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Is Mastriano's 'faith' what Jesus has taught?
To the editor:
In my travels around Central Pa., I see many political signs for Doug Mastriano, who has won the Republican primary for Pa. governor. These signs include a scripture reference: John 8:36, which says "If the Son sets you free you are free indeed."
Mr. Mastriano has said "This is why my motto is 'Walk as Free People.'" Mr. Mastriano has made his faith a cornerstone of his campaign. I would like to examine Mr. Mastriano's "Christian" faith and its influence on his proposed policies.
The gospel of John, chapter 8, verses 34-36, says this: "34 Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." Jesus and his sacrifice set us free, not from political entities or laws, but from the wages of sin. People who support Mr. Mastriano because he structures his campaign as a fight for freedom should keep the scriptural reading of the verse in mind.
Candidate Mastriano has come to embody a set of beliefs characterized as Christian nationalism, which center on the idea that God intended America to be a Christian nation. (The New Yorker, May 9, 2021). According to Samuel Perry, a sociologist at the University of Oklahoma, in August of 2020, 68% of white evangelicals believed that the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were divinely inspired; by this February, that figure had jumped to 74%.
"Many who hold Christian-nationalist beliefs think that God's will should determine America's course. Christian nationalists take the view that because America is a 'Christian nation,' any party or leader who isn't Christian in the 'right' way, or who fails to conform to their agenda, is illegitimate," according to Katherine Stewart, the author of "The Power Worshippers."
Answers in Genesis, July 1, 2015, says this: "Some of the founding fathers were Christians … but that does not mean that the key founders who wielded the most influence were orthodox Christians. Nor does it mean that the framers of the Constitution intended to create a Christian nation … Many of the key founders were "theistic rationalists" who believed in one God and espoused the Bible's code of behavior without being true believers in the gospel of Jesus Christ."
Mr. Mastriano rejected the title of Christian Nationalist, saying to a writer for The New Yorker "Is this a term you fabricated? What does it mean and where have I indicated that I am a Christian Nationalist?"
However, "Mastriano's significance, alongside that of the N.A.R., is that he is attempting to create a theonomy -- a system of enacting God's law on earth," according to Frederick Clarkson, a research analyst at Political Research Associates. Bills that Mastriano supported in the Pa. legislature would have mandated teaching the Bible in public schools and would have made it legal for adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples, among other things.
Mr. Mastriano has attended events held by a movement called the New Apostolic Reformation, a loosely linked network of charismatics and Pentecostals that, over the past decade, has played an influential role in conservative American circles. (Mastriano denied working directly with the group.)
The N.A.R.'s overarching agenda -- to return the United States to an idealized Christian past -- is largely built upon the work of the pseudo-historian David Barton, who, again, has advanced the idea that America was founded as a Christian nation.
On Dec. 12, 2020, Mastriano went to Washington, D.C., to participate in a series of "Jericho Marches" organized by leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation in which conservative Christians, among a hodgepodge of QAnon followers and white nationalists, gathered to pray that God would keep President Donald Trump in office.
Alex Jones, of Infowars, attended, as did members of the Oath Keepers militia. (Mastriano denies any affiliation with QAnon, though he has made several appearances on QAnon-connected media outlets.) Mr. Mastriano announced his gubernatorial candidacy while wearing a tallit (a Jewish prayer shawl) and blowing a shofar -- symbols that Christian nationalists have appropriated from the Jewish tradition and use to declare apocalyptic spiritual war, as in the battle of Jericho referenced above.
He has gained increasingly extreme followers; in May of 2020, at a gun-rights protest on the steps of the state capitol, he posed for pictures with white men in fatigues carrying AR-15s and several others in Hawaiian shirts, a hallmark of the Boogaloo Bois, a white-nationalist militia.
In July of 2020, Mastriano attended a rally on the Gettysburg battlefield, where militia members gathered in response to a hoax circulated on social media that Antifa was going to topple Confederate statues.
According to The Bulwark, May 31, 2022, there are churches that have AR-15 giveaways, some even using scripture to sacralize the weapon -- with the most extreme proponents incorporating the gun into their services. The most prominent and explicit church belonging to this cult, the World Peace and Unification Sanctuary Church", based in Newfoundland, Pennsylvania, has ties to Mr. Mastriano. Reverend Hyung Jin "Sean" Moon, the youngest son of Unification Church founder Reverend Sun Myung Moon, heads the ministry called "Rod of Iron Ministries." Vice News reported last year that Mastriano has been a speaker at Rod of Iron events.
In conclusion, I would like to urge Christian voters who are considering voting for Mr. Mastriano to prayerfully consider whether his faith is a reflection of the life and teachings of our Savior.
Joan D. Loewen
Lewistown