So this happened to me this week. Specifically the response to this thread. Pretty wild.

Remember, this 4th of July holiday weekend:

✅ Jesus refuses to be your mascot, unless you are on the side of the vulnerable and left out
✅ You can be patriotic without embracing Christian Nationalism

"On Tyranny" is a #1 NYT bestseller again. I wish the moment were different. But I’m glad the book is useful. And grateful for all the kind words about putting the 20 lessons to work.
snyder.substack.com/p/twenty-les...

Pastors and church leaders play a critical role in helping folks untangle faithful Christianity & political theology from far-right extremist ideology. 1/

Here’s why Vance is making claims about religious discrimination in the UK:

The far-right is the UK has very little political power. Minuscule compared to the far-right in Germany, France, and the US.

Christians are not persecuted in the US. The mentality that they are is insulting to Christian around the world who are actually persecuted.

Being a pastor, and speaking the truth to powerful people in ways that afflict their power and comfort means those same people will demand an apology from you for making them feel uncomfortable.

They can take that up with the Spirit, I suppose.

When one is living in a distorted reality of one’s own making, when another speaks the truth firmly but with kindness, it feels like an attack. Evil feels attacked by the truth.

This comment is about Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde inviting Trump to have mercy on the fearful and vulnerable among us.

How to tell if a movement is authoritarian (a hunch)?

The movement doesn’t produce any creative artistic expression. They simply regurgitate relics of the past.

In contrast, movements of freedom & liberty provoke artistic expression and creativity. New artifacts accompany & spur on the movement.

Watching The Music Man, which is about a conman who swindles ordinary people out of their $$ & community trust by stoking fear, distracting them with song and dance, and using his charm and fast talk tactics to keep the authorities at bay.

Definitely no parallels to modern US society 😳

Out of roughly 153 million votes cast in this election, the presidency was decided by 230k across the three states of Wisconsin (30k), Michigan (80k) and Pennsylvania (120k). That's 00.15%.

This remains an extremely closely divided nation. Any agenda viewed as extreme is likely to face backlash.

Christian nationalism, when you get past the bluster, is never about fidelity to Christ and the coming Kingdom.

It’s about power and control.

I think a lot about what it takes for pastors to resist the worst cultural impulses, especially when many churches and church-goers go along with them.

What does a faithful and resilient Christianity look like?

Pastors who resisted fascism in 1930s Germany are the ones we study and learn from today.

We don't read or learn from the pastors who went along with the Nazi takeover of German society and the German church.

We read the ones who resisted.

We learn from the courageous ones.

I’m heading to DC for the week for work. I really enjoy getting to spend time in our nation’s capital. It’s a truly remarkable and inspiring place.

Please know there are millions of us in DC and around the country working to resist the worst impulses of the next administration. We won’t back down.

Reporting for duty. I’m interested in:
-Christianity & theological practice/reflection
-food + cooking
-international travel
-football, esp. EFL + @arsenalfc.bsky.social
-France
-countering far-right extremism
-music
-writing
-anyone trying to live out the Way of Jesus in these neo-fascist times