, both calculated, organised diversions. How can anyone with a conscience feel proud of this outrageously manipulated democracy.

Continued here:
Boris Johnsons wedding and the culture wars are designed to distract us from the UKs spiralling poverty - iNews