That’s my point. They should focus on Jesus’ teachings rather than their own misinterpretation of his words. Jesus had no interest in politics. People tried to make him a king but he fled from them because he had no desire to become involved in man’s government.
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Should be “other.” UUs are no longer considered a Christian denomination, although of course many UUs have Christian beliefs
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And many, if not most, Evangelicals do not.
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Zing!
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Once, when my Dad was admitted to hospital, they asked him his religion, and he told them. A while later, the Matron came and sternly told him that, “Welsh Tobacconist” wasn’t a recognized religion.
But, no-one ever got rich by sticking to Jesus’ teaching! 
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Who’d have guessed a toxic religion drives peoppe away?
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That’s a pretty thin interpretation, and one that’s fairly at odds with modern secular academic reads and even a lot of mainstream theological takes. He railed against the powers of his time and advocated for peasants and outcasts over the moneyed classes. Much of what’s in the new testament is inextricable from the politics of the time. The Jesus movement was also one of many such movements in the levant at the time, many explicitly predicated on replacing Roman rule and Temple hegemony. A lot of “Jesus’s” teachings are rooted in earlier such movements.
That’s before you get to how bonkers the notion that there’s one definitive interpretation here is. Or how “keeping politics out” arguments are often just cover for the status quo (in this case that’s largely their take on shit)
Fact of the mater is those people disagree with you. Their interpretation is that Jesus’s teachings included a command to enter and christianize politics, to ensconce their beliefs in law, to convert others, and exclude those who don’t conform.
They genuinely believe that. They did not get the idea from Ronald Reagan (it’s the other way round). It is not cover, or an excuse or triangulation.
I can stand over here lining up proofs and citations demonstrating that Jesus was an openly socialist, asexual, incarnation of Satan all I want. They disagree.
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For sure. It’s clear that they have a different understanding of Jesus’ teachings than I.
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Meanwhile they are clutching their pearls at the thought of the religious right gaining power in Afghanistan as we pull our troops out.
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Apropos…
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So that’s how they can continue to claim “there are no atheists in foxholes.”
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All declining religions have this problem. It is a bit how boiling down salty water creates brine. The Catholic Parish I left when I got … smarter is now a small, bitter, nasty group of primeval bigots. It wasn’t always like that but the people that weren’t like that left.
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I trust this expert because he actually knows how generations work (emphasis mine):
That’s why there’s this growing legion of young people and millennials
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Tbf, American Catholics are also insanely right wing (as you acknowledge), even compared to and in the eyes of other Catholics around the world.
They’re openly defying the Vatican in order to publicly perform Trumpism.
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All churches that meddle in politics should be taxed, preferably into oblivion.
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I keep saying they need to build the damn wall around themselves.
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The American Catholic Church. The vast majority of American Catholics are vastly to the left of both the American Church and the global Church. Both theologically and politically.
As a block the actual members would be more center rightish to moderate lefty. It’s something of a runner in Catholic Churches as the disparity has helped fuel shrinking church attendance, especially in response to the ongoing abuse scandals.
What matters for politics is it makes Catholics a much less reliable voting block. There’s plenty of super conservative Catholics that can be expected to single issue vote GOP candidates in. But the largest and fastest growing demographic in Catholicism is Hispanics, and the majority overall aren’t single issue voters or even habitual GOP voters. Most of my family are Catholics, none of them have voted for a GOP Candidate since Reagan in 1980.
There’s a similar thing with the Mormons. Though not having to do with political alignment. Mormons generally view things like the rule of law and (actual) freedom of religion as more important than abortion or bringing about the Evangelical Ragnarok.
So they will break with the GOP, and block voting tends to require Mormon candidates.
On top of that Mormons are clustered in Utah and Arizona, and Catholics are clustered in cities.
All of it plays into why these groups are less visible and less influential than Evangelicals. Despite there being a lot fewer Evangelicals. Even in their own political movement.
Quite of a few of them have.
And they’ve generally use those communities to martial terror attacks, raise child brides, and train White Supremacist Militias.
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