Christianity continues decline in America

It would be nice if the media could report on them by church instead of under the blanket of Christian. It’s abundantly clear that the two are not the same and lazy reporting to pretend they are.

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There are of course both liberal and conservative churches that trod this path. But many of the loudest are hyperconservative, which reflects poorly on the others.

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Because it drives sales when folks pick your name out of the Yellow Pages. :man_shrugging:

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That’s a very anomalous take on “being Christian”, that really only applies to American White Evangelical Protestants. Who do not definte Christianity, not even in the US let alone the rest of the world.

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There’s an old joke that if you ask ten Jews the same question you’ll get twelve different answers.

I know people who call themselves Christian who say, “But that’s just me, and I believe we all have to find our own path.” And I know people who call themselves Christian who are adamant that you not only have to believe in their particular brand of Christianity but also follow certain rules or you will be tormented in Hell for all eternity. And all sorts of shades in between.

So, basically, to sum up, that old joke really describes Christians.

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The subtext in some of those photos, where the arrestee is getting handcuffed with his hands behind his back (as opposed to in front of him) can be read as “we the police have chosen to either publicly admit or otherwise depict you the arrestee are dangerous and perhaps violent; or we wish for the public to construe that you are so; or we wish to maximize your discomfort; or we hereby emphasize here for all to see the asymmetric power dynamic here in front of the cameras etc.”

Or all of the above.

That 75-year old Christian Worker was is named Martin Guigino, may he rest in power continue to heal, and his actions do show that one can be a believer–a Christian believer–and fight for justice with the same conviction and vulnerability as any other person whose beliefs include solidarity and compassion.

TW: his picture at this link may disturb those of a sensitive disposition

Agreed.
And their greed-driven divide-and-conquer bullshit has to be recognized for what it is.

I realize the irony that my calling out The Greed Community is itself an othering, but I’ll own that.

karlpopper_intolerance_paradox.gif

ETA:
Guigino lives!

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While simultaneously operating under the precept: What would Jesus do? We’ll do the opposite.

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I would argue that means that they don’t accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, but they won’t listen to me.

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Modern America is certainly not the only time and place that the church has been politicized.
German Christians (movement) - Wikipedia

Thank you…

Did he die since then? He got a skull fracture, but he was not killed by the police in that altercation.

I did not post it for that reason, but now people are not familiar with that incident can learn about it…

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Ooops:

Will correct.

I thought he passed in hospital.

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Fortunately, he did not. It was a serious injury and he was 75 at the time, so it’s amazing he survived…

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I’ve tried, a couple of times, to say that the Christo-Fascists are a small group with extremely big mouths and excellent TV coverage. Because they’re on TV all the time, people think they’re much bigger group than they are.

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Very partisan survey, with not-so-surprising results:

The 2022 State of Theology survey reveals that Americans increasingly reject the divine origin and complete accuracy of the Bible. With no enduring plumb line of absolute truth to conform to, U.S. adults are also increasingly holding to unbiblical worldviews related to human sexuality. In the evangelical sphere, doctrines including the deity and exclusivity of Jesus Christ, as well as the inspiration and authority of the Bible, are increasingly being rejected. While positive trends are present, including evangelicals’ views on abortion and sex outside of marriage, an inconsistent biblical ethic is also evident, with more evangelicals embracing a secular worldview in the areas of homosexuality and gender identity.

They are thrilled with the near-universal agreement against reproductive choice and sex being only within a boy-girl marriage, but they have noted with concern that basics of the religion, like believing Jesus is God or every bit of the Bible is equally true – not just the parts you like – are no longer indicators of evangelical beliefs. They’re just not quite ready to connect the dots.

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jada pinkett smith that part GIF by Red Table Talk

And we live, not only in a mass mediated, age, but in the age of massive divisions of the mass media into segmented markets, which has helped to drive this current wave of radicalization of the right, bringing all sorts of nasty stuff into the mainstream. And “neutral” news outlets seem to let them get away with being thought of as “the mainstream conservative movement”… there has been some push back on that, but not nearly enough. CNN seems to be eager to play the whole stupid “both sides” game with fascists now.

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On the subject of faith vs practice, I like this one very much:

I trust those who follow rules they don’t entirely believe more than I trust those who believe in rules they don’t entirely follow

https://catandgirl.com/judeo-christian-pancake-party/

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I mean, that and because they have such disproportionate influence in our government that they’re successfully turning entire states into puritanical, transphobic, woman-hating theocracies. They may not be the majority of Christians, but they’re not some fringe group, they’re a sizeable chunk of the population who consistently vote absolute monsters into positions of power and have a real negative influence on real people.

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Would that be under S, for “salvations”?

Maybe for an auto body shop? :man_shrugging:

h8ryjiip8x721

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