'Far-right road shows' are turning Christian churches into hotbeds of insurrection: conservative

According to longtime political columnist David French, the next insurrection is likely being planned at a church that has been inviting Christian nationalists to visit and make their case.

In his column for the Dispatch titled, "The Seeds of Political Violence Are Being Sown in Church," French -- who has often written about his Christian beliefs -- warned that so-called "Christian road-shows" are hitting the churches and are having a frightening influence on parishioners.

"If you think it’s remotely unusual that a truly extremist event (which included more than one person who’d called for hanging his political opponents) was held at a church, then you’re not familiar with far-right road shows that are stoking extremism in church after church at event after event," French wrote before asking, "It is always difficult to know when and how to cover extremism. Does highlighting a fringe provide an artificial sense of their danger and strength, in much the same way that 'nutpicking' works in online spaces to exaggerate the extremism of your opponents? Or does ignoring a fringe allow it to flourish outside the spotlight and shock the nation when it finally emerges?"

The answer, he claimed, is that with the growth of Christian nationalism "the bar for concern has been passed by any conceivable measure."

"When a movement is strong enough to storm the Capitol, then it is worth continued monitoring and continued concern. Moreover, it’s important to understand why it continues to flourish, and why it is so difficult to understand, much less combat," he explained before cautioning, "We have to be careful."

"When dealing with a potentially insurrectionary subculture, it’s important to separate it from the population. Wrongly tie them to the mainstream, and members of the mainstream may wrongly see the insurrectionists as allies," he advised. " But underreaction can be dangerous too. We know that fanatical religious subcultures can do an immense amount of damage to the body politic. We know that they can be both deadly and destabilizing. A Christian political movement that’s so focused on the threat from the left can often unwittingly facilitate the rise of radicals, through sins of both commission and omission."

According to French, Christians should already be fully cognisant -- after Jan 6th of last year -- that the far-right has already shown itself to be "vicious," and that silence is an iffy option.

"Silence is the safe course. For all the (legitimate) talk of cancel culture from the left, many Christians self-censor out of fear of the right. They know Michael Flynn is dangerous, but saying so out loud carries a cost. So they remain silent. They stay in their anti-left lane," he wrote. " The proper response to fear and fanaticism is reason and faith. It’s demonstrating by word and deed that the response even to the worst forms of extremism on the left is not to stampede to extremism on the other side. But we have to know what we face, and what we face is a Christian subculture that is full of terrible religious purpose. The seeds of renewed political violence are being sown in churches across our land."

You can read more here.