![]() The instrument used in some Jewish worship services has been adopted by the far right, and several people blew shofars to open the conference. Read more: Michael Flynn: From Government Insider to Holy WarriorĪ man holds high a shofar as the crowd prays inside the tent during the ReAwaken America tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Friday, Aug. Life-saving vaccines are creating “a damn genocide.” “The enemy wants to muzzle you,” another speaker warned. Homosexuals and pedophiles are classified in the same category: sinful people who don’t honor God. Immigrants are rushing over the border “to take your place,” one said. From the stage, speakers stirred up fear and hatred. Inside a revival tent set up outside, people sat in white folding chairs packed so tightly the rows between were nearly impassable. The Batavia show was staged on the grounds of a church, after faith and community leaders in nearby Rochester told organizers they weren’t welcome. ![]() ReAwaken often appears in churches with speakers addressing attendees from the pulpit. It’s “a pep rally on spiritual steroids” said Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a history professor at Calvin University in Michigan, who studies evangelicalism. Those who are considered evil include government officials and Democrats. ReAwaken acts as a petri dish for Christian nationalism and pushes the idea that there’s a battle underway between good and evil forces. People cheer and applaud in the main tent during the ReAwaken America tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Friday, Aug. This story is part of an ongoing investigation from The Associated Press and FRONTLINE that includes the upcoming documentary Michael Flynn’s Holy War, premiering Oct. She said the ReAwaken cause is “a partisan political cause, and the cause here is to spread misinformation, to perpetuate the big lie and to have a different result next time in the next election.” And that is a promise of religious freedoms for all,” said Amanda Tyler, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee, which advocates for religious freedom. “Christian nationalism really undermines and attacks foundational values in American democracy. But it’s a message that is taking hold.Ī poll by the University of Maryland conducted in May found that 61% of Republicans support declaring the U.S. It’s a message repeated over and over at ReAwaken - one that upends the constitutional ideal of a pluralist democracy. Instead, it’s under attack, and attendees need to fight to restore the nation’s Christian roots. ![]() In the version of America laid out at the ReAwaken tour, Christianity should be at the center of American life and institutions. The tour serves as a traveling roadshow and recruiting tool for an ascendant Christian nationalist movement that’s wrapped itself in God, patriotism and politics and has grown in power and influence inside the Republican Party. Since early last year, the ReAwaken America Tour has carried its message of a country under siege to tens of thousands of people in 15 cities and towns. Attendees and speakers still insist - against all evidence and dozens of court rulings - that Donald Trump rightfully won. Capitol failed to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. ![]() ReAwaken America was launched by Flynn, a former White House national security adviser, and Oklahoma entrepreneur Clay Clark a few months after the Jan. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)įlynn warned the crowd that they were in the midst of a “spiritual war” and a “political war” and urged people to get involved. A woman prays as she faces an American flag on the perimeter fence at the ReAwaken America tour at Cornerstone Church in Batavia, N.Y., Saturday, Aug.
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