Christian nationalist leaders are telling followers that Vice President Kamala Harris is under the influence of a “Jezebel spirit,” using a term with deeply racist and misogynistic roots that is setting off alarm bells for religious and political scholars.
The concept is inspired by the biblical story of the evil Queen Jezebel, who persecuted prophets and was punished with a horrible death. The word “Jezebel” was used during slavery and throughout U.S. history to describe Black women, casting them as overtly sexual and untrustworthy.
In the context of “Jezebel spirit,” the term has sinister connotations, suggesting the person is under the influence of demons in a spiritual battle between good and evil. People who have studied the Jan. 6 insurrection warn that similar rhetoric on spiritual warfare drove many to the U.S. Capitol that day.
“People … are hearing this woman is possessed by a demonic spirit that is hardcore, terrible, hates men, hates authority, is going to do whatever she wants to do,” said Anthea Butler, professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of the book “White Evangelical Racism,” who has studied the New Apostolic Reformation.
The term, Butler said, is coded language to communicate that the person – a woman, usually a Democrat, Black or multiracial – is not an acceptable candidate. Harris is a Christian and a Baptist, but when faith leaders tie her to Jezebel, Butler said it suggests falsely that she is non-Christian.
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