Thread by @C_Stroop

1. Not gonna lie; I'm surprised that World Magazine, an evangelical publication, would release such a withering expose of Liberty University's authoritarian crackdown on the college newspaper. But this is a must read:

world.wng.org/2018/08/papere…

#Exvangelical #EmptyThePews #Resist

2. Heavy-handed control over college newspapers--essentially rendering them propaganda outlets--is one common tactic used when evangelical colleges crack down to impose orthodoxy, a frequent pattern. Here's an investigative piece I did on these crackdowns

religiondispatches.org/special-report…

3. I interviewed David Wheeler (@WheelerWorkshop), who was faculty adviser for the student paper at Asbury University, and one of his former students for the article linked above. Asbury refused to print the student's article making a Christian case for legal same-sex marriage.

4. It was one part of a wider freakout and crackdown at Asbury specifically related to the issues of LGBTQ affirmation and same-sex marriage. They are now also known to ask potential hires their stance on SSM. There was a similar crackdown at Gordon College. Faculty were purged.

5. Also apparently increasingly common at evangelical colleges is the use of NDAs to try to keep the truth about these administrative abuses from getting out, as you'll see mentioned in both the World Magazine Story and mine.

6. @gibersok has been caught up in such purges and has published a number of articles about them. And @WheelerWorkshop felt compelled to get away from Asbury. He was fortunately able to find a job at the University of Tampa.

7. If you're going to be in the Tampa Bay Area on September 8 and would like to hear more or ask someone like David Wheeler questions about his experience, he's going to be part of the #Exvangelical roundtable we're putting on:

gofundme.com/exvangelical-c…

8. The college crackdowns that happened prior to and during 2016 should have been a key clue as to why white evangelicals would so overwhelmingly support Trump. That they would do so did not come as a surprise to many of us in the #Exvangelical community. Listen to our voices.

9. White evangelicals are overwhelmingly authoritarians. As a voting bloc, the key cornerstone of the Christian Right and of Trump's base, they are a serious threat to democracy and human rights. #Exvangelical stories can help expose this.

chrisstroop.com/2018/06/14/esc…

#EmptyThePews

10. And there's really no "converting" authoritarians to democracy. This is why so much "faith outreach" (read: being nice to white evangelicals) by the Democratic Party is a waste of time and resources.

chrisstroop.com/2017/06/07/whe…

#Exvangelical #EmptyThePews #FridayReads #Resist

11. Occasionally, individuals may get through to people in their family, or friends, through patient personal engagement. But there's no scalable strategy, unless it's getting out more #Exvangelical and queer stories and stories about racism and misogyny, which humanize "Others."

12. You cannot reach white evangelicals as a demographic for progressive causes or the Democratic Party. You simply can't. So don't try to do so directly. It's at best a waste, at worst a path to letting Democrats be even further pushed to the right when we need to stand firm.

13. We are experiencing a crisis of democracy at present, both in the US and globally. And when you look at who the key players are in the fight against democracy and human rights, you find conservative Christians and overt white supremacists.

14. Russia is at the center of the global culture wars; Putin has embraced the Russian Orthodox Church and other conservative religious institutions at home, and has successfully rebranded Russia as the global standard bearer for "traditional values."

15. Thus, evangelical Trump support, and evangelical and other right-wing leaders' embrace of Putin and Russia, is not a coincidence. It's all of a piece. It's part of today's struggle of authoritarianism against democracy and human rights.

16. One organization it's important to watch in terms of Russians and Americans working together in the global culture wars is the World Congress of Families, now headed by National Organization of Marriage President and radical Catholic Brian Brown.

academia.edu/27600336/Bad_E…

17. Next month, following a pattern the World Congress of Families has exhibited in recent years of holding their main international conferences in Russia's back yard, this year's event will be held in Moldova. Keep an eye on it. Watch for American evangelicals and Catholics.

18. The broader point here is that the Christofascist authoritarianism we're fighting at home is one head of an international Christofascist "hydra," if you will. The Mueller #TrumpRussia investigation is critically important, but Trump's Russia ties didn't arise in a vacuum.

19. For the latest reporting on Russia and the US Christian Right, see this excellent piece by @cjcmichel, in which I'm proud to be quoted:

thinkprogress.org/history-of-chr…

20. On the broad geopolitical, intellectual, historical background to all of this, see my policy #LongReads with @PRAEyesRight (politicalresearch.org/author/c-stroo…) and my latest peer reviewed academic article (cambridge.org/core/journals/…) that links the present to the history of anti-communism

21. If you appreciate and benefit from the kind of content I've produced in this thread and can afford to, please consider supporting my work via a monthly pledge of $5 or more with Patreon. If you can't afford to give, please don't. I'm not a church! 😈

patreon.com/cstroop