Mandatory Xianity
We still have “National Prayer Breakfast.” In the government. FFRF tells us:
The Freedom From Religion Foundation reiterates its disapproval of the National Prayer Breakfast held today, including President Biden’s involvement, the U.S. Capitol venue and the overarching Christian message.
The 71st annual event, although technically private, had an even stronger appearance this year of being sponsored by the federal government because it took place for the first time in the U.S. Capitol’s Statuary Hall. Historically, when under the open sponsorship of the Fellowship, a shadowy Christian nationalist group, the main event took place at a hotel.
Steps, innit. Start out in private and inch your way into the god damn Capitol building.
There was reading from scripture, a rendition of “Amazing Grace” and countless long prayers “in Jesus’ name,” all recited exclusively by government actors, from event co-chairs Reps. Tracey Mann and Frank Mrvan to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Gillibrand’s remarks were most shocking, calling for the president to put on the “full armor of God” and the “breastplate of righteousness” (favorite phrases of Christian nationalist politicians). A final prayer to Jesus was given by House Chaplain Margaret Kibben.
No secularism for you, peasants.
I cannot recommend Jeff Sharlet’s book “The Family” enough, and would also recommend his documentary that used to be on Netflix and still may be.
The Fellowship and The Family are just about the closest thing to a real conspiracy in this country. Unlike fake conspiracies that require implausible amounts of suppression of defectors, The Fellowship and The Family operates halfway openly and understands that defectors like Sharlet will mostly be ignored.
Canada still has one too:
(https://www.nationalprayerbreakfast.ca/)
It’s also sponsored by the Canadian Fellowship Foundation, which appears to be related to the US group of the same name (though details are sparse, and I occasionally have wondered if Sharlet might know anything about the relationship). Though the event is no longer held in government buildings, it still consumes public resources, since there is an designated official MP whose office staff does planning and mailing etc. I attended one about 10 years back with a small group of CFI Canada people, when it was billed as “an ecumenical event in the spirit of Jesus Christ”. At that time, they were claiming to welcome everyone, including Muslims (well, except for the pork sausages), and even gave lip-service to dialoging with atheists (but not surprisingly ignored all our attempts at followup). More recently, it has turned back inwards as the theoCons have been increasingly seeing themselves as a downtrodden persecuted minority, and they have become rather more explicitly Christian in their marketing.
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