Well now ya’ve done it…
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I don’t want to be a nuisance, nor to go down that road to derail a thread which got already wiped and splitted. But I very strongly disagree. I can’t read the deleted posts, and I assume the OP was raging from what’s left of it. Not good.
However, the argument you bring forth does not really apply to religious groups. Nearly all religious groups claim to be in possession of the only truth, while all other religions or non-religious groups or individuals are opponents, and often enemies. Women, ethnic groups and groups of people with similar sexual preferences? Not so much, I think.
Also, religion is about morals, and thus behaviour. Many religions, and specifically Christianity, would, in general, not accept any of the behaviour described above as being conform with their morals. Unless, of course, you are “violating” their own moral code. Note that specifically Christianity should, in theory, have a strong element of forgiveness, and being kind against even enemies. The interpretation of The Word Of God which allows treating other humans as scum is, however, quite widespread. Spontaneously, I can’t think of a worldly minority group which has the same pattern of schizophrenia in their group-defining common ground.
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Just to add a perhaps simpler point, you choose your religion. People change their religions all the time. And some even quit their religion. That’s as much of a choice as anything.
Whereas being a given race, or having a given sexuality, or being a given sex, is not a choice. You can’t logically judge someone for being black. But you can definitely judge someone for being in a group they’ve chosen.
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In theory.
In practice, most people have their religion chosen for them by their parents. And many people live in places where casually swapping religions is an option that carries a high social cost.
Religion is not race, but it isn’t just an opinion either. It’s somewhere between the two.
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If there’s a reason it’s not just an opinion it’s only because it has self-reinforcing mechanisms for the prevention of criticism and critical thought. People who tend to think very much about their religion usually end up not being a part of it anymore.
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Or they become priests.
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Something like half of the people in the US change their religion.
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Miguel De La Torre – a progressive professor at Denver’s Iliff School of Theology – denounces evangelicals who “forgive” Trump for his myriad sins.
What’s most bizarre and infuriating about this is: How do the Evangelical Right forgive someone who never once asks forgiveness? Trump’s response(s), when confronted with his moral/ethical failings, include one or more of: deny-deny-deny, pivot, slur his accuser(s), misstate the accusation, counter-punch, or ignore. He never apologizes. He never asks forgiveness.
Isn’t a crucial part of Christian theology that the sinner has to admit the sin before he can ever be forgiven?
Trump never does this. Yet, the Christians give him a blanket forgiveness, time and time again. Meanwhile, Christians are still angry about Obama using Dijon mustard-- and he did apologize profusely.
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What surprises me is not that he said this, but that this so few others are saying this. When you read the words of Jesus Christ, it’s incredibly obvious that the right-wing evangelicals are not doing his work. When you read more carefully, you can see that Jesus warned against exactly this kind of perversion.
I hope more Christians in the US wake up and condemn and reject the evil that has disguised itself as Christianity.
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Not only that, in an interview he was asked directly what he thought he needed forgiveness for, and he answered explicitly “nothing”. That should have been the biggest red flag ever to any Christian that that man has not a shred of Christian faith in him.
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WTF? I just googled that. That really is insane.
Mind you, interesting example of differing cultural references. Dijon = posh mustard in the US? Who’d ha’ thunk it.
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Please please read the article I linked above. Fundamentalists support Trump because they share goals: “Neoliberal capitalism at work in education has mirrored fundamentalist education as both have sought to erode public control in favor of putting schools in the hands of private entities. Under capitalist ideology, this has meant the growth of charter schools and a new resurgence of vouchers.”
And tha’s just a fraction of it.
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I was brought up in a Christian manner, I’m not religious now, but even I can tell that half the shit they talk is self-serving nonsense.
I suppose us Brits have to take some of the blame for this however. After all, we did persecute our religious nutcases until they went over to America to found a new country, and look how that’s worked out.
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I stand by my statement. Quakers are not fucking responsible for southern baptists, just because they share the identity of “religious person”. to think they do is reductive and, frankly, lazy thinking.
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So, it’s okay for quakers to be put into the same boat as southern baptists? Or Wiccans? Other neopagans? Muslims? Buddhists? Shintoists? They are all just alike and equally worthy of scorn? Really?
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I’d recommend this video on “Why rappers love grey poupon”:
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That is a good link 
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July 18, 2015: “I’m not sure I have ever asked God’s forgiveness. I don’t bring God into that picture.”
July 22, 2015: “Why do I have to repent or ask for forgiveness, if I am not making mistakes?”
And keep in mind that Trump’s status as a serial philanderer was a matter of public record at this point, though it would still be a number of months before the Access Hollywood tape and Stormy Daniels affair came to light.
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Yep.
When Jimmy Carter was asked if he’d ever been unfaithful to his wife he confessed that according to the Biblical definition of adultery he was guilty, for a man who looks with lust upon a woman other than his wife is an adulterer in the eyes of God. He also said he asked forgiveness for this sin.
Meanwhile Mr. Grab-em-by-the-pussy, spousal abusing, sexually harassing rapist philanderer who buddied around with pedophile sex predator Jeffrey Epstein and bragged about banging his friends’ wives responds with “nope, can’t think of anything I did worthy of asking forgiveness for.”
And the Evangelicals shout with joy that there’s finally a “real Christian” in the White House again.
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