The alien who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
- Deuteronomy 28:43, 44
Just a few hours before the Capitol Hill riot captured the world’s attention on January 6, Washington Post political reporter Dave Weigel tweeted out, “Protestants locked out of the top offices for the first time ever (president, chief justice, speaker of the house, [Senate] majority leader).”
Of the offices he referred to in his tweet, three – President, Chief Justice, and Speaker of the House – are held by Roman Catholics. Senate Majority Leader, Charles Schumer, is Jewish.
Jesse Curtis, whose Twitter bio states he is a historian of race and religion and is starting a job as Assistant Professor of History at Valpariso University in the fall of 2021, retweeted Weigel’s tweet, commenting on it, “The decline of Protestant supremacy (both as fact and ideology) is really something. Less than a century ago this would have been front page news and major social tension. Now it’s just quaint trivia.”
Another tweet by Sean Penn – yes, the actor – from 2/12/2021 reads, “Evangelical leaders should themselves be impeached by the Vatican if they themselves don’t follow Nikki Haley’s – The Monstrous Regiment (R-SC) – lead & clearly state they should not have followed Satin (sic) – this is a reference to Donald Trump – into the bowels of hell. But, perhaps they are too busy at sex parties.”
Now one could dismiss this as just another silly tweet from a confused Hollywood dweller. But a response to Penn’s tweet caught my attention. “thank you”, it began. “people often don’t like to acknowledge that the one holy roman catholic apostolic church has authority over the protestants so i’m glad you’re speaking out on this critical issue.” That response was sent by Elizabeth Bruening, whose Twitter bio indicates she’s an “Opinion writer at @nytimes.” That is to say, she is someone with journalistic and cultural clout. Bruening also retweeted Penn’s tweet with the comment “absolutely.”
Lux Lucet 
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