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Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley’s recent First Things essay, “Our Christian Nation,” may warm the hearts of Christian nationalists and confound historians and theologians who worry about continuing threats to the separation of church and state.

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[-] jordanlund@lemmy.world 103 points 9 months ago

Dear Josh:

Treaty of Tripoli, ratified by the US Congress 11/4/1796.

"Article 11.
As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen (Muslims); and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan (Mohammedan) nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries."

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 55 points 9 months ago

And to be absolutely clear, ratification of a treaty makes all the language therein U.S. law unless struck down by the courts.

It has never been struck down by the courts.

[-] PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Does that mean that the general aspects of a treaty become international policy? Like does the treaty of Tripoli act as legal precedent when establishing agreements with Brazil?

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 15 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Pretty much all international policy has been renegotiated. However, no one has renegotiated that treaty because the Barbary States no longer exist. As far as I know, that doesn't make it any less law.

[-] cranakis@reddthat.com 69 points 9 months ago

As an atheist lefty, Im proud to be considered this traitor's enemy.

[-] DigitalTraveler42@lemmy.world 33 points 9 months ago

I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.

  • Franklin Delano Roosevelt
[-] thefartographer@lemm.ee 5 points 9 months ago

FDR must have been a terrible person, his enemies HATED him!

[-] ThatFembyWho 61 points 9 months ago

The same Josh Hawley who tried to overturn the 2020 election? The same who egged on insurrectionists outside the capitol on Jan 6th?

I just want to make sure we are talking about the same Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley here, so there's absolutely no confusion.

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[-] oDDmON@lemmy.world 52 points 9 months ago

Fucking revisionist, fantasy bullshit, call it out for what it is and QUIT GIVING IT THE OXYGEN OF MEDIA ATTENTION.

That’s how ya starve the beast.

[-] match@pawb.social 33 points 9 months ago

I'm not sure baptistnews.com is interested in doing that

[-] nublug 18 points 9 months ago

ignoring fascists doesn't make them stop.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 44 points 9 months ago

Such bullshit. The left isn’t atheist. The left just says you can believe in whatever god you want, or no god at all, just don’t tell us we have to believe in your god.

[-] Asafum@feddit.nl 11 points 9 months ago

Exactly.

And this mothefucker is the type to finally make me stand up. You can have whatever religion you like, UNTIL YOU FORCE ME TO PRACTICE.

I will turn this nation upside down before I allow that to just happen and I'm sure I can count on everyone here to join in.

[-] RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

I’ll tweak your comment just a bit, “until you force me to live by your religious beliefs”. Being forced to believe “their way” is almost irrelevant if they’re already punishing you for not doing so. The end result is the same: You will conform.

[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 43 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

America was never a christian nation.

and if he gave a shit about the founding documents outside of the 2nd amendment, he might know that.

Hell, "In god We Trust" only came around in force cause we thought it'd somehow magically keep the "evil communists" away in the 50s.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 7 points 9 months ago

America was never a christian nation.

Okay, tap the breaks. America is absolutely a nation of Catholic and Protestant migrants, with much of the lower half dominated by Spanish/French missionaries while the northeast was originally settled by English, French, German, and Scandinavian Protestants fleeing the 30 years war, the Napoleonic Wars, the World Wars, and their attendant aftershocks.

De-Christianization in the US is a very new phenomenon, largely stemming from the economic expansion of the post WW2 era and the rapid circulation of professional workers during the Reagan Era. To say we "were never a Christian nation" you really need to explain where all these damned churches came from. Some of them are really old.

Hell, “In god We Trust” only came around in force cause we thought it’d somehow magically keep the “evil communists” away in the 50s.

Yes, but we've been having religious revivals in this country straight back to before the original founding. A big part of our history involves different sects of religious diaspora migrating to the US as refugees fleeing this or that pogrom, from French Huguenots fleeing to Louisiana to West New York Mormons fleeing to Utah to Polish Jews fleeing to Brooklyn to Black Baptists fleeing to Harlem.

The "In God We Trust" thing was the comical low-hanging fruit passed by a 1950s Congress that wanted to conflate the broadly popular idea of Christian religious doctrine with the far more controversial idea of Market Capitalism.

[-] A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world 18 points 9 months ago

Yeah, the people that came to build european colonies on this land were christian extremists, but that doesnt make America a christian nation... Especially since the very foundation of the nation, a staunch separation of church and state with no law establishing one religion over another, was one of the very beginning principles.

Its right there in the first amendment.

America is a land where religion should have no more presence but between a person and their god, as far as Jefferson was concerned at least, and I'm sure many other founders shared that sentiment.

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[-] Sconrad122@lemmy.world 8 points 9 months ago

Nation of christians and christian nation are two very different things, despite using the same words. America has historically been populated by a Christian majority, but from its foundation America has existed with separation of church and state as one of its core principles

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[-] watson387@sopuli.xyz 39 points 9 months ago

Well, that's interesting Josh Hawley, but the whole 'separation of church and state' thing says you're wrong. I'm sorry you don't like it but you're more than welcome to go fuck yourself.

[-] ThatFembyWho 14 points 9 months ago

Consider the SCOTUS has now established "deeply rooted in our nation's history and traditions" as the test for whether something is constitutional or not... his viewpoint will certainly resonate there.

[-] watson387@sopuli.xyz 11 points 9 months ago

Yes. It's disgusting. Judges are not supposed to be politicians and these Christofascists use some real pretzel logic interpretations of law to come to their conclusions.

[-] frickineh@lemmy.world 22 points 9 months ago

I would happily kick Josh Hawley in the dick, so I don't give a shit what he thinks.

[-] Drusas@kbin.social 4 points 9 months ago

I'd aim for the balls, personally.

[-] Jaysyn@kbin.social 18 points 9 months ago

Mr Divorcee needs to shut the fuck up.

[-] Drusas@kbin.social 9 points 9 months ago

Very Christian.

[-] Adderbox76@lemmy.ca 18 points 9 months ago

I'm reasonably certain that I can count on one hand the number of times Hawley or his GOP ilk have ever set foot in a church outside of a planned photo op.

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[-] Smeagol666@lemm.ee 17 points 9 months ago

Missouri has the lowest life expectancy of any state. Good job there fuckwit, your constituents get to meet Jesus sooner than everyone else. YEE-FUCKING-HAW!

[-] SpezBroughtMeHere@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Wait, there's an option to die sooner? Fuck, I'm not really seeing a downside. How do I get in this express lane?

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 13 points 9 months ago

Good luck with that, asshole.

[-] Cuttlefish1111@lemmy.world 12 points 9 months ago

Last time I remember seeing him he was running from the 1/6 “tourists”. He needs to become familiar with the guillotine.

[-] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 10 points 9 months ago

These fascist traitors need to be put in their place.

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[-] LEDZeppelin@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

Chicken shit Hawley can go and fuck himself

[-] CultHero@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

I'm sure Jesus would be so pleased to know that his image is used to bring power to the American christofascists. 🙄

[-] TheBat@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago

Why does he look like a half-chewed dog's toy?

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[-] Introversion@kbin.social 6 points 9 months ago

Rot in hell, extremist Christian fuck-face.

[-] uriel238 6 points 9 months ago

I'm pretty sure Mr. Hawley is just the sort that will appeal to whatever fears and hatred will drive his base to the election polls. Either he'll get betrayed once the Wolf's Lair decides his kind are the next on the purge list, or he'll get executed by the Allies for being a high-ranking officer in a fascist autocracy.

And if he somehow escapes, the Nazi hunters will be on his tail for the next half century.

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this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2024
316 points (100.0% liked)

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