Discussion: How Conservatives Are Pushing Liberals Out Of Christianity

Discussion for article #233123

One of the problems is the media keeps labeling Dominionists as conservatives or conservative Christians. One can be a conservative Christian and believe, as an American, you do not have the right to force your neighbor or the state to follow your particular dogma.

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"NASCAR driver Darrell Waltrip, was a very blunt contradiction of the president’s injunction to humility about religious truth:

If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, if you don’t have a relationship [with Him], if He’s not the master of your life, if you’ve never gotten on your knees and asked Him to forgive you of your sins, [and] you’re just a pretty good guy or a pretty good gal, you’re going to go to Hell."

For me, if I were forced to watch NASCAR, I would already be in Hell.

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Since Hell doesn’t exist, I’m not real worried about going there.

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“…I am the way, and the truth…”

The truth is Baptists think Catholics are wrong. Catholics thinks Baptists are wrong. And nobody but Calvinists believe in predestination.

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“If you don’t know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, (Snip) you’re going to go to Hell.”

It never ceases to amaze me that people who say things like this to non-believers somehow believe it to be an intimidating threat.
It’s actually about as intimidating as saying something like, “you better watch out or the man in the moon is going to send you to Pluto when you die!” LOL!

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Such Christians are quite a large group, even though they are often ignored by secular observers who buy the idea that the only "authentic " Christians ( or "Christian music, " or "Christian films) are conservative.

For that you can thank a MSM that only presents conservative Christians as representatives of the faith. Look at TPM, for example. How often do you see an article about the views or behavior of liberal Christians here?

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Well, I must admit that there were a few men in my past that I willingly took directions–or outright orders–from, but we both were naked and in a bed, a bathtub or out in the woods. NASCAR dude and verbal-rape lady need to learn to love themselves; they have very low self-esteem.

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I grew up in rural Virginia–though close enough to Washington, D.C., to be exposed to that media market, thank the universe–amongst Southern Baptists. You are correct: In their view, everyone else (particularly the Jews) are Hell-bound if they don’t convert to the right way of living life the way (their) God intended – and to “ask Jesus to be Saved” before death. Most believe you must be water-baptized prior to death as well or all else would be for naught when you die.

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Belief in an all powerful, all righteous God leads to a belief in one’s own superiority and a desire to subordinate the non believers to your interpretation of God’s law, whatever that is. IOW, belief can lead to becoming an overbearing asshole. You’ve met them and they weren’t Muslim.

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For Obama, as for many liberal Protestants, the “fear of God” connotes not only tolerance of other believers (and nonbelievers), but separation of church and state, which he treats as a practical application of the Golden Rule

Actually, the Good Book itself shows Jusus discussing separation of church and state, THREE TIMES. Don’t tell your “cafeteria conservative Christianists” lest they break out their Second Amendment solution to take care of you lol.

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Amen, Amen, Amen - and what really drives me crazy (happily this article is innocent) is quoting Donahue, the President of the “Catholic League” as if his organization represented anybody except him.

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Have you ever watched a NASCAR race?

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It sure is interesting that the same people who talk the Jesus talk like this guy always walk the Ayn Rand walk.

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Let’s face it, religion sucks. It’s a class-race-ingroup identifier that has managed to get itself tangled up with ‘morality’ on the one hand and state power on the other. If it wasn’t for the aging shouters and the conventions of US politics, we’d hear the yawns of indifference from the vast swaths of the population that have left it behind.

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When I was a kid, I remember that the majority of churches would reach out saying “Jesus Loves You”.

But when the Religious Right came to power in the late 70s, those same churches changed to say “Jesus Hates Blacks, Gays, Lesbians, The Poor, Muslims, Jews, etc.” And those same churches began to really push the “Pie in the Sky when You Die As Long as You Vote Republican And Kiss Wall Street’s Ass” bullshit.

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So, if a RW Christian conservative (I could say jihadist Muslim, too, but they are basically mirror images of each other) state that they are blessed by God to shoot abortion doctors, bomb abortion clinics, and commit other acts of violence supposedly condoned and encouraged by the Bible and their religion then, according to my devout beliefs (which Justice Alito has said the veracity of which cannot be questioned - just my SAYING my beliefs are true is enough proof), I can begin firebombing Baptist churches and Catholic cathedrals. Right? Right?! Bueller? Bueller?!

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Well now, isn’t that special …

The Christian Left is alive and vibrant, yet totally ignored by the media. We regularly criticize Obama for ignoring the needs of the poor, killing innocents with drones, etc. etc. Personally, it was the rise of the Christian Right that pushed me back into Christianity after literally decades of being away from it. It pisses me off when - in the name of Jesus - people do the exact opposite of what Jesus taught. Jesus said more about social and economic justice than he did about earning a ticket to heaven! Thank goodness for the emergence of Pope Francis. Read his Evangelii Gaudium and you will know what true Christianity is really about. The saddest thing about Obama’s effect on the religious climate is that he has softened the Black Liberation movement. This began when he abandoned his pastor during his first campaign for president. Blacks are now more hawkish and more willing to throw their own people into prison for minor drug offenses. I want my Jesus back - the socialist who was tortured and executed for confronting the abuses of empire…

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You’re a little behind the times, Ed. The fundies have been pushing out the mainline denominations for 40 years (see stats on mainline membership). Mainlines would be those in the majority when I was growing up in the Fifties/Sixties. Fundie/evangelical/charismatics were considered objects of ridicule/entertainment in my small town. Now they are the majority and want to enact legislation based on their worldview. The GOPers feel the need to move further and further to the nutjob right to harvest the votes of these people. I fear for the Constitution.

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