(For more on how the National Prayer Breakfast was the perfect shady venue for Russians to connect with the NRA and Trump, head here)
In 2015, alleged Russian spy Butina and her associate, U.S. political operative Paul Erickson, appeared on the radio show of conservative evangelical superstar (and big-time Trump promoter) Eric Metaxas to discuss gun rights and religious freedom — topics that are strangely congruent in the conservative Christian circles in which all these birds flew.
But why would Russian espionage efforts target the US Christian Right? Well, the affection with which some Christian right figures hold Russia and specifically the LGBTQ-persecuting policies of Putin is hardly a secret.
Putin’s evangelical fan club includes some pretty big names, like conservative Evangelical leader Franklin Graham, National Organization for Marriage leader Brian Brown, and American Family Association spokesperson Bryan Fischer.
In almost every case it has been his distinctive combination of homophobia and Islamophobia that has made Putin popular with those men. The cultural conservative preference for authoritarian moralism is echoed to the former KGB officer who has revived Russia’s pre-communist tradition of militantly authoritarian Christianity.
The full article is available here
