The deliverance of the administrative state: deep state conspiracism,charismatic demonology,and the post-truth politics of American Christian nationalism

ABSTRACT

This article uses discourse analysis to explore the intersection of spiritual warfare demonology and Christian nationalism among Trump-supporting neo-charismatic evangelicals. Analysing public materials produced during and after the 2016 US presidential campaign, it demonstrates how demonologies operate discursively to categorise, comprehend, and contest understandings of American identity and destiny. Situating spiritual warfare demonology in relation to narratives of ‘post-truth politics’ as the destabilisation of neoliberal consensus reality, the article explores how charismatic evangelicals position Trump’s election as a divine assault on a demoniac status quo, epitomised in the conspiratorial figure of the ‘Deep State.’ Examining demonologies of the ‘state’ and ‘border’ as joint arenas of epistemic and societal contestation, the article shows how spiritual warfare discourses seek to (re)define sociocultural notions of truth and falsity and thereby (de)legitimise specific gendered, sexualised, and racialised forms of being and belonging.     

Phenomenology of the trickster archetype,U.S. electoral politics and the Black Lives Matter movement

This paper examines the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement in cultural, historical and relational contexts at the intersection of the U.S. Civil Rights movement, U.S. Civil Rights legislation, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and reforms thereto in the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision of Shelby County v Holder, 570 U.S.529 (2013). The intergenerational relations between the BLM movement and these ongoing movements for civil and human rights is underscored. In the wake of protests about the sadistic murder of George Floyd, an unarmed African American man, by a Caucasian police officer, the BLM movement has been mischaracterized as an affront to law and order by the Trump-led U.S. administration. The mischaracterization was a re-election campaign effort designed to ignite ‘white fear’, ‘white rage’ and to defend police brutality and systemic racism. Analytical psychology and the phenomenology of the trickster archetype, as amplified from the African-centric perspective in the Yoruba deity Esu-Elegba, are employed to interrogate partisan obstructionist behaviours that assault multicultural democracy in both contemporary U.S. electoral politics and the political economy. The paper concludes with a brief note on the social activism of Fair Fight Georgia and the integration of its agenda into the BLM movement.     

The Liberating Awareness

The purpose of this article is to reflect on the search for racial justice as a call from God, using biblical readings and documents produced by the World Council of Churches (WCC). It is anchored in the increasingly intense challenges that emerge in this respect in Brazil, a country whose Indigenous peoples were annihilated in its colonization process, and which up until the 19th century received the largest flow of enslaved Africans in the world. The article combines the Latin American methodology “See, Judge, Act” with the theological methodology of the WCC's Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace and its three steps: “Celebrating Gifts,” “Visiting the Wounds,” and “Transforming Injustice.” The first part of the paper reflects the “See” and exposes the expressions of everyday racism in Brazil. The second part presents the “Judge,” seeking references to the challenge of racial justice in the Bible and in ecumenical reflection. The third and final section, “Act,” reflects on the possibility for transforming racial injustices, sharing experiences from Brazil as well as one of the Pilgrim Team Visits organized by the WCC in 2019.     

Zero-sum beliefs shape advantaged allies’ support for collective action

Three studies (N₁ = 1,019; N₂ = 312; N₃ = 494) tested whether seeing intergroup relations as inherently antagonistic shaped advantaged social groups’ allyship intentions. More specifically, we tested whether endorsing zero-sum beliefs related to their willingness to support system-challenging and system-supporting collective action. Zero-sum beliefs were negatively correlated with system-challenging and positively correlated with system-supporting collective action intentions. Zero-sum beliefs were more common among advantaged than disadvantaged groups and translated into lower allyship intentions. Advantaged group members with higher levels of zero-sum beliefs were also more likely to experience anger and fear when considering the demographic racial shift in the United States. Increased fear was associated with greater support for system-supporting and lower support for system-challenging collective action. We find consistent evidence that advantaged group members see intergroup relations as a zero-sum game and that these beliefs are negatively related to their intentions to become allies.     

Asian and Non-Asian Attitudes Toward Rape,Sexual Harassment,and Sexuality

The purpose of this study was to explore potential differences between Asian and non-Asian university students in attitudes toward coercive and noncoercive sexual behavior. Four hundred women and men (205 Asian, 195 non-Asian) were assessed on attitudes towards rape, sexual harassment, and general sexual behavior. Length of residency in Canada for Asian respondents was examined to determine whether Westernization might attenuate differences. Analysis revealed that Asian students were significantly more conservative in attitudes toward sexual behavior. Asian students were also more tolerant of rape myths and more accepting of sexual harassment. Asian respondents demonstrated a decrease in tolerance for rape myths and sexual harassment as length of residency in Canada increased. Women were less conservative than men from the same background on almost all items.     

Injecting a Woman's Voice: Conservative Women's Organizations,Gender Consciousness,and the Expression of Women's Policy Preferences

Scholars have argued that gender consciousness may be the important link between gender identity and the expression of political interests. Ultimately, however, these studies explain feminist political behavior and leave the impression that only feminist women articulate a woman's perspective on policy issues. In this article I demonstrate the coherence between gender identity and policy preferences for two national conservative women's organizations, the Concerned Women for America and the Independent Women's Forum. I show that conservative women are also gender conscious public-policy advocates. Using data gathered from organizational literature, participant observation, and in-depth interviews with organizational leaders, I show how conservative women have collectively organized as women and framed their policy goals in terms of women's interests. As such, I demonstrate a clear and profound link between gender identity and politicization among conservative women activists, suggesting the need to reconsider how we understand and define gender consciousness and women's policy activism.     

Adjusting To a New Racial Climate: Maintenance of Personal Integrity

This paper will focus on the writer’s experience as a native New Yorker relocating to Montgomery, Alabama. The writer will share how he adjusted and coped with overt discrimination and racism in the context of the high school in which he attended there-a majority white high school on the “other” side of town. The writer will share how he employed the following coping mechanisms as methods of adjusting to his new environment: translating emotional experiences into words (relaxation and talk therapy), involvement with other black positive peers, careful assessment before acting, withdrawal and avoidance, and consuming African-American literature.     

Racial Differences in Responses to the Caregiver Strain Questionnaire

The aim of this study was to examine differences in responses to the Caregiver Strain Questionnaire (CGSQ) between African American and White caregivers of children with emotional and behavioral challenges. Significant item- and scale-level differences were detected across groups with African Americans consistently reporting less strain. We examined whether these differences were more likely due to nonequivalent measurement than to real differences in the experience of caregiver strain. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the model fit the data well for both racial groups, but there were some differences in structural components. Internal consistency was equivalent across the groups. In an examination of criterion validity, regression analyses showed that African American caregivers experienced a slower rate of increase in objective caregiver strain at a given increase in child internalizing problems. No other race differences were found in the regression analyses. In general, we conclude that the CGSQ can be useful for detecting caregiver strain and identifying family support needs for both White and African American caregivers. Differences across groups in reports of caregiver strain, however, call for more research on racial differences in the impact on the family of caring for a child with emotional and behavioral disorders.