You’re not the first to make such observations. To quote Barry Goldwater (Republican party nominee for US President in 1964):

> Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.

Was he describing America or Iran? Hard to figure out as we seemed to be in War due to similar people in control of another (not)important country :)

It was about America. I think the only overlap between "conservative" Republicans and religious fundamentalists is the "social conservatism", e.g., "family values", "law and order", etc. The quotes are because there's debate about what those terms really mean.

The key difference is that religious fundamentalists pledge their allegiance to the Church, not the country; not "God" either (although they might claim it to be so). They are tribal to their core and anybody outside their church is an "other" and is not worthy of being considered a fellow citizen.

> correlating factor

There's a free ebook from 2006 that tries to dive into it as a personality spectrum:

https://theauthoritarians.org/

It has some interesting assertions/observations about issues like double-standards and fear as a motive.

Ironically Jesus always had beef with the religious conservatives of His time: the Pharisees.

I agree with your last organized religion comment somewhat, but the jump to devout Christians based off some anecdotes comes off as a bit prejudiced. The "not trying to be inflammatory" is a decent pre-emptive hedge attempt, but still falls flat when reading. This is a pattern I see here sometimes, which is criticism of religion drifting into assumptions about specific groups, and it tends to weaken an argument that was otherwise reasonable. And I'm saying this as someone who is extremely critical of Christianity.

The truth is that people are perfectly capable of making bad decisions regardless of their beliefs. Appealing to authority is not unique to religion. You see this same thing in corporate environments, academic circles, political groups, etc... It's probably more useful to focus on that broader dynamic than tie it to a specific group.

I take no pleasure in my assessment at all, and I would love to be proven wrong.

Let me give you one of countless examples of why I said what I did: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/26/hegseth-pray...

There plenty of other criticisms of groups and systems and people in general. But the "God Says So" crowd is very real and has been with us the whole time.

I consider myself to be deeply spiritual and understand the appeal and would even join in the faith if I thought it was real. But I don't. I wish I didn't have to pay any attention to it or care about it or think about it at all. But I do.

The reason I care, and I speak up about it, is that there are factions in power that embody exactly what my "prejudice" criticizes. This is everyone's business because they are making their faith everyone's business.

Edit: I believe this dialog is germane to HN because the subject is literally about the hacking of democracy itself.

I'm not sure what there is to prove wrong. You are biased and have a heart at war against Christianity. There is no way I will convince you of anything. This is a very common bias - I actually shared it at one point years ago. The same line of thinking can be applied to a lot of different groups.

I don't really read the news, so thanks for that link. I am not so sure Hegseth and Co. are great examples of Christianity. I'm also thinking Jesus would not approve of “overwhelming violence of action against those who deserve no mercy", so the dude's prayers probably will go unnoticed. That political/news sphere doesn't represent Christianity at all IMO and is all just noise. I personally saw thousands of Christians and secular people volunteer side by side during the TN and NC floods. There were even some Islamic people in there as well. It was really wonderful.

There are a lot of good people out there, whether Christian or not. Unfortunately the worst are the best at speaking the loudest. And I'm telling ya... I am harder on Christians than any other type of person, because they should be held to a higher standard. Anyway, instead of being proven wrong, I'd probably just get out and meet some good people, Christian, Muslim, whatever. Have a good time, make some great friends, and definitely not pay attention to the news.