Posted on 12/30/2025 5:52:35 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
As Josh Abbotoy gazes out at lush green woods and pastureland nestled among Tennessee's Appalachian hills, he describes what he intends to build here: a neighbourhood with dozens of residential lots, centred around a working farm and, crucially, a church.
Mr Abbotoy is prominent in US conservative circles and describes his development as an "affinity-based community" - marketed to people not only interested in the peace and quiet of rural life, but in a constellation of right-wing ideals.
"Faith, family and freedom," he says. "Those are the values that we try to celebrate."
Initially he didn't attract much local attention after setting up shop in Jackson County.
But in late 2024, a local TV news report broadcast controversial statements made by two of Mr Abbotoy's first, and most outspoken, customers: Andrew Isker, a pastor and author originally from Minnesota, and C Jay Engel, a businessman from California.
They are self-described "Christian nationalists" who question modern values, such as whether female suffrage and the civil rights movement were good ideas, and call for mass deportations of legal immigrants far in excess of President Donald Trump's current plan. Another thing they sometimes say: "Repeal the 20th Century."
"You don't know who these people are, or what they're capable of," says Nan Coons, a middle-aged woman who spoke in a firm southern accent during a recent interview near the town square in Gainesboro - of which this land is a part.
"And so it's scary."
Although Abbotoy himself does not identify as a Christian nationalist, he says concerns about his tenants are overblown.
The Ridgerunner development has since drawn national attention. And people in Gainesboro, home to around 900 people and one traffic light, have now found themselves in the middle of a dispute that is a proxy for much bigger political battles.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
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Sorry, but Gainesboro, TN is not part of Appalachian range...It is even west of the Cumberland Mountains...It is near Nashville...
Sorry, but Gainesboro, TN is not part of Appalachian range...It is even west of the Cumberland Mountains...It is near Nashville...
Heh, and this comes from the BBC, which is headquartered in MusLondonium? Hey BBC, do you have those gawd-awful sounding Muzzie prayer announcements in your silly little PA speakers there in your mosque...er...building?
It’s long past time for Crusades II, with a more complete end this time...for them.
Does anyone identify as a "Christian nationalist"?
I have the impression that is a Democrat moral panic smear tactic.
At publishing time the bbc had no information to share on MUSLIM nationalism.
Author Mike Wendling from his website (https://www.mike-wendling.com/about): “I’m a freelance journalist and previously worked as US National Digital Reporter for the BBC, based in Chicago for three years until 2025. Prior to that I co-founded the BBC News disinformation unit and was editor and presenter of Trending, the BBC World Service show that covers the world of social media. I began my career as a news reporter for The Associated Press and as a radio producer and reporter for a number of BBC programmes. I have spent years covering extremism, the American far right, social media and disinformation.”
Glad to hear some out there haven’t swallowed the “you’re a bigot to— “fill in the blank”—”, and are willing to stand up and say NO MORE!
Homos,trans, Islamists, non assimilating immagrants,—GTFO if you don’t want to live peacefully!!!!!!!!!!!!
YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL, And, I’m not a terrible human being for being white, and loving the Country I grew up in!!
“whether female suffrage and the civil rights movement were good ideas”
1. Female suffrage is good if the females have Holy Spirit informed wisdom and character in order to discern who they should and should not vote for. They must not be “silly women” given to gossip and easily corrupted by evil ones who attempt by flatteries and seducing doctrines to distort the gospel and pervert otherwise Godly character.
For those reasons above, many men fit into that same category as the silly women mentioned above, and thus should not be voting as well!
2. The Civil rights Movement was a needed thing but it got co-opted by Marxists and thus anything that was really Christian and of good report was driven out of that movement!
Just my opinions...mileage may vary! LOL!
“Mr Abbotoy is prominent in US conservative circles...”
Prominent? Anybody ever hear of this guy?
I doubt it. In the middle of the last century, there was a Christian Nationalist Crusade which was Judeophobic and anti-black, but today, "Christian Nationalist" is a term used only by the Left.
“Does anyone identify as a “Christian nationalist”?”
I’m a Christian (okay, maybe not a very good one, but still...) and I believe in the US, so maybe I’m a nationalists in that sense, but I wouldn’t normally combine the two terms.
“I have the impression that is a Democrat moral panic smear tactic. “
Agreed. From the article: “Christian nationalism is a nebulous worldview without a single coherent definition.”
Seems to be a meaningless term used as a derogatory.
These whiners don’t seem to have a problem with third world muzzies blocking traffic, praying in the streets and demanding their own private space, but (gasp) Christian nationalism!!!! They can pound sand. (Not what I was thinking, but it is the acceptable epithet on FR.)
My thoughts exactly.
“I have spent years covering extremism, the American far right, social media and disinformation.”
Yep, he’s from the far left.
Anyone to the right of the Democrat Socialists of America is far right.
He admits he is a propagandist
LOL. Is this story a joke? The BBC reports on an alien planet - Gainsboro, Tennessee. Did the reporter hire a security detail to escort them to the town? Were they blindfolded when being brought to the Christian Nationalist compound? This story is a parody of what a liberal, atheist, urban London, Champaigne Socialist BBC reporter would write about middle America.
“And the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.”
“..a constellation of right-wing ideals. “Faith, family and freedom,” he says. “Those are the values that we try to celebrate.”
Seems reasonable.
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