In 2014, I wrote a post about an insane restaurant in Colorado called “Shooters” that was catering specifically to customers who brought guns onto the premises. The owner made a point of saying how Christian she was and how excited she was to be “throwing guns and Jesus all over the place.”
As far as covering that story… was it low-hanging fruit? Maybe. A Christian saying or doing something ridiculous isn’t necessarily news on its own. The circumstances matter. But when someone uses religion to justify right-wing lunacy, in a way that’s arguably hypocritical, I don’t think it should be ignored. It’s not going away just because you’re not looking.
I didn’t think about that story again for a while… until last year, when the owner of that gunstaurant, Lauren Boebert, got elected to Congress. Sometimes the craziest right-wing Christians end up on even larger stages.
That’s the same fear I have about Mark Robinson. This guy practically appeared out of nowhere to secure the GOP nomination for North Carolina’s Lt. Governor last year, before winning that seat. And as one of the top statewide officials, he’s spent the past several months claiming forced religion in public schools could prevent mass shootings, that “transgenderism” and “homosexuality” amount to “filth,” and that the trans movement is “demonic” and full of “Antichrist spirit.”
He’s a conservative Christian who decided entering politics was a better career move than becoming a pastor… even though it’s abundantly clear he doesn’t actually have any desire to govern. He just wants the power to push his beliefs on everyone else.
This week, Robinson said out loud what we’ve been expecting for a while: He’s thinking about running for governor. In fact, he told fellow bigot radio host E.W. Jackson, that he’s “95% sure” he’ll jump into the 2024 race.
“We’re about 95 percent sure we’re gonna run for governor,” Robinson said. “Our current governor is term-limited. He’s on his second term. He’s on his way out, thank God. We have a guy we believe is behind him on that side who will be just as bad, if not worse, than him. We’re in the vein right now of gearing up for that. We haven’t announced, but we’re about 95 percent sure that that’s the direction that we’re going in. … We need to stay here North Carolina to protect North Carolina from some of the craziness that’s going on at the federal level and continue to help the state rise under conservative principles. So, we have not announced that we’re going to run for governor, but we’re about 95 percent there, and it’s a logical step for us to take. So, be on the lookout for that.”
If he ran and won, it would be a predictable disaster for LGBTQ people across the state. There is no Christian Nationalist in politics today who has anything useful to offer the broader public. It’s all complaints about persecution, the promotion of various conspiracies, and making sure conservative Christian beliefs are codified into law no matter who it hurts.
Most evangelical Christians won’t speak out against this guy because they’re cowards who share his hate. Republicans won’t say anything because they love electing professional trolls. It’s up to sensible people to get behind a more sane candidate when the time comes.
(via Right Wing Watch)
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