Yitzhak Rabin could not be reached for comment.
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Northern Ireland has had historically violent clashes…
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The White evangelical culture is above all a cult of extreme masculinity emphasizing patriarchy, complementarianism, and even preemptive war.
Inspired by images of heroic white manhood, evangelicals had fashioned a savior who would lead them into the battles of their own choosing. The new, rugged Christ transformed Christian manhood, and Christianity itself. Weaving together intimate family matters, domestic politics, and a foreign policy agenda, militant masculinity came to reside at the heart of a larger evangelical identity.
*Du Mez, Kristin Kobes ; Kobes Du Mez, Kristin. Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation (p. 295). Liveright. Kindle Edition.
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There is ALWAYS collateral damage.
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When I learn of people who want to seize power so that they can carry. out “God’s will,” I think of the B. Kliban cartoon (alas apparently not available in the intertubes) with the caption, “God made Monroe Simmons wear a lime popsicle around his neck for most of his adult life.”
God swill.
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Hi! To find out what I can do, say @discobot display help.
Some analysts have posited that there can be a Civic Religion in the sense of the values and ideals of this country (codified into a Way of Life)…
I believe that most Americans (regardless of their professed religion) have some workable conception of what it is to “be an American”.
The theme of this article (a valid one) is that it is possible for there to be competing Nationalisms dividing this nation.
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And the glower and squint. Always. He’s SO fierce…
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Looked like an “iraqi jew” about 5’5’’, you know, like someone you’d shoot at Walmart with your AK.
Historical appearance
Research on ancient skeletons in Palestine suggests that Judeans of the time were biologically closer to Iraqi Jews than to any other contemporary population, and thus in terms of physical appearance the average Judean of the time would have likely had dark brown to black hair, olive skin, and brown eyes. Judean men of the time period were on average about 1.65 metres or 5 feet 5 inches in height.[10]: 58–63 Scholars have also suggested that it is likely Jesus had short hair and a beard, in accordance with Jewish practices of the time and the appearance of philosophers.[10]: 123–37 The earliest depictions of Jesus from the Roman catacombs depict him as free of facial hair.[10]: 83–121
Historians have speculated over how Jesus’s ascetic and itinerant lifestyle and work as a tektōn (Ancient Greek for an artisan/craftsman, typically a carpenter), with the manual labor and exposure to the elements that entailed, affected his appearance. It has been suggested that Jesus likely had a lean appearance.
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Still trying to figure out how they square that with Matthew 19:23. Pretty sure that being rich is the antithesis of getting into heaven according to the Bible.
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Kristin Du Mez makes that point that without Christian nationalism, evangelical militarism makes little sense. The militarism must have an outlet and that outlet is Christian hegemony. There are more “liberal” evangelical churches that eschew the militarism.
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MTG making common cause with Dylann Roof and Timothy McVeigh
*and btw, no discussion or article on Christian Nationalism is complete without listing at least a few of their jihadists
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Haven’t started it yet, but looking forward to it. It’s on my Kindle. So glad you mentioned it.
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Don’t be fooled. They still hate Catholics and Mormons but with the shrinkage taking place in attendance they have been forced to unite to show a stronger face to the world.
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The founding fathers explicitly rejected the notion that the US is a Christian Nation in the Treaty of Tripoli signed November 4, 1796, It was initiated under President George Washington, signed into law by President John Adams,ratfied unanimously by the Senate, and published in full in all 13 states with no record of complaint or dissent. Everyone involved was clearly a founding father and this puts the lie to those arguing otherwise.
Here is the relevant article:
ARTICLE 11.
As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the
Christian Religion,-as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or
tranquility of Musselmen,-and as the said States never have entered into any war or act
of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext
arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing
between the two countries. (emp. sup.)
here is a link:
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Juxtapose this with Martin Luther King (who has been rewarded with a Federal Holiday)…
The address with which he has most been associated was a plea for unity among Americans.
Trump–the Divider–would never achieve that, were he to have been POTUS or not. My point here is that Trump hit the ground running when he appeared on the scene:
The number-one priority was to separate Americans into Conflict Groups, with his particular Conflict Group the more aggressive…this strategy settled into what we see here today.
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Key ingredients?
Deliberate stupidity
Denial of the teachings of Jesus
Teachings of Jesus remade into their stupidity
Homophobia
Racism
misogyny.
I have seen it up close.
edit to add
A lot of conservative Christians are not aware that Jesus was killed because of two things. They know the stories but not what they mean in context.
First…Jesus was on the radar of the very conservative Temple priests because his interpretation of Jewish teaching was in the priest’s view excessively liberal and not nearly severe enough for their standards.
Second… the main income for the Temple priests was through the changing of money from local currency to “Temple” currency and that money was the only way people had to buy their ritual sacrifices be it a sheep (if one was wealthy) or a pigeon (if one was not). The priests took a large cut of the currency exchange as it was their chief income source. When Jesus attacked those money changers he was attacking the priests directly and that could end only one way, Except that the Romans would not allow the priests to kill Jesus directly so they had to do an end run and get the Romans (who had no problem killing folk by the thousand) to do it.
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94% of Evangelicals agree sex outside of marriage is a sin. However, something like 95% of Americans have had non-marital sex and 80% of unmarried Evangelicals have. So, clearly, it’s not a big sin. I think the Evangelicals are big on repenting and being born again, so you can recover from sin. It’s probably why fervent anti-abortion types have abortions ---- it’s a sin, but they can repent once it’s over.
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Of course, Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Christianity is considerably less real than mine, and I no longer practice religion. But I live my life by, among other philosophies, the ethics of Jesus’ teachings rather than the dogmatic braying of Church (name your denomination) dogma. For MTG, it’s just he opposite - she not only ignores the ethics, she assigns them - largely rightfully - to the Left, and mocks and swears to end what she so artlessly calls “godless” behavior; meanwhile, she proudly waves all the hates, bigotries, and lies that so-called Christian Nationalism and Q are built on. Such a nice person.
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Repenting, praying for forgiveness on Sunday, etc. is their get out of jail free card. They do whatever they like and as long as they “repent” on the regular, they never have to make any attempt to be better. Some of the slimiest, greediest, nastiest people I know profess to be Christians and happily spout biblical verse to prove it. 
I much prefer atheists that try to be their best selves every day.
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