“Thou Shall Give Birth, and God Shall Raise Up a Righteous Army!”

So Sayeth the Six Disciples, with Alito and Thomas Leading the Chorus

Friends, I need help with what started out not so much as an article, but mostly as a quick, middle of the night listing of some ideas that refused to leave me alone. The sun is now up on a new day, and without input from you trusted Medium readers and writers this just might sound a little crazy. And considering what we find attacking American democracy and our constitution on a daily basis, it’s getting easier every day to sound, and feel, at least a bit paranoid:

I believe there are strong indications that the GOP and US Supreme Court are working together, heavily invested in a “Hail Mary” effort to substantially increase America’s birth rate in the midst of an attempt to take control of the American educational system as part of an effort to create a literal “Christian Army of God”. I fear that, in conjunction with America’s military and law enforcement, if successful its goal is to force America into becoming a 100% Christian theocracy, in direct opposition to America’s constitution and history. This is my best effort to present some of this evidence, such as it may be.

I realize none of this is new or conclusive, but since I’ve not yet seen it presented in quite this manner, it seemed time to do so. While the “big picture” is much bigger than these few paragraphs, this is a starting point that I hope others on Medium will additionally develop with their own evidence and ideas…or discredit entirely, and allow me to sleep better, if only for a while.

Let’s consider recent actions of the “New Supreme Court Zero” and the “Original GOP Classic” as a series of sequential stages:

STEP 1 — Electing the Right Politicians

STEP 2 — Birth, Birth and More Birth of a (Christian) Nation

STEP 3 —Schooling the New America

Step 4 — American Taliban-ning

Step 5 — Gawd’s Army

Among these stages, Electing the Right Politicians obviously belongs first. While it’s unlikely to contain anything terribly new to those familiar with Medium, it seemed to be an appropriate jumping-off point for this discussion. The five major steps involve significant overlap with each other, both in concept and timing. Some steps involve mostly GOP actions, while others involve mostly the Supreme Court (SC). Most steps involve involvement by both of these very dangerous organizations, and the majority of line items may be actions or ideas more recent than many reader’s last haircut.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

STEP 1 —Electing the Right Politicians

Empowering the right through voter suppression of the left

Gerrymandering approvals by the SC

Attacks on freedoms to weaken political impact of “others” — Blacks, LGBTQ (emphasis on “T”-trans, “Don’t Say Gay” laws), immigrants, women (yes, to the GOP, women are “other”)

Choosing and electing school board members (Overlapping Step 3)

STEP 2 — Birth, Birth and More Birth of a (Christian) Nation

Banning sex education in public schools

Ending abortion

Ending birth control availability

Offering of bounties/punishment around births revealed to have ended early

Proposing 1st-degree murder charges against those performing or assisting abortion

Attempts to eliminate pornography

Prohibitions against destruction of frozen embryos (even when privately owned)

Statements from SC & GOP concerning ending marriage equality

Efforts to encourage “hyper-masculine” males while discrediting female rape and assault victims

Adoptions often only to non-gay, non-Jewish families, even when agencies accept tax dollars. This will act to place many unwanted babies from non-Christian homes into specifically Christian ones in order for them to be raised as Christians.

[EDIT 8/2/22] — Georgia to allow tax incentives for women carrying embryos that express electrical impulses often misrepresented as a heartbeat. (This creates an early stage pregnancy database.)

STEP 3 — Schooling the New America

Unconstitutional tax dollars for Christian and right-wing schools that discriminate (also Step 4)

Attacks on public education resulting in a diminishing pool of teachers as numbers of students potentially rise dramatically, resulting in likely increases in Christian-controlled charter schools as sole “educational” options

Anti-CRT / library book bans to control what children are allowed to learn & read

Textbook bans and control

Control of school boards (Overlapping Step 1)

Step 4 — American Taliban-ning

Removing “freedom from religion” from its constitutional intent (SC approval for public Christian prayer)

Support for ending constitutionally mandated separation of church and state

Seeking protections for white Christians as a “persecuted” group

Tax dollars for Christian and right-wing schools that discriminate (Also Step 3)

Step 5 — Gawd’s Army

Unanimous GOP congressional refusal to investigate neo-Nazis in US military & law enforcement

More power in the hands of law enforcement (SC Miranda changes)

More concealed guns permitted in public

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — -

I can scarcely come to any other conclusion from this collection of puzzle pieces than that the right believes this to be their last, or perhaps only, opportunity to raise a heavily armed force of Christian born and educated children within the coming generation, instructed by white evangelical preachers that there is no sin in eliminating “enemies of Christianity”, then pointing out exactly who those enemies are. And doing so free of any concerns of losing tax-exemption status.

Please, would someone tell me how crazy this is? That maybe I’ve cherrypicked my evidence? Are Christians actually being “manufactured” by forcing Christians (and everyone) to give birth without benefit of birth control or abortion, with the intention then being to raise them in a “Christian-only” system of education (which, if the right has their way may be the only non-homeschool educational option available soon.) Or is that what I expect to see, and fear has simply overtaken my sense of reason?

It certainly takes little imagination to see why the right might want Nazis in the military and law enforcement: 1) to spread the message of hate from the right to the many impressionable young people to be found there, and 2) to have reliably unquestioning fingers on as many triggers and buttons as possible in the event of an internal conflict. But is that a conscious effort, or just timing-based coincidence?

Perhaps my greatest concern is not these things happening, but that they are happening so very suddenly. Again, many of these actions are more recent than the most recent haircut of those reading this now. And it’s pretty obvious we have yet to see the full intentions based on the new-found power of this Supreme Court. It seems clear (at least to this writer) that this is the fulfillment of the promises made to the white evangelical movement in exchange for putting Trump into the office of president.

I agree that even if all of this (and quite possibly much more) may be part of the right’s grand plan, it’s far from likely that it will succeed in the manner the right intends, and it has no chance at all if progressive voters make their voices heard. But what if only half of it works out as they hope, and progressive voters lose hope and stay home in November? What if only 25% of this project successfully promotes what the right sees as “God’s plan”? Won’t America, and the world, still be looking at something with the power to do tremendous damage, and that might harm democracy on the planet for whatever time mankind has left?

Anyway, please either tell me I’m wrong, and we’ll have a laugh and a beer. Or tell me I’m right, and we’ll start digging our bunkers. But please, at least give these ideas some thought, and perhaps feedback.

(I confess that it feels strange to no longer use the words “religion” or “religious”, replacing them in every instance (with one exception) with “Christian”. But in America, religion now means Christianity. Period. No IFs, ANDs, or …..)

Thank you.