On Jesus in Fur

There are three facially independent strains of reactionary thought in America. The religious reactionaries think Christianity is in danger from the PC thought police; the racists are afraid that the prevailing white American culture (as they incorrectly define it) will be swamped by the growing number of people of color; and the economic reactionaries are angry that their skills have lost value, and they have lost status, in an increasingly knowledge-based economy.

These are ideal types. In reality, many individual reactionaries would meet at least two, and sometimes all three, of the tests. For example, people identifying themselves as religious reactionaries frequently aren’t religious at all, in the orthodox Christian sense; their God is actually The Big White Guy in the Sky, who assures them every day that white Christian men have the divine right to rule America, that women are their subjects, and that people of color are whiny interlopers in their Jerusalem.

That is why you have Capitol rioters comfortably waving Jesus flags next to compatriots in pagan outfits, and why black Christian liberals are among their enemies, not their friends.