Back in 1986, Frank Zappa was on the TV show “Crossfire” and he described — way back then — how the United States was headed toward a fascist theocracy.
“When you have a government that prefers a certain moral code derived from a certain religion and that moral code turns into legislation to suit one certain religious point of view, and if that code happens to be very, very right-wing, almost toward Attila the Hun,” then you are headed for a fascist theocracy. – Frank Zappa
Trump is appealing to religion as a final push in the campaign.
Yes, the guy who actually embodies everything that Christianity and the Bible CONDEMNS wants people to think he’s religious and supports religion. He doesn’t care. He’ll use whatever will get him back in power. Period.
During a National Faith Advisory Board event, Trump said, “I think this is a country that needs religion. They’re trying to stymie you, this new administration, this new radical left group of people.”
In the first year after Roe v Wade was overturned (June 2022-June 2023), over 200 women have faced criminal charges for conduct associated with their pregnancy, pregnancy loss, or birth. The majority of these charges are in just six states: Alabama, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas. All run by Republicans and operating under abortion bans.
Trump said in an interview that “there has to be some sort of punishment” for the woman. And it’s already happening.
Researchers have found that pregnancies and pregnancy loss are more highly scrutinized in these states. And it’s more about the ramifications of giving full legal personhood rights to a fetus than it is about actual abortions. Read below:
“Almost none of the prosecutions documented by researchers were brought under state abortion laws. Instead, researchers found that law enforcement most often charged pregnant women with crimes such as child neglect or endangerment, interpreting the definition of “child” to include a fetus. In doing so, authorities relied on a legal concept called fetal personhood — the idea that a fetus, embryo or fertilized egg has the same legal rights as a person who has been born.
“If we focus only on abortion laws, we miss a crucial part of the picture in the fact that pregnant individuals are being criminalized for allegedly endangering their own pregnancies, for pregnancy loss and, in some cases, for conduct related to abortion. What’s driving pregnancy criminalization is the expansion of fetal personhood.’
“Charges of child abuse or endangerment carry stiffer penalties — higher fines and lengthier prison sentences — than the low-level drug charges the women likely would have faced had they not been pregnant.
“‘Pregnancy-related prosecutions don’t generally charge crimes that, on the face of the criminal statute, have anything whatsoever to do with pregnancy,’ said Wendy Bach, a professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law and the report’s principal investigator. ‘Instead, using the idea of fetal personhood, or more specifically the idea that the fetus can be the victim of a crime perpetrated by the pregnant person, they use that theory to charge general crimes.'”
Oklahoma is requiring Bibles in every public school classroom. But the requirements are so narrow and specific that only Trump’s Bibles qualify!
“Oklahoma Education Superintendent Ryan Walters’s (R) office is defending the process for how the state will be selecting newly mandated Bibles in classrooms after a report was released that the criteria is so narrow that essentially no Bibles qualify — besides ones endorsed by former President Trump.
“The Oklahoman reported on Friday that vanishingly view editions match the specific parameters the superintendent calls for in his request for proposal (RFP): a Bible that is bound by leather or material like leather, has the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and is the New King James version of the Old and New Testament.
“‘The RFP on its face seems fair, but with additional scrutiny, we can see there are very few Bibles on the market that would meet these criteria, and all of them have been endorsed by former President Donald Trump,’ Oklahoma Appleseed Center for Law and Justice Executive Director Colleen McCarty told the news outlet.
“A spokesperson for Walters office told The Hill that “it would be inappropriate to comment while bids are being placed” for who will supply the bibles for Oklahoma classrooms.”
He “found a salesperson at Mardel Christian & Education who said none of the 2,900 Bibles they sell fit the criteria Oklahoma has proposed.
“The two Bibles that Trump has endorsed, We The People Bible and God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, both meet the criteria and are sold for $90 and $60, respectively.
“Walters has asked for $3 million to buy 55,000 copies of the Bible for Oklahoma classrooms.”
Not that it really matters, because it’s more about their policies and their protecting the rights and lives of everyday Americans.
“Few Americans see the presidential candidates as particularly Christian, according to a new survey conducted Sept. 12-16 by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. Only 14% of U.S. adults say the word “Christian” describes Harris or Trump ‘extremely’ or ‘very’ well.”
“‘The survey results represent the shift in how white evangelicals now talk about morality and religion in politics,’ said Griffith. She pointed to a white evangelical culture that takes care of its own, but sees liberal outsiders as evil, and therefore, support for a Democrat is unimaginable to many.
“Evangelical leaders, she said, are pushing this idea that, ‘this is God’s man, and we can’t ask why. We don’t have to ask why. It doesn’t matter if he’s moral, it doesn’t matter if he’s religious. It doesn’t matter if he lies compulsively. It’s for the greater good that we get him re-elected.'”
“Neither candidate fared particularly well when Americans were asked if they’d use the words “honest” or “moral” to describe them. Around one-third say those words describe Harris extremely or very well, and about 15% say the same for Trump. Adding in those who say the words “somewhat” describe the candidates raises the levels to more than half for Harris and about one-third for Trump.”
“In the first formal declaration of vice and virtue laws in Afghanistan since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban says it is mandatory for Afghan women to conceal their voices and faces in public.”
“The laws were issued Wednesday after they were approved by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, a government spokesman said. The Taliban had set up a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice” after seizing power in 2021.
“The ministry published its vice and virtue laws on Wednesday that cover aspects of everyday life like public transportation, music, shaving and celebrations.
“They are set out in a 114-page, 35-article document seen by The Associated Press and are the first formal declaration of vice and virtue laws in Afghanistan since the takeover.
“‘Inshallah we assure you that this Islamic law will be of great help in the promotion of virtue and the elimination of vice,’ said ministry spokesman Maulvi Abdul Ghafar Farooq on Thursday.”
“Article 13 relates to women. It says it is mandatory for a woman to veil her body at all times in public and that a face covering is essential to avoid temptation and tempting others. Clothing should not be thin, tight or short.
“Women should veil themselves in front of all male strangers, including Muslims, and in front of all non-Muslims to avoid being corrupted. A woman’s voice is deemed intimate and so should not be heard singing, reciting, or reading aloud in public. It is forbidden for women to look at men they are not related to by blood or marriage and vice versa.
“Article 17 bans the publication of images of living beings, threatening an already fragile Afghan media landscape.
“Article 19 bans the playing of music, the transportation of solo female travelers, and the mixing of men and women who are not related to each other. The law also obliges passengers and drivers to perform prayers at designated times.”
The Texas Public Schools are proposing requiring the teaching of the Bible as truth, regardless of the religion of the teacher or the students. This is in the public school curriculum proposed for August 2025. Schools will be incentivized with up to $60 per student in additional funding.
In this short video, the Texas Education Commissioner is asked some questions about the curriculum, getting to the heart of the problem.
Example: The 3rd Grade curriculum requires teaching that “Jesus rose from the dead.”
And there is not really any representation of other faith traditions and religions.
This clearly violates the Establishment Clause regarding establishing a religion. So much so, that the bill specifically includes IMMUNITY for teachers for violating the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.
In 1972, when the GSS first began asking Americans, “What is your religious preference?” 90% identified as Christian and 5% were religiously unaffiliated. In the next two decades, the share of “nones” crept up slowly, reaching 9% in 1993.
“But then disaffiliation started speeding up – in 1996, the share of unaffiliated Americans jumped to 12%, and two years later it was 14%. This growth has continued, and 29% of Americans now tell the GSS they have “no religion.”
“Pew Research Center has been measuring religious identity since 2007 using a slightly different question wording – “What is your present religion, if any?” – as well as a different set of response options. Since 2007, the percentage of adults who say they are atheist, agnostic or “nothing in particular” in the Center’s surveys has grown from 16% to 29%. During this time, the share of U.S. adults who identify as Christian has fallen from 78% to 63%.
“There are many theories on why disaffiliation sped up so much in the 1990s and how long this trend might continue. For example, some scholars contend that secularization is the result of increasing “existential security” – as societal conditions improve and scientific advances allow people to live longer lives with fewer worries about meeting basic needs, they have less need for religion to cope with insecurity (or so the theory goes).
“Others say that in the U.S., an association of Christianity with conservative politics has driven many liberals away from the faith. Still other theories involve declining trust in religious institutions, clergy scandals, rising rates of religious intermarriage, smaller families, and so on.”
