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Jason Rapert
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| God, guns, and freedom U.S. Politics |
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| Starting arguments over Thanksgiving dinner |
| Persons of interest |
Stanley Jason Rapert is a Christian fundamentalist state senator in Arkansas and anadvocate for Christian theocracy, who is notable for his conflicts with The Satanic Temple. He has tried to outlaw abortion in Arkansas a[1] couple[2] times[3] in the hope of overturning Roe v. Wade and punishing sexually active women with "vaginal probes."
Achievements
Jason defeats Satan
In 2015, Rapert sponsored a bill that placed a stone tablet of the Ten Commandments on the lawn of the Arkansas capitol building. The Satanic Temple, in response, sought to put up a similarly-sized statue of Baphomet, a colorful man-woman-goat-bat icon of Satanism. Rapert considered the statue's placement as an offensive, disgusting "war on the Ten Commandments" being forced upon the good people of Arkansas. [4]
Some people, at this point, might have wanted to avoid the obvious, glaring hypocrisy of forcing one's own religion down the throats of others in exactly the same way as the evil, nasty Satanists one is complaining about. Senator Rapert, unfortunately, is not one of those people.
Instead, Rapert has zealously promoted his teensy little monument ever since, fervently defending it in court and quickly re-erecting it when it was toppled by vandals. When he's not protecting the Ten Commandments from Satan and atheism, he likes to focus on putting conservative, fundamentalist Christianity into law. He is a member of a club for theocratic lawmakers.[5] Additionally, he's been fighting against the proposed Satanic monument ever since it's conception, accusing his nemeses of craving exactly what he, a loon with a pet religious monument, actually does.
On the side, he spends quite a lot of time personally insulting Satanists on Twitter, as one would expect of a man of God.[6] He also uses Twitter to beg Wal-Mart not to sell Satanic-themed merchandise. Even though he loves the free market and loves religious freedom and really, really loves Wal-Mart he somehow can't stand these things when Satanism gets involved.[7]
Medical quackery
In 2013 Rapert proposed a law mandating that a vaginal probe be used on (i.e., used against) anyone seeking an abortion. When this medically unnecessary and extremely creepy requirement was criticized loudly enough, it was dropped from the bill as though it were creepy and unnecessary.[8]
During the COVID-19 pandemic Rapert insisted the virus was fake and fought hard against all efforts to contain it or halt it spreading. He refused to wear a mask, claimed the virus was a hoax, promoted fake treatments,[9] etc., until the fake virus sent him to the hospital.[10] After that, for some reason, he seemed to miraculously realize that COVID is real.[11]
Living on hate-money
Jason Rapert appears to live entirely on donations from gullible fundamentalist Christians. He claims he will use the money to train more Christian nationalist politicians just like himself. This is a service for which he presumably pays himself handsomely — Rapert says his ministry "is believing God for" at least 1,000 Covenant Partners and 500 Kingdom Ambassadors:
| Partnership level | "Seed" | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| Prayer Partner | FREE! | The least you can do to support Christian nationalism! |
| Gospel Partner | $30 per month | Tithe to Jason Rapert instead of your actual church! Hoorah! |
| Covenant Partner | $100 per month | Sew even more seed while God watches! |
| Kingdom Ambassador | $500 per month | "accomplish all seven areas of ministry emphasis"! |
Source: Holy Ghost Ministries, Conway, AR[12]
If Rapert actually reached the donation levels he "believes for" he'd be raking in over 4 million dollars a year. However, he might not get to keep it all. Liberty Counsel, the lobbying organization and SPLC-recognized hate group that he partners with probably gets a significant cut.
Getting made fun of
Rapert really does not like being criticized on Twitter, and has a habit of blocking constituents when they disagree with him, which is illegal for politicians, and for which he tends to get sued.[13] Rapert opposed a hate crimes law because the law, while protecting actual minorities from actual crimes, did not protect Republicans on Twitter. Which is outrageous, because it is well known that Republicans are an oppressed minority.[14]
See also
References
- ↑ Bill to outlaw abortion filed with hopes of reaching the Trump Supreme Court Arkansas Times 18 November 2020
- ↑ What Rapert’s abortion bill doesn’t say means trouble for women Arkansas Times 23 January 2019
- ↑ Arkansas’s Abortion Ban and One Man’s Strong Will The New York Times 11 March 2013
- ↑ Satanic Temple Protests Ten Commandments Monument With Goat-Headed Statue NPR 17 August 2018
- ↑ July trial set over removal of Ten Commandments monument at Arkansas Capitol Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 12 February 2020
- ↑ Jason Rapert on Twitter[a w] 5 February 2020
- ↑ Jason Rapert on Twitter[a w] 28 January 2021
- ↑ Arkansas senator now OK with just listening through your belly MSNBC 6 February 2013
- ↑ Dead horse flogging at the legislature: Hydroxychloroquine! Arkansas Times 28 September 2020
- ↑ Anti-mask US state senator who called coronavirus a hoax tests positive for Covid-19 The Independent 31 July 2020
- ↑ Anti-LGBT+ Republican who thinks the pandemic is a ‘hoax’ tests positive for COVID-19 PinkNews 26 July 2020
- ↑ The Legend of Brother Rapert: Career Change A-comin’! Blue Hog Report 11 February 2017
- ↑ Atheist free speech suit against Arkansas official proceeds Associated Press News 1 October 2019
- ↑ Arkansas Lawmaker Opposes Hate-Crime Bill Because It Doesn’t Protect Republicans Friendly Atheist 22 August 2020