I'm publishing this entry in preparation for another entry to come. Please read it, digest it, discuss it, and share it. Stay tuned...
Governor Matt G. Bevin is a Southern Baptist who attends Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, and made a generous endowment to create the Bevin Center For Missions Mobilization at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS). Albert Mohler, SBTS President, referred to Bevin as a "close personal friend" and a "generous donor." In addition to appointing a host of his fellow church members to various boards and government positions, he handcrafted a $240k/yr + benefits (& chance of bonuses) position as "adoption czar" for his buddy Dan Dumas, VP at SBTS.
In addition to giving a Religious Seminary official carte blanche over KY's adoption and foster care system, Bevin has been working to insert religion throughout our social services sector. One of the first things he did after becoming Governor was to insert himself into a case involving the proselytization of children residing in publicly funded religious care facilities, seeking the settlement nullified in order to allow religious facilities to start proselytizing to vulnerable children once again. He also started an initiative to partner with churches and faith-based organizations to place children into Christian households, using his wife to recruit Baptist women in adopting/fostering kids who "[...] don't know Jesus loves them."
Bevin's religion influences his policy decisions, such as his unending fight against abortion (including supporting Operation Save America [OSA] a group of pro-birth domestic terrorists), his solution for quelling gun violence in Louisville's West End by forming roaming prayer patrols, pushed for new marriage licenses because religious zealot Kim Davis refused to do her job, and helped the professional tax dodgers at AIG secure $18m in tax incentives which resulted in the monstrosity finally being built. He has even attempted to recruit Kentucky's evangelical pastors to preach his message for him.
Other ways he uses religion include, peppering countless social media posts with references to God, Jesus, and Christianity, declaring two years in a row "The Year of the Bible," encouraging the passage of a bill which would allow discrimination against LGBTQ students under the guise of "religious freedom," encouraging passage of another bill which allows the proselytization of school children & prioritization of Christianity in public schools under the guise of teaching "Bible history," referring to his family as having a "quiver full" of children (a blatant reference to the Quiverfull movement, which doesn't believe in using birth control [read: Duggars] as well as many other troubling beliefs), and employing the cadence of a preacher during speeches and public appearances, often impressing upon listeners the need to "be bold."
Given Matt Bevin's previously demonstrated religious agenda, in concert with his other extreme "conservative" priorities, I would say it's very likely he is a member of the Council for National Policy (CNP), a group which has been working in secret for decades with the ultimate goal of instituting an American Theocracy in which Christian Fundamentalism rules. If you think I'm being an alarmist with that assertion, just read this, this, or this. Bevin pretends he is just another man standing up for what he believes, not caring if those beliefs keep him from being elected for another term, but that couldn't be further from the truth. He uses his religion as a weapon, and as a tool to further his agenda while expanding his base. It's dangerous business, and deserves to called out for what it is: religious extremism.
"In the years since then, they have been blessed with a “full quiver” and are now the busy parents of nine children ages 5-16."
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