All About FAR RELIGIOUS RIGHT Evangelical Mike Pence (a Follower Of My Dad’s Work) : Trump’s VP Pick

According to breaking news Mike Pence (a man who loves my dad’s books) will be Trump’s VP. In other words the unholy marriage between the evangelical far, far, far religious right and Trump is now consummated. As a detailed article in the Indianapolis Star points out since his early days in politics, Mike Pence has always described himself as “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.” I guess being an American comes a distant third to theology and conservative Republican/NRA mythology.

So it is no wonder that this evangelical’s evangelical is going to sign away both his Christian birthright and Republican birthright by lending his name to a white supremacist candidate. He loves theology and the GOP/NRA more than America.

Pence is a Reconstructionist who believes in legislating Old Testament “morality” and using the law to force everyone to agree. He is the reincarnation of Rusas Rushdoony and the other fascist/Christian “theonomists” who wanted to execute gays, imprison women who had abortions and overthrow the secular government in Washington DC.

As Donald Trump’s running mate, Pence will bring a record as a congressman and governor that reflects these convictions only slightly moderated for public consumption. Since he is a big fan of my late father’s work (as Dad — Francis Schaeffer — helped found the anti-abortion movement) like Michelle Bachmann, Pence cites Dad’s work and books. I know people who know Pence and he makes Sarah Palin seem progressive.

Pence has longfought fiercely for religious rights, in other words, to curtail the rights of all but white right wing evangelicals. He’s the instigator of anti-woman legislation and wants to define marriage as between a man and a woman.

Staunchly pro-life, Pence famously said he was willing to shut down the federal government in 2011 to de-fund Planned Parenthood.

Pence sees himself not as an American but as a warrior for “Biblical absolutes” not the stuff about peace and forgiveness, no, he doesn’t like Jesus, what he likes is the public stoning of adulterers etc, Donald Trump excepted that is. Pence’s morals stop when they get in the way of his political career.

Of course he’s just committed political suicide along with the entire white supremacist GOP. But he is PERFECT for Trump! Pence loves fuckeverybody-type divisive social issues. He signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015. After the Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, evangelical lobbyists and leaders of the far right like Robert George of Princeton, had pushed the governor and Republican lawmakers to approve RFRA as a means to allow business owners to legally discriminate against gay, lesbian and transgender Hoosiers for ‘religious reasons.”

Pence is jumping ship to the Donald fiasco because he’ll never get reelected seeing as how he more or less kicked his state in the teeth. According to the Indianapolis Star “Many political observers think the fallout from that bill and from a law he signed this year that further restricted abortion has left him vulnerable for re-election as governor. Some Republican insiders tried to find a candidate to take on Pence in the primary, a startling effort against a sitting governor, though the challenge never materialized.”

Pence says he traces his “views” to the Constitution and the Bible. Pence’s strong social convictions gained him the most attention in Congress. Maybe that is why he is anti-science. If it’s not in the bible then… or as Rebecca Leber notes:

There are some Republican politicians who have tiptoed around whether climate change is human-caused and a real problem, embarrassed by their party’s anti-science reputation. Pence is not one of these Republicans. He is one of your old-school, Flat-Earth science deniers. In fact, he’s been more consistent in his climate denial than Trump, who backed climate action when it was in vogue to do so, before he called climate change a Chinese hoax.

According to the League of Conservation Voters, when Pence was in Congress he voted 201 times against environmental interests and just 18 times in favor. As governor, Pence has sued the Obama administration over its Clean Power Plan and had his state suspend its planning to comply with the plan. He also led the House GOP battle against reproductive rights and Planned Parenthood during his 12 years in Congress.

“In addition to fighting abortion, he opposes embryonic stem cell research, thinks marriage should be between one man and one woman and supported “don’t ask, don’t tell,” the now dissolved government policy of banning openly gay and lesbian people from serving in the military.”

He opposed President Barack Obama’s decision to end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Allowing openly gay and lesbian people to serve in the military. He also opposed the president’s belief that gay marriage should be legal. Pence signed the RFRA bill on March 26, 2015, in a private ceremony that included only far right evangelical supporters. The national spotlight was fixed on Indiana. On April 2, Pence signed a “fix” to the bill that exempted local communities that had protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.

The discussion in Indiana has since shifted to whether the state should protect gender identity and sexual discrimination as a protected class. Pence opposes that, at this point, questioning whether that status can co-exist with religious freedom.

“Many political watchers think the fervor over RFRA sunk any hopes Pence may have harbored for a run for presidency this year. The race for governor promised to be close this year.”

A thrice-married adulterer, fascist white supremacist teams up with one of my Dad’s followers to turn America into a white supremacist haven for angry, armed white males of minimal intelligence. What could possibly go wrong?

Frank Schaeffer is a writer. His latest book —WHY I AM AN ATHEIST WHO BELIEVES IN GOD: How to give love, create beauty and find peace