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The California community caught between a powerful megachurch and far-right extremists (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

10 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Shasta residents voted out an anti-establishment leader in favor of a business owner who attends the enormously popular yet controversial Bethel church

This is the third in a series of three stories on the run-up to the 2024 US presidential election in Shasta county, a region of 180,000 people in northern California that has emerged as a center of the election denial movement and hotbed for far-right politics. Read the first and second story.

For years, an extremist far-right movement has worked to transform one of California's most conservative regions. Since gaining a majority on Shasta county's governing body, they have managed to spark an exodus of government workers, attempted to do away with the voting system and fought the state over policies pertaining to Covid-19 and the second amendment.

Earlier this year, voters in the community of 180,000 -- perhaps tired of Shasta's national notoriety as a hotbed for extremist politics and election denialism -- declared they had had enough. In a stunning rebuke, they voted out a far-right leader by an enormous margin, handing his seat to a political newcomer.

🗳️ Register to vote: https://vote.gov/

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[–] [email protected] 33 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Shasta ofc. They should also mention that many rural towns are held hostage by these groups. Yucca Valley is another in CA. That place has the church vs desert nazis that are backed by marines and VC money. No joke that place is fucked. Coachella is just where they hold all of their gatherings.

It’s been my experience that a major portion of rural communities have been ravaged by extremists. Nazis, racists, extremist church weirdos, drug gangs and others.

Years of Boomer fuckery made it all happen.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 weeks ago

Yep. The thing is: they have been propagandized to think the cities are WORSE.

Think about how these people view our country, when it's really just an even more dystopic nightmare than they've already created for themselves locally.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 2 weeks ago

Moscow, ID is fighting to keep the city public while local cults try to buy everything up.

Churches with no tax burden have huge advantages when they start commercial enterprises and then use tax free money to help their parishioners start/buy business after business with cheap loans and local support. Eventually the town is owned (directory or by proxy) by the church/cult. Then they take over city council and it's a religious city by proxy.

Fun times for everyone else who are then abused by the cult for still living in the city and now joining their org.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 weeks ago

Caught between far right extremists and checks notes... Far right extremists.

Huh.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 weeks ago

It's a pretty long article, but there's some fascinating stuff in there. Let me leave you with this bit to entice you to read it:

But it’s Bethel’s school of supernatural ministry, which has been called a “Christian Hogwarts”, that is often credited with its growth. The program was founded by Kris and Kathy Vallotton, the senior leaders of the church, and teaches students that they can perform miracles and heal through prayer. “Students will learn how to read, understand, and ‘do’ the Bible, how to practice His presence, to witness, heal the sick, prophesy, preach, pray, cast out demons and much more,” the school website states.

People travel to Redding from around the world, more than 100 countries, to attend the vocational program. Students have been known to approach people in the city, particularly those in casts or with walkers, to offer prayers for healing. The focus on “supernatural power” is fundamental to the church, which in 2019 asked members to pray for the resurrection of a two-year-old girl.

“This is the bind we’re in,” she said. “Shasta county is in this weird extremist sandwich where we have the rightwing pushing for guns and splitting the state. And there is the other extreme side of the sandwich that is Bethel church. Then the middle where people are trying to figure out how to survive in this place.”

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Which one is the frying pan, and which one is the fire?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Pretty sure it's the same people in both groups.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 weeks ago

pam_theyre_the_sam_picture.jpg

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

It's such a beautiful area. We used to rent a houseboat on Shasta lake as a regular summer vacation. But the political signs you see there are just insane.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 2 weeks ago

This is what the founding slavers wanted.