Texas Lt Governor Says Democrats Are Demons
This week in Texas, a meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee was ground zero in the Christian nationalist takeover of the Republican Party. Over and over again, prominent Republican politicians took to the stage to express their loyalty to the Christian nationalist agenda.
Prime among these politicians was Donald Trump, who announced his support for the Christian nationalist takeover of America’s public schools. Trump declared that public schoolteachers are Marxists who must be replaced with Christian preachers who will teach the Bible and force students to pray to Jesus.
“As we take power out of Washington we also need to take power back from the left-wing lunatics who are indoctrinating our youth. We have to finally and completely smash the radical left’s corrupt education establishment. The current system is sick. It’s sick… School prayer is banned but drag shows are allowed to permeate the whole place. You can’t teach the Bible but you can teach children that America is evil and that men are able to get pregnant. Whatever it takes, conservatives must liberate America’s children from the captivity of these Marxist teacher unions. That’s what they are.”
Donald Trump was preceded by Dan Patrick, the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, who gave a speech declaring that the Constitution of the United States was written by no one other than the Christian god.
“What I want to focus on is where we are as a nation of believers. You know, there was a poll back in June, the Gallup company, they’re great pollsters. They did a poll. 95 percent of conservatives believe in god. Okay? 95 percent. 72 percent of Democrats believe in god. Only 67 percent of liberals believe in god, and sadly, only 60-some percent of young people believe in god. We are a nation founded upon, not the words of our founders, but the words of god because he wrote the Constitution. He empowered them. We were a Christian state, and we have been blessed because of that for so many years.”
A fact check of this claim isn’t difficult. Large numbers of witnesses have confirmed that human beings, and not invisible spirits, wrote the Constitution. No gods were seen in attendance at the Constitutional Convention. Still, Lieutenant Governor Patrick didn’t stop there.
Lieutenant Governor Patrick demanded that secular democracy in America be replaced with a Christian theocracy in which the Christian god is allowed to ride the USA as if it’s a motorcycle.
“Now, we know, as believers, the Bible’s promise, and I believe every promise that Jesus made in the New Testament. I believe the words of the Old Testament, that it does not ensure a smooth road ahead. It does not assure us of a trajectory that takes us to the top, but we do know where we’re going, and if we’re in god’s plan, and he is in charge, and his hands are leading that motorcycle down the path, then we’re on the right path.”
For the record, no god has ever actually showed up in the United States to request to be granted control of the federal government. The only people demanding Christian control of the government have been human Christians who claim to have spoken in private to their god, and received assurances that the god wants them to be granted power in his name. No actual god has given a public statement to this effect.
Nonetheless, Dan Patrick continued his speech at CPAC, threatening the beginning of a religious war in the United States. Christian nationalists, Patrick warned, are “ready for battle”.
“Scripture says the horse is made ready for battle but the victory is the lord’s, but we have to be ready for battle. We have to be ready for the fight, because we are not in a fight any longer of Republicans and Democrats of the old days. We are in a fight of lightness and darkness. We are in a fight of powers and principalities.”
If it seems outrageous that the Lieutenant Governor of the state of Texas is calling for a religious civil war of Christians against non-Christians, take a minute to consider Dan Patrick’s point of view. He believes that he has no choice as a Christian but to engage in violence against Democrats, because the Democratic Party is more than just different from the Republican Party. Lieutenant Government Patrick suggests that the Democrats have actually become agents of the powers of darkness.
Pay special attention to Patrick’s use of the phrase “powers and principalities.” The phrase “powers and principalities” is a code used within Christian nationalist circles to refer to the belief that the human political opponents of Christian nationalism are part of a supernatural conspiracy, that they are literally in league with demons and evil spirits. The “powers and principles” include both human opponents of Christianity and the demons, witches, ghosts, ghouls, and other monsters that are their secret allies and masters.
For Christian nationalists, this is not a metaphorical idea. The Christian writer Sandra Hamer Smith explains, “Principalities and powers in the Bible are levels of demons or the presence of demonic activity. These beings are real, and their primary goal is to kill, injure, worry, destroy, vex, harass, irritate, confuse, frustrate, and bother humans.”
She continues, “Witches really exist. There are people who communicate with the dead that are possessed by spirits. So, what we use to think was a bunch of hocus pocus has legitimate backgrounds in some respect. Demonic spirits can camouflage themselves.”
It sounds insane to people who live with a scientific understanding of the world, but Dan Patrick, the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, just announced that he believes that Democrats are in a supernatural conspiracy with evil spirits. It’s crazy, but it happened in public, with the cameras rolling
As if this wasn’t severe enough, Dan Patrick then took his Christian nationalist sermon a step further. He declared that, as a leader within the Republican Party and Lieutenant Governor of Texas, he no longer considers non-Christian Americans to be his people. Instead, he announced that from now on in American politics, it’s Christians against everyone else.
“You know, second Chronicles 7:14 says, ‘If my people, who are called by my name…’ Now let’s break that down. Who are his people? I used to think once upon a time that his people were all Americans… Who are his people? ‘If my people, who are called by my name…’ Those are Christians he’s talking about. ‘If my people will humble themselves and pray, turn their face to me, ask for forgiveness and promise to turn from their wickedness, and ask me to heal their land, I will hear them from Heaven. I will forgive them for their sins, and I will heal their land.’”
“We’re all god’s people,” Lieutenant Governor Patrick said, “but I take god at his word. He said, ‘If you will do these things, I will heal your land.’ We need a god healing in this country in 2022 and 2024.”
The audience of Republican Party activists cheered when they heard this. They, along with Dan Patrick, have declared that this year’s elections for congress and state government positions, along with the presidential election in 2024, are part of a new Christian crusade, a campaign to force the Christian nationalist agenda on everyone in America.