Salon columnist Amanda Marcotte has conducted a lengthy interview with author Katherine Stewart about her new book titled. "Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy."
During the interview, Stewart discusses some of the more extreme figures that she's encountered while doing research for her book, including one MAGA preacher who believes Christianity hasn't been great since the end of the Middle Ages.
"In December, I went to America Fest, which is an annual gathering put on by Turning Point USA, which had 20,000 people at the Phoenix Convention Center. This is the hardcore of the MAGA movement," Stewart said to Marcotte. "The head of Turning Point Faith is a pastor named Lucas Miles, who has described the social gospel as heretical.
"I'm paraphrasing here, but he's said that Christianity started to go off the rails in the 17th century. He says his mission is to eradicate "woke Jesus" from the American pulpit. Does he want us to go back to the ideas of pro-slavery theologians like Robert Dabney or James Henley Thornwell? Does he think that they got it right? They definitely weren't 'woke.'"
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She went on to explain that Miles sees his mission as overturning centuries' worth of Christian theology that emphasizes the importance of combatting social injustice and poverty.
"He said his mission is to eradicate 'woke Jesus' from the American pulpit, and he said he's working with a network of 3500 pastors," she said. "Many, if not most, American Christians see the social gospel as the gospel. Some of the most powerful and impactful voices in opposition to Christian nationalism are pastors and faith leaders. But this movement views their Christianity as heresy."
Stewart also said that these Christian nationalists justify their extremism by arguing that America "is on the brink of an apocalypse, owing to the rise of equality and what they call 'wokeness.'"
