Erie pastor cautions against Christian conservatives' push for 'revolution'

"We had been drugged nearly to death by proslavery compromises. A radical change was needed in our whole system. Nothing is better calculated to effect the desired change than the slow, steady and certain progress of the war."

— Frederick Douglass, "The Mission of the War," Jan. 13, 1864

Could Douglass' words be part of the vision statement of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, which, according to certain estimates, has baked in the conventional oven of conservative ideology for 30 to 50 years?

Specifically, the Heritage Foundation's president has publicly described a second American Revolution suggesting that, depending on oppositional responses, it could be bloody or bloodless. "We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be," he has said.

To me that suggests Project 2025's framers' believe compromises have not worked and war could now be necessary — and I repeat, with or without bloodshed. Do Project 2025 framers feel they have nearly been "drugged nearly to death" by the slow-moving mechanisms of government that have only set our nation on a trajectory toward the death of democracy and America?

Such words remind me of The Washington Post's slogan "Democracy dies in darkness." Award-winning journalist Bob Woodard popularized the phrase. The slogan began after President Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration, when his spokesman claimed Trump had the largest inauguration audience in history and when his spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway suggested that "alternative facts" guided the administration.

No more worries, the Heritage Foundation and its Project 2025 have apparently seen a sign, as did Roman Emperor Constantine when he saw a sign or some say a vision in the sky. "In hoc signo vinces," Latin for “in this sign, you shall conquer,” is a phrase associated with Christianity and the Knights Templar. Its origin can be traced back to the legend of Emperor Constantine the Great, who ruled the Roman Empire in the early fourth century.

Constantine saw the sun with a cross of light above it, along with the inscription "in hoc signo vinces." Taking the sign as a divine mandate, Constantine embraced Christianity and Christianized his empire. He then adopted the cross as his symbol.

Is history repeating itself? Is there a trinity being formed to conquer those Americans who some feel are an existential threat to democracy and the American empire? If so, the trinity might be the Heritage Foundation, ultra conservatives, and Christian Nationalists. And don't forget President Trump's sale of a new Bible.

President Trump's new Bible costs $60 dollars, a lot of money for a text retrievable free online. To sweeten the purchase, the former president included with the Bible copies of the U.S. Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, the Pledge of Allegiance, and a handwritten chorus to Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA."

A narrative has been formed just in time for the November 2024 presidential election. The constituent parts, in my view, are the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025, the Trump Bible, ultra conservatives' Mission America: Rescuing Democracy, and the Christian flag as its banner.

It seems many Americans have taken to heart Frederick Douglass' revolutionary words and his call to arms for a bloody revolution. The Jan. 6th coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol in 2021, many have said, was a trial run for a second American revolution that will be televised.

More: As Trump support merges with Christian nationalism, experts warn of extremist risks

If revolutionaries are going to quote Douglass, quote other statements by him as well, like those in his July 4th speech of 1852:

"Americans! Your republican politics, not less than your republican religion, are flagrantly inconsistent. You boast of your love of liberty, your superior civilization, and your pure Christianity, while the whole political power of the nation (as embodied in the two great political parties) is solemnly pledged to support and perpetuate the enslavement of three millions of your countrymen."

More: OnPolitics: Some Project 2025 contributors have trail of racist writings, history

I strongly suggest we examine Project 2025 before we cast our November votes. See for yourself if this is the kind of revolution needed for such a time as this. Or, should a more moderate, peaceful approach to needed change be the better way to rescue America and democracy?

The Rev. Dr. Charles Mock is an associate minister at Second Baptist Church in Erie.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Pastor Mock questions Christian conservatives' plan for America