They aren’t driving liberal ‘out of Christianity’. They are driving them out of ‘word’ churches that distort it. True Christians know that they are full of sht.
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I don’t think they do view it as an intimidating threat. They just like knowing and saying that all non-Christians (or rather non–their specific brand of Christianity Christians) are going to suffer the worst torment they can possibly conceive of. In other words, it’s no more or less than an expression of pure anger and hatred.
It’s horrible to feel angry all the time. We should pity these people, not hate them back.
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I think Captain Picard’s reply to Waltrip says it best:
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Hell is a state of mind.
I think the worse thing, and probably what works best for conservatives in these hard line positions, is the black and white view of reality. The Bible itself, and assuming other texts, are not as black and white as you would think. Given the nature of how and when they were written and the stories within. I think questioning your faith and so on is the only way to be rationale about the process.
Accepting the Bible as inerrant truth is even ignorant from a modern point of view, we are reading a translation of a translation.
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I wouldn’t group Unitarians with “Liberal Christians” for the purposes of this particular issue, for the reason that there are more open atheists among Unitarians than among any other organized American denomination. Crucially, the Unitarian-Universalist denomination does not regard belief in God or in the divinity of Jesus as prerequisites for belonging to the UU church—there are no religious tenets as most Christians would recognize which Unitarians have to subscribe to.
My father was a Unitarian minister for almost four decades, and both he and my mother were devout and unapologetic atheists as adults. Yes, there are Unitarians who believe in God, but the precise nature of that “God” and of Jesus in their beliefs can vary significantly from what you’re likely to find in mainline Christian denominations like the Lutherans, Methodists, Episcopalians, or Presbyterians. The Bible tends to play a dramatically smaller role in UU religious life than mainline denominations, and mostly serves as a historical reference for Christianity, especially with reference to the life of Jesus.
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Elementary logical fallacy. If all B are A, it does not follow that all A are B. Pretty much all Dominionists are conservative, but all conservatives are not, by any means, Dominionists.
This is so very true. There was a point not too long ago where I began feeling further and further alienated from faith because of the religious right. This wasn’t the Christianity I’d grown up with, this wasn’t the faith of my parents and grandparents. I was taught to love, to do for others, to care for the least of these. I grew up believing that it didn’t matter one bit why the homeless guy is homeless, you give him a dollar because he’s your “brother” and he needs it. When the religious right grew in numbers and power I began to question my own faith. It’s like looking around a room and seeing you’re aligned with the most hateful people on the planet. It was later on that I began to realize that these people are simply full of shit and have nothing to do with my personal faith, that hucksters and liars who manipulate faith have always been around and will always be around. I realized I can’t sacrifice my beliefs because of someone who seeks to exploit them for their own personal gain.
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Cue the false outrage. American Christians, aka the American Taliban, are, frankly, nothing like Jesus Christ. Nothing. Christians were a murderous bunch, once, and, in fact, most continue to support capital punishment today…even to use against their own…like Karla Faye Tucker…counter to the teachings of Jesus. Every time President Obama tells the awful truth about something, Sean Hannity is ever-ready to jump out a second-story window while a distraught Charles Krauthammer threatens to roll himself into bicycle traffic. In the meantime, American ‘Christians’ will continue to push the things Jesus never spoke of, like abortion and homosexuality, while ignoring the things He always spoke of, like helping the poor and disenfranchised. The only place I see Jesus talking about Republicans is where He referred to them as “vipers”. In fact, they have a flag today that displays that sentiment. They’re all snakes.
“When we possess Christ, we possess truth.”
I love how he talks about “possessing Christ,” as if this is some little trinket you pick up at the store. Clearly someone with a profound view of religion.
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There are quite a few liberal protestants (Presbyterians) even here in Texas. Not enough to counter the megachurches in numbers, but, sometimes sheer numbers don’t mean much.
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Christianity isn’t an American thing first off. Jesus isn’t from some mega-church that advertises on cable and he isn’t associated or affiliated with McDonalds and Coke.
These are purely secular and profit based American versions of Christianity.
Jesus was liberal and conservative in his teachings and in the true meaning of those words, not the distorted political divisive understandings. The very second that sides are chosen is the very second that there becomes a separation of Church and Jesus.
To love Jesus and truly believe as he taught is simple. He did not institute a confusing dictate that only the self righteous could interpret. No, he laid out some basic tenets and a plan for forgiveness if, as a mere human, one failed. Going against these commandments intentionally, then leaning on the promise of forgiveness is a sin in and of itself.
The constant doubt cast at our President for so many made up reasons is bad enough. The fact that its done supposedly in the name of God and Christianity by false prophets is the exact opposite of all that Christianity is supposed to be about and wrong piled on top of modern sins.
A ‘conservative’ Christian is no Christian at all and like the truth having a liberal bias, so does Christianity in its purest form. Right down to the sandals and kindness.
So, in fact, the conservatives push themselves away from Jesus because of petty political beliefs coming before real religious belief. The conflation of church and state has the exact opposite effect of the conservatives version of faith, which is to control and impose their style of beliefs on all else, it pushes true believers towards Jesus and away from the Republican dogma and that is as Jesus would’ve wanted and did preach.
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LIbtards Push THEmselves OUT of CHRistianINTY by EmbraciNG RadICAL isLAmofascist terrorists SHAria. IF theY doN"t LIke It here, libtards are MORE than WELCOMe to MOVe to SAUDIA arabia where WOMEn are HOUSE bound and have TO taKE caRE of the HOme and the CHILDren aNd resPEct the auTHORITY of thEir husbanDS, corporaL puNISHMEnt is a GOOD thing, and no OTHER views ARE toLErated But THEIR own.
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Oh, Ed. Conservatives aren’t pushing liberals out of Christianity. There have always been obnoxious, authoritarian Christians who want to declare they are the true Christians among all the other “phonies”. But these authoritarian a-holes are especially obnoxious because they are loudly chasing political aspirations that the Republican Party made possible through the Faustian bargain it made – to co-opt Christian fundamentalists’ causes – in exchange for a loyal voting bloc. They’re going to self-destruct – it’s inevitable.
These loudly braying jackasses are simply the latest version of authoritarians who’ve been telling disobedient heretics throughout history that we’re not true Christians and that we’re going to hell for doubting their authority. Same shit, different day.
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Obama criticized the Inquisition and the Crusades. Then there’s Wounded Knee and slavery.
Can we please talk about what’s happening NOW? Who’s trying to exterminate other religions, us or ISIS? Who abolished slavery at vast cost in blood and treasure, us or the Middle East? Who’s still practicing slavery, us or Africa and the Middle East? Who refuses to let women drive or travel alone in public, us or Saudi Arabia? Between us and ISIS, who tries to target their attacks to reduce innocent suffering, and who engages in wholesale massacre?
It’s telling that whenever people try to show that we’re not all that pure, they have to reach a century or more into the past.
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I agree the mass media have done a poor job on this, but you’re forgetting the squeaky wheel rule.
Real liberals aren’t religious to begin with so there is no “pushing out” as we weren’t there.
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“Can we please talk about what’s happening NOW?”
Sure. Are you pretending* that we haven’t been talking about what’s happening now? ISIS and their atrocities are dominating the headlines…so what’s your point? Oh, right. You were pretending that the point we’re discussing – that all religions are vulnerable to exploitation by violent extremists, as history has shown – was somehow an attempt to denigrate Christianity itself. Right? You were pretending that the point – that it is violent human beings who exploit religion for their own perverted ends – wasn’t the reason for even mentioning the Crusades or the Inquisition in the first place.
*I’m assuming that you’re pretending you just missed the point; otherwise, we’d all have to acknowledge that you’re too dimwitted to understand the point. But I could be wrong.
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Christ would have doubled down trying to deliver his message (the one you grew up with and loved) to the famous Conservative Christian demagogues. You can too, if you just try. We might not succeed teaching the Pat Robinsons and Mike Huckabees of the world the real meaning of Christianity, but we really ought to try.
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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.
The real irony in all of this is that these are the very same people who accuse liberals of being antisemitic for not blindly supporting Bibi Netanyahu, for refusing to go along with Israel’s every whim, and for pushing back when we believe Israel is making a mistake that puts her in greater danger. These are the people who rip their hair out about Israel and protecting Jews, a people who they fervently (and probably gleefully) believe will burn in hell.
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