Why The Left Is Terrified Of Christian Nationalism ｜ Marjorie Taylor Greene
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Summary
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) joins Jemele to discuss the rise of Christian nationalism in America and why she thinks it s a bad thing. She also explains why she doesn t think it s racist.
Transcript
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I made the mistake of reading CNN a couple of days ago, and I read a very long piece
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attacking Christian nationalism, which is apparently on the rise in America.
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And then I made another mistake. I turned over to Twitter. That's never a smart thing to do.
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And on Twitter, I see the same person trending for two different reasons.
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One of the trends was Christian nationalism. The other one was, she's a Nazi.
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And the person trending was Republican Congressman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
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So I said, well, that doesn't sound right to me. A little skeptical of those trends.
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So I thought we should invite her on to hear straight from her what she means by all these things.
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Congresswoman Greene, thank you so much for coming on.
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So first question, Twitter is forcing me to ask this.
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Are you now or have you ever been a Nazi, a national socialist?
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Yeah, apparently they can label you things you're not and lie about you and smear your character
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on Twitter. And they think that's perfectly OK. And this is what they have done to me
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ever since I became a member of Congress. And I'm really tired of it. I am.
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It hurts me. It hurts my family. It hurts my friends. And it angers them. It also upsets people
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in my district because they share the same faith that I have. I'm a Christian. And they also love
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our country just like I do. But no, I think the Nazis did horrible things. Who can identify with that?
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But that's just the name and the label that the godless left uses to try to smear someone's
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And so when they're, you know, they call everyone a Nazi. Anyone to the right of Hillary Clinton,
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they call a Nazi. But when they're going after you, they've been doing it more specifically.
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They've been going after you for the issue of Christian nationalism. And this is the, you know,
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a scare phrase du jour. So forget what CNN says about Christian nationalism. What do you say
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Well, I'm a Christian. You know, I have my full faith in God and Jesus is my savior. I'm not perfect.
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I'm definitely a sinner. I know that for sure. And that's why I put my faith in the son of God
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who died on a Roman cross so that my sins could be forgiven. And that's the profession of my faith.
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I also believe that Jesus is the son of God. And I believe the words in the Bible. That's what being
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a Christian is. Jesus's commandment, God's commandment to us is to love God first and then
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love people like we love ourselves and love him and like he loves people. So I don't see how this is
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a scary thing. It's definitely not racist. People includes all people, even the ones we don't like.
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Um, that doesn't mean that we back down and cave into their demands, uh, or, or what they want
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us to do, because I believe a lot of the things the left want are extremely wrong and sinful.
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So being a Christian isn't a, isn't a bad thing. It actually is a really good thing for, for everyone.
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Uh, being a nationalist means I just love my country. I love America. I'm proud to be an American.
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I, I, I'm elected by the people in Georgia's 14th district, and I'm, I'm very grateful and,
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and humbled to serve, uh, and represent them here in Congress, but also means that I believe that
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Americans hard-earned tax dollars should be used for America and our interests, such as securing our
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border, uh, making sure that our economy is strong, that our businesses are put force first,
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not other businesses and other countries. Um, I care about our kids. I care about our kids a lot.
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I care about our kids so much that I believe it's imperative that we protect them from the,
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the godless left and their plans to, to lie to the kids. Um, confusion, confusing them about gender,
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uh, uh, drag queens and schools, CRT, racist teaching and ideologies. Um, and I care about
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our kids future. And that means that I think that our government should be working for America's
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interests first. So I don't see how that's a bad thing. And actually, Michael, most Americans feel
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this way. Most Americans care about our country and are tired of money going over to foreign countries
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and never ending foreign wars and other countries' borders being, being cared about and ours being
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completely neglected. So these aren't radical issues. As a matter of fact, these are pretty
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common issues. Well, the way, the way you're describing it, I think that, uh, pretty much
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everybody in America could have used that term Christian nationalist until recent, certainly until
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the 1960s, probably until later. So then I guess the question, that's a good description of
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Christianity, good description of nationalism. Then the question that CNN especially is raising
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and, and that the left is, seems to be running on in the midterms is what is the relationship
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between the two, the, between the Christianity and the nationalism and what does it mean for
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everybody else? Well, what that means is if the Republican party were really to strive hard for those
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two, um, uh, ideas or ideologies or, or, or, um, what's a better word identity? Let's, let's say that
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that's what the Republican party really cared about. That means that we would care about traditional
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family values. We would care about marriage. We would care about children. We would care about,
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um, doing things that serve families. That means we would also care about people that are neglected,
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um, people, homeless people, people that are addicted to drugs, people that are being affected
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by the out of control crime. Uh, we would care about, um, funding law enforcement and, and making sure that
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prosecutions happen, not just, not just allowing police officers to try to make arrests, but yet these
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people never get prosecuted like Antifa got gets off. People can shoplift, um, like up to $900 a day in
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California with, with, with no accountability. It means we would care about truth. It means we would
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care about, um, care about holding our government accountable. It means that means that we would
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actually be serving and caring for others. And it doesn't put a race on that. It doesn't put an
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identity on that. It doesn't, doesn't put anyone first or second or last. Even it just means that
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we will care for Americans care for people here. It also means we would do things like secure our
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border that would stop the deadly flow of fentanyl coming across. That would also stop the, the human
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trafficking that is very real and happening every single day. It would also stop, uh, American cities
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and towns all over the country from being overrun by people who broke the law to come in our country.
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Uh, these are, these are all good things. It means that we will take care of one another and love one
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another. And then when you combine that with being a nationalist, that means that we will stop sending
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our hard earned tax dollars to countries that don't deserve it, uh, to dictators. It means that we would
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stop sending our, our jobs and overseas and instead would, would have policies that would help our American
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companies right here. Um, that means we would revitalize small town America everywhere because
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it's small town America that's really suffered from America last policies and the policies that took God
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out of God and prayer out of schools and, and, and has shunned people, um, and shamed them for,
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for professing their faith or being proud, uh, to pray on a football field, um, or, or anywhere in the
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classroom. It means that we would actually come together as a nation instead of be divided.
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So I don't see, I don't see how this is a bad thing, but it's very threatening to the left
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because it will truly put an end to the terrible things that they're doing to our country, especially
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to our kids. I agree. I think this is the threat to the left and I have a little bit of a theory as
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to why, which we could get to maybe a little bit later, but something you hit on here is so important
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because it seems to me the biggest objection to Christian nationalism coming from the left right
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now is that, well, what about people who aren't Christian? I guess, you know, I guess if you're
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not a nationalist, if you don't love America, you're not a patriot, then nevermind you. But what about
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people, you know, plenty of people who aren't Christians, Jews, Muslims, lots of agnostics or
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nuns, not, you know, not, uh, not talking about Catholic religious sisters, but the nuns, N-O-N-E-S.
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They don't really buy into religion at all, or at least they don't think that they don't. So in a,
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in a Christian nationalist informed political order, what about all those people?
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Those people are not left out at all. As a matter of fact, they're equal, uh, because as Christians,
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we were, we're commanded to love others as we love ourself. And there's not an identity on that.
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We're, we're, we're to love others. And, and if anything, that's, that's not a bad thing. That's
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a good thing. So it doesn't leave anyone out. It doesn't reject anyone. Um, as a matter of fact,
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it, it makes things a lot better for, for all. And, and we could argue deeper and, and compare
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different countries and, and different religions. I mean, we know what it's like in Islamic controlled
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countries where Sharia law is the law of the land. That's a very strict law. And there's no room
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for Jewish people or Christians or, or anyone that is not, not a Muslim. That's actually not a good
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thing. They have laws about that. And that's where we see severe persecutions. Look at countries like
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China, which is a completely godless country. Well, actually the government is the God, right? Um,
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there's terrible persecutions that happen there in China, especially to Christians and Muslims and,
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and, and, and people that are not obedient to the Chinese communist party, uh, and the government
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controlling everything. So we could, we could compare different countries and, and their different
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way of doing things or their different religions. But in America, you know, we were founded by very
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strong Christians. These were men of faith and it was their faith that drove them to, to write the
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declaration of independence and to sacrifice their lives, their families and their fortunes so that
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we could all have freedoms. You know, one of the greatest things, uh, that, that we believe as
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Christians is there's no greater love than this. And that is to lay down your life for another. And,
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and that's the type of people we are being Christians. So the left is extremely threatened by a,
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an idea of Christian nationalism because they know they cannot win. They cannot beat it. It defies
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everything that they are. Um, and it ultimately comes down to some very key important things,
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Michael. It's the fact that we, we refuse, we refuse to bow and give in on, on God's creation,
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which is God created us and male and female. And in his image, he created us. That's a fundamental
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truth. Uh, the other truth is this, is that God created life in the womb and being, being pro-life
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is not hateful towards women. It's actually loving towards women and, and it's protecting life. So
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being, being a Christian is, is believing those things and wanting to make, um, just to make society
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and, and, and life much better for everyone as well as putting our country first. And I believe we need
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to do that. We haven't put our country first in decades, a very, very long time. And our,
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our country is crumbling. We, we, I, as a matter of fact, I don't know how we're still making it.
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You know, we have a government that is the Democrats and, and, and a lot of my Republican
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colleagues are driving hard into this war in Ukraine. They're fighting a proxy war with Russia
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and Russia is a nuclear country. And this is, this is hurting the entire world. It's creating
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food famines. It's, it's, it's driving inflation that already existed from the out of control policies
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here in Washington. It's, it's also driving the energy prices and it's strengthening Russia. It's
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not hurting them while they're making deals with other countries like India, Saudi Arabia, China,
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and so forth. But this is the kind of America last policies that come from the establishment,
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or we can call it the uniparty here in Washington that serves Americans. Not at all. It serves us
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last. It puts Americans last and people are sick and tired of it. So this isn't a threat. Um,
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well, you've actually, it may be a threat to globalism, but it's, but it is, it's the greatest
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This I think is really why the left is so hyper-focused on making a boogeyman out of
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Christian nationalism right now. What is the opposite of nationalism? The opposite of nationalism
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in our current world political order is globalism. And what is the opposite of leftism? Well, the
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opposite of leftism is Christianity. The very term, the left, as we think about it, comes from the
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French revolution. It comes from the people who sat on the left of the national assembly. Those were the
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people who opposed the church, who opposed Christianity in France. They were the leftists.
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They were the very first leftists. And so the opposite of Christian nationalism seems pretty
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clearly to me is leftist globalism. And that's, that's what they're after. That's what they've
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been pushing for many decades now. And so when you see such a precise threat to that, something with
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that very name, Christian nationalism, you could see how, how they would freak out and make a,
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make a big stink about this and try to misinterpret it or misrepresent it. But I think you've, you know,
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you've explained it quite fully what you mean by this term Christian nationalism, what a lot of other
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people mean. The other aspect of this that I'm, I'm sure you're seeing in Washington is if you're
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afraid of a Christian country, just wait until you see a non-Christian country. If you, you know,
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Everybody seems to have some kind of religion. The idea that we're transgendering eight-year-olds now
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and pretending that the soul has nothing to do with the body and a toddler should go to drag
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queen story hour. These are moral and religious claims. They just ain't Christian. And I tell you,
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if you offer me those two things, the great drag queen story hour for two-year-olds or a Christian
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society, I think everybody really regardless of your background or even your particular religious
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practice, you're going to choose the Christian society, right?
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Oh, of course, of course they will, because let's look at what the left is doing. And I call them
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the godless left because they are godless. Any, any group of people, any kind of movement, any kind of
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political order that, that is, believes in using our tax dollars. And they've done this through grants,
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using Americans' hard-earned tax dollars to, to perform mastectomies, to castrate,
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to castrate teenage boys or younger, to provide testosterone treatment for girls as young as eight
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years old. This is evil. It's completely evil. Children need to be protected. They need to be
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allowed to grow up. They don't need to be brainwashed into these type of lies. That is so evil. Any type of
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political movement or group that is constantly lying to women and trying to tell them that killing the
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unborn baby in their womb is women's health care is such an, it's such an evil lie. I'm telling them
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that they should pursue a career where they end up childless later on in life and maybe never get
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married. That, that is so awful. That is a destructive, but let's look at them even further. This is the,
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this, the same group of people, the Democrats or the left, we'll just go with the, the left that,
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that forced everyone to take a vaccine, forced everyone to be masked, forced everyone to stay
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inside where suicides increased. Um, crime has gone out of control. People are taking more
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antidepressants and SSRIs than they ever have in history. And this isn't, this isn't a party or an
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ideology. The left doesn't care about people. They don't care about people. As a matter of fact,
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everything they're doing is destructive. It's destructive to people, but Christian nationalism
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is not destructive. Not at all. In, in, in, in, in a Christian nationalist society, this is where
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people are, are cared about. They're protected. They're helped. Um, this is where we, we provide
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shelter for the, the homeless. We provide, we provide food for the hungry. We provide clothes for
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those that don't have any, we provide skills and training for people that need to learn how to get
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a job. And just like pregnancy, women's pregnancy resource center centers. This is where we provide
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women with help when they became pregnant and, uh, and, and didn't plan to this. This is the kind of
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people we are in Christian nationalist is, is not the boogeyman. It's, it's not what they're trying
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to make it out to be, but it is the greatest threat. And, and you know what, I think we live
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in a time right now, Michael, where people need God more than ever, more than ever. We have, we have
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young people, especially young women that, that look to ideas and look at themselves in a way they
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never should. They don't, they don't recognize the real beauty, uh, that they have inside of them
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and that they are, and they strive to be something that they're not. We have young men, uh, men in our
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society are basically last on the list. Men are, boys are told to sit still in school and they're not
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appreciated for who they are. Uh, men are told they, they have to wait their turn and let everyone and
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every other identity go first before they ever get a chance. And I believe that's completely wrong.
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And then they try to tell men that their masculinity is toxic. And I believe that is completely wrong.
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Uh, we're living in a time where our, our, our unique, uh, separate, um, identities as men and women,
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uh, is totally abandoned where women, the good thing about us is we are nurturing and, and we are caring
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and we have these great roles. And then men also are leaders and are strong and, and women need that
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from men. And these, these great unique, um, identities and men and women are not appreciated
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anymore and not celebrated. We're living in a time where more marriages, uh, end in divorce and then
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make it. And that's tragic. It's tragic for everyone. So, um, yeah, Christian nationalism is
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probably the scariest thing that the left has ever heard of. And they're going to do everything they
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can to lie to everyone and make it out to something it's not. Well, even just that point, you mentioned
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more Americans than ever on anti-depression drugs. I think the number is one in eight Americans are on
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the anti-depression drugs, even among teenagers, 12 to 19 years old. It's something like one in 29.
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You're seeing the American life expectancy decrease now several years in a row, first time ever. And
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the reason for that is that, uh, you have deaths of despair, suicides, drug overdoses. So obviously just,
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just from a descriptive point of view, the kids are not all right. People are sadder. They're,
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they're in, in despair. And so you need some kind of hopes. Clearly we're not going in the right
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direction. When you say people want God, it reminds me of that scene going all the way back to the Cold
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War, right toward the end of the Cold War. Pope John Paul II shows up in Poland. Poland had been under
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the thumb of the godless regime of the Soviet Union, Soviet communism for years. Pope John Paul II shows
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up to do an open air mass, to celebrate the mass. And millions of Poles come out there and they chant,
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we want God. We want God. It's one of the most incredible sites of the 20th century.
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Now my question for you, before I let you go, I know I'm already keeping you late. My question for you is,
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you're, you keep coming back to this religious point. And I think it's an important one.
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As the great political philosopher Bob Dylan said, everybody's got to serve somebody. You always
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have to have some kind of religious views informing your politics. All politics ultimately is theological
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because you're making decisions about what's good and bad and right and wrong. Whether we're talking
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about the criminal justice system, whether we're talking about parking tickets, you're always making
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these moral distinctions. That's what politics is. So, so my question for you then is, with these
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rising numbers of people who are agnostic, who are leaving churches, who are leaving other religions
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for that matter too, it's not just Christianity, who are turning away from God. Do you think that
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we want God is a winning political message? Or do you think that the kind of forces of secularism,
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atheism, despair, do you think that those are on the rise?
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Well, I think, I think the message of we want God or people's yearning, yearning for God is,
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is far more than a political message. It couldn't even be defined that way because God can't be
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defined that way. I think it is the, the connection between mankind and our creator God that can never,
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ever be separated. And in the dark days that we are living in, I mean, we are living in times where I
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know you and I both, and so many people never thought that we could, could see a day where
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everything that is right is, is labeled wrong and, and, and the world is upside down and where lies
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are just openly told, uh, openly told and presented as truth. And this is, this is such evil. And it's
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in evil times is this where people yearn that connection with, with their creator, our creator,
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God, and it's unstoppable. It is absolutely unstoppable. And God yearns back for that
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relationship with us. And so my, my full belief is this, Michael, is if we're Christians, we are told
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we, you know, we're a light and we are not to put a shade over it and we're not to cover it up.
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It's to be up on a hilltop and to be, to be shown brightly. It doesn't mean that we're perfect. And it
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doesn't mean that we should be judgmental of others. It doesn't mean that, um, that even that
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we're always right sometimes in our thinking, but it does mean that we, we have a duty and, and, and a
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commandment and we have to be obedient to what we're told to do. And that is to share our faith with
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others, especially in times like this, because people need it. People need to know that they are
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loved by God and, and that all that's happening to them now. And, and maybe what they're seeing
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happen in their lives, that that's not what God intended for them. And he loves them far more than
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that. And he sent his son, uh, to die so that their sins could be forgiven. So there there's
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relationship there and to have communion and community with one another. These are all wonderful
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things and we should talk about them and we should talk about them boldly. We should never back down off
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of it. We should be courageous in our faith and we should persevere on no matter what the godless
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line left says about, uh, people like us, you know, people like me, I'm, I'm tired of being attacked.
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That's why I'm just wide open about it. Um, I'm also not going to back down. I'm attacked every day
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because I say, no, there's only two genders. You know, I'm attacked in my office building. I'm attacked,
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uh, where they try to say it's a hate crime for me to say stuff like that. Well, I believe it's a hate
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crime. What they're doing is lying about gender and what they're doing to children. That is, those
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are hate crimes. And so I believe it's, it's fundamental for us to, to be loving and kind
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to one another, but it's also extremely important to stop allowing the lines to be blurred. Truth is
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truth. And we have to, we have to fight for it and hold onto it. I like, I like your observation. I mean,
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this is something that Christian thinkers have known, but even non-Christian thinkers have understood that
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man has a natural longing for God. That is true in all places, at all times, throughout all of
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history. And, uh, there, and then there is a kind of political implication to this too, which is for
00:25:03.640
most, the vast majority of American history, we have viewed politics through a Christian lens,
00:25:10.880
through the lens of a Christian moral framework, through the lens of Christianity broadly, going
00:25:17.320
back all the way to the pilgrims on the Mayflower and all the way up until very recent decades.
00:25:20.660
In recent decades, there has been a concerted effort by leftist radicals to upend all of that.
00:25:26.600
And if you, if you judge the tree by its fruit, you look at the fruit of what that cultural
00:25:30.320
revolution has caused, people are not flourishing in the way they once were. People are more miserable.
00:25:35.600
People are more despondent. The country is, is really not better off because of that radical
00:25:41.600
ideology. So maybe it's time to revisit a little bit of the wisdom of the past and the things that
00:25:47.240
have made America great in the past. Hopefully they can. Again, Congresswoman Green, thank you so much
00:25:52.140
for coming on the show. Very much appreciate it. Thank you, Michael. I enjoyed it.