Obligatory reminder that while Christianity is declining, to the point that Nones may surpass them as the majority in 50 years, Fundamentalist Evangelicalism is rising in spite of that overall decline. People are either leaving mainstream forms of Christianity entirely or to join up with these weirdos.
And having escaped one of these cults myself, they are well-suited bedfellows with fascism.
I come from one of those cults as well, and it’s crazy how they’re distilling themselves into the most hateful, wretched, unbearable group in the country.
I don’t like everything Jesus was purported to say, but turn the other cheek, bless those who persecute you, and do unto others as you would want done to you are completely anathema to the conservative philosophy (not that they’re persecuted, but they believe they are).
They’d burn everything down to get their intolerant theocracy.
A group of zealots brainwashed into thinking anyone outside their group is “The Enemy” and that they are waging a spiritual battle against evil is a group of people that is extremely dangerous.
If you saw the article from CNN about Johnson posted to the fediverse, you’ll see he uses some of the same extremist Christian I mentioned above. For those who know it is all about, it is pretty terrifying to hear coming from the Speaker.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to take anything evangelicals say seriously.
They talk about personal integrity and morals and being gentle and letting your speech be gracious. Yet, they support a leader who is and does the exact opposite. And then proceed to mimic him.
Even when I was still drinking the Jesus juice a decade ago I could see this in my church. It’s the main reason I left. Sermons would preach one thing, which the congregation would agree with, but then immediately after I would hear people gossiping about how Marsha has a gay son so she’s going to hell, or Tom’s daughter got pregnant out of wedlock so they were shunning them. I grew up with several of these peoples kids and knew for a fact they were nowhere close to saints. Rampant. Hypocrisy. It’s wild that they’re so willfully ignorant. It’s all just projection of their own guilt.
That’s one of the things that really accelerated my deconstruction. Even if you aren’t a fundigelical, how can you sit back and tolerate these people representing you? You might be able to pontificate amongst yourselves why they’re not Real Christians™, but the rest of the world isn’t given to that level of pedantry.
They bear your name and claim to represent your god. To any reasonable person, both kinds are still Christians.
I was in an evangelical church for a time and it is no surprise that so many support Trump. They’re actively brainwashed to suppress their empathy and believe things on faith alone. Too many go right along with it making this group a very dangerous set of people, ripe for being conned by a vicious strong man authoritarian like Trump.
(My refusal to let go of empathy is one of the things that helped me see them for what they were. I left and some years after when I saw Christians convinced Trump was their guy, I was finally hit with the full realization that belief without good evidence easily leads to believing all manner of absolute crazy bullshit… and then I became an atheist).
Considering that Christianity has retained a solid majority for probably 150 years, it’s quite fast, and that’s only speaking about majorities. The actual threshold for irrelevance might be sooner.
Obligatory reminder that while Christianity is declining, to the point that Nones may surpass them as the majority in 50 years, Fundamentalist Evangelicalism is rising in spite of that overall decline. People are either leaving mainstream forms of Christianity entirely or to join up with these weirdos.
And having escaped one of these cults myself, they are well-suited bedfellows with fascism.
Well said.
I come from one of those cults as well, and it’s crazy how they’re distilling themselves into the most hateful, wretched, unbearable group in the country.
I don’t like everything Jesus was purported to say, but turn the other cheek, bless those who persecute you, and do unto others as you would want done to you are completely anathema to the conservative philosophy (not that they’re persecuted, but they believe they are).
They’d burn everything down to get their intolerant theocracy.
Burn everything, people included.
A group of zealots brainwashed into thinking anyone outside their group is “The Enemy” and that they are waging a spiritual battle against evil is a group of people that is extremely dangerous.
If you saw the article from CNN about Johnson posted to the fediverse, you’ll see he uses some of the same extremist Christian I mentioned above. For those who know it is all about, it is pretty terrifying to hear coming from the Speaker.
It’s becoming increasingly difficult to take anything evangelicals say seriously.
They talk about personal integrity and morals and being gentle and letting your speech be gracious. Yet, they support a leader who is and does the exact opposite. And then proceed to mimic him.
Way to trash your own witness.
Even when I was still drinking the Jesus juice a decade ago I could see this in my church. It’s the main reason I left. Sermons would preach one thing, which the congregation would agree with, but then immediately after I would hear people gossiping about how Marsha has a gay son so she’s going to hell, or Tom’s daughter got pregnant out of wedlock so they were shunning them. I grew up with several of these peoples kids and knew for a fact they were nowhere close to saints. Rampant. Hypocrisy. It’s wild that they’re so willfully ignorant. It’s all just projection of their own guilt.
That’s one of the things that really accelerated my deconstruction. Even if you aren’t a fundigelical, how can you sit back and tolerate these people representing you? You might be able to pontificate amongst yourselves why they’re not Real Christians™, but the rest of the world isn’t given to that level of pedantry.
They bear your name and claim to represent your god. To any reasonable person, both kinds are still Christians.
I was in an evangelical church for a time and it is no surprise that so many support Trump. They’re actively brainwashed to suppress their empathy and believe things on faith alone. Too many go right along with it making this group a very dangerous set of people, ripe for being conned by a vicious strong man authoritarian like Trump.
(My refusal to let go of empathy is one of the things that helped me see them for what they were. I left and some years after when I saw Christians convinced Trump was their guy, I was finally hit with the full realization that belief without good evidence easily leads to believing all manner of absolute crazy bullshit… and then I became an atheist).
50 years is an embarrassingly long time out
Considering that Christianity has retained a solid majority for probably 150 years, it’s quite fast, and that’s only speaking about majorities. The actual threshold for irrelevance might be sooner.