Please enable JavaScript to properly view our site.
Parents, siblings and sports fans watch youngsters play basketball at Nook Sports on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. More recently, the Nook hosted a conference for Christian nationalists, who believe they are at war with the rest of American society — including any Christians who don’t strictly adhere to their far-right worldview.
Parents, siblings and sports fans watch youngsters play basketball at Nook Sports on Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. More recently, the Nook hosted a conference for Christian nationalists, who believe they are at war with the rest of American society — including any Christians who don’t strictly adhere to their far-right worldview.
THE ISSUE
As local author Jamie Beth Cohen wrote in a column published in last Sunday’s Perspective section, the Mid-Atlantic Reformation Society’s Future of Christendom 2023 conference was held at Spooky Nook Sports in East Hempfield Township last weekend. As Cohen explained, the conference, titled “The Gospel at War,” “promised ‘concise messages for our culture from a biblical worldview,’ and sessions such as ‘The Gospel at War with Feminism,’ ‘The Gospel at War with Art,’ ‘The Gospel at War with the Yellow Bus (public education)’ and ‘The Gospel at War with the Military.’ Also on the schedule: a formal debate on whether ‘Gay Christian’ is an ‘acceptable identity for a member of Christ’s Church.’ ”
The NAACP Lancaster Branch celebrated its 100th anniversary Thursday evening. Local members of the Jewish community are observing their High Holy Days. In Lancaster County — the home of more than 64,000 Hispanic people — Hispanic Heritage Month is underway, with a Lancaster city celebration planned for Saturday.
And then there was last weekend’s conference at Spooky Nook.
It was not a harmless gathering of well-meaning Christians enjoying fellowship. The militarism of the conference’s session titles gave away the game: This is a group of people who believe they are at war with the rest of American society — including any Christians who don’t strictly adhere to their worldview. They disdain women’s equality, public education and so-called “government schools,” LGBTQ+ people and “Big Eva” — that is, evangelical elites and institutions they view as biblically soft and namby-pamby.
As Cohen wrote, the most worrying part of the conference was that it promised to teach attendees “to promote and advance God’s Kingdom in better and more effective ways.”
These are folks who want the United States to be an explicitly Christian nation, ruled by Christians for zealously like-minded Christians. Heaven forbid they become “better and more effective” at pushing their Christian nationalist agenda. The consequences would be terrible for anyone who doesn’t share their biblical worldview.
This is the United States, though, and the members of the Mid-Atlantic Reformation Society are free to peaceably assemble where they wish. But private businesses such as Spooky Nook don’t have to welcome them.
The Mid-Atlantic Reformation Society found this out last year, when a public outcry forced the relocation of its discussion on Pennsylvania’s supposed founding as an “explicitly Christian state.”
Spooky Nook’s management, of course, can make whatever decisions it wants about what events it hosts.
And the rest of us are free to criticize Spooky Nook for its associations and the potential harm those associations are causing our county’s reputation as a welcoming and diverse place.
This wasn’t a one-off for Spooky Nook. Last October, the sports complex hosted the “ReAwaken America Tour,” a far-right event featuring a traveling band of antidemocratic conspirators, anti-vaccination zealots and QAnon crackpots.
Like the “Gospel at War” conference, “ReAwaken America” events spread an inflammatory mix of misinformation, Christian nationalism, polarizing political rhetoric and references to spiritual warfare, according to the Anti-Defamation League and academics studying the religious right.
The website for last weekend’s conference featured a sepia-toned photograph of a Bible and a sword cropped to look like a cross. At first glance, it was a benign image. But the placement of the sword on the Bible was ominous. In biblical terms, a sword signifies God’s judgment. Presumably, those of us who weren’t part of the conference were the judged and those inside Spooky Nook were donning spiritual armor so they could, as the conference website promised, “fulfill their callings within their families, businesses, professions, ministries, or vocations more effectively.”
Again, we live in a nation where the right to assemble is guaranteed by our Constitution and Bill of Rights. If someone wants to pay $100 or more to spend a weekend listening to speakers thunder on about their imagined wars with the rest of society, that’s their right.
But the rest of us ought to pay attention to what’s going on in these gatherings.
In her column, Cohen wrote that as “a Jew in Lancaster County, I’ve had to learn to read between the lines the same way that I’ve had to learn to decipher the hidden antisemitism in cryptic tattoos and bumper stickers.”
We’re sorry that Cohen — whose great-grandparents came to Pennsylvania to escape the pogroms being carried out against Jews in Eastern Europe — has had to hone this skill. We’re sorrier still that she sees brewing in Lancaster County some of the dangers that her great-grandparents fled.
But we can’t be merely sorry. We have to ensure that narrow-minded hatred doesn’t flourish here. We have to firmly counter narratives that are meant to pit groups and individuals against each other. Ours is not a nation — or a county or a commonwealth — just for Christian nationalists. It’s a home for all of us, in all our wondrous diversity.
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Be the first to know breaking news, delivered only when a big story is developing.
THE ISSUE
THE ISSUE
As LNP | LancasterOnline’s Elizabeth DeOrnellas reported Sunday, “Scientists and birders are…
Support local journalism. Click here to learn more about the role the Lancaster County Local Journalism Fund plays in Lancaster County and to make a tax-deductible donation.
Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks.
We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
Previous Post
Next Post
