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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
What's this, the cold war all over again?
Honestly, Republicans are so childish.
"Eeek! Socialism! Tag team of Satan and Stalin are looking to tax one of our nine emerald block boats! The horror!"
To that I say - since when?
Never in any period of history there was a Christian civilization that acted like it. Such a thing never existed. Religion was always a tool of the power, a method of pacifying and convincing the masses that "what we're doing is not only okay, but awesome!".
Only now can this model be challenged by an unprecedented access of knowledge, a.k.a. anyone can actually pick up the Bible, read it, and see for themselves how un-Christian the "Christian world" has been for the last couple thousand years. And boy, is the "Christian world" unhappy with that notion.
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No. Not for these people. Christians aren't meant to act like Christ, they're meant to act like the angry possessive smite happy God of the Old Testament. It wasn't until I went to my local Church of England church after having been to a Evangelical one that I realised what had been missing from the Evangelical one, Christ.
Did you never see the "Obama isn't a Middle eEastern socialist calling for a revolution and socialising with prostitutes and tax collectors while handing out free healthcare, that's Jesus." thing?
edited 20th Sep '15 6:43:50 AM by Silasw
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ CyranMaybe Jeb Bush'll set up an antipope if he gets elected.
edited 20th Sep '15 7:04:54 AM by DrunkenNordmann
We learn from history that we do not learn from history![]()
I think the "No" was the issue. It made it seem a bit more hostile than you intended.
On the subject of Christians not acting like Christ. Many of them flat out ignore most of the stuff Jesus said. Part of it has to do with the growing focus on the Devil and the Book of Revelation. They don't see themselves as shepherds that are supposed to lead the world towards peace and love. They're soldiers in a battle against the ultimate evil. To them any deviation from their established notion of good is a plot by this evil to destroy society. Granted this is more of an American thing, especially among Protestants.
edited 20th Sep '15 8:13:49 AM by Kostya
Ahh that makes sense, I'll be more careful in the future.
It's not even a Protestant thing, remember that the American denominations with openly gay bishops are also Protestant, it's more specific then that, it's an Evangelical thing.
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran![]()
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It's simultaneously more and less dramatic than that. While seeing yourself as a soldier in a battle of hashtags and like buttons can be destructive and the person in question might even claim they're in this to swing a massive holy sword against things like "people doing things in beds", the real reason is a bit more simple.
They don't really care what Christianity is about. The New Testament might as well have been consisting of Austin 3:16 copy-pasted around 800 times, they'd behave the exact same way. Because they have no intention of following anything. It's the other way around.
They use religion to validate their personal biases and prejudices, nothing more. They see God as less of a "creator and master of all things" and more of a "my personal attack dog". That's why they're so excited and joyful when they scream "you're going to hell", as if God is going to do that on their behalf.
American right-ism has deep roots in Anti-Catholicism, mind, even though Catholics have been an evenly split base lately (white social conservatives choosing Republicans, but devout Hispanics often still veering Democrat), anti-Catholicism was once a defining part of xenophobic movements in this country.

He can't be a true Christian; he isn't constantly openly denouncing homosexuals.
"Yup. That tasted purple."