With his horns and animal fur, Jake Angeli, also known as the QAnon Shaman, is one of the more high profile now arrested invaders of the U.S. Capitol. Shamans are pagans in touch with the spirit world. This particular shaman is especially in touch with the spirit world of QAnon, the popular conspiracy network that motivated many who attacked the Capitol. QAnon, like many pagan spiritualities, promises special insider knowledge and prophecies to its believers, who are a self-selected elect.
My Jewish friend Jonathan Silver in Mosaic noted:
“Pagan” is an apt description of the oft-photographed rioter who has become the face and the symbol of the day. The man is apparently known as Q Shaman. He sauntered into the Capitol draped in an animal hide, bare chested and covered in tattoos, his face painted, and wearing animal horns on his head. He doesn’t look like a European barbarian by accident; no, he is intentionally invoking the unconstrained ethic of power that, in Europe, Christianity sought to tame. In the West, Judaism and Christianity have taught us that every woman and man is created in the image and likeness of God. Without that fundamental truth, no American commitment to civic and legal equality can long endure. We are seeing that proposition proved daily.
Many commentators have ascribed the January 6 Capitol assault to “Christian nationalism,” and the charge is not unfair. There were Christian flags and symbols among the attackers. No doubt some of the attackers are sincerely religious and believe themselves to be Christian. Many perhaps actually are. Christian faith by itself does not promise wisdom or prudence. And Christians we know can defy the teachings of their faith and commit grave depravities that rank with any pagan’s, if not worse.
But as Silver notes, the thrust of the Capitol assault was a post-Jewish/Christian neo-pagan will to power based on cultural and racial identity. The Proud Boys, a sect of men who claim they’re defending Western Civilization, played a prominent role in the January 6 attack. Libertarian and sexually laissez-faire, the Proud Boys exalt a pagan form of masculinity and strength at odds with Jewish and Christian understandings about protecting the weak and vulnerable. In their sense of grievance, they claim superiority.
In contrast, the U.S. Capitol is a temple to America’s commitment to liberty and equality. Those concepts are rooted in the Bible’s assertion that all are created equally by God, all equally bear His image, all merit dignity because of their Creator, and all will be judged by His righteous standards. Jewish and Christian universality rejects pagan tribal deities under whom some people by virtue of birth or race or supposed special merit are more valuable than others.
At odds with the universal God of Jews and Christians, the Capitol attackers were fanatical tribalists waging war with other tribes they imagine as their enemy. But ultimately their enemy is the universal God who is no respecter of tribes. Silver writes of American political tribalisms that reject biblical universality:
The post-religious left combines sexual self-definition and racial determinism, and the post-religious right rejects the proposition of human equality altogether. These American tribes and their delusions must be opposed by a party of the left and a party of the right that are both committed to building up a nation of laws that apply equally to all. We American Jews can play a role in the pursuit of democratic justice, for there can be no Heaven on earth, and democratic self-government is the best regime we can hope for. That the American framers have established this possibility for us is a cause for gratitude.
Silver suggests: “We begin to build ourselves up by bowing our heads in reverence.“ That reverence begins with reverence for God, extends to reverence for America’s laws and Constitution, and importantly requires reverence for human equality and dignity that God and our American system require.
The QAnon Shaman told National Review: “I am a true patriot that believes in the founding documents, that believes in our founding principles.” No. Like other QAnon cultists, he mouths this rhetoric while assuming that his own shamanistic sect can, through its own unique spiritual powers, rightly understand, reinterpret and corrupt those principles for its own advantage. He was raised Catholic but later realized it was “a bunch of bull.” At least he is honest in his rejection of Christianity in favor of pagan alternatives. Most among the Capitol attackers are less honest.
This QAnon Shaman although crazy and criminal at least seems nonviolent. He apparently did not deploy his spear against anyone during the Capitol attack. He likes organic food and is an environmentalist. His bare chested physique suggests he spends lots of time at the gym, which maybe is his true temple. Other Capitol attackers were more malevolent and murderous.
Six are dead from the attack, among them U.S. Capitol policeman Brian Sicknick, who was smashed in the head by a fire extinguisher. At least 58 DC police officers and an unreported number of Capitol police are wounded. The most horrifying video from the assault shows the mob dragging and pounding an officer while one stabs him with the pole of an American flag as the mob chants “USA, USA!”
Such behavior is demonic. May God have mercy on these wretched souls.
Comment by Gary Bebop on January 13, 2021 at 6:22 pm
Honestly, does anyone believe that American paganism is a conservative dish? My experience of American paganism for the last forty years has been that of liberal-progressive United Methodist divagations from the historic Christian faith. My introduction to paganism in all its forms (from vulgarly flamboyant, to seductively comely, to smartly nuanced) was through a church that prides itself on being the Middle Way in American life.
Comment by Jeff on January 13, 2021 at 9:16 pm
Gary, well said. Paganism (to include insane amounts of Gaia-worship) is the Democrat Left religion of choice.
Mark, you ought to be ashamed of yourself for tarring half a million souls, a great number of whom are devout followers of CHRIST, with the slanderous brush of innuendo. Your “meme journalism” isn’t truth-seeking and it isn’t of Jesus, either.
Comment by Loren J Golden on January 14, 2021 at 11:41 am
So then, we should not imagine that pagan idolatry is the special province of either the political “left” or the political “right”, but it is endemic to the fallen human condition. This crass QAnon sect, like Wiccanism or New Age spiritualities—or like Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, or countless other manmade religions—is just another form of idolatry, another way that man puts other gods before the God who revealed Himself in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, in violation of the First Commandment (Ex. 20.3, Dt. 5.7).
In Scripture, God explicitly warned against adding to or taking away from His Word (Dt. 4.2, 12.32, Prov. 30.6, Rev. 21.18-19). For in doing so, one presumes authority over the Word that God has spoken by His prophets and apostles, silencing God where He has spoken or putting one’s own words in the mouth of God, in effect making for oneself yet another idol.
Nor should we presume that if we do not engage in crass pagan worship or the twisting of Scripture to suit ourselves that we are thereby not guilty of putting idols before God. After all, the Lord Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other; you cannot serve God and money” (or mammon; Mt. 6.24, Lk. 16.13). The human heart can devise all sorts of idols to worship—money, fame, popularity, work, sports, leisure, politics, etc. And with the worship of politics as an idol to displace the God of the Universe, this also is by no means limited to the political “left” or the political “right”. During this past election season, while walking through the neighborhoods surrounding my home, I have seen a great number of political yard signs and bumper stickers. One sign, planted in a yard in front of which sat a pickup truck with a Biden/Harris bumper sticker, read, “VOTE (with the O replaced by the 1960s peace symbol) as if the fate of the world depended on it.” In another yard, I read a sign that said, “Making Faith Great Again”, as voting for (and trusting in) the candidate to whom it obviously referred was capable of doing such a thing. No statesman, politician, or political candidate has it within him or herself to set things to rights within our communities, our states, our nation, or our world, and to trust in him or her to do such is to trust in an idol, no less than Mr. Angeli so obviously does, as reported in the article above.
Comment by Timothy on January 14, 2021 at 3:33 pm
‘Stop the press!’ Yesterday, moments after the impeachment drama, US intelligence stated the Capitol riots were planned at least a week before the event, and that a toxic stew of trouble makers were involved. To quote an old adage, ‘before we rush to judgement,’ take a deep breath, be skeptical of nearly everything you see or hear, and stay grounded in Holy Scripture. If history is any indicator, we’ll never know the whole truth about the so-called riot, as some call it; or was it a staged event?
Comment by Jim on January 14, 2021 at 7:36 pm
“In contrast, the U.S. Capitol is a temple to America’s commitment to liberty and equality. Those concepts are rooted in the Bible’s assertion that all are created equally by God, all equally bear His image, all merit dignity because of their Creator, and all will be judged by His righteous standards.”
Since 1973, this “temple ” has not reflected a commitment to equality. According to the national Right to Life 2020 statistics –
TOTAL ABORTIONS SINCE 1973:
61,628,584
How dare we invoke a commitment to equality.
Comment by Jeff on January 14, 2021 at 9:14 pm
Jim, you said:
“How dare we invoke a commitment to equality”
For a man like Mark Tooley who can scarcely contain his burning hatred for Donald Trump, it’s easy. Any slur, any stretch of the truth, any total fabrication is acceptable if in Tooley’s eyes it will wound President Trump. Facts be damned!
And as the above article illustrates, Tooley’s contempt extends to Trump’s supporters. That would be me — perhaps you too.
But don’t take my word for it. Here it is, in Tooley’s own words. I was disgusted but not surprised when I ran across it:
Worse Than Hillary: Why I Will Never Vote for Donald Trump
https://www.christianpost.com/news/worse-than-hillary-why-i-will-never-vote-for-donald-trump.html
Donald Trump is not without flaws, but BY HIS FRUIT has proven himself to be the best friend in the White House that conservatives, Christians, and Israel have had in decades. But, like I said, facts (and unborn lives) be damned to Tooley.
Blessings
Comment by Douglas E Ehrhardt on January 15, 2021 at 3:00 am
I agree Jeff .when Trump confronted the leader of Nigeria about the slaughter of Christian in his country he won my respect.The so called Christian leaders that are offended by the crude way Trump speaks at times are showing their elitism.The Biden crew will encourage Islamic growth.
Comment by Nathan on January 15, 2021 at 3:05 pm
This is a fair analysis, however since truth is in short supply I must correct the author, in their link to a NY Post article regarding an officer smashed in the head by a fire extinguisher, describing it as depicting the murder of Officer Sicknick. The officer injured in that fire extinguisher attack was William Young, who was treated and cleared for duty. Robert Sanford was charged with assault in that incident.
It has been reported that deceased officer Sicknick was attacked with a fire extinguisher to the head, however, to my knowledge no footage has been released, no one has been charged, and there has been no official description of the nature of his injuries.
Comment by Donald on January 15, 2021 at 7:31 pm
I think you’d better update your analysis of this “QAnon Shaman.” He’s being prosecuted for serious crimes that include conspiracy as well as misdemeanors. “Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin told reporters Friday that while there is no direct evidence of “kill or capture” teams, there are “bread crumbs” that suggest some level of coordination among some groups inside and outside the Capitol. Sherwin, whose office is leading the massive federal investigation into the riot, said understanding the rioter’s motives and level of advance planning could take weeks or months.”
“follower-turned-leader” in the QAnon ideology who has espoused dangerous conspiracy theories and described “hanging” lawmakers he called “traitors” in social media posts.
“He has repeatedly demonstrated dramatic, erratic behavior, an inability to conform to societal norms, and an unwillingness to appreciate the consequences of his actions,” the filing read. “He abides by his own belief system, acts accordingly regardless of the criminal consequences, and brings others along with him.” They say Chansley also vowed to return to Washington, D.C. for President-elect Biden’s inauguration.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/capitol-riots-qanon-shaman-jake-angeli-capture-assassinate/
Comment by Jim Robb on January 15, 2021 at 7:37 pm
Excellent, Mark.
Comment by Lawrence Kreh on January 15, 2021 at 10:19 pm
Excellent article, Mark.
I remain very disillusioned by Evangelicals who can critique paganism on the left and yet involkTrump to minimize paganism associated with the right — even after Qanon participated in sedition. It’s quite a disconnect.
Comment by Rebecca on January 15, 2021 at 11:19 pm
I’ve read a couple of articles about Jake Angeli, and they said he is an actor who lives in PHX, AZ and has attended Antifa protests, as well as this protest. There are videos of some of what happened at the Capitol, and many of the people rioting and going into the building looked like Antifa, not Trump supporters. And, at one point, the police were escorting people into the building. You have to wonder what it was really about. Plus, President Trump was far away from the riot, giving his speech to other people, who were very calm, when the riot and break in occurred.
Comment by Search4Truth on January 16, 2021 at 11:36 am
While Mr. Trump is, like the rest of us, one of those sinners Mr. Tooley mentioned, have you looked at, or maybe I should ask, listened to and read what the other side is offering? When an honest person does that…
Comment by John Smith on January 16, 2021 at 12:09 pm
The standard mainline mishmash of conflating secular and sacred to elevate the first and degrade the latter. The capital is not a temple, reverence to God does not mean reverence of human institutions, etc. So busy elevating man too busy to for God.
Comment by Star Tripper on January 20, 2021 at 12:29 am
The so called shaman is a failed actor who works for Universal Studios. He is known to show up a many rallies including Trump rallies and BLM rallies and is good at getting his picture taken. Mark, you managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in the battle for the UMC. I am not surprised you are overwhelmed by the forces playing out on the national and world stage at this time. Perhaps you should take some time off and let the adults handle things for awhile.