New York Times: “More than any top American military leader in recent history, Mr. Hegseth has framed U.S. military operations in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America as bigger than politics or foreign policy. Often he has imbued these actions with a Christian moral underpinning that suggests they are divinely sanctioned.”
“It is this view of a higher power, married to lethal American firepower, that Mr. Hegseth says gives him confidence that the United States will prevail in Iran.”
Washington Post: “Republican politicians are ramping up attacks on Muslims and facing few political consequences, and sometimes seeing political benefit, unnerving civil rights advocates and signaling a new normal of open Islamophobia heading into campaign season.”
“Rather than rebuke broad criticism of Muslims in the wake of terrorism — as President George W. Bush once did after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 — GOP leaders have allowed the most blatant anti-Muslim comments to go largely unchallenged.”
“Muslims don’t belong in American society. Pluralism is a lie.”
— Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN), on X.
“Christian nationalism is now deeply entrenched inside today’s Republican Party, according to a sweeping 50-state survey,” Axios reports.
“The once-fringe ideology holds that the U.S. was founded as a Christian nation and should be governed according to strict Christian values, even as the country becomes less religious and more racially diverse.”
Key finding: 56% of all Republicans are Christian nationalism “adherents” or “sympathizers.”
Steve Bannon, a former White House adviser to President Donald Trump, discussed opposition strategies with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein against Pope Francis, with Bannon saying he hoped to “take down” the pontiff, CNN reports.
Peter Wehner: “The spirit of love and reconciliation that Jesus of Nazareth taught 2,000 years ago was not particularly evident in the words of the president. Of course, it never has been. No matter. The audience of some 3,500—the great majority of whom undoubtedly claim to be followers of Jesus—responded to Trump’s remarks with a standing ovation.”
“Mike Johnson is a very religious person. He does not hide it. He’ll say to me sometimes at lunch, ‘Sir, may we pray.’ I’ll say, ‘Excuse me? We’re having lunch.'”
— President Trump, speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast.
The Texas State Board of Education is close to backing a plan “that would make Texas the first state in the country to mandate all public school students read passages of the Bible, the Houston Chronicle reports.
Peter Wehner: “Trump is causing incalculable damage to the Christian faith, yet most evangelicals will never break with him.”
The Economist: “Researchers have found that services like this one, at America’s biggest church, can leave people feeling like they are high on drugs. It is perhaps no surprise then that while most American churches are struggling to fill pews, megachurches—the 1,800 or so with Hollywood-style production and mesmerising crowds—are only getting bigger.”
“In the past five years Americans have flocked to the sprawling suburbs of the sunbelt where these churches thrive. When small churches shut during the pandemic, the big ones were ready to absorb their congregants. Today, although most churches have fewer than 100 members, 70% of people attend the largest 10%. The product that they sell is changing Christianity in America.”
“The megachurch business model is all about growth.”
The Economist: “The strain on MAGA has been growing for months, accelerated by Kirk’s murder and the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein files. The disputes may seem like petty recriminations among a MAGA media elite that is much more comfortable in opposition than in power.”
“But they also reveal a broader fight within the Republican Party. As the right begins to look past Mr Trump and debate the party’s future, they are brawling over how big the conservative movement’s tent should be.”
“The Trump administration celebrated Christmas on Thursday by posting a series of religious messages from official government accounts, using language that drew criticism from those who pointed to the country’s separation of church and state,” the New York Times reports.
“While many lawmakers in both parties posted universal messages of love, joy and peace on the holiday, a number of cabinet members and agencies made references to Jesus and the religious meaning of Christmas.”
Gallup: “The 17-point drop in the percentage of U.S. adults who say religion is an important part of their daily life — from 66% in 2015 to 49% today — ranks among the largest Gallup has recorded in any country over any 10-year period since 2007.”
“About half of Americans now say religion is not an important part of their daily life.”
Vice President JD Vance, who drew scrutiny this week by saying he hopes his Hindu wife converts to Christianity, pushed back against critics, accusing them of “anti-Christian bigotry,” the Washington Post reports.
Said Vance: “Most Sundays, Usha will come with me to church. Do I hope eventually that she is somehow moved by the same thing that I was moved in by church? Yeah, I honestly do wish that. Because I believe in the Christian Gospel, and I hope eventually my wife comes to see it the same way.”
“The Anglican Church in North America — forged from the headline-grabbing conservative revolt against the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop — is now confronting allegations by clergy and parishioners against two of its top leaders: One is accused of sexual misconduct, while the other allegedly abused his power by allowing men with troubling histories into the church,” the Washington Post reports.
Tech billionaire Peter Thiel recently warned that Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and critics of technology or artificial intelligence are “legionnaires of the Antichrist” in private lectures on Christianity that connected government oversight of Silicon Valley to an apocalyptic future, the Washington Post reports.
“In the four, roughly two-hour lectures, which began last month and culminated Monday at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, Thiel laid out his religious views to a sold-out audience told to keep the contents ‘off-the-record.'”
“He argued that those who propose limits on technology development not only hinder business but threaten to usher in the destruction of the United States and an era of global totalitarian rule, according to the recordings.”
The poorest countries are also the most religious. And the countries with higher GDP are more secular.
However, there’s a pretty big outlier: The United States.
“Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion’, but is in favor of the death penalty, is not really pro-life. Someone who says ‘I’m against abortion, but I’m in agreement with the inhuman treatment of immigrants who are in the United States’, I don’t know if that’s pro-life.”
— Pope Leo, quoted by the Catholic News Service.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.