Trump ushers in a Christian "deep state": MAGA moves to gut the Constitution

I’m not talking race, but religion. And yes, I don’t think ANY of the Abrahamic religions are a good and equitable basis for government. I firmly believe in separation of church and state.

Practice whatever you like. My rancor is for instilling any of those practices in government. I weep for the women in Iran. No one should be forced, and they are forced, to live like that.

Russians want you to be all in on the DNC. They have them cornered and they are predictable. They also wouldn't mind a full on violent revolution. Both these things serve their strategy. What they don't want you doing is breaking ties with established systems and making something they can't predict or control. You're doing more work for Russia then I ever have.

actually try to live like Christ and go out and do some charity and volunteer work

Whipping bankers is also Christ-like, fwiw

Well fucking said.

Emo Phillips has something to say about that, you heretic.

You are right they are Christian, their actions are unChrist like and their attempt to make America into a Christian state only further destroys America while alienating people from the church. Christian nationalism is an oxymoron though.

I try to live Christ like, but God knows I miss the mark, however I try to anyway, including volunteering my time. I am well aware of the horror that is the bible, though not so sure I would say any divine punishments were petty.

I am also trying to voice out against fascism, unfortunately I have family that relies on my employment in a conservative place, so I have to take an indirect approach and try to make people think about what conservatives are doing.

Thanks for making me feel unwelcome though, I'll try to shut up next time.

These books were written in a time where monarchy was the norm across the world and said monarchs could just do whatever the hell they want and basically nobody could do anything about it.

Having a king was a fact of life. The idea of a King above all other Kings, who would hold the unaccountable to account, who understood and sympathized with the plight of the common man, was a very appealing prospect to everyone. It also served to put the literal fear of God into the local monarchs and maybe prevent them from abusing their power too badly.

This still holds today because of the traditions of the holy books. Christ has been "the king of all kings" as written from the very beginning, and this was most likely political propaganda intended to reign in actual kings. But the title has stuck even when monarchy hasn't stuck around in a lot of places.

In addition the relationship between the Abrahamic God and His followers is heavily modeled off the relationship between a feudal lord and his vassals. That's why they call him Lord. The people follow the rules and regulations of the Lord, and provide him with income, and in return the Lord protects them from disaster or invaders. The same dynamic is used to illustrate the relationship between God and his followers.

Christianity has Christ as our king as one of the core beliefs. Not sure about other religions, but I think the general view is because religion is meant as a form of societal control, which isn't inheritably bad as we are a social species, but is abused by many of those in power.

Being ruled by a moral good monarch is better than whatever oligarchic hell hole America has.

I'd argue a majority of modern Christians are denied by christ, and more "anti-christ"ians. He said something like "You cannot worship material possessions and me" and we are shown what that looks like when he tells a guy who owns a house he rich and not going to heaven unless he sells it. Almost everyone who calls themselves Christian will try to make excuses for that, or rewrite it. "That eye of a needle was a gate", "homelessness was more common back then". Excuses and lies. If a Christian is a follower of Jesus, as long as there is a single homeless man who wants a home and you own one, he denied your following, you do not follow him by his word. I'm betting this describes most of the "that's not real Christianity " people though. Because it's so hard.

If you read it, Jesus doesn’t sound bad. I’d posit he’s probably the worlds first hippie. Acts is decent reading. The main issue is much of the book is filled with old law, several books in fact, that are there as governing rules for a society, not as a philosophy.

Religion can even work as such within small communities. 334million is not a small community, and people cherry pick what they like. Handmaids Tale cherry picked what was needed to fix a fertility crisis. Other communities cherry pick what they like for other means of making women subservient in a trad wife role. Others still go straight Jesus and are unrestricted, which, necessarily, ignores the entire Old Testament.

If the entirety was chosen, life would be very tedious and locked in contradiction.

Just the part about not being able to use furniture sat on by a woman actively experiencing her period, having to wait a week, or was it two?, for the furniture not to be unclean any more would break some people. It fascinates me that the biggest religious sticklers just ignore that one.

Oh. And no bacon. Or Christmas ham. A rule often ignored for obvious reasons.

Not even close.

It used to be it'd get your ass killed if you were caught being a christian, fed to lions and shit. Being a christian was a fundamentally progressive thing, with risks. Those people meant it.

Then one day the emperor became christian, and it became conservative overnight. Just how you suck up to the boss. It's been a weird mix of it all ever since, with too much of the bad.

It's been critically infused with unignorable doses of violence and bigotry, which makes it...well, pretty much the same as everything else, really.

If they had listened to Jesus they would still be Jewish.

Great analogy.

As a Jew, I teach my kid “he was a Jew like us,

Gotta get that Us vs. Them thinking ingrained in them early.