Having been ousted as the next Michael Cassidy wannabe from the far end of the Christian nationalist wing of the Republican Party (in other words, someone who would be wise to spend less time on Twitter and learning about personal boundaries), state representative Josh Schriver (R-MI) has had a bad week so far. He’s lost his staff and committee assignments after making racist remarks about minorities and now, realizing his political career hinges upon appealing to a select few zealots, has decided that some religious groups deserve tax-exempt status more than others. I’m sure the racist outbursts and being made an ineffective lawmaker in the bill-crafting sessions had nothing to do with the decision (that was sarcasm in case you couldn’t tell). He has suggested that non-theistic churches should be stripped of their tax-exempt status in a shot at the Satanic Temple while conveniently leaving protections in place for Christian churches to continue to receive benefits. Here are my thoughts.
By his own admission, the legislation he’s supposedly preparing to roll out creates a double standard by his own arbitrary judgment. According to audio from Right Wing Watch, he says he wants to make a “distinction” between the churches that follow Jesus Christ and those that follow those that follow the “Church of Satan”. For those that need more clarification what that means, delegitimizing his political targets through legislation before they can be more aggressively targeted by legislation. He sees it as an “issue” that they are seen as “equal”, so he feels the need to go after all non-theistic churches in the effort to crack down exclusively on the self-proclaimed “Satanists”. In reality, they are more resemblant of politically agitated atheists with a militant progressive bend than actual Luciferians but the masquerade of hiding behind Satanism allows for greater protections under the law.
However, instead of just admitting that his career is damaged because of racially charged comments and his inability to actually craft legislation that will pass a Democratic legislature with a Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, he has clumsily dragged other faiths into the quagmire of his constitutionally dubious legislation. What rights do Buddhists have under his legislation to worship? What about those who are polytheistic or are the monotheistic religions going to be specified as having been superior? The can of worms that Schriver is opening by pitting one religion classification against another based on the belief of a deity is a Supreme Court nightmare assuming that it could even pass the halls of the Michigan state capitol.
Then there’s the ignorance surrounding the theistic and non-theistic differences between Satanists. If one thinks of the mainstream (or as mainstream as polling will allow) Satanism, the non-theistic Satanists would be disincentivized but the theistic Satanists who might be more prone to performing black magic as described in media might be prioritized. While neither strain of the ideology is great, one is harmless albeit narcissistic while the other can actually be a public nuisance depending on the strength of one’s beliefs. If the goal of the people like Michael Cassidy is to move people toward Christ (allegedly), then one wouldn’t be pushing the dimwitted into casting dark spells when they might be just edge-lords that grow out of the phase with some convincing and evangelizing.
However, the idea that Josh Schriver is going to bring some evangelical cloud over the Michigan state capitol is laughable when he isn’t even welcome to debate the merits of a bill with his colleagues. He can’t even edit his own bills once they get to committee, nor does he have the ability or need for the staff to look over legislation because he has been rendered an afterthought as an extremist in the minority of the state legislature. He is desperate to get a win somewhere and in the process, he has decided to attack even more minorities and people outside of his faith in an effort to reach the “base”. Even his base at some point will want a discussion over how to get internet lines to their rural and exurban communities and that requires someone to sit in a committee hearing, something that Schriver, just so we’re clear, cannot do.
Michigan lawmaker stripped of committees, staff after endorsing racist conspiracy theory – mlive.com
Americans’ views on 35 religious groups, organizations, and belief systems | YouGov
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