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Reposted by Robert Downen

Jack Jenkins @jackjenkins.me · 10h

NEW: I spoke to clergy and faith leaders who've joined protests at the Chicago-area ICE facility.

Three say they've been shot with pepper balls, sometimes while praying.

All say ICE is also violating their religious freedom, and one is arguing it in court. religionnews.com/2025/10/07/i...

Religious protesters say ICE threatens religious freedom in Chicago

(RNS) — Despite potential danger, religious leaders and faith activists have been a visible presence at Chicago-area ICE protests, some waving signs with slogans such as ‘Love thy neighbor’ and ‘Who w...

religionnews.com

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Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 9h

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 16h

Citing the “martyrdom” of Charlie Kirk, Texas AG Ken Paxton says his office is pursuing sweeping undercover investigations into “leftist” groups. “To those demented souls who seek to kill, steal, and destroy our country, know this: you cannot hide, you cannot escape, and justice is coming."

"Leftist political terrorism is a clear and present danger. Corrupted ideologies like transgenderism and Antifa are a cancer on our culture and have unleashed their deranged and drugged-up foot soldiers on the American people," said Attorney General Paxton. "The martyrdom of Charlie Kirk marks a turning point in America.
There can be no compromise with those who want us dead. To that end, I have directed my office to continue its efforts to identify, investigate, and infiltrate these leftist terror cells. To those demented souls who seek to kill, steal, and destroy our country, know this: you cannot hide, you cannot escape, and justice is coming."
The radical Left has incubated an environment where political violence is not only justified but celebrated and praised. In July, nearly two dozen armed leftists connected to various Texas-based Antifa-like groups ambushed an Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") facility in Alvarado, Texas. On September 10, 2025, a leftist assassin connected to the radical transgender movement murdered Charlie Kirk because of Kirk's bold support for truth, love of country, and unshakable faith. Two weeks later, another deranged leftist opened fire at an ICE facility in Dallas.
President Donald Trump has officially designated Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization and instructed his administration to "utilize all applicable authorities to investigate, disrupt, and dismantle any and all illegal operations — especially those involving terrorist actions — conducted by Antifa." Building on President Trump's bold actions, Attorney General Paxton has instructed his office to initiate sweeping investigations into radical leftist organizations engaged in or providing support to those performing political violence.

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Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 1d

They flew Jeff Chris down from Indiana to mix it professionally

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Ryan Teague Beckwith @ryanbeckwith.bsky.social · 1d

Editor in chief, city editor, features editor

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 1d

Now it’s a humiliation kink.

William Adler @williamadler78.bsky.social · 1d

Being a Bulls fan in the 90s was amazing

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 1d

And I’m a lifelong Bulls fan.

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 1d

“That’s cute.”

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unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 1d

Well, yeah, we're suing ICE.

This wasn't really a hard decision. As little faith as we have in institutions, we recognize the value of drawing visible lines in the sand. We drew ours personally a while ago, but better late than never.

May every protester be freed and may this occupation end.

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Rima I Anabtawi @rimaanabtawi.bsky.social · 2d

“Christian nationalism is dependent on whitewashing slavery, systemic racism, genocide and all else that contradicts the Christian virtues they claim America was built on. The war against CRT, DEI etc. is inextricable from the Christian nationalist project.”
👇🏼🚨🚨

Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

🧵🧵 Texas Republicans have been increasingly open and aggressive about Christianizing America via schools - to, in the words of the state education board chair, center classrooms around "GOD, GOP & USA."

That fight just escalated, and you should pay attention - because your state could be next.

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

They have. Their entire movement is based on the claim that the rest of us are misreading it.

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

To get a sense of where things stand: Here's an exchange from earlier this year, in which a Baptist minister was told by a Texas Senator that she didn't understand the Gospel because she cited Baptists' historic support for church-state separations as one reason to oppose the Ten Commandments bill.

Testifying this month against bills that would put more Christianity in Texas public schools, the Rev. Jody Harrison invoked the violent persecution of her Baptist forefathers by fellow Christians in colonial America.

Harrison hoped the history lesson would remind Texas senators of Baptists’ strong support for church-state separations, and that weakening those protections would hurt people of all faiths.

Instead, she was rebuked.

“The Baptist doctrine is Christ-centered,” Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels, responded sharply. “Its purpose is not to go around trying to defend this or that. It is to be a disciple and a witness for Christ. That includes the Ten Commandments. That’s prayer in schools. It is not a fight for separation between church and state.”

Harrison was not allowed to reply, but in an interview said she was stunned that a lawmaker would question a core part of her faith. The exchange, she said, perfectly encapsulated why she has fought to preserve church-state separations — the same religious protections that Campbell said are a distraction from bills that might bring school kids to Christ.

“It was a wake up call,” she said. “I don’t think people — even many churches — realize that this is going on right now, and that is alarming.”

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

And this isn't just a fight for classrooms: Christian nationalism is dependent on whitewashing slavery, systemic racism, genocide and all else that contradicts the Christian virtues they claim America was built on. The war against CRT, DEI etc. is inextricable from the Christian nationalist project.

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

Now, Barton will have a direct role in crafting curriculum for the entire state - which could impact what is or isnt in textbooks used by many other states.

He and his allies have long said they're creating in Texas a model for Christianizing America. Now, they're closer than ever before:

He Calls Church-State Separation a Myth. He’s Now Weighing In on Public School Curricula.

David Barton, far-right Christian activist and founder of Wallbuilders, has been appointed by Texas's board of education to advise on social studies instruction.

www.texasmonthly.com

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

Meanwhile, the Texas Education Agency has approved new curriculum that teaches the Bible with K-12 lessons, despite expert testimony that the lessons completely misconstrue American history and whitewash racism, etc. Take, for example, the lessons on MLK's Letter from Birmingham Jail.

Meanwhile, Chancey said, the proposed instructions on religious liberty in the original colonies seem to be a “tremendous oversimplification,” failing to note the persecution faced by other religious groups, namely Quakers and early Baptists. Omitting that, he said, misses the real lesson to be learned from studying America’s early settlers: “The dangers of religious favoritism.”

The proposed state textbook calls for excerpts of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” to be paired with the Biblical story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, whose defiance of the Babylonian leader Nebuchadnezzar is cited by King as an example of civil disobedience. And yet, the proposed curriculum does not appear to include any excerpts on the intended audience or a core theme of King’s letter: White moderates and clergy, whom King chastised for critiquing his civil disobedience while remaining “silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.”

Morath said the excerpt chosen is the one that would be appropriate for a fifth grader, based on their vocabulary and knowledge-level.

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

Barton's debunked work has been central to these pushes, Lawmakers now openly call church-state separation a myth, and argue that the Ten Commandments were the #1 inspiration for the US Constitution - which they say justifies forcing children to look at it in class each day.

Conservative Christians want more religion in public life. Texas lawmakers are listening.

Opponents of church-state separation have been emboldened by recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions and the growing acceptance of Christian nationalism on the right.

www.texastribune.org

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

The NSCA is led by a self-described "ex pirate" who claims God saved him from execution in a Mexican prison so that he could teach construction to the Contras and use school chaplains to convert kids. One of the Ed. Board members who appointed David Barton is also an NSCA board member.

“Would you let a Ex-Pirate, drug-smuggling pirate teach your kindergartner? Apparently, God would…”

So reads the broken-grammar tagline for “Pirate School,” a short documentary-style film that tracks Malloy’s story beginning decades ago, when a friend asked if he wanted to help on a boat — apparently the origin story of his time as a pirate. The plan was to travel to an island, plant 25 pounds of marijuana seed and live like a “hermit,” reading from his “large, cathedral-sized white Bible.”

“I needed to live the experience of the Bible,” Malloy says in the film, which is advertised on the school chaplain association’s website. “Jesus chose people of the sea.”

According to that website, Malloy was living in Mexico when he was sentenced to life in prison for “conspiracy to over through the national government and international drug trafficking in a misguided attempt to help indigenous people” who were being persecuted for their religion. After 72 hours in prison — which Malloy notes is the same time it took Jesus to resurrect — he says he was freed by divine intervention, a sign that he had a “license from God.”

He says he spent the next few years traveling around Central America before settling along the Honduras border, where he preached and taught “the dynamics of construction” to Nicaraguan Contras, the right-wing, CIA-backed rebels who fought the leftist government in one of the cold war’s bloody proxy fights.

The violence, Malloy said in an email exchange with The Texas Tribune, made him want “to help children live better lives” and learn “the impact of loving, spiritual care.”

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

In 2023, GOP lawmakers let districts replace counselors with untrained religious chaplains, overriding a proposed amendment that would've barred them evangelizing - despite the bill's biggest supporter, the National School Chaplains Assoc., being open about doing so.

Key supporter of Texas school chaplain bill has pushed for evangelism in schools

Rocky Malloy, a self-described former drug-smuggling pirate saved by divine intervention, has led a group that promotes chaplains as a tool to proselytize to schoolchildren.

www.texastribune.org

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers have been increasingly open about using schools to evangelize. This year Texas lawmakers passed new laws requiring the Ten Commandments in classes, allowing optional prayer time and requiring anti-communist curriculum that they argued was vital to stemming secular influence.

In Texas, Christian right grows confident and assertive

Emboldened by court rulings and election victories, the Christian right is outspoken as it pushes its moral views through the Texas Legislature.

www.texastribune.org

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

And each week of the 2025 session, conservative Christians held worship sessions in the Capitol. The group behind the gatherings, MyGodVotes, has been open about its Christian dominionist goals, and seeks to mobilize pastors and churches to influence state lawmakers.

They Want to “Steer Our Nation Back to God”—Starting With Prayer Night in the Texas Capitol

My God Votes says Christians have abdicated their civic duties. The Houston group has a plan to mobilize the church—starting in Texas.

www.texasmonthly.com

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

The first day of the 2025 legislative session also featured prominent pastors and lawmakers calling for spiritual warfare and, at one point, praying on the walls of the Capitol to ward off demonic spirits they believe control Austin.

Texas GOP chair claims church-state separation is a myth as lawmakers, pastors prep for “spiritual battle”

Abraham George’s comments are the latest sign of the state GOP’s embrace of fundamentalist ideologies that seek to center public life around their faith.

www.texastribune.org

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

Last year the Texas GOP called for new laws requiring the Bible to be taught in schools, and the party's 2024 convention was essentially a three-day call to wage "spiritual warfare" against their political opponents. Virtually every speech and lawmaker, including top officials, echoed that sentiment

At Texas GOP convention, Republicans call for spiritual warfare

At the three-day convention, delegates moved the needle further to the right, preaching Christian nationalism and approving rules that would give them unprecedented control of elections.

www.texastribune.org

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

Few people have done more to mainstream Christian nationalism than Barton and his group, WallBuilders. He calls church-state separation a "myth" and claims the Establishment Clause was never intended to promote religious diversity. Among his many proteges: US Speaker Mike Johnson.

Texas activist David Barton wants to end separation of church and state. He has the ear of the new U.S. House speaker.

Barton has been a staple of Texas’ Christian conservative movement, offering crucial support to politicians and frequently being cited or called on to testify in favor of bills that critics say would ...

www.texastribune.org

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

Last month, two Republican State Board of Education members appointed David Barton, a Christian nationalist activist and widely debunked "amateur historian," as an expert advisor for the state's upcoming revision of curricula to focus on Texas and American history.

He Calls Church-State Separation a Myth. He’s Now Weighing In on Public School Curricula.

David Barton, far-right Christian activist and founder of Wallbuilders, has been appointed by Texas's board of education to advise on social studies instruction.

www.texasmonthly.com

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Robert Downen @robertdownen.bsky.social · 2d

🧵🧵 Texas Republicans have been increasingly open and aggressive about Christianizing America via schools - to, in the words of the state education board chair, center classrooms around "GOD, GOP & USA."

That fight just escalated, and you should pay attention - because your state could be next.

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