Joshua Graber has also been a vocal opponent of the right of Americans to get married as they choose. He recently declared that all marriages in the United States must obey harsh Christian religious rules about who can be married and how married couples must behave. Graber signed a letter sent to the Iowa state legislature demanding that the legislators submit themselves to the power of Christian leaders.
The letter stated that Christian rules about marriage must be obeyed by everyone:
“Because God is God of all, there is no structural difference between religious and civil marriage. The essence of marriage remains the same in both the religious and civil realms. (Col. 1:15-19) The acknowledgement of, and reference to, marriage in the laws of our state and nation does not create a second realm of marriage that is somehow divorced from the only definition determined by God.”
Joshua Graber is the pastor of the Cornerstone Baptist Church in Vinton, Iowa.
Graber prayed at a Trump campaign rally in Waterloo, Iowa in October 2023 for Donald Trump’s political opponents to be silenced.
Christian Nationalists like Graber who oppose to freedom of speech in the name of their god are willing to sacrifice democracy for the sake of their religion.
Using the power of Christianity to silence political dissent is the sort of practice that led generations of colonists to flee theocratic Christian monarchies. It would be unwise to follow authoritarian Christian leaders like Joshua Graber in his effort to undermine the freedoms that were so hard won in 1776.
Donald Trump’s Army of God: Christian Nationalism in the Iowa Faith Leader Coalition is a new book about the alarming truth of militant Christian Nationalism hidden behind the innocuous label of faith in Iowa politics.
As “a case study in the violent extremism that has come to define the presidential election of 2024,” the book examines the extremist Christian Nationalist ideology, grounded in details about the beliefs and actions of 317 actual Christian Nationalists who are working to undermine democracy across the state of Iowa.
The radicalization of the Iowa Christians profiled in this book enables us to understand the growing toxic influence of Christian Nationalism all across the USA.
The Iowa Faith Leader Coalition is a radical political organization that violates the law
Get informed! Become aware of the radical preachers who are members of the Coalition.