Far-right conservatives took a loss in Tuesday’s vote for speaker of Texas’ House of Representatives. But the story of the day, from my vantage point, was the scenes of Christian extremism that emerged from the state Capitol.
For those who haven’t been following along: Texas Republicans have been at one another’s throats of late, and the ongoing civil war stems largely from the failed effort to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Late last year, then-Speaker Dade Phelan, a Republican, withdrew his bid to remain speaker after leading the impeachment effort. On Tuesday, Rep. David Cook, the candidate backed by Paxton and the more conservative of the two Republican sects, lost to a less Trumpy (albeit still conservative) opponent, Rep. Dustin Burrows, who received dozens of Democratic votes en route to victory.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wasn’t happy.
But the most disturbing outbursts came from the Christian extremists who gathered at the statehouse, where they denounced the separation of church and state — with one pastor proclaiming: “We’re going to give this space back to the Holy Spirit.”
Texas Tribune reporter Robert Downen posted a video of a prayer meeting outside the Capitol that attracted GOP politicians:
According to Downen’s dispatch in the Tribune:
Two hours after Rep. Dustin Burrows of Lubbock was elected Texas House speaker on Tuesday, Christian worshippers gathered in a Capitol meeting room to prepare for “spiritual war” and protect lawmakers from demonic forces.
“Pray for the fear of the Lord to come into this place,” Landon Schott intoned from the stage as a small band played acoustic hymns and 100 or so faithful laid their hands on walls, hoping to bless the room and ward off evil spirits. “Let the fear of the Lord return to Austin. In Jesus’ name.”
FYI: Landon Schott is a megachurch pastor in the Dallas area who associates with the Trump-friendly organization Turning Point USA. And “Jezebel” has been deployed by Christian nationalists as a racist and sexist slur against powerful women, such as Vice President Kamala Harris.
Downen’s dispatch continued:
Schott is the pastor of Mercy Culture Church in Fort Worth, and was among the Christian leaders who spent Tuesday rallying fellow believers ahead of a legislative session that they hope will further codify their conservative religious views into law. He was joined in those efforts by a throng of pastors and Republican leaders, who throughout the day claimed that church-state separation isn’t real, called progressive Christians heretics, or vowed to weed out “cowardly” clergy who refuse to politick from the pulpit.
“There is no separation between church and state,” Republican Party of Texas Chair Abraham George said at a small rally with clergy and GOP lawmakers. “We don’t want the government in our churches, but we should be in the government.”
This unabashed display of Christian nationalism is a warning about the theological rule that far-right Republicans are looking to install in Texas, and potentially elsewhere. In a ReidOut Blog post shortly after Election Day, I wrote about how Christian extremists are champing at the bit over the power they expect they’ll be given by the incoming Trump administration.
And as they seek to impose their will, there’s little reason to believe they’ll stop at the Lone Star State.