When Nazis Took Manhattan : Code Switch : NPR

From the very beginning in America, Christian nationalism was branded extremism. Particularly Massachusetts Puritanism. All churches were branded dens of sin and ungodly if they didn’t belong to Massachusetts Puritanism. The story can be traced back to Boston, England.

A loose-living minister was tired of being hauled before the towns strict Puritan magistrates. This minister believed he could behave how he wanted, and didn’t want to conform to the Churches rules. He believed individual churches should be autonomous and preach whatever they

like. He was asked to questioned by the law of the Church of England. He went into hiding and didn’t attend the hearing. 76 ministers who believed they should teach whatever they wanted left England for New England before 1640. In these churches in New England, the sermons

were like lectures as opposed to readings from the Bible. They were based on what these ministers believed should help shape the country. They were political. Massachusetts was raw and new. They could shape the country based on their beliefs. They wanted extremism. They didn’t

start Christianity based upon the gospels. They wanted a Christianity based on the laws of the Old Testament??? They banned smoking in public places. Households were told to destroy dice and cards, they policed the Sabbath, instituted the death penalty for adultery and

This is a thread I have been wanting to write, but it needed to come from a place of logic and truth and not just words. It is yet another one of my Christianity threads. However, this one will really focus on politicians that use Christianity to attain power.

We have politicians who in one tweet say very divisive words like “radical left” and their next tweet is a Bible quote, think Rubio. I have explained in the past that many Americans call themselves Christians based upon the fact that that they are white and American only. “I am

an American and a proud Christian.” This is Christian nationalism. They don’t actually follow Jesus or what he represents. It’s the same as someone who is born in Iraq, they are Muslim based upon it being the predominant religion of the country. There are those that practice

their religion and others that do not.
But what I want to highlight is the evil that comes from those who only use a religion for power. And it really highlights two things.
1. Evil using religion
2. The literal meaning of the Bible.
Now theologians and Biblical scholars

state that the Bible isn’t literal. It’s what they study. But we have evangelicals who say that it is a literal word of God. But there are issues here. They don’t take the whole Bible literal, they choose parts to take literally. But here’s the issue. If these people say we must

“Liberal” “Liberal Hoax.” The conservative buzzword to denounce the left. We don’t mind, we reply with liberal quotes such as JFK. However, why is it a ridiculous thing for conservatives to say? Particularly conservative Christians??? Because the word is Biblical.

The King James Version of 1611 of the Bible contains the word liberal. In the American King James Bible also contained the word liberal. But why was this word so important to Christianity and particularly America? Particularly the King James Bible?

First, the King James Bible was the break from the Catholic Church. For the Puritans, Presbyterians and Methodists who came to America, this was important and important because of the vision for America. There have been comments that “Jesus was a liberal.” But these are not just

comments. It’s Biblical. To understand this connection, you have to read and understand the Old Testament and the prophecy of Isaiah. Isaiah prophesied the coming of the Messiah. And his prophecy was what his followers saw in Jesus. This messiah would be a liberal. Isaiah 32

is the reign of righteousness. The blessings from the coming king. But this first prophecy was of Hezekiah, the time of the Assyrian invasion of Judah. What qualities would a king have? Liberal qualities. Really, the qualities were liberal??

When you are struggling, whether it’s problems at work, low self-esteem, conflicts in your relationships, etc, it feels much better to funnel your negative energy into blaming someone else than to confront your own role in your problems. A lot of people join hate groups because

it allows them to funnel the blame for all of their problems into another group of people while being supported by a group of people who share their beliefs and make them feel like they belong.

Many other people join hate groups because it fills their need for friendship and belonging. You don’t need to do or be anything special, all you have to do is be negative towards other people. It feels easy. Likewise, some people find it easier to make connections by putting

others down and seeing who agrees than to prove to people that they are interesting and valuable companions.

When someone new enters a group, particularly if they are in a position of influence, many people immediately begin gossiping negative things about the person because they fear how that individual will change their group dynamics. Sharing hatred toward the new person is a way

On April 12, 1922, Hitler gave a speech to a crowd in Munich proclaiming he was a Christian, “My Christian feeling directs me to my Lord and saviour as a fighter. As a Christian I have the duty for the truth and what is right.” His supporters believed him

They stated, “Hitler said it, I believe it, that settles it.”

Joseph Goebbels knew Hitler to be anti-Christian, in his diary entries, Hitler in reality wanted to destroy the churches. He saw Christianity as a symptom of decay, a strata deposited by the Jewish race.

Hitler was a deceptive politician who knew how to woo voters. He pandered to religious sensibilities. It is known that Hitler would lie if it would benefit him. In the mid 1930’s he assured people he had no aggressive intentions. Even when he annexed Austria, he assured the world

that he had no other designs whilst encouraging Germans leaders in Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland region to foment unrest in the country as a country of unrest will accept anything.

This week, 33 years ago, Thomas Sankara, the revolutionary leader of Burkina Faso, was assassinated in a French-backed coup. He aspired to an egalitarian, feminist society, and an economy built on self-sufficiency, ecological regeneration, and independence from Western powers.

As debt crises mount across Africa, his ideas are more vital now than ever. I wrote about Sankara's legacy in these two pages from The Divide:

Today, Sankara's legacy is inspiring a new generation of revolutionary thinkers and activists across the continent and beyond. As Sankara himself put it, with uncanny prescience, “You can assassinate revolutionaries, but you cannot kill ideas”.

Sankara knew his assassination was coming. Speaking to African leaders at the OAU, he said "I would like this conference to clearly declare that we will not repay the debt; we must do it together, to avoid being assassinated individually..."

"...If Burkina Faso is the only one to refuse, I will not be here at the next conference."

Have you ever wondered why the sons and daughters of the colonial chiefs and guards who were collaborators live a good life while those of the MAU MAU fighters live in abject poverty?

***THREAD***

It should be known that the colonialists reached a point that they knew they had 2 leave Kenya since they couldn't handle the Mau Mau war & the world was moving toward accepting independent Africa.However,the colonialists devised an evil scheme that still eats Kenya upto this day

Under this scheme, the colonial state came up with a plan that saw the first crop of chiefly “big men” being empowered financially to take their children to schools and eventually have those children go to England for further studies...

...and eventually providing a ready-made socio-economic & political class whom state power could be entrusted in the post-colonial era.This explains why their children & grandchildren still hold majority of important positions in govt or in the private sector supported by state.

This also explains why children and grandchildren of these homeguards are always given preferential treatment when it comes to government appointments. Wewe na masomo yako you are always asking why you can never get a job in government...yet you're qualified..now you know.

#BenazirBhutto became the youngest and first female prime minister of the Muslim world in 1988. She was an embodiment of women empowerment. Her three children, Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Aseefa were born while she faced myriads of political challenges but showed relentless...

[1]

..courage. Bilawal was born on Sept 21, 1988 at a time when Benazir was running an election compaign and her critics thought that a pregnant woman stands no chance. In just one year, she led a nationwide election campaign, wrote a bestselling book, had her first child...

[2]

and became the first female prime minister of the Muslim world. All in one year!

While her second pregnancy was a secret when she was Prime Minister, she went to meet the soldiers at Siachin Glaciers which is the highest battle ground despite of the fact that the..

[3]

..lack of oxygen could affect her unborn child. She took the risk and her visit was a morale booster for the troops. Once the opposition learnt that she was pregnant, all hell broke loose. They argued that the govt rules did not provide any maternity leave to the pregnant...

[4]

..Prime Minister and that the government machinery would collapse during the delivery as she'll be incapacitated. But Benazir remained firm. The opposition in their brazen compaign called for strikes while the brave lady decided to have a Caesarean delivery on the eve of...

[5]

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day (a thread and history lesson)

In 1919 a young World War I veteran electrified a dissatisfied and bitter populace with his speeches in the beer halls of Bavaria

His name was Adolf Hitler

His ideas would lead to 50M dead across Europe
1/25

Hitler as an orator spread a message against communism, socialism, non-traditional ideas, and increasingly the Jewish people

He believed that a conspiracy of leftist, led by the Jewish people sold out Germany in World War I, preventing victory

2/25

Anton Drexler started the German Worker's Party or DAP, in 1918

In 1919 he wanted to rename it the German Socialist Worker's Party but a young Hitler objected to the name socialist being included

Drexler wanted to add the name to garner support with the middle classes

3/25

The DAP was rooted in the concept of an Aryan master race, anti-Semitism, anti-Marxism, was against the World War I armistice, and believed Germany could have won the war

All of these ideas appealed to Hitler, who also believe Germany could have won WWI

4/25

Among Hitler's earliest followers, Hermann Goering heard Adolf speak for the first time in 1919

Goering was a World War I hero and had liked wearing his uniform

He was badly beaten in late 1918 by a group of Communists, the injuries left him a drug addict

5/25

To India! We go together with one of the most original minds of the late antique and early medieval world: Cosmas Indicopleustes. Cosmas thought that the world was a box. He thought that god resided in its lid. But he also travelled a large part of that box! 1/ #medievaltwitter

Cosmas was born at the end of the fifth or the beginning of the sixth century probably in Alexandria, the great city of Roman Egypt. We actually don’t know his real name, Cosmas the India-Sailor is a monicker he got around 9th century. 2/

We know though that he became a merchant in Constantinople. From there he traveled south to Egypt and then to the kingdom of Aksum, modern day Ethiopia. He is best informed about the topography of the region and there is little doubt that he visited it in person. 3/

He is called the India-Sailor because of his description of the current-day Malabar coast and Sri Lanka. But has he made it that far? Was it even viable in the sixth century? 4/

Cosmas does mention detailed descriptions of the South Asian fauna and flora like the hog-deer which he has “seen and eaten”. He also knows coconuts and pepper and seems to have understood if not witnessed how they were harvested. 5/