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A lot of africans kill people here as well. Maybe it has nothing to do with the christians?
Hmm...maybe the decline in Christianity has something to do with the decline in real "Christian thought and behavior" in America. This thread was started as a religious comment and within a few posts it went to gun waving and racism. Sad really, for those that really do want to see a return to Christian LOVE and ACCEPTANCE.
The "substantiation" is that the Mormon church is being investigating for direct funding of Prop 8 [in violation of federal law] in California. Catholics funneled $ money thru ultra-conservative Knights of Columbus. When society is more compassionate than the church then it is clear the church is off course. Evangelicals are basically lay people with limited education expectations for pastors + no supervision by a bishop. These are the people who claim the "King James" version is the original texts of the Bible
Lack of humanity coupled with fierce hypocrisy leave a very negative impression, I'm sorry to say.
The "substantiation" is that the Mormon church is being investigating for direct funding of Prop 8 [in violation of federal law] in California. Catholics funneled $ money thru ultra-conservative Knights of Columbus. When society is more compassionate than the church then it is clear the church is off course. Evangelicals are basically lay people with limited education expectations for pastors + no supervision by a bishop. These are the people who claim the "King James" version is the original texts of the Bible Lack of humanity coupled with fierce hypocrisy leave a very negative impression, I'm sorry to say.
BOLD = a concise definition of tody's evango-fascist right wing of the GOP. The GOP in Virginia just fired it's SIXTH party chairman in six years, and are grappling with whether they want to toe the evango-fascist line as they go forward, or if they want to ease up on that and move back to classic GOP-style FISCAL conservatism.
Excerpts are in BOLD and my opinions and in regular print:
- Is the Christian right finished as a political entity? Or, more to the point, are principled Christians finished with politics? IMO, lots of truth to this, from both angles. Voters are fed up with the extreme religious right of Dobson, Hagee, Parsley, Robertson, the late Jerry Falwell, et al. John McCain called these clowns "agents of intolerance" in 2000 and in 2008 he tried unsuccessfully to distance himself from them, having to accept Sarah Palin to appease them and keep in line with Rovian campaign strategies. Many religious people understand that politics is NOT the venue for stopping abortion and are turning to other means to prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place, i.e., moving towards the center to achieve their goals.
- For proof, one need look no further than Dobson himself, who was captured on tape recently saying that the big cultural battles have all been lost. IMO, this is wonderful news - the Culture War is over. Someone please tell Bill O'Reilly and all the other mouthpieces of the far right. Truth is, you cannot legislate morality, which is what the far right has tried to do since Falwell started the Moral Majority two decades ago in an attempt to influence government.
- Christians may have no place in the political fray of dealmaking. That doesn't mean one disengages from political life, but it might mean that the church shouldn't be a branch of the Republican Party. Truer words were never spoken. The GOP has acted arrogantly, assuming their party is God's chosen party and they've tried to label everyone else as infidels. Those days are over. One only need read "Blind Faith" by Bush buddy David Kuo to see just how badly the GOP played the religious right for many years, leaving the religious right with NOTHING to show for all their votes and cash donations.
- For Christians such as ... columnist Cal Thomas, a former VP for the Moral Majority -- the heart of Christianity is in the home, not the halls of Congress or even the courts. And the route to a more moral America is through good works -- service, prayer and education -- not political lobbying. ... Thomas, who speaks with a stand-up comic's clip (and wit), has long maintained that the religious right is in left field. There it is, straight from the mouth of the Moral Majority guy himself.
- "If people who call themselves Christians want to see any influence in the culture, then they ought to start following the commands of Jesus and people will be so amazed that they will be attracted to Him," Thomas told me. "The problem isn't political. The problem is moral and spiritual." Exactly, and I've said the same thing for years; the faithful cannot FORCE religion and it's alleged morality onto anyone else, but if they lead by example, they will draw people to their faith, after all, who wouldn't want to be associated with strongly moral people, but look at the liars, money grubbers, grandstanders and hypocrites we get instead (Jimmy Swaggart, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Robert Tilton, and Rev Ted). Time for a change, a big change, and it appears to be happening. Hopefully, many people of faith on the far right will stop viewing themselves as superior beings and stop looking at everyone else as beneath them and their kids.
There's a whole lot more in the article; follow the link in the first paragraph to see it all for yourself.
I think the Arabic call to prayer is beautiful as well. I also think many Christian Hymns are beautiful, reading the Torah at passover and chants that are lightly used during many pagan rituals.
Doesn't mean I believe in any of them, but why can't things simply be beautiful without having substantiated meaning behind them? I'm an Agnostic who has dabbled in paganism and I think many religious things are beautiful and worth having around.
I think the Arabic call to prayer is beautiful as well. I also think many Christian Hymns are beautiful, reading the Torah at passover and chants that are lightly used during many pagan rituals.
Doesn't mean I believe in any of them, but why can't things simply be beautiful without having substantiated meaning behind them? I'm an Agnostic who has dabbled in paganism and I think many religious things are beautiful and worth having around.
Because you're being inclusive and noticing beauty where it is.
It's not divisive enough, the competition for god-things is beyond me.
Even though I'm atheist, I'll go to an occasional religious event for the music or to see differences in cultures. Luckily, I'm in a great place to do so.
I love rococo churches, they make me giddy with their fat plaster cherubs all over the walls and ceilings and gilded statuary. Europe is filled with it.
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Political Pullback for the Christian Right
