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Major corporations quietly funnel millions to national group behind regressive state laws

Judd Legum,
Tesnim Zekeria,

and
Rebecca Crosby
Apr 28


Republican state legislators across the country have embraced an aggressively regressive agenda, targeting the LGBTQ community, abortion access, voting rights, and candid discussions of race in classrooms.

But these legislators are not acting alone. They are backed by the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), the “largest organization of Republican state leaders in the country and only national committee whose mission is to recruit, train, and elect Republicans to multiple down-ballot, state level offices.” The RSLC prides itself on “deliver[ing] wins for Republican state legislators” and takes credit for the fact that “Republicans currently hold majorities in 61 of 99 state legislative chambers” across the country.

The RSLC has backed the Republicans responsible for the most radical new laws enacted in 2022. In January, Florida politicians introduced the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, prohibiting any discussion of “sexual orientation or gender identity” through the third grade and any discussion “that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students” in other grades. The bill passed the Florida Senate on March 8. Less than three weeks later, on March 25, the RSLC donated $100,000 to the Florida Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. The RSLC also donated $100,000 to the Florida Republican Majority Fund on February 22, the same week the Florida House passed the legislation.

The bill was signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis (R) on March 28. The RSLC has praised DeSantis for “ensuring FREEDOM for anyone moving to the Sunshine State.”

This is not an isolated incident. According to the Charlotte Observer, when legislators in North Carolina worked to pass House Bill 2 in 2017, which required “transgender people to use the bathroom of the gender on their birth certificate in government buildings,” the RSLC “spent $850,000 on behalf” of former Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest (R), a “vocal HB2 supporter.”

The RSLC also supports the politicians behind abortion bans. In September 2021, Republicans in Texas passed the most restrictive abortion ban in the country, prohibiting all abortions after six weeks. On February 15, 2022, the RSLC gave $135,000 to the Associated Republicans of Texas, a non-profit “committed to maintaining the Republican majority in the Texas Legislature.”

During the 2018 election cycle, “the RSLC spent roughly $1.2 million” supporting Republican candidates in Georgia, according to the Center for Political Accountability. The following year, Georgia “GOP lawmakers passed a near-total abortion ban,” that was ultimately struck down by a federal court. The RSLC does not keep this agenda a secret. In 2019, the RSLC tweeted this quote: “... [S]tate legislative races, which are often overlooked by voters…can shape the course of policy from abortion rights to education.”

When it comes to education, the RSLC has been seeking to ban candid discussions of race in schools. Critical Race Theory is a “graduate-level academic framework” which explores “laws, policies, and procedures that function to produce racial inequality.” In nearly every school district in the country, CRT is not part of the K-12 curriculum. The RSLC however, claims that “CRT is dangerous” to K-12 students.

Republican State Leadership Committee @RSLCRadical schoo

l boards and Democrats are taking their cues from special interests groups and activists. But, parents are showing up to make their voices heard — CRT is dangerous. Republicans are listening to parents. Dems are ignoring them.


June 23rd 202110 Retweets24 Likes

In December, the RSLC praised Florida Republicans for “looking to ban critical race theory in schools” and “ensuring that students are in class to learn, not to be indoctrinated with divisive, politicized curriculum.”

The RSLC has also publicly supported voter suppression efforts across the country. In 2020, the RSLC supported a proposal in Georgia that would “end no-excuse absentee voting in Georgia,” “ban drop boxes,” and make voter ID for absentee ballots mandatory.
Republican State Leadership Committee @RSLCGeorgia Senate Republicans have vowed to: ✅ Ban 'At-Will' Absentee Voting ✅ Outlaw Ballot Drop Boxes ✅ Require Voter ID for Absentee Ballots We must have election integrity! times-georgian.com/villa_rican/ge…

December 12th 202021 Retweets85 Likes

In 2021, the RSLC launched its “Commission on Voting Integrity.” The goal of the Commission is “to roll back changes to voting procedures put in place during the pandemic.” The Commission website reads: “Democrats in 2020 used the pandemic to alter election laws in their favor – now they want to make those changes permanent.” In May 2021, Popular Information obtained a presentation from the RSLC’S “Election Integrity Committee,” which included proposals to suppress voting, including purging voter lists, imposing more stringent voter ID requirements, and targeting voting centers.

So far in 2022, the RSLC has received million in funding from major corporations — many of which claim to oppose the policies the RSLC supports.
Anthem: $200,000 to the RSLC

Anthem says it has “long understood how social, economic, environmental, and cultural factors impact women’s health and well-being.” On International Women’s Day last year, the company invited everyone to join them in “removing the health disparities that reduce positive outcomes for women.” This call was part of their #ChooseToChallenge gender bias and inequality initiative.

The health insurer also claims to be fierce advocates of racial justice. Last year, the company launched a National Health Equity Strategy to “confront the nation’s crisis in racial health disparities.” In a 2021 report, Anthem found that “racial disparities impact women of color across all socio-economic levels” and called for “a multi-system approach that considers interpersonal, institutional and structural racism.”
Anthem, Inc. @AnthemIncOur new research suggests racial disparities impact women of color across all socio-economic levels. A multi-system approach that considers interpersonal, institutional and structural racism is needed to reduce these disparities. Learn what we’re doing to drive change.

April 22nd 202151 Retweets101 Likes

When it comes to LGBTQ+ issues, Anthem believes it is “vital” that LGBTQ+ patients have access to quality healthcare. During Pride Month last year, the company encouraged the public to “celebrate the LGBTQ+ people in your life” and “advocate for their rights.” Anthem also boasts of its free training for healthcare providers who want to learn how to “create an LGBT-friendly practice”––an initiative it launched to address the LGBT health disparities gap.

Yet, so far in 2022, Anthem donated $200,000 to the RSLC, supporting legislators who are pushing for regressive policies.

Anthem did not respond to a request for comment.
Walmart: $65,000 to the RSLC

Walmart believes that "[e]mpowering women creates shared value: it’s good for society, and it’s good for business."
Walmart Inc. @WalmartIncWe’re proud to be among the 230 companies selected to the @Bloomberg 2019 Gender-Equality Index! Empowering women creates shared value: it’s good for society, and it’s good for business. bloom.bg/2Co5dL9#BloombergGEIBloomberg - Are you a robot?bloom.bg

January 16th 201927 Retweets72 Likes

The company claims it is "committed to providing opportunities for women inside and outside of Walmart to grow and achieve their goals while creating a more inclusive and innovative workplace, resilient supply chain and thriving communities."

It also says it will “continue to focus on inclusion for the LGBTQ+ community.”

Walmart also purports to be a champion of voting rights. The company touted that its CEO, Doug McMillon, was actively involved in drafting the Business Roundtable’s statement on voting rights, which declared that “​​unnecessary restrictions on the right to vote strike at the heart of representative government.” A spokesperson told Business Insider that the letter “affirms that the right to vote and the integrity of our elections are cornerstones of our democracy.”

But the company donated $75,000 to the RSLC so far in 2022, a group that seeks to ban abortions, attack LGBTQ rights, and limit voting access.

Walmart did not respond to a request for comment.
Eli Lilly: $40,000 to the RSLC

Last year, when Indiana legislators introduced a bill that would tighten mail-in voting by requiring a photo ID, drugmaker Eli Lilly spoke out.

“Our belief is that we should do everything in our power as a Hoosier-based company to make it easier for people to exercise that fundamental right to be heard and we will work against any effort that makes exercising that right more difficult,” Eli Lilly Senior Vice President Stephen Fry said.

According to Fry, the bill would “confer acceptance of a widespread falsehood that there is something to be questioned about the outcome of last year’s election.”

Currently, “Election Integrity”–– a euphemism for new voting restrictions –– is listed as one of four focus areas on the RSLC’s website.

Eli Lilly also claims to be committed to “to bringing people and organizations together to acknowledge racial inequity in its many forms and create a call to action for lasting change.” In 2020, the company launched a Racial Justice Commitment to “confront racial inequities head on.”

Previously, the company has asserted that “Lilly's value of Respect for People and #LGBTQ pride go hand in hand.”
Eli Lilly and Company @LillyPadLilly's value of Respect for People and #LGBTQ pride go hand in hand. Learn about our PRIDE employee resource group and how they're cultivating a community of inclusion. #WeAreLilly #PrideMonth


June 15th 201811 Retweets23 Likes

Nevertheless, Eli Lilly donated $40,000 to the RSLC so far in 2022.

Eli Lilly did not respond to a request for comment.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce: $250,000 to the RSLC

In 2022, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation’s largest lobbying group, has given the RSLC $250,000. In 2020, the Chamber was the largest donor to the RSLC. The Chamber’s membership consists of nearly every prominent corporation in this country.

According to its website, the Chamber believes that “the business community is a powerful voice and network that can drive LGBT inclusion, acceptance, and empowerment.” In 2019, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation published a report stating that “standing up for employees and the community in the face of anti-LGBT legislation is paramount to being inclusive.”

“When a company matches its public and private positions on LGBT inclusion, it demonstrates its authenticity about LGBT inclusion,” the report read.

In another report, titled “The Business Case for Racial Equity,” the Chamber stresses “the importance of racial equity as both an imperative for social justice and a strategy for economic growth.” Following the death of George Floyd, the Chamber said that it “stand[s] in solidarity against racism and advocate[s] for diversity, equity, and inclusion in our society and economy.”

But the Chamber’s donations to the RSLC bankroll legislators who are behind bills that attack LGBTQ+ rights and restrict how we can talk about race and racism.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce did not respond to a request for comment.

Other prominent corporate donors to the RSLC include Altria ($300,000), Koch Industries ($225,000), GlaxoSmithKline ($75,000), Disney ($60,000, in-kind), Bayer ($50,000), Nationwide ($50,000), T-Mobile ($50,000), Uber ($50,000), Google ($30,000), 3M ($25,000), eBay ($25,000), Charter Communications ($20,000), PepsiCo ($15,000), MolsonCoors ($10,000), Mastercard ($5,000) and Wendy’s ($5,000). None of the companies responded to Popular Information’s requests for comment.

From the Pilgrims to QAnon: Christian nationalism is the "asteroid coming for democracy"

Scholar Samuel Perry says the myth of a "Christian nation" has distorted American history from 1690 to Trump

By KATHRYN JOYCE
PUBLISHED APRIL 29, 2022 

John Eliot, (1604-1690), American Puritan minister and missionary, 

preaching to the Algonquian Indians. 

(Bettmann/Getty Images)


If the New York Times' "1619 Project" and Donald Trump's 1776 Commission mark two defining moments in American history, as well as opposite sides of an ideological chasm, a new book by sociologists Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry identifies a third defining moment. It's not a new proposed founding, but rather an "inflection point," the moment when the nation's history could have gone in another direction.

In "The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy," Gorski and Perry argue that in the years around 1690 — when Puritan colonists began envisioning their battles against Native Americans as an apocalyptic holy war to secure a new Promised Land, when Southern Christians began to formulate a theological justification for chattel slavery — a new national mythology was born. That mythology is the "deep story" of white Christian nationalism: the notion that America was founded as a Christian nation, blessed by God and imbued with divine purpose, but also under continual threat from un-American and ungodly forces, often in the form of immigrants or racial minorities.

The result was an ethnic nationalism sanctified by religion as it established a new "holy trinity" of "freedom, order and violence," meted out variously to in-groups and out.

RELATED: How this tiny Christian college is driving the right's nationwide war against public schools

When rioters driven by that vision broke into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, they were just reenacting a story that has been told in this country for centuries. But it's a story that again threatens to "topple American democracy" unless, Gorski and Perry write, a new "united front" is formed to defend it.

Perry spoke with Salon this April.

You describe white Christian nationalism as the "San Andreas Fault" of American politics.

We see America torn apart by an authoritarian populism that was characteristic of Trump's movement, which distrusts any opinion not tied to the nationalist leader. There's a lot of distrust for experts, even medical experts when it came to COVID, in favor of somebody like Trump or organizations that put a conservative slant on all news related to politics, COVID, immigration, Muslims, all those things. So when we say white Christian nationalism is the San Andreas Fault, we mean it is a thread running through all of our current conflicts.

And the implication that we're waiting for the big one.

Rather than seeing Jan. 6 as a fringe event and the religious symbols seen there as puzzling, we see it as an eruption of forces that have been building for a long time.

Exactly. We all observed the events that took place on Jan. 6 with horror and shock, but there's this puzzling juxtaposition of images from that day: violent chaos, suffused with Christian symbolism. There are "Jesus Saves" signs and Christian flags and a prayer in Jesus' name in the Senate chamber. Rather than see that event as fringe and those religious symbols as puzzling, we believe Jan. 6 should be thought of as an eruption of forces that have been building for a long, long time.

I appreciated the book's long historical view: You weren't just focusing on Jan. 6, but looking to the past to understand this idea of the "deep story" behind contemporary Christian nationalism.

From our perspective today, the white Christian nationalist deep story is that we as a country have our roots in white Anglo-Protestant culture, and that's what made us prosperous and successful. In the colonial era, we wouldn't have called it white Christian nationalism, but it would have tied together all the same elements: race, religion and nation. In the time of the Puritans, it could be called white Protestant Britishism: that the people to whom the land rightly belongs are white as opposed to Native American, Protestant as opposed to Catholic or any indigenous religious group, British as opposed to French or certainly the nations of Native Americans. White Christian nationalism in that form was just as exclusive, just as brutal, even apocalyptic in its thrust.

Manifestations of white Christian nationalism have ebbed and flowed throughout America's history, and usually they ebb and flow in response to threats against the ethno-cultural majority. Sometimes the enemies change. Early on it was Native Americans; later it was the French and Roman Catholics. At different times it was Asians and certainly Black Americans who were the out-group. Starting in the mid-20th century, it was socialists and all things associated with communism — which is racialized but also religious, because communists and socialists are thought to be godless. So all throughout American history, you see this tying together of race, religion and nation in the boundaries of who is and is not truly American. Who is not changes in response to the enemies. But the in-group is almost always the same. It's white, Christian and those who are either born in the U.S. or at least "belong" here as part of the dominant ethnic group.

The book includes a lot of original data research that's often absent from these conversations. What were some of your most surprising or compelling findings?

One thing we really wanted to contribute is to operationalize this thing called Christian nationalism and see how it plays in response to various issues. We collected all this national data over the last two years that allowed us to track national events — the election, COVID, George Floyd's and Ahmaud Arbery's murders, all these different factors. One of the most surprising findings is how differently Christian nationalism works for white and Black Americans, how stark the contrast is to the same questions. When African Americans hear the language of "Christian values" or "Christian nation," either it doesn't change their attitudes at all or they seem to think aspirationally about the country America should have been, but never was. When white Americans hear that language, they seem to think nostalgically about a time when the right people ruled and the right culture dominated.

I was also not only shocked but discouraged at how Christian nationalist ideology shaped responses when we asked who Americans went to for information about COVID. White Christian nationalism was powerfully associated with rejecting everybody's opinion about COVID-19 except for Donald Trump's.

I was also taken aback by how powerfully Christian nationalist ideology was associated with responses to the Capitol insurrection. White Christian nationalism powerfully predicted people blaming the violence on antifa or Black Lives Matter and placing none of the blame on Trump. We saw even a correlation between Christian nationalist ideology and supporting the rioters or being reluctant to say they should be prosecuted.

Christian nationalist ideology strongly predicted people blaming the violence of Jan. 6 on antifa or Black Lives Matter, and placing none of the blame on Donald Trump.

The association between Christian nationalist ideology and violence used for political purposes is one of the more sobering findings. We've collected more recent data since we finished the book, and there is a quite linear association between affirming Christian nationalist ideology and believing that things have gotten so far off track that true patriots may have to resort to physical violence. This is an ideology that doesn't just acknowledge violence as a possibility but in some ways actually affirms it as the way to get things done in our society.

White Christian nationalism supports the idea that the best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun; it affirms the use of torture if it means national security; it affirms that police should be able to use any means necessary to maintain law and order. There seems to be this powerful connection between Christian nationalist ideology and support for violence to accomplish political goals, and often that means to control "problem populations."

You describe a "holy trinity" within white Christian nationalism of freedom, order and violence.

White Christian nationalism seems to be characterized by a libertarian mindset that's only applied to the inside group. The ideology powerfully predicted a belief that we need to protect the economy rather than the vulnerable during COVID and that socialism is anathema — actually, that socialists are the worst. White Christian nationalism predicts antipathy towards atheists and Muslims, but socialists are the real demonized group, because socialism represents everything that is leftist or "anti-American." It is not only an economic threat, but a cultural, ethnic and religious threat.

White Christian nationalism advocates for maximum freedom for our group. But there is also this connection between authoritarian violence and social order. Christian nationalism wants order in the form of hierarchies. Men on top. Whites on top. Christians on top. Heterosexuals on top. And any threats to that order are met with justified, righteous, good-guy violence. That is what we saw on Jan. 6: the justification of righteous violence in taking back our country from, in the words of the QAnon Shaman, "the tyrants, the communists and the globalists," and showing them "this is our nation, not theirs." So there is this kind of holy trinity: Freedom for us, order for everybody else. And when that order is violated, they get the violence.

You include a number of historical examples of how this played out, long before Jan. 6, at various times in American history, including in the post-Reconstruction era and through lynchings, which you describe as the "high mass" of white Christian nationalism. Why is violence such an important element?

A thread through our narrative is this metaphor of blood. White Christian Americans' place in the cosmos and in our country has always been interpreted through the idea of blood purity — that we are distinct and superior people. There is also the idea of bloody conquest: that America is out there and the land is ours and we are justified in using violence to take what God has given us. Then there is this idea of bloody apocalypse — that violence is an inevitable part of the story, that there is a cosmic struggle going on that will involve us going to war against evil forces who try to take away what God has given us.

One thing we try to underscore is that Americans gripped by the white Christian nationalist deep story see violence as inevitable. Christian nationalism doesn't seem to be too strongly associated with violence for its own sake. But violence in the service of our group and of control is what white Christian nationalism is about — not a celebration of it, but an endorsement of violence as a tool to maintain order and maximize our freedom and power.

Tell me about the idea behind "The Spirit of 1690" and where that fits into the narrative battle between "The 1619 Project" and Trump's 1776 Commission.

The 1776 project is one narrative of America's past: this whitewashed story where Anglo-Protestant values are the secret to our national prosperity, and yes, slavery was real, but it was an aberration. Obviously, "The 1619 Project" has a completely different narrative that sees slavery and white supremacy as a constant thread throughout our history, and that we as a nation were set on the trajectory of white supremacy because our roots are founded in it.

We take a slightly different approach from "The 1619 Project." We see contingency. We see opportunities throughout America's history where oppression could have been lifted. And yet we decided not to go in that direction but to continue to live according to this white Christian nationalist mythology. And of course, different from the 1776 project, we believe that white supremacy has been a constant thread throughout our nation's history, not one that had to be, but one we chose again and again and again.

Much of this mythology involves white Christian nationalism framing itself in a position of victimhood.

White evangelicals — the group most beholden to Christian nationalist ideology — have long been characterized by what sociologist Christian Smith called an idea of "embattlement." They constantly feel they are at war with a surrounding culture that aims to persecute or marginalize them. This is part of the Christian nationalist story, because when you believe your culture is inextricably linked to the state of the nation, and you believe it is not your story but America's story, when you start to see cultural change, you perceive that as an attack on your group.

It used to be that people like Jerry Falwell could look at pornography and say, "That is immoral" and use the language of "filth" or "degradation." America has shifted so profoundly that what Christians on the right now do is to evoke the language of religious freedom — to claim the defensive posture and say, "We are under attack for claiming our moral views." What is happening now is that language of rights or religious freedom is no longer a shield but a sword and a battering ram to slash at your cultural enemies and justify discriminating against certain populations, even in agencies that take money from the government.

It seems that language is also being used to cast voter suppression in defensive terms.

When we surveyed Americans in October 2020, we found that white Christian nationalism was the most powerful predictor that you already thought voter fraud was rampant, that we make it too easy to vote and that you would support hypothetical civics tests in order to vote or disenfranchising certain criminal offenders for life. This paints a picture of white Christian nationalism being fundamentally anti-democratic, that it supports limiting voting access to those who prove worthy — and the people who are worthy are the people like us. If there is a thread tying together today's white Christian nationalists with the founding fathers, it is that only white landowning Anglo-Protestants should be able to vote.

In subsequent surveys, we asked, "Is voting a right or a privilege?" Thankfully, the majority believe that voting is a right, which it is. But we found that white Americans who affirm Christian nationalist ideology are more likely to think voting is not a right, but a privilege. In other words, something we can take away.

The book discusses figures like Christian right revisionist historian David Barton. How has historical misinformation played a role in both getting us to this point as well as the conflicts we're seeing now around education?

One of the things we document is that Christian nationalist theology is powerfully associated not just with believing misinformation about COVID, QAnon or the Capitol insurrection, but about religion in American history. That you believe the Constitution references our obligations to God, which it does not. Or that the First Amendment says Congress can privilege Christianity, which it does not.

For years, we have known that evangelical Christians tend to do poorly on quizzes of scientific knowledge, not because they're ignorant per se, but because when they're asked questions about the Big Bang theory or evolution or even continental drift, they get those answers wrong because of ideology. Not because they don't know what the answer is, but because they intentionally say, "That isn't the way it went down." We find the same thing with Christian nationalism: It inclines Americans to affirm answers that paint Christianity as central to American history. Part of that is ideology, but another part is the misinformation put out by agencies like Barton's WallBuilders that contribute to the narrative that America has been evangelical throughout history.

We see the effort to try to control American history in Trump's 1776 Commission, which was led by executives at Hillsdale College, none of whom are professional historians. They threw together this document that is supposed to be a counter to "The 1619 Project," talking about American exceptionalism and slavery as an aberration, but all in all, America is great and here are the reasons why. That is an effort to control the narrative about who we are as a people.

We have always seen this and it's often tied to race. A great recent book, "The Bible Told Them So" by J. Russell Hawkins, argues that there was a segregation theology that motivated white evangelicals in the South. It wasn't just explicit racism, but this interpretation of the Bible that said segregation is good and God wants it that way. Over time, as it became clear they were losing, they developed separate institutions, and separate schools were among them. So in the late '70s, segregation theology started to morph into this "family values" conservatism that was ostensibly about protecting children.

The Christian right has always wanted to control education. How do you scare enough parents? By saying that nefarious elements are infiltrating the schools, and they're going to infect your children.

So you have always seen this move on the Christian right to control education and raise fear about what children are being taught. How do you scare enough parents to be mobilized? By saying that nefarious elements are infiltrating the schools and they're going to infect your children. Within that, you have this push for homeschooling, for vouchers to defund public schools and support privatized education in which parents on the right can raise kids who are white, Christian conservatives, and you can maybe stave off the forces of secularization and diversity.

Toward the end of the book, you write about how other camps on the right, like Catholic integrationists and post-liberals, are also advancing ideologies complementary to white Christian nationalism. Can you talk about that coming together?

What we've seen in the political and religious realignment over the last few decades is the concern that the Christian right is no longer strong enough by themselves to win victories politically. That required them to relax the bounds of who is part of their team. So you see Christian conservatives on the right uniting groups that formerly did not like one another, like Catholics, evangelicals, Mormons and even "pro-Christian" secularists. Increasingly, we can't talk about a Christian right so much as a "pro-Christian right," because Christian identity isn't really necessary anymore. You can be a secular pro-Christian American and think "Christian" is an ethno-cultural category that supports traditional values. All of these identities are on the same team, since what you want is an institutionalization of white Christian ethno-culture and victories for the political right.

Over on the Democratic side, they have nothing close to that. This is why Republicans are a lot stronger as a group than many realize, because they're united around ideology and ethno-religious belief in a way that Democrats are constantly fractured.

Even though we see demographic decline among white Christians, the unity on the right belies the demographic numbers. We also know that Christian nationalist ideology ebbs and flows in response to threats: When you tell white Christians about their imminent demographic decline, they respond with greater Christian nationalism. If you are a savvy politician, you can stoke a Christian nationalist response that mobilizes people in your target audience to collective action.

You also talk about the need for a popular front that could counter white Christian nationalism. What would that look like and what would it require?

I think it will take everybody from never-Trump evangelicals all the way to the secular left. It's going to take concentrated effort to not only name this, but to make sure it can't be institutionalized any further in the name of religious liberty, and that political candidates can't continue to deploy the language of Christian threat without it being called out as dog-whistle language that just means white Christian ethno-culture. It's going to take organizations like the Baptist Joint Committee and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, who are already trying to do this, and coalitions of Americans from all kinds of backgrounds to say this is what we're against.

That is difficult. Evangelical Christians, say, are understandably reticent to sign a document alongside people they fundamentally disagree with. Abortion is always going to be a sticking point. But we are confronted with a situation where the stakes may be high enough.

I'll say it this way: COVID should have been the asteroid that united us, but it just polarized us further. But if an asteroid was headed towards Earth, I wouldn't ask the neighbor next to me who they voted for in the last election. We would recognize that the threat is great enough to just focus on defeating this thing. For many Americans, it's going to take a recognition that the threat is that great.

One of the reasons we wanted to write the book is to say: This is the asteroid. This is the thing that is coming for democracy. And we've got to unite to overcome that.

Read more from Kathryn Joyce on religion and the far right:

Marjorie Taylor Greene to right-wing Catholic site: How come "God hasn't destroyed" America?

What is "social emotional learning" — and how did it become the right's new CRT panic?

Kayleigh McEnany wants more "Christian babies": It's an overt call-out to racist paranoia

KATHRYN JOYCE  is an investigative reporter at Salon, and the author of two books: "The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking and the New Gospel of Adoption" and "Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement."MORE FROM KAT

ANOTHER AMAZING FIND FROM THE MUSEUM STORAGE ROOM

‘Lost’ Viking Village Artifacts Emerge From Norwegian Basement Archive

UPDATED 27 APRIL, 2022 -

It isn’t rare for a once prosperous medieval town to be abandoned and slowly get side-lined in the annals of history. Nothing exemplifies this statement better than the lost Viking village of Borgund, on the west coast of southern Norway.

The Discovery of the Viking Village of Borgund, Norway

The Borgund Kaupang Project was launched in 2019 by the University of Bergen to re-examine the countless Viking village artifacts found in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, which have long been housed in a basement archive, according to Science Norway .

This picture shows the Borgund Viking village excavation site in 1954. The Borgund fjord, a rich source of cod, can be seen in the background. (Asbjørn Herteig / University Museum of Bergen / CC BY-SA 4.0 )

At the time of discovery in 1953, a piece of land near Borgund church had been cleared, uncovering a lot of debris and objects that were immediately traced to the Norwegian Middle Ages . Over the course of that year and the following summer some 45,000 objects were painstakingly put away into storage after a cumbersome excavation. It was only in 2019 that these items were taken out of storage to piece together the history of a thousand-year-old Norwegian Viking village that the world knows little about.

• Ground-Penetrating Radar Locates Massive Viking Burial Mounds in Norway
• The Viking Serpent: Serpent Worship, Sacred Geometry, and Secrets of the Celtic Church in Norway

“The 45,000 objects from the 5,300 square meter excavation area in Borgund have just been lying here,” said Danish archaeologist and project manager Professor Gitte Hansen. “Hardly any researchers have looked at this material since the 1970s.”

What’s particularly interesting is that the town of Borgund is mentioned in Viking sagas and charters from the Middle Ages. Sagas mention the existence of the town as early as at least 985 AD, as this was where Håkon Jarl and his sons journeyed before the battle against the Jomsvikings in 985 AD, states the University of Bergen (UIB) press release . King Håkon was the de facto Norwegian ruler between 975 and 995 AD.

King Håkon the Good, who visited the Viking village of Borgund, during his reign, overseeing a peasant dispute in a painting by Peter Nicolai Arbo. (Peter Nicolai Arbo / Public domain )

Reconstructing Borgund’s Viking History From Written Sources

From a historical point of view, sagas are always taken with a pinch of salt. The reasoning for this is twofold.

First, sagas are semi-legendary or legendary in nature, bordering on mythology, and have a tendency to conflate the king’s association with gods. For example, this saga associated King Håkon ’s lineage with Sæming, son of Odin.

Second, revisionist history writing is cautious in accepting verbatim sources that are issued from the perspective of those at the apex of society, who are never fair or judicious with their representations of reality. This is largely due to the assertion of power and prestige that comes with the burden of disparately designed social hierarchies.

Then there is a reference to Borgund in relation to the Battle of Bokn in 1027 AD, which has been accepted by this group of historians and researchers as the oldest written evidence for the existence of the Viking village.

The limited written sources about Borgund in the Middle Ages refer to it as one of the “small towns” ( smaa kapstader ) in Norway. “Borgund was probably built sometime during the Viking Age,” adds Professor Hansen, who is also head of the Department of Cultural History at UIB.

Here lie the remnants of the forgotten Viking village of Borgund. (Bård Amundsen / sciencenorway.no)

Difficulty in Reconstruction and Moving Forward

Within a hundred odd years, Borgund became the most expansive Viking village on the western coast between Trondheim and Bergen. It flourished till the mid-14th century AD, when it was actually at its peak.

However, the plague defined Europe in the Middle Ages had a terrible impact on Borgund, to such an extent that by the end of the 14th century AD, Borgund disappears from the annals of history. This coincided with the Little Ice Age which left much of northern Europe much colder and snowier than before.

Unfortunately, the recovered Borgund Viking village textiles (250 pieces in total) have suffered as no conservation effort was made to preserve them, apart from leaving them in storage. Yet, Hansen admits that she is rather grateful for even having the tattered fabrics to hold onto. Credit for the excavation in 1953 and ’54 goes to Asbjørn Herteig, one of the pioneers of modern medieval archaeology.

Herteig’s strength lay in subverting historical interests from important buildings and centers of power like churches, monasteries, and castles. His method was to assemble a meticulous collection of seemingly trivial artifacts. This included shoes’ soles, pieces of cloth, slag, potsherds (ceramic and otherwise), to name a few, that helped piece together the lives of ordinary people.

The unfinished Borgund Viking village investigations indicate a dense settlement of houses and at least three marble churches . The nearby fjord, known as Borgundfjordfisket, was a rich cod fishery that harvested in late February and early March. The inhabitants ate a lot of fish, as proven by the countless fish bones, and fishing gear artifacts found at the site.

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The Borgund Viking village was probably created in the 10th century AD, and there is evidence of trade and contact with the rest of Europe, particularly Western Europe. Numerous pieces of English, German, and French tableware were found at the site. An exchange of art, music, and fashion also occurred. The last official mention of Borgund was from 1384 AD, in a royal decree which instructed the farmers of Sunnmøre to buy their goods in the market town of Borgund.

Financed by the Norwegian Research Council, the ambitious and historically crucial documentation of Borgund Viking village has been captured in detail on the official Facebook page of the BKP and the Per Storemyr Archaeology and Conservation Group page . A five-part documentary series has been prepared by the BKP and can be accessed here . The BKP team includes archaeologists, geologists, osteologists (bone experts), metal scientists, and art historians.

Top image: The Borgund Viking village museum basement has drawers upon drawers with remains of textiles from perhaps a thousand years ago. They can tell us more about what kind of clothes people in Norway wore during the Viking Age and the Middle Ages. Source: Bård Amundsen / sciencenorway.no

By Sahir Pandey

 

After Three Suicides on U.S. Carrier, Crewmembers Voice Concerns

USS George Washington at Newport News, 2019 (USN file image)

PUBLISHED APR 28, 2022 6:12 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

The U.S. Navy believes that the three recent deaths amongst the crew of the carrier USS George Washington were all suicides, prompting an effort to provide support for the ship's crewmembers and look for any root causes behind the fatalities. In all, seven people aboard Washington have died over the last 12 months from various causes, according to CNN.

George Washington has been at Newport News Shipyard for its mid-life overhaul since 2017, and some crewmembers have reported challenging living and working conditions on board. “It’s not a place for first-time sailors, where you’re sold all this stuff from a recruiter and you’re thrown on this ship where stuff doesn’t even work, berthings aren’t clean, bathrooms aren’t cleaned,” one crewmember told Navy Times.

In a conversation with the service's top enlisted officer on April 22, several George Washington crewmembers voiced concerns about the conditions found on a carrier in long-term overhaul. Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Russell Smith responded that they might have to temper their expectations.

“What you're not doing is sleeping in a foxhole like a Marine might be doing. What you are doing is going home at night most nights,” Smith said. “What I can tell you is, this is what happens on a carrier in [overhaul], and at some point, you've got to shut some of the water down and shut some of the other hotel services down and they're gonna have to move around who's living on the ship in order to make it work and meet the safety requirements. Because you also don't want to not have this thing manned, if a fire breaks out or something else - because we've also been through that."

In response to concerns about stress aboard the ship, the Navy has hired extra chaplains for George Washington and dispatched a response team of psychiatrists. But some are calling for more action. 

“Each death is a tragedy, and the number of incidents under a single command raises significant concern that requires immediate and stringent inquiry to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the ship’s crew,” wrote former surface warfare officer Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) in a letter to the Navy's top officer this week. “This indicates an urgent need to understand if there are endemic problems within the command, safety concerns, or other contributing issues."

 

Offshore Work Commences for World’s Largest Wind Farm, Dogger Bank

Offshore work began for the cabling two years after onshore work began for the lworld's argest offshore wind farm (SSE Renewables)

PUBLISHED APR 29, 2022 7:52 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

Offshore construction for the world’s largest offshore wind farm has commenced marking a significant milestone for the development of the Dogger Bank Wind Farm located off the northeast coast of England. Two years after work began on the project, the installation of the first length of HVDC export cable off the Yorkshire coast began for the wind farm which when fully completed in 2026 will have the capacity to generate 3.6 GW.

"This is an exciting time for everyone involved in this project as we celebrate installing the first nearshore HVDC export cable safely and on time,” said Steve Wilson, Project Director at Dogger Bank Wind Farm. “With the first foundations due to be installed later this year and the first turbines scheduled for installation in 2023, we’re now well on our way to achieving first power.”

Onshore work for the project began early in 2020, five years after consent was granted. Located in the North Sea, the first phases are approximately 80 miles offshore followed by a third phase that will be 125 miles from shore. The first nearshore cable sections are currently being installed for Dogger Bank A which will generate 1.2 GW upon completion. This phase of the construction will continue during 2022, with work starting on the export cables for Dogger Bank B and Dogger Bank C in consecutive years.

A joint venture project between SSE Renewables (40 percent), Equinor (40 percent), and Eni Plenitude (20 percent), SSE Renewables is leading the development and construction of Dogger Bank Wind Farm. Equinor will be the lead operator of the wind farm on completion for its expected operational life of around 35 years.

Dogger Bank Wind Farm is being built in three phases known as A, B, and C. NKT will supply and install the onshore and offshore HVDC cable for all three phases of the project. The company will use its cable-laying vessel NKT Victoria to install the 320kV DC subsea cable system in the North Sea

 

80-Year Mystery Laid to Rest: The Fate of the WWII Submarine HMS Urge

HMS Urge (Royal Navy)

PUBLISHED APR 29, 2022 11:44 AM BY ROYAL NAVY NEWS

 

An 80-year-old maritime mystery has finally been put to rest with the unveiling of a memorial to a Royal Navy submarine lost off Malta.

Serving submariners from Naval Base Clyde and relatives of the crew of HMS Urge travelled to the Mediterranean island on April 27 for a memorial service recalling those who perished when the wartime submarine struck an Axis mine off the coast.  Thirty-two crew, eleven naval passengers and one civilian were lost in the tragedy. For almost eight decades the final fate of HMS Urge was unknown and it was only thanks to a remarkable feat of historical detective work that the mystery was solved.

The U-Class submarine, which was commissioned in 1940 and initially based at Dundee, was assigned to the Tenth Submarine Squadron in Malta in April 1941.

During her time in the Mediterranean she served with distinction, completing some 18 patrols, torpedoing an enemy battleship, sinking an enemy cruiser, and attacking enemy ships supplying Axis troops in North Africa. The submarine was even involved in top secret missions to land intelligence agents and some of the earliest Special Boat Service (SBS) Commandos on enemy-occupied soil.

But the intensity of attacks on Malta during this point in the Second World War forced the Royal Navy to eventually move their vessels to Alexandria in Egypt. Out of the five submarines which sailed only four made it to their destination. HMS Urge was never heard from again.

It was assumed that the Commanding Officer of Urge, Lieutenant Commander Edward Tomkinson DSO and his crew fell victim to enemy action.  But it wasn’t until Francis Dickinson, the Lieutenant Commander’s grandson, teamed up with the University of Malta and a Canadian naval researcher that their final fate was known.

“Malta was among the most heavily bombed places during the Second World War and it got to the point that it was safer to be at sea than in harbour there,” said Francis. “In my search for HMS Urge, naval researcher Platon Alexiades and I contacted Timmy Gambin at the University of Malta and together we formed a search project. “Records of HMS Urge’s patrols are held in the National Archives, including records of the route which she was to take on leaving Malta. Using these, and my grandfather’s wartime letters, we began putting together the answer to what happened. Timmy Gambin’s expert knowledge of the waters and wreck sites around Malta and search capabilities were vital, and Platon Alexiades provided invaluable research on Axis plans which revealed that they had laid a minefield on the route HMS Urge was to take, just a few days before she sailed for Alexandria.”

Using this knowledge, in October 2019 the University of Malta team pinpointed what they believed was the wreck of Urge a few miles off the Maltese coast.  Although they were almost certain, a dive of the wreck was needed to confirm it. 

Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic interfered with plans and it was only in 2021 that Timmy Gambin could coordinate the dive team which made the 300-foot descent to the resting place of the submarine. The team was able to positively identify lettering on the hull confirming that it was HMS Urge and also confirm evidence that she had been damaged by a maritime mine.

The new memorial to HMS Urge is situated at Fort St Elmo, facing out to sea in the direction of the remains of the submarine.  The solemn unveiling was also attended by President of Malta, George Vella, and British High Commissioner, Katherine Ward.  Members of the Armed Forces of Malta performed a gun salute in honour of HMS Urge.

This article appears courtesy of Royal Navy News and may be found in its original form here. 
 

 

Mayflower Autonomous Ship Begins Second Attempt at Atlantic Crossing 

Mayflower during her 2021 attempt to cross the Atlantic (Oliver Dickson photo courtesy of IBM/ProMare)

PUBLISHED APR 29, 2022 4:12 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

The Mayflower Autonomous Ship has departed for its second attempt to cross the North Atlantic from the UK to the U.S. using only its AI systems to navigate the more than 3,000 nautical mile journey. Originally planned to coincide with the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim’s journey to the new world, the vessel was delayed by the pandemic and then a mechanical failure on its first attempt in June 2021. If it is successful, MAS400 will become the largest autonomous vessel to have ever crossed the Atlantic.

Measuring 50 feet in length and weighing five tons, the craft was developed at a cost of more than $1 million in a research partnership involving the University of Plymouth, IBM, autonomous vessel specialists MSubs, and charity Promare, which promotes marine research. Taking more than four years to develop, the goal of the project is to collect ocean research data during the crossing and demonstrate the emerging capabilities of AI to navigate vessels.

MAS400 is equipped with six AI-powered cameras that provide images to the computers which were educated about land, ships, and other potential obstacles by studying more than one million images. The vessel also has 30 onboard sensors and 15 edge devices. It is feeding data from the voyage back to the team onshore via satellite connections which also permit the public to monitor progress with an online dashboard.

 

 

The vessel is currently traveling at speeds ranging between 5 and 6 knots reporting that it has traveled over 350 nautical miles since departing Plymouth on April 27. It provides hourly updates to its automated Twitter account. If all goes as planned, it should reach Virginia in approximately three weeks. Unlike its namesake, the project organizers believe the AI computer will be able to prevent it from being blown hundreds of miles off course and arriving in Massachusetts like the Mayflower in 1620.

The team explains that they programmed the system with the planned course and the computers analyze progress determining how to reach the objective, considering weather, currents, and other variables as well as navigating to avoid collisions. The MAS can see approximately 2.5 nautical miles ahead, and it will identify vessels and other hazards in its path. It uses a hybrid system of wind and solar power with a diesel backup generator to power the vessel and its propulsion.

The first attempt to cross the Atlantic began on June 15, 2021, however, the vessel experienced a mechanical failure after completing just over 11 percent of its journey and the team decided to abort the mission and sent a rescue craft to find and retrieve MAS400. They reported that a coupling failed on the generator forcing the vessel to rely solely on solar power. The team determined that it would run out of power if permitted to continue on the voyage.

During the time back at base in England they also used it to improve systems for the craft. In addition to enhancements to mechanical systems to make the craft more robust during the crossing, they also improved the computer vision software.

AI Captain is reporting that all systems are functioning normally as the Mayflower Autonomous Craft entered international waters. Views were posted of a dolphin swimming alongside as it headed out of the English Channel and now the camera show a gray Atlantic with a long horizon ahead.