Chrissy Stroop Profile picture
Jul 17, 2018 13 tweets 8 min read Twitter logo Read on Twitter
1. From the 1990s this same affinity for Russia that @HeerJeet tracks among overt racists ramped up among the Christian Right in conjunction with a shared “traditional values” agenda. That strain of Christian admiration for Russian conservatives can also be traced back further.
2. Pat Buchanan is aware of this and, as a traditionalist Catholic, in fact straddles that overt white supremacist/Christian traditional values line when it comes to reasons espoused for admiring Putin. For more on this, see my essay “Bad Ecumenism”:

academia.edu/27600336/Bad_E…
3. For more on the history and current realities of European and US right-wing Christians’ admiration for and collaboration with Russia, see the policy research I’ve published with @PRAEyesRight.

politicalresearch.org/author/c-stroo…
4. @HeerJeet is right that we need to understand #TrumpRussia and the #TreasonSummit in the context of this broader pattern.

Others whose work elucidates aspects of this include @cjcmichel, @sarahkendzior, @brucewilson, @melhoop10, @coleparke, @CodaStory.
5. Also everyone should read @MarcelHVanHerpe’s book Putin’s Propaganda Machine, and, in connection with this thread, particularly the sections on the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in international networks.

amazon.com/Putins-Propaga…
6. When it comes to Russian influence on the American and European Right, you have to understand that the affinities for Russia are real and powerful and prior, giving the Kremlin something to exploit to further divisions and undermine democracy and the post-war order.
7. This is also why simply impeaching Trump will not solve our problems. Large swaths of the white American population are genuinely anti-democratic. Some focus on “family values,” others on race, but all uphold white supremacist patriarchy. And they own the radicalized @GOP.
8. So understanding their overtures to Russia as a two-way street in the global culture wars, with democracy itself at stake, is critical. #TheResistance should seek to counter Russian influence, but not in isolation from opposing homegrown anti-democratic forces. #Resist
9. The big picture problems: 1) globally, how do we shore up democratic norms and institutions and the rule of law against the rise of Putin-style populism? and 2) in America, how do we work toward functional democracy with one party in our two-party system completely broken?
10. No easy answers. We are working to expose #TrumpRussia, Republican corruption, and Christofascism, and we have to hope this, and the #MuellerInvestigation, will help Democrats in the midterms. The @GOP won’t correct itself unless it is utterly defeated for a good while.
11. So keep winning local victories, protecting the vulnerable, getting out the vote, calling things by their names (e.g. the fascist, theocratic, white supremacist Trump regime). Be loud, be visible, donate to Democratic candidates who have a chance of flipping seats if you can.
12. March. Engage in civil disobedience. Do not give undue civility to people who are happily dismantling our democracy. We’re in the situation we are because the Right pushed and pushed, shifting the Overton window, normalizing the extreme. It’s past time to push back. #Resist
Addendum: See also this very relevant thread by @JeffSharlet about Maria Butina, the National Prayer Breakfast, and what I would call the global culture wars, in which Americans and Russians play key roles:



#TheocracyAlert #EmptyThePews #Resist

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More from @C_Stroop

Oct 1, 2018
1. I just sent out this month's newsletter for all @Patreon patrons who support me with a $5 or higher monthly pledge. If you find my work valuable and would like the inside Stroop scoop, please consider joining them!

patreon.com/cstroop

#Exvangelical #SundayThoughts
2. At the end of the last academic year, I faced a choice--move back in with my parents in Indiana to pursue the freelance writing and speaking opportunities I was getting more of, or adjunct at the University of South Florida for low pay and no benefits. Or find something new.
3. Here's a thread with some of my life story up to the present. The travel to Austria next spring to do a semester of research mentioned in it fell through despite me having been promised it for years.

Read 15 tweets
Sep 29, 2018
Another reversal of an improvement for LGBTQ acceptance in an evangelical institution (World Vision is the other one I have in mind). Evangelicalism doesn’t change its patriarchal ways. It just casts out the people who would make it better.

#Exvangelical #EmptyThePews #Resist
Of course Wheaton might be the more direct parallel.

time.com/4233666/wheato…

#Exvangelical #EmptyThePews
For more on the authoritarian enforcement of hardline conservative orthodoxy at evangelical colleges, see my latest for @Playboy:

playboy.com/read/want-to-k…

#Exvangelical #EmptyThePews #SaturdayThoughts
Read 4 tweets
Sep 19, 2018
I also RT requests for financial help fairly often. Unfortunately, many in the #Exvangelical community have needs and are hampered by lack of education, meaningless degrees, or lack of professional experience outside evangelical institutions. The social costs of leaving are high.
I don’t want or expect anyone who can’t afford it to give, and I don’t want anyone to feel obligated; even just RTing those requests is immensely helpful. It is my hope that someday we’ll have some kind of foundation to fund #Exvangelical projects and meet needs. #EmptyThePews
Sometimes crowdfunding is all that stands between an #Exvangelical and homelessness, or being forced to return to a toxic, abusive living situation. That’s the uncomfortable reality. I do make small donations myself to almost every fundraising request I amplify.
Read 4 tweets
Sep 13, 2018
“We have to put citizens at the heart of our response to disinformation.” - Nina Jankowicz (@wiczipedia) at the Indiana Council on World Affairs.
One thing social media sites should be doing is providing a simplified approach to their terms of service so that users can provide informed consent.

Enforcement of terms of service also needs to be consistent, and cannot he left to algorithms alone.
Social media platforms should step up to pay for human processes re: terms of service violations and appeals. Democracy is at stake.

They can also embrace more of an educational role with respect to information literacy.
Read 6 tweets
Sep 7, 2018
September is a big month! I’m at the airport on my way Florida for The #Exvangelical Community: Paths, Projects, Prospects. In the last two days I’ve filed two pieces with editors, and this week I did podcasts w/ @NiceMangos and @kitchencultpod (@haettinger and @mxdarkwater). #FF
Next weekend I’ll be in Charleston, South Carolina to give a talk for @CHShumanists, and am very much looking forward to that! October is also pretty full!



#Exvangelical #EmptyThePews #FridayFeeIing #FF
And next week I’ll also be doing a second podcast episode with @TwistedSisterds! It’ll be my second time on, and I sure had fun last time!

twistedsisterds.podbean.com

#Exvangelical #FF
Read 4 tweets
Aug 28, 2018
1. A few thoughts on Trump's dinner in honor of evangelicals, which I'll be discussing with @RickSmithShow later. Key context to consider is that fascism is concerned with defining who belongs to "the nation" or "the people," and who doesn't. Internal enemies (Others) are needed.
2. This dovetails neatly with the way in which fundamentalist believers police who does and does not count as a member of their religious confession. This is critical to understanding the Christian Right's politics of "religious freedom":

3. Indeed, as I have written elsewhere, "Fundamentalism is authoritarianism in microcosm, or on the margins. Fascism is essentially fundamentalism in power." The vast majority of white evangelicals are authoritarian and fundamentalist.

chrisstroop.com/2017/03/06/edu…

#EmptyThePews
Read 25 tweets

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