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Writer's pictureAndy McIlvain

Jesus & John Wayne: Author Kristin Du Mez (Part 1)

Updated: Sep 4, 2023


Video from unenlightenment


Jesus & John Wayne: Author Kristin Du Mez (Part 1)

"Interview podcast with Kristin Kobbes Du Mez: Jesus and John Wayne How white evangelicals corrupted a faith and fractured a nation." from video introduction.


A lot as been written about our current state of affairs in America. It is a complicated subject.

The role of politics has superseded even faith for many people in America. And the strange devolution of the Republican party is at the forefront. Many Christians, claiming the now obtuse if not confusing label of Evangelical are front and center in this movement.

I personally abhor the label as it stands now in America, but that's just me.

There is no disagreement that as Christians we must be active and involved in culture and in politics. The rub comes when if seems (and I may be wrong) that many Christians have replaced Christ with Trump. I do not understand this fanatical loyalty to him. I personally will not have any loyalty to any man other than Christ.


“For nearly fifty years,” Du Mez writes, “evangelicals were looking for a protector, an aggressive, heroic, manly man, someone who wasn’t restrained by political correctness or feminine virtues, someone who would break the rules for the right cause.” Trump satisfied their lust for a new prophet by vowing to lead them out of the secular wilderness. He became their ultimate fighting champion.' from the article: The Truth About Trump’s Evangelical Support


Has Du Mez given the subject and objective critique? Like everyone she has her confirmation bias and of course when you go looking for the worst examples you can find them. To label all Evangelicals as Trump cultists would not be fair or objective.


"In our attempt to root out damaging forces of prejudice and extremism, we are in danger of convicting evangelicalism of a crime it has not committed, or at least has not committed alone. The forces that led to the misogyny Kobes du Mez details and to the events at the Capitol are multi-factorial. To flatten the story by giving it a sole author would be to miss the details entirely. It is not simply that “truth is stranger than fiction” that concerns me. Rather it is that religion is not a pure spring from which we draw. All of our engagements with religious belief and practice are mediated through culture, geographic location, political and socioeconomic factors. Evangelicalism, too, is diverse in all of these ways, and to tell a true story of it requires attending to multiple lenses. I am not calling for us to tell a flattering story of the movement, but I would like to tell a slightly more complex one." from the article: Missing the Subtler Yet Greater Problem: Replying to “Jesus and John Wayne”


Lets not blame all American Christians for this crazy political climate we are in. I understand the "transactional" reasons for voting yet I personally will not vote in that way. This video from The Australian Christian Lobby explains better than I can.



Video from Australian Christian Lobby The Truth of It | Trump's Impact | Ep. 55


"I understand what he is saying. My personal view has always been that no matter how much perceived good he has done his reckless and immoral actions have destroyed far more, its just not worth it. And when a portion of America copies this what I call depraved point of view we are, again in my opinion one step closer to collapse as a nation.

Tomorrow Part 2." from video introduction




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