Observation O’ The Day<\/p>\n
There is a new trend, and it is battlespace prep. In both the US and Canada there is now a coordinated effort by the political\/MSM class to portray every kind of dissent from secular progressive authoritarianism as nothing less than violent insurrection and terrorism. In the Canadian media, people who object to vaccine mandates have been promoted from Nazis to a vast network of violent insurrectionists. In the US, we are told that people angry about the Mar-A-Lago raid are about to commence terrorist actions against civilians, even using dirty bombs.<\/em><\/p>\n How Extremist Gun Culture Is Trying to Co-Opt the Rosary<\/a> Just as the AR-15 rifle has become a\u00a0<\/span>sacred object<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for Christian nationalists in general, the rosary has acquired a militaristic meaning for radical-traditional (or \u201crad trad\u201d) Catholics. On this extremist fringe, rosary beads have been woven into a\u00a0<\/span>conspiratorial politics<\/span><\/a>\u00a0and absolutist gun culture. These armed radical traditionalists have taken up a spiritual notion that the rosary can be a weapon in the fight against evil and turned it into something dangerously literal.<\/span><\/p>\n Their social-media pages are saturated with images of rosaries draped over firearms, warriors in prayer,\u00a0<\/span>Deus Vult<\/span><\/i>\u00a0(\u201cGod wills it\u201d) crusader memes<\/span><\/a>, and exhortations for men to rise up and become\u00a0<\/span>Church Militants<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>Influencers on platforms such as Instagram share posts referencing \u201ceveryday carry\u201d and \u201cgat check\u201d (<\/span>gat<\/span><\/i>\u00a0is slang for \u201cfirearm\u201d) that include soldiers\u2019 \u201cbattle beads,\u201d handguns, and assault rifles. One artist posts illustrations of his favorite Catholic saints, clergy, and influencers toting AR-15-style rifles labeled\u00a0<\/span>SANCTUM ROSARIUM<\/span><\/span>\u00a0alongside violently homophobic screeds that are celebrated by social-media accounts with thousands of followers.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The theologian and historian Massimo Faggioli has described a network of conservative Catholic bloggers and commentary organizations as a \u201c<\/span>Catholic cyber-militia<\/span><\/a>\u201d that actively campaigns against LGBTQ acceptance in the Church. These rad-trad rosary-as-weapon memes represent a social-media diffusion of such messaging, and they work to integrate ultraconservative Catholicism with other aspects of online far-right culture. The phenomenon might be tempting to dismiss as mere trolling or merchandising, and\u00a0<\/span>ironical provocations<\/span><\/a>\u00a0based on traditionalist Catholic symbols do exist, but the far right\u2019s constellations of violent, racist, and homophobic online milieus\u00a0<\/span>are well documented<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for providing a pathway to radicalization and real-world terrorist attacks.<\/span><\/p>\n The rosary\u2014in these hands\u2014is anything but holy. But for millions of believers, the beads, which provide an aide-m\u00e9moire for a sequence of devotional prayers, are a widely recognized symbol of Catholicism and a source of strength. And many take genuine sustenance from Catholic theology\u2019s concept of the Church Militant and the tradition of regarding the rosary as a weapon against Satan. As\u00a0<\/span>Pope Francis said in a 2020 address<\/span><\/a>, \u201cThere is no path to holiness \u2026 without spiritual combat,\u201d and<\/span>\u00a0Francis<\/span><\/a>\u00a0is only one of many Church officials who have endorsed the idea of the rosary as an armament in that fight.<\/span><\/p>\n
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\nWhy are sacramental beads suddenly showing up next to AR-15s online?<\/p>\n