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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#276226: Apr 1st 2019 at 6:57:18 PM

Speaking of the Religious Right, my dad sent me a fascinating (but tragic) article about the relation between decline in church attendance in certain counties in Iowa and popularity of Trump in the primaries (and, eventually, the election itself). Basically, Trump was seen as a surrogate to pastors- if people weren't going to get sermons in closed-down or dying churches, they were going to get them on the campaign trail, even though Trump is hardly a pastor or even an example of Christian behavior.

Keep in mind this is before Pence was chosen as his running mate, which really sealed the deal for a lot of the Religious Right.

Edited by speedyboris on Apr 1st 2019 at 8:58:40 AM

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#276227: Apr 1st 2019 at 6:58:13 PM

many in this forum would not be able to bring themselves to find common purpose with say the Religious Right.

Sure because the Religious Right are fundamentally opposed to democracy, they’re nothing but the KKK with a smile, they want many people here dead, so yeah I find no common ground with them.

I can’t find common purpose with them because we have no common purpose, they stand against democracy, human rights and for me they even stand against god.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#276228: Apr 1st 2019 at 7:00:42 PM

I'd be all for the Religious Right if they actually acted as Jesus taught, such as helping the poor, nurturing tolerance and love, and defending the separation of Church and State.

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#276229: Apr 1st 2019 at 7:01:06 PM

Yeah, if the folks of the Religious Right actually are the ones getting into Heaven, I'll take Hell and gladly.

HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#276230: Apr 1st 2019 at 7:02:37 PM

[up]At least the music'll be good.

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#276231: Apr 1st 2019 at 7:02:44 PM

[up]X3 Then they wouldn’t be the Religious Right, they’d be the Religiously Left (which is different from the Religious Left who still have Right-wing religious views but back democrats for other reasons).

Edited by Silasw on Apr 1st 2019 at 2:03:07 PM

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
Kaiseror Since: Jul, 2016
#276232: Apr 1st 2019 at 7:02:58 PM

I really hope the food stamp thing doesn't pass, my mother is on stamps.

Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#276233: Apr 1st 2019 at 7:06:56 PM

I'm a card-carrying member of the religious right, and while there is some truth to the idea that politics requires cooperation...there isn't much that the democrats can do to compromise, and they're not the ones making it impossible to do so right now. The right has been whiny and butthurt since at least Obama's election.

Leviticus 19:34
HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#276235: Apr 1st 2019 at 8:03:18 PM

The Religious Right are the most coldblooded, mercenary, and downright unprincipled voting bloc in the entire country. They looked at Trump, heard his fascist rhetoric, and have learned to accept his stupidity because they know that through him, they get the conservative judges, the strangehold on abortion access, the throttling of Planned Parenthood, religious control over public education, promotes xenophobia, and a whole host of odious aims that the Democrats have kept at bay. They willingly goosestep behind the exact antithesis of someone who represents everything, in granular detail, that they profess to hate, because he'll facilitate their fundamental cruelty.

Edited by CrimsonZephyr on Apr 1st 2019 at 11:04:27 AM

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#276236: Apr 1st 2019 at 8:40:27 PM

I'm still perplexed why we don't see more left-wing religious voters and politicians making expressly religious arguments for welfare programs anymore. Come on people, this is Jesus 101 stuff! We shouldn't have to be relying on John Kasich to tell us to help the poor!

RedSavant Since: Jan, 2001
#276237: Apr 1st 2019 at 8:44:32 PM

Mostly because saying "Jesus wants us to help the poor" may attract center or independent Christian voters, but will likely turn off more non-Christian or non-religious liberal voters than you'd make back in Christian Waffler votes. The right can focus on religious rhetoric because everyone on the right knows that only Christianity is correct and everything else is heathen garbage and probably Sharia Law, but the left is a lot more diverse.

My aunt is... I want to say a Unitarian chaplain, and very liberal, and I see her making religious arguments for voting and looking out for the poor and disadvantaged to her clergy on Facebook, but I don't know how much newcomer appeal that has, especially up in Maine.

Edited by RedSavant on Apr 1st 2019 at 11:45:49 AM

It's been fun.
LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#276238: Apr 1st 2019 at 8:49:20 PM

I don't know, I'm not religious at all, but the rhetoric doesn't really bother me as long as the person saying it is making it clear they don't think their way is the only way. Which one of the biggest problems with the Religious/Christian Right.

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#276239: Apr 1st 2019 at 8:55:07 PM

Bringing up the comic by webcomic artist David Willis.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#276240: Apr 1st 2019 at 8:57:59 PM

I'm not seeing it, by and large - though I see the existence of the worry. The majority of Americans, across the political spectrum, say they won't vote for an atheist candidate. The radical Sanderista left might balk, but the thought of leftists voting Republican out of protest for a religious Democrat...

...Well, it sounds perfectly plausible, but any Sanderistas who'd defect over that were already going to defect for some other crazy reason.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#276241: Apr 1st 2019 at 9:00:46 PM

A reminder that atheists are apparently treated with as much scorn in the USA as rapists. Possibly more.

This is admittedly a pretty old article from 2012. But I doubt things have changed that much.

From Scientific American: In Atheists We Distrust

Gervais and his colleagues presented participants with a story about a person who accidentally hits a parked car and then fails to leave behind valid insurance information for the other driver. Participants were asked to choose the probability that the person in question was a Christian, a Muslim, a rapist, or an atheist. They thought it equally probable the culprit was an atheist or a rapist, and unlikely the person was a Muslim or Christian. In a different study, Gervais looked at how atheism influences people’s hiring decisions. People were asked to choose between an atheist or a religious candidate for a job requiring either a high or low degree of trust. For the high-trust job of daycare worker, people were more likely to prefer the religious candidate. For the job of waitress, which requires less trust, the atheists fared much better.

It wasn’t just the highly religious participants who expressed a distrust of atheists. People identifying themselves as having no religious affiliation held similar opinions. Gervais and his colleagues discovered that people distrust atheists because of the belief that people behave better when they think that God is watching over them. This belief may have some truth to it. Gervais and his colleague Ara Norenzayan have found that reminding people about God’s presence has the same effect as telling people they are being watched by others: it increases their feelings of self-consciousness and leads them to behave in more socially acceptable ways.

Edited by M84 on Apr 2nd 2019 at 12:02:38 AM

Disgusted, but not surprised
Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#276242: Apr 1st 2019 at 9:02:28 PM

I don't know, I'm not religious at all, but the rhetoric doesn't really bother me as long as the person saying it is making it clear they don't think their way is the only way. Which one of the biggest problems with the Religious/Christian Right.

Agreed, I'm an Atheist and if I saw a politician using that argument I would just approve of their support of good policy while understanding that we're in a religious country.

If they're reasonable about it (which considering the Religious Left is rather likely) then there's no problem and I don't think other Irreligious Democrats would feel any different.

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#276243: Apr 1st 2019 at 11:17:48 PM

I am a card carrying Christian and I think that religion has no place in politics. Period. Any politician who starts to mix religion into his speeches is unelectable for me.

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#276244: Apr 1st 2019 at 11:42:31 PM

Biden is developing some real #MeToo issues: Connecticut woman says Joe Biden touched her inappropriately at a 2009 fundraiser.

Also, something relating to Bernie: Black Voters Like Bernie Sanders Just Fine — They Just Might Like Other Candidates More

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
PushoverMediaCritic I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out. from the Italy of America Since: Jul, 2015 Relationship Status: watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ
I'm sorry Tien, but I must go all out.
#276245: Apr 1st 2019 at 11:44:49 PM

Wow, that's insane. Just because I think the idea of an almighty supernatural unexplainable being is stupid and unrealistic, people think that I'm just as bad as a rapist? Fuck America, seriously.

3of4 Just a harmless giant from a foreign land. from Five Seconds in the Future. Since: Jan, 2010 Relationship Status: GAR for Archer
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
#276246: Apr 1st 2019 at 11:48:51 PM

[up][up][up]You *literally* support a party that has 'Christian' in it's name and is in a Union with a party that installed crosses in public buildings over the objection of the *Catholic church*.

Edited by 3of4 on Apr 1st 2019 at 8:49:35 PM

"You can reply to this Message!"
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#276247: Apr 1st 2019 at 11:56:44 PM

[up][up]I'm an atheist too. And yeah, it's kind of annoying.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Swanpride Since: Jun, 2013
#276249: Apr 1st 2019 at 11:58:20 PM

[up][up][up] For one, I am a swing voter. I don't support a specific party, I decide during every election anew who gets my vote, based on their policies and whatever candidate is running for my district. Just because the CDU hasn't made it on my unelectable list yet (but frankly, they are moving closer and closer recently) doesn't mean that I am a CDU supporter.

Two, I am not living in Bavaria. During the election during which I decided to vote for the CDU, the candidates I voted for don't sprout this kind of BS. And I consider voting those in important to keep the CDU more to the middle.

Three, I once even voted for a chancellor I hated specifically to keep a chancellor candidate which WAS sprouting this kind of BS away from power.

Sadly I am forced to vote tactical more often than not. During the last election I quite liked The Humanists, since they had a stricter cut between state and church as part of their program, but due to the need to keep the Af D at bay, smaller parties weren't really an option.

Edited by Swanpride on Apr 1st 2019 at 11:59:51 AM

Oruka Since: Dec, 2018
#276250: Apr 2nd 2019 at 12:03:41 AM

And herein lies the best, deepest explanation of “how we got Trump.” Trump’s improbable likeness to a mega-church preacher allowed him to capture the love of a huge swath of the electorate that previously tuned out or voted for Democrats. The people who came to Trump, especially early in the primaries, weren’t really joining the GOP and they weren’t primarily seeking policies. They didn’t even necessarily believe Trump would bring back their jobs. Many of Trump’s earliest and most dedicated supporters were seeking a deeper fulfillment.

This is the dumbest thing I´ve ever read.


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