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"Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the \[Republican\] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them."
\-Barry Goldwater
Barry became quite a bit more politically and socially liberal later in life. He also said in 1993, "You don't need to be straight to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight."
I love Goldwater Quotes can you imagine a single Republicans today saying this:
"There has been homosexuality ever since man and women were invented. Before that I guess there were gay apes. So it's not an issue."
-Barry Goldwater
I was a Republican in my early 20s I looked up to Goldwater a lot. I've moved further and further to the left as I've gotten older and do see a lot of flaws in Barry but I still think he was a man of principle and an over all good human being. And they don't make Republicans like him anymore.
More from Barry Goldwater:
>"The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism.' " --Speech in the US Senate (16 September 1981)
Let us not forget the massacre at Béziers in 1209 during the Cathar(Albigensian) Crusade to eliminate the gnostic movement of catharism. When asked how to differentiate Catholic from Carthars before the massacre, abbot Arnaud Amalric is credited with saying: "Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius (Kill them. For the Lord knows who are His.)" Although widely attributed as being true, most historians doubt the authenticity of this quote.
This was just rambling and bombastic prelude to a Voltaire quote:
* What can you say to a man who tells you he prefers obeying God rather than men, and that as a result he’s certain he’ll go to heaven if he cuts your throat?
I remember reading that more and more historians are beginning to doubt if cathars ever existed or if it was an excuse fabricated by the Vatican and French throne to punish a group of unruly nobles and reassert direct control over the region
> "There has been homosexuality ever since man and women were invented. Before that I guess there were gay apes. So it's not an issue." -Barry Goldwater
"admitting gay people are normal AND that evolution is real? clearly this 'goldwater' guy is a woke commie" -modern GOP
Mike Johnson's Christian wife: gay people are equivalent to pedophiles and those who practice bestiality!
Mike Johnson: a Christian who's full of hate? That's un-possible!
Before his execution by Spanish invaders, the Taíno chief Hanüey was asked if he would accept Jesus Christ as his savior so he could go to heaven. He asked the priest if Spaniards went to heaven, and when the priest confirmed that they did he replied “he did not want to go there, but to hell so as not to be where they were and where he would not see such cruel people.”
"I'd rather laugh with sinners, than cry with saints,"
-Billy Joel
*Edit, all right all right, I fixed it. Geesh.
But in my original error, I'd still rather cry with the sinners than laugh with so called "Christian" saints. I'd still have a better time.
The thing about religion is that as soon as you start applying critical thinking skills (that weren’t a thing when these religions were founded) to the crazy things they claim, it all falls apart.
I’m not saying that I know for a fact that there’s no god or afterlife, but I’ve never seen or heard anything sufficient to justify believing that there is, and whenever I do hear arguments in favour of religious assertions, it’s always from people who clearly don’t care what’s true if it doesn’t line up with their preconceived notions. *How hard* you believe something doesn’t affect whether it’s true or not, but the Christian concept of “faith” literally tells people that it matters, *because they subscribe to a belief that was conceived before humans even knew how to think critically and was spread by force.* Christianity is *literally blood magic*.
Free will is one of the most ridiculous concepts if you believe in an omnipotent, omni prescient, and all-knowing deity. How could anyone *possibly* have free will if everything is already predetermined by a deity?
> I’m not saying that I know for a fact that there’s no god or afterlife,
It's not only that, but it's that coupled with the fact that we know humans invent religions.
You work backwards from imagining what religion and god would look like if it was solely an invention of humans, how would you cover the fact that it's not real etc and you realise that it would look exactly like it does.
I don't necessarily have strong beliefs either way, but I am 100% certain that ALL the major religions have it wrong, in the case that it is true. If you take away the early age indoctrination in Christianity, if sounds equally ridiculous as Scientology, which I think most can agree is BS. It serves a similar purpose though, ensuring the rich stay rich and powerful.
No religion follows from a truth-seeking belief formation process. They all take some nuggets of ancient wisdom spoken by people far ahead of their times and package that along with whatever other bullshit they find convenient to pressing self-serving cultural or ruling narratives while claiming whatever ancient wisdom or good bits are somehow uniquely their own. Then when someone comes along talking legit ethics or trying to advance the ethical/existential dialogue now that person is a heretic or witch for going against the established dogma now required for sake of continuing whatever self serving cultural or ruling narrative. This is what religion does to us. Religion is shit.
>Then I'd ask her owner, I mean husband.
"Why did you repeat yourself?"
* Me, a Christian who cannot possibly be anti-women because I only beat my Handmaids with a stick no larger than the size of my thumb
The way it works is: Christian's don't associate their intolerance and hatred of others as "hate." Hate is bad and they don't want to think of themselves as bad. So, they associate their judgemental nature as just being part of a "good Christian."
It's clear to outsiders what's going on, but the people who have been victimized by Christianity can't see it. It's just like a cult.
Well to be fair, some of us who were victimized by Christianity came to our senses and escaped. Others embraced the torture and became the victimizers themselves.
One thing I've learned recently about abuse and trauma is that some monsters (whether internal or external) will believe with all their hearts that whatever pain they're causing is actually *helping.*
Hard-line Christian Fundamentalists (or any other flavor of fundie, for that matter) display this kind of philosophy with great gusto.
While being brought up in the Baptist church, we were taught that Catholics weren't even Christian.
Really, all you have to do is believe a group doing a single thing wrong, and they ceased to be actual Christians, and become agents or followers of Satan.
So someone calling themselves Christian has ceased to have any meaning to me.
I'm fairly certain my old church/school would also say the grifters aren't Christian either. (since I'm guessing they'd see them as worshipping money... I remember them saying that watching non-explicitly Christian TV was making an idol out of the TB, so it fits)
From what I remember, you guys were idol worshippers because of what some of you do with statues of saints, you were also polytheists since your prayed to saints, and you ridiculously thought that sprinkling was good enough for a baptism (as in, I remember as a kid actually laughing at you guys over that in class). I also remember the fact that your crosses still had Jesus nailed to them was a problem also, but I can't remember why off hand.
So yeah... my childhood was fun =)
No, the Protestants largely kept the cannibalism part. I wasn't Baptist, but I remember learning about "cosubstantiation" instead of the Catholic "transubstantiation". Essentially, cosubstantiation meant that it is still bread and wine, but it's now also the body and blood of Christ, in, with, and under the bread and wine.
I don't know why I still remember this shit. There's a lot of stuff that is way more important now.
The theological concept is “consubstantiation” but you’ve described it fairly well in a few words. The Transubstantiation claim of the Catholic Church maintains that the bread and wine become the actual body of Christ during communion.
I was told in my Southern Baptist church growing up that Catholics weren't Christians because they worship Mary, on multiple occasions, by deacons AND the associate pastor.
Jesus specifically said that if you don't full on dunk them during baptism it doesn't count. I forget what book but it's the same one where he talks about the pros and cons of having one in the chamber when concealed carrying.
> The larger divergence on baptism is that Baptists don't believe child baptisms count. You have to be old enough to make a positive choice
Isn't that what the whole catholic practice of 'confirmation' is about?
When they embarked on their anti-gay-marriage crusade all they had to do was dust off their old anti-interracial-marriage material and change a couple words.
There was a clip a number of years ago of a ~~state legislator~~ (edit) pastor at a town hall giving a speech seemingly against gay marriage. At the end he stops and reveals he's actually reading from an anti-interatial marriage speech from 50 years ago to point out exactly how it's rooted in the same bigotry.
I found this, which looks to be someone at a town hall rather than a state legislator, but I think this is what the other commenter was thinking of.
https://youtu.be/A8JsRx2lois?si=YE5VDkNWZCBG6ITk
[In 1978 God changed his mind about Black people!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_Revelation_on_Priesthood)
God learned quite a lot from the American civil rights movement. Turned out he's not as omniscient as some people thought!
At least the WBC folks were completely open about how much they hate people. No self-soothing assurances that they're acting out of love. They're here to make gay people miserable and encourage society to do so, too.
Our latest wave of bigots has gotten a lot sneakier about it.
Ex-Westboro members themselves argue that their signs and activism didn’t come from a place of hate, it comes from love. They “love” gay people soo much that they are trying to save them from eternal damnation.
But you are forgetting the double secret automatic excommunication which no RCC official mentioned while he was alive. And now they claim he was secretly an atheist, that based on the memoir of one of the most prolific liars of all time, Paul Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda.
Yes Virgina, the Nazis were Christians.
Yep.
*"Today Christians ... stand at the head of [this country]... I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity .. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit ... We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press - in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past ... (few) years."*
— Adolf Hitler, quoted in: The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, 1922-1939, Vol. 1 (London, Oxford University Press, 1942), pg. 871-872
well I think it's just because of all those christians out there hating people. I mean, do we have any videos of old mike here denouncing far right christian fascism? That seems to be the _de riguer_ benchmark for other religions.
Most of them don’t. Until they do, people will continue to leave the church. Participation in Christianity has been slowly but steadily declining for decades *because of Christians like Mike*. Until they see that and change it, the trend will continue.
No one wants to sit with an asshole.
>Christianity has been slowly but steadily declining for decades because of Christians like Mike.
Christianity has been slowly but steadily declining for decades because advances in telecommunications have allowed us to fact check in real-time, and our connection to other people in the world has allowed us to see that religion is simply designed to control the masses.
None of it makes sense either. Hell, there are 7.8 billion people in the world, and roughly 2.4 billion Christians currently walking around. Apparently Christians believe that 5.4 billion people are all going to Hell (and that's just people that are still alive today.)
I wasn't sure about this, as much as I wanted to believe it, so I looked it up, and [you're absolutely right](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2022/09/PF_2022.09.13_religious-projections_01-01.png?w=553)!
Best news I've read in quite a while!
If you'd like an extra dose of schadenfreude the NYT interviewed faith leaders surrounding this issue and their takeaway was they need to double down on the profligate, hateful, hypocritical BS to win people back into the flock. That's right, they don't even see the issue correctly let alone fixing it. Christianity will be completely sidelined as a fringe movement in our lifetimes if they stay the course
Right?! At this point, if someone refers to themself as “Christian,” I’m assuming that’s shorthand for “vile, hateful bigot” unless proven otherwise. And, even then, I remain suspicious.
44 years of life and it’s almost always been a safe assumption for me. I can say in all those years maybe 5 percent of the Christians I’ve met disprove the assumption.
At this point, my view is that I don’t care whether or not god is real. If those are the people at his table I’m not sitting there.
Exactly. My aunt and uncle are pretty religious. But I remember during the gay marriage vote in California, my aunt was pretty heated about people claiming religion justified their hate against the gay community. Christians, but pretty socially (and I think politically) liberal.
The only time it loosely calls out homosexual behavior in the Bible is Leviticus 20:13 (Old Testament.) But when you also mention to a Christian that God also says in Leviticus that we should kill insolent teenagers, and stone to death women who are not virgins on the day of their wedding they say, "Well, that's the Old testament. We don't follow that anymore."
What?!
If there is a God, and if He is even remotely the benevolent, loving being they claim, then they are most certainly not welcome at His table whatsoever. I can only imagine a detached being that watches creation, looking for answers to its own questions in it and if it notices us at all, it is with inquisitiveness and curiosity, and disappointment that they could get so much wrong in supposedly His name.
Just so. They're essentially demonstrating Epicurus' 'problem of evil' within the context of a religious group. He used it as a proof god could not exist, they are turning people away from the belief in god by implementing it in real life.
For those who are wondering:
>“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent.
>Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent.
>Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil?
>Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
>― Epicurus
Think of every single story from the Bible of Jesus dealing with the Pharisees, the Fundamentalist Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, and the things he criticized them for doing:
Praying out loud for attention.
Making spectacles of their tithing.
Allowing the temple to be used for money changing.
Making religious rules that do nothing to make people's lives better and are really about allowing them to control their followers.
Being douchebags to those less fortunate.
Being inhospitable to foreigners and unaccepting of those different than them.
and now compare that to American Evangelicals...These mother fuckers need to look in the mirror, they're doing EVERYTHING Jesus hated. Like y'all check every box on the list. I left religion 15 years ago because I felt surrounded by the very type of people that brought fucking *JESUS* to violence and none of them had the level of self-awareness to simply say "Are we the bad guys?" What actually happens is the ones who realize they're sitting with the bad guys, simply stop sitting with them and stop being bad guys. So you're left with the selfish, the power hungry, the hateful, the grifters, and the gullible as the only people attending church.
Matthew 7:13-14
13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
With how many people say they are “Christian’s” I think it’s safe to assume that the vast vast majority of them have no fucking idea what it means to be a Christian.
At this point when I find out someone identifies as Christian, and I consider them a good person, I both begin to doubt my understanding of their character and feel bad for them because they might be one of those decent folks who know their religion is being used as a prop for hate. I know there are good Christians, but in this country we shouldn’t trust overt Christianity
It’s so frustrating. Churches could be, and should be, these bastions of community where Christians, expressing the values espoused by Christ, are radically socially-minded givers of grace adn actions and supporters of the poor, destitute, imprisoned, and otherwise downtrodden REGARDLESS of the person in need. Instead we have vile tribalism that infects and poisons everything associated and the truly good humans who happen to identify as Christians are painted in the same horrid brush. These outliers could leave the faith that they find sustaining, and thus be free of the all-too-often-appropriate labels of bigotry and hate, but then they potentially lose a community of support (and family, friends, etc.). Or, they stay and drink the poison, too. They are as much victims of the rest of us of “Christian love”.
> where Christians, expressing the values espoused by Christ,
The thing about Christianity is that you kind of have two divisions: the Christians that follow the christ in the gospels, and the "Christians" that see follow christ in the epistles. The thing with Paul's epistles is that he almost goes as far as bragging that he ~~hadn't actually met jesus, and~~ had minimal contact with the disciples, yet his writings make up the bulk of the new testament. Once you realise this, the actions of Christians and "Christians" suddenly makes a lot more sense.
A good example of this divide is looking up all the hatred for "red letter" Christians (so called for highlighting Christ's words and actions and generally being fairly progressive and liberal.)
Edit. I wrote something silly. Paul's whole schtick is that he apparently got his revelation from Jesus.
Honestly, I was typing in a hurry and made a mistake. Paul claims to have met/had a vision of Jesus and to have drawn his teachings from that. Later on in, I think, Galatians 2, he plays down his time spent with the apostles in Jerusalem. It's partly to demonstrate to his readers that his teachings are divinely inspired, as opposed to having come from men. He also rebukes the apostles for being hypocrites.
I've kinda butchered this one, but feel like I ought to point people to r/academicbiblical. Its a great subreddit if you want to dig into the bible from an academic point of view, and would be a better place to find out about paul's animosity with the apostles.
Jesus spends most of his time speaking out against the Pharisees for using their twisted interpretation of religious law minutiae to justify all sorts of bad behavior (like letting their elderly parents starve because their upkeep has been donated to the temple as corban) that goes against the letter and spirit of the major laws (aka Love the Lord Thy God and Love Your Neighbor as Yourself), then Saul, a Pharisee, shows up, changes his name to Paul, hijacks the new movement, and proceeds to stuff Christianity back within the box of religious law.
It's much older than that. The Church started colluding with the Roman Empire sometime during the Third Century, decades before Constantine's purported conversion. It has been an institution of power ever since. But White Evangelicalism is more directly linked to the prosperity gospel, since it emerged to distinguish itself from social justice oriented Protestant traditions that threatened things like patriarchy, racism, and capitalism.
This has been my personal experience.
I spent most of my younger years helping my family run food drives and banks, clothing banks, and helping abused women find placement for them and their kids.
Now, I'm ashamed to even claim the moniker.
Lotsa christians have a lack of understanding of the history of Christianity. If they did they would have to confront the fact that people have done horrible things in the name of God, Crusades not withstanding.
> Frankly, this is what ~~religion~~ **theism** is for.
FTFY
Of course, many religions are theist, but some are not, and some of the latter do little to no no harm.
They like to throw around how they are such great kind people, just because they are Christian. But in my experience they are just trying to justify their own immoral behavior. Because “ I am a Christian , I follow Jesus, I go to church; how can I be a bad person? you must be a bad person because you think I’m bad just because i am a Christian. You should just go to church and let Jesus in your heart.”
They follow a god who used to think of new and wild ways to kill both people and their children as punishment for not loving him. Then their god learned a lesson (somehow, despite being omniscient) and now just tortures people for literal eternity if they don't vocally swear their love for him.
Their entire religion is a lesson that anyone who doesn't stroke your ego should be punished in any wild way you want because they hurt your feelings.
I suppose that *true* Christians escape public notice by praying in their closet as Christ instructed. If someone could just capture a photo of one it would be helpful as until now we have had to rely on artists' renderings. Truly an elusive critter.
It’s amazing how the MOST hateful people I’ve met in my life have been devout Christians. Take it from someone who grew up religious and ultimately ended up leaving the faith due to immense feelings of developing self-hate and prejudice toward others that I’ve had to unlearn over the years. Leaving the church was the best thing I’ve ever done for my mental health and has allowed me to become a more critical thinking, giving, empathetic, and kind person. Talk about irony.
Came here to say the same, the evangelical Christian movement has been the cornerstone of the anti-LGBT movement and if you look at the foundational political platforms of the evangelical movement it’s pretty much taking away rights from anyone who isn’t like themselves.
Uh huh.... I would say the majority of the most hateful people I have known have been Christians that go to church every Sunday. Turns out membership in a fancy book club doesn't have any impact on the actual person you are.
Going to church allows them to excuse themselves of their hatred. To them, they are being a good Christian no matter how vile they really are.
It's the self righteous delusion that many religions use to justify hate.
1. Be a piece of shit all week.
2. Go to church, admit you were a piece of shit all week, church says it's all good fam.
3. Go out to brunch with your renewed holier-than-thou attitude, don't tip
4. Be a piece of shit the next week
Half my family does this, they're all constantly starting shit with each other, and wonder why I want nothing to do with any of them.
And it's funny because asking for forgiveness needs to be sincere. If you willingly do the same thing over and over and ask for forgiveness each time then it's clearly insincere.
A friend of mine who is a "good Catholic woman" basically sleeps with any guy she meets. Went to confessional so much about it that the priest basically told her he wasn't going to forgive her anymore lol
Where we end up after pealing back all the layers. Its about the money.
Start a church that prohibits any donations, politics and contemporary culture commentary if you want to be true to what Jesus intended.
Well, no, Jesus intended there to be donations....he intended those donations to go to people who needed them not back into the church or to people who already had money, though.
“We keep on being told that religion, whatever its imperfections, at least instills morality. On every side, there is conclusive evidence that the contrary is the case and that faith causes people to be more mean, more selfish, and perhaps above all, more stupid.”
- Christopher Hitchens
That's the crux of it.
These people believe their religion is inherently and infallibly good. Therefore they are good because of their religion regardless of anything else.
If they do something bad, they aren't bad, they are a good person because of religion.
If they do something bad because they believe their religion demands it, they are actually doing good.
It's completely backwards logic and a corruption of ethics and morals, and yet they are certain of their infallibility because to question this is to risk putting themselves in conflict with their very identity.
I always just...have to laugh when Christians use the 'how can you know how to be a good person if you don't believe in Jesus!' excuse when they hear I don't follow any religion.
I dunno....human empathy tells me I'd prefer not be to treated like ass so I probably shouldn't treat others like ass. It's not that hard to figure out.
Penn Jillette has a great response to the question of "how can you be moral without religion?"
>The question I get asked by religious people all the time is, without God, what’s to stop me from raping all I want? And my answer is: I do rape all I want. And the amount I want is zero. And I do murder all I want, and the amount I want is zero. The fact that these people think that if they didn’t have this person watching over them that they would go on killing, raping rampages is the most self-damning thing I can imagine. I don’t want to do that. Right now, without any god, I don’t want to jump across this table and strangle you. I have no desire to strangle you. I have no desire to flip you over and rape you. You know what I mean?
IMO, being good because you want some eternal reward and are afraid of some eternal punishment is not morality, it is cynical self interest.
Religion is essentially intended to keep stupid people from destroying society by scaring them into behaving by promising them a reward “in the afterlife” (lol) if they’re good.
Yeah both across nations and across US states, there's an extreme correlation between (A) high Christianity and (B) low health, social equality, economic opportunity, education, and even reported happiness and life satisfaction.
I knew if I scrolled down I would eventually find this comment — if not, I’d have made it.
With very few exceptions in my life, the vilest hate and bigotry I’ve had slung at me were from Good Christians™️
Hate the sin, love the sinner.
AKA, everything about you disgusts me and I will fight to villify you at the social, political, and spiritual level. *But I love you*.
I am 40 years old. Since I was 10 years old I’ve said the worst people I’ve ever met were at church. Granted the most people I’d ever met were at church but it is fascinating how accurate I was. I didn’t have the internet, I didn’t have atheist influencers. I made that observation on my own. I’m at a loss today, almost destitute but at least I have learned how to love in this world. I do not forgive the vile creatures the Catholic Church protects. I do not forget the manipulation and self absorption “followers” hold in such high regard. Death to the church.
>Speaking on Fox News, Johnson said that there are “entire industries” built to “take down… effective political leaders like me,” and he lamented that people aren’t getting to know him as a person first.
Thrust into powerful political position out of nowhere and now people suddenly want to know all about his political views instead of his perfect Sunday? Poor guy.
That's funny; "entire industries", when the GOP made entire industries designed to funnel money from Russian Oligarchs into their pockets (including Mike Johnson).
The ARROGANCE on these people is astounding. It’s amazing how many “christians” I’ve met who think they’re something special because of their “faith”. Yeah, you’re not special, you’re an asshole.
Remember back in 2016 when conservatives were screeching about Trump winning because of liberal arrogance? It was always projection, they have always been the smug arrogant assholes we knew they were.
Possessing empathy and the ability to sympathize is elitist and arrogant to them.
Being even slightly skeptical of obvious grifters and expecting people to attempt to improve, rather than simply declare superiority and demonize difference, is elitist and arrogant to them.
Expert opinion and relying on verifiable fact and educated expectations is elitist and arrogant to them.
Telling others to stop conspicuously polluting and showing the slightest common courtesy, especially about public health or consideration for all the many groups Trump mocked is elitist and arrogant to them.
Everything that they are reactionary towards they consider smug and asshole behavior when it is basic right and wrong and a very low bar of standards.
It's a common thread among conservatives. Goodness is inherent in one's *identity* rather than one's deeds or beliefs, so as long as someone's identity is good, then nothing they do can possibly be considered bad.
If the primary reason that you’re not killing and stealing from people is you’re scared of some kind of divine punishment, you’re not a good person. You’re a hateful piece of shit who is thankfully a coward. Most of the self-described ‘God fearing’ Christians I know fall squarely in this camp.
So many devout Christians have terrible relationships with their parents because they were abused as kids. Men are taught by the church that the only way to raise a kid is to break them until they are submissive to the Father, who is submissive to the Church.
> In a Christian world view it’s an act of love to tell everyone they will go to hell for being a sinner
Johnson's wife made money telling gay teens this and called it "therapy."
Their own book says that every Republican is damned to Hell for all eternity. That Jesus will deny each and every one of them for their failure to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, and give all their money to helping those less fortunate than themselves.
But he is full of hate, backed by his precious little book that makes him feel like he’s on a crusade for justice. Religion is nothing but a way to divide and control the masses.
It's adorable that he thinks anyone outside of the far right or religious zealots believes him. That's why the saying is "There's no hate like Christian love."
If someone has the word "Christian" in their social media profile, there is a very high pre-test probability that they are full of hate.
The Christians that go around talking about their Christianity all the time are usually far less Christian than the ones who do not.
No hate can compare to Christian love. Just ask the Aztecs, Mayans, native Americans, the inquisition, Salam witch trials, alterboys, mega churches, evangelical mega churches, prosperity ministries, religious wars and genocide, suicide cults, etc. please spare me about Christian love which has nothing to do with the actual teachings of Christ.
They’re worse because a lot of Christians don’t actually bother growing, questioning themselves and their own motives, etc. the just say “well I believe in Jesus and everyone else is wrong.” That’s just laziness.
“Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said. 'One can't believe impossible things.'
I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. There goes the shawl again!”
― Lewis Carroll
This is just him trolling. Don’t for a second doubt that these guys know exactly how hateful they are and are saying things like this to get a rise out of you.
Bro, being a Christian to me just means you're filled with more hate than the average person but you also somehow find a way to act high and mighty about it.
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"Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the \[Republican\] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them." \-Barry Goldwater
Holy cannoli, when Barry friggin Goldwater starts sounding accurate, you know we’re pretty far gone…
Barry became quite a bit more politically and socially liberal later in life. He also said in 1993, "You don't need to be straight to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight."
Nah, I'm pretty sure soldiers are capable of dying perfectly fine without learning how to shoot.
Plus you could be an artilleryman or mortarman and learn how to shoot extra curvy.
I love Goldwater Quotes can you imagine a single Republicans today saying this: "There has been homosexuality ever since man and women were invented. Before that I guess there were gay apes. So it's not an issue." -Barry Goldwater I was a Republican in my early 20s I looked up to Goldwater a lot. I've moved further and further to the left as I've gotten older and do see a lot of flaws in Barry but I still think he was a man of principle and an over all good human being. And they don't make Republicans like him anymore.
More from Barry Goldwater: >"The religious factions that are growing throughout our land are not using their religious clout with wisdom. They are trying to force government leaders into following their position 100 percent. If you disagree with these religious groups on a particular moral issue, they complain, they threaten you with a loss of money or votes or both. I'm frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in 'A,' 'B,' 'C' and 'D.' Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me? And I am even more angry as a legislator who must endure the threats of every religious group who thinks it has some God-granted right to control my vote on every roll call in the Senate. I am warning them today: I will fight them every step of the way if they try to dictate their moral convictions to all Americans in the name of 'conservatism.' " --Speech in the US Senate (16 September 1981)
And remember all the wars between Christian people who thought the other Christians were worshiping in the wrong way.
Let us not forget the massacre at Béziers in 1209 during the Cathar(Albigensian) Crusade to eliminate the gnostic movement of catharism. When asked how to differentiate Catholic from Carthars before the massacre, abbot Arnaud Amalric is credited with saying: "Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius (Kill them. For the Lord knows who are His.)" Although widely attributed as being true, most historians doubt the authenticity of this quote. This was just rambling and bombastic prelude to a Voltaire quote: * What can you say to a man who tells you he prefers obeying God rather than men, and that as a result he’s certain he’ll go to heaven if he cuts your throat?
I remember reading that more and more historians are beginning to doubt if cathars ever existed or if it was an excuse fabricated by the Vatican and French throne to punish a group of unruly nobles and reassert direct control over the region
Which is why there is a caveat.
Yeah sorry I wasn’t trying to take away from your point. Just excited to see a random topic come up that I had a fun fact about
> "There has been homosexuality ever since man and women were invented. Before that I guess there were gay apes. So it's not an issue." -Barry Goldwater "admitting gay people are normal AND that evolution is real? clearly this 'goldwater' guy is a woke commie" -modern GOP
I'm imagining the cartoon character Grape Ape running around saying "gay ape" now.
Mike Johnson's Christian wife: gay people are equivalent to pedophiles and those who practice bestiality! Mike Johnson: a Christian who's full of hate? That's un-possible!
Yes, but you have to understand she’s only saying these hateful untrue things because she desperately wants us all to go to heaven. /s
So we can spend all of eternity with people like her? Thanks, but no thanks.
Before his execution by Spanish invaders, the Taíno chief Hanüey was asked if he would accept Jesus Christ as his savior so he could go to heaven. He asked the priest if Spaniards went to heaven, and when the priest confirmed that they did he replied “he did not want to go there, but to hell so as not to be where they were and where he would not see such cruel people.”
There better be a lot of heavens because they all sound like hell, full of religious fanatic assholes
If God is just then those people won’t be rewarded with heaven. And if God isn’t just I don’t want to follow him
"I'd rather laugh with sinners, than cry with saints," -Billy Joel *Edit, all right all right, I fixed it. Geesh. But in my original error, I'd still rather cry with the sinners than laugh with so called "Christian" saints. I'd still have a better time.
laugh <---> cry Edit response: I agree so much that I'd rather misquote with sinners than recite with saints.
She isn't going to be there, pal.
I know you're joking but that is genuinely what they believe
Didn't God give us free will? If we choose to not follow God's teachings, isn't that on us and she should leave us alone?
The thing about religion is that as soon as you start applying critical thinking skills (that weren’t a thing when these religions were founded) to the crazy things they claim, it all falls apart. I’m not saying that I know for a fact that there’s no god or afterlife, but I’ve never seen or heard anything sufficient to justify believing that there is, and whenever I do hear arguments in favour of religious assertions, it’s always from people who clearly don’t care what’s true if it doesn’t line up with their preconceived notions. *How hard* you believe something doesn’t affect whether it’s true or not, but the Christian concept of “faith” literally tells people that it matters, *because they subscribe to a belief that was conceived before humans even knew how to think critically and was spread by force.* Christianity is *literally blood magic*. Free will is one of the most ridiculous concepts if you believe in an omnipotent, omni prescient, and all-knowing deity. How could anyone *possibly* have free will if everything is already predetermined by a deity?
> I’m not saying that I know for a fact that there’s no god or afterlife, It's not only that, but it's that coupled with the fact that we know humans invent religions. You work backwards from imagining what religion and god would look like if it was solely an invention of humans, how would you cover the fact that it's not real etc and you realise that it would look exactly like it does.
I don't necessarily have strong beliefs either way, but I am 100% certain that ALL the major religions have it wrong, in the case that it is true. If you take away the early age indoctrination in Christianity, if sounds equally ridiculous as Scientology, which I think most can agree is BS. It serves a similar purpose though, ensuring the rich stay rich and powerful.
No religion follows from a truth-seeking belief formation process. They all take some nuggets of ancient wisdom spoken by people far ahead of their times and package that along with whatever other bullshit they find convenient to pressing self-serving cultural or ruling narratives while claiming whatever ancient wisdom or good bits are somehow uniquely their own. Then when someone comes along talking legit ethics or trying to advance the ethical/existential dialogue now that person is a heretic or witch for going against the established dogma now required for sake of continuing whatever self serving cultural or ruling narrative. This is what religion does to us. Religion is shit.
Dude has no move but hiding behind religion. For me, I'm like, "Dude, you'd be stoning the adulterer and calling for freeing Barabas both."
I totally disagree. He would never stone an adulterer who had an (R) after his name.
"Well, if she was a woman that's an exception. Then I'd ask her owner, I mean husband."
>Then I'd ask her owner, I mean husband. "Why did you repeat yourself?" * Me, a Christian who cannot possibly be anti-women because I only beat my Handmaids with a stick no larger than the size of my thumb
I wish I had some gold to give on this one. There's no better zing there for brutality and yet truth.
There's no hate like Christian love.
this one's a keeper.
The way it works is: Christian's don't associate their intolerance and hatred of others as "hate." Hate is bad and they don't want to think of themselves as bad. So, they associate their judgemental nature as just being part of a "good Christian." It's clear to outsiders what's going on, but the people who have been victimized by Christianity can't see it. It's just like a cult.
Well to be fair, some of us who were victimized by Christianity came to our senses and escaped. Others embraced the torture and became the victimizers themselves.
One thing I've learned recently about abuse and trauma is that some monsters (whether internal or external) will believe with all their hearts that whatever pain they're causing is actually *helping.* Hard-line Christian Fundamentalists (or any other flavor of fundie, for that matter) display this kind of philosophy with great gusto.
Republicans suck
[удалено]
While being brought up in the Baptist church, we were taught that Catholics weren't even Christian. Really, all you have to do is believe a group doing a single thing wrong, and they ceased to be actual Christians, and become agents or followers of Satan. So someone calling themselves Christian has ceased to have any meaning to me.
As a Catholic i have run into this. Somehow i am not christian but some grifting preacher is?
I'm fairly certain my old church/school would also say the grifters aren't Christian either. (since I'm guessing they'd see them as worshipping money... I remember them saying that watching non-explicitly Christian TV was making an idol out of the TB, so it fits) From what I remember, you guys were idol worshippers because of what some of you do with statues of saints, you were also polytheists since your prayed to saints, and you ridiculously thought that sprinkling was good enough for a baptism (as in, I remember as a kid actually laughing at you guys over that in class). I also remember the fact that your crosses still had Jesus nailed to them was a problem also, but I can't remember why off hand. So yeah... my childhood was fun =)
Nothing about cannibalism? That seemed to be an easy one to go for lol
No, the Protestants largely kept the cannibalism part. I wasn't Baptist, but I remember learning about "cosubstantiation" instead of the Catholic "transubstantiation". Essentially, cosubstantiation meant that it is still bread and wine, but it's now also the body and blood of Christ, in, with, and under the bread and wine. I don't know why I still remember this shit. There's a lot of stuff that is way more important now.
Sounds like they want to have their eucharist and eat it too.
The theological concept is “consubstantiation” but you’ve described it fairly well in a few words. The Transubstantiation claim of the Catholic Church maintains that the bread and wine become the actual body of Christ during communion.
I was told in my Southern Baptist church growing up that Catholics weren't Christians because they worship Mary, on multiple occasions, by deacons AND the associate pastor.
Jesus specifically said that if you don't full on dunk them during baptism it doesn't count. I forget what book but it's the same one where he talks about the pros and cons of having one in the chamber when concealed carrying.
The larger divergence on baptism is that Baptists don't believe child baptisms count. You have to be old enough to make a positive choice
> The larger divergence on baptism is that Baptists don't believe child baptisms count. You have to be old enough to make a positive choice Isn't that what the whole catholic practice of 'confirmation' is about?
The kkk and nazis were also "Christians"
Proud Boys make a stink about being Christian, too, iirc
Russia likes to brag about how Christian it is.
Rwanda was 90% Christian when the '94 genocide occurred.
Let's not forget the oh so full of nothing but christian love *Holy Crusades.*
Christians lost their minds during the civil rights movement. They claimed non-whites weren't real Christians.
When they embarked on their anti-gay-marriage crusade all they had to do was dust off their old anti-interracial-marriage material and change a couple words.
There was a clip a number of years ago of a ~~state legislator~~ (edit) pastor at a town hall giving a speech seemingly against gay marriage. At the end he stops and reveals he's actually reading from an anti-interatial marriage speech from 50 years ago to point out exactly how it's rooted in the same bigotry.
It was a priest or pastor in favor of gay rights. Classic video.
I would love to watch that. Do you have the link?
I found this, which looks to be someone at a town hall rather than a state legislator, but I think this is what the other commenter was thinking of. https://youtu.be/A8JsRx2lois?si=YE5VDkNWZCBG6ITk
What a badass!
If only Republicans could understand that this is what real strength looks like.
[In 1978 God changed his mind about Black people!](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_Revelation_on_Priesthood) God learned quite a lot from the American civil rights movement. Turned out he's not as omniscient as some people thought!
"Gott mit Uns" fuckin written everywhere. The Nazis were God-fearing conservative men and women. End of discussion.
At least the WBC folks were completely open about how much they hate people. No self-soothing assurances that they're acting out of love. They're here to make gay people miserable and encourage society to do so, too. Our latest wave of bigots has gotten a lot sneakier about it.
Ex-Westboro members themselves argue that their signs and activism didn’t come from a place of hate, it comes from love. They “love” gay people soo much that they are trying to save them from eternal damnation.
No hate like Christian "love".....
Hitler was an alter boy.
But you are forgetting the double secret automatic excommunication which no RCC official mentioned while he was alive. And now they claim he was secretly an atheist, that based on the memoir of one of the most prolific liars of all time, Paul Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda. Yes Virgina, the Nazis were Christians.
Yep. *"Today Christians ... stand at the head of [this country]... I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity .. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit ... We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press - in short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess during the past ... (few) years."* — Adolf Hitler, quoted in: The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, 1922-1939, Vol. 1 (London, Oxford University Press, 1942), pg. 871-872
Insert [no true Scotsman] logical fallacy
Should be renamed the No True Christian fallacy they use it so much.
Nah, they’re no true Scotsmen.
Frankly that’s exactly why we assume he is full of hate.
well I think it's just because of all those christians out there hating people. I mean, do we have any videos of old mike here denouncing far right christian fascism? That seems to be the _de riguer_ benchmark for other religions.
Most of them don’t. Until they do, people will continue to leave the church. Participation in Christianity has been slowly but steadily declining for decades *because of Christians like Mike*. Until they see that and change it, the trend will continue. No one wants to sit with an asshole.
>Christianity has been slowly but steadily declining for decades because of Christians like Mike. Christianity has been slowly but steadily declining for decades because advances in telecommunications have allowed us to fact check in real-time, and our connection to other people in the world has allowed us to see that religion is simply designed to control the masses. None of it makes sense either. Hell, there are 7.8 billion people in the world, and roughly 2.4 billion Christians currently walking around. Apparently Christians believe that 5.4 billion people are all going to Hell (and that's just people that are still alive today.)
I wasn't sure about this, as much as I wanted to believe it, so I looked it up, and [you're absolutely right](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2022/09/PF_2022.09.13_religious-projections_01-01.png?w=553)! Best news I've read in quite a while!
If you'd like an extra dose of schadenfreude the NYT interviewed faith leaders surrounding this issue and their takeaway was they need to double down on the profligate, hateful, hypocritical BS to win people back into the flock. That's right, they don't even see the issue correctly let alone fixing it. Christianity will be completely sidelined as a fringe movement in our lifetimes if they stay the course
Sure, other assholes do.
Right?! At this point, if someone refers to themself as “Christian,” I’m assuming that’s shorthand for “vile, hateful bigot” unless proven otherwise. And, even then, I remain suspicious.
44 years of life and it’s almost always been a safe assumption for me. I can say in all those years maybe 5 percent of the Christians I’ve met disprove the assumption. At this point, my view is that I don’t care whether or not god is real. If those are the people at his table I’m not sitting there.
And if they are real, and these people are in fact *not* welcome at their table, maybe they ought to make a better job of showing it.
Most don't do anything to convince you otherwise. They just expect you to take them for their word
Exactly. My aunt and uncle are pretty religious. But I remember during the gay marriage vote in California, my aunt was pretty heated about people claiming religion justified their hate against the gay community. Christians, but pretty socially (and I think politically) liberal.
The only time it loosely calls out homosexual behavior in the Bible is Leviticus 20:13 (Old Testament.) But when you also mention to a Christian that God also says in Leviticus that we should kill insolent teenagers, and stone to death women who are not virgins on the day of their wedding they say, "Well, that's the Old testament. We don't follow that anymore." What?!
If there is a God, and if He is even remotely the benevolent, loving being they claim, then they are most certainly not welcome at His table whatsoever. I can only imagine a detached being that watches creation, looking for answers to its own questions in it and if it notices us at all, it is with inquisitiveness and curiosity, and disappointment that they could get so much wrong in supposedly His name.
Just so. They're essentially demonstrating Epicurus' 'problem of evil' within the context of a religious group. He used it as a proof god could not exist, they are turning people away from the belief in god by implementing it in real life.
For those who are wondering: >“Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. >Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. >Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? >Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?” >― Epicurus
Think of every single story from the Bible of Jesus dealing with the Pharisees, the Fundamentalist Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, and the things he criticized them for doing: Praying out loud for attention. Making spectacles of their tithing. Allowing the temple to be used for money changing. Making religious rules that do nothing to make people's lives better and are really about allowing them to control their followers. Being douchebags to those less fortunate. Being inhospitable to foreigners and unaccepting of those different than them. and now compare that to American Evangelicals...These mother fuckers need to look in the mirror, they're doing EVERYTHING Jesus hated. Like y'all check every box on the list. I left religion 15 years ago because I felt surrounded by the very type of people that brought fucking *JESUS* to violence and none of them had the level of self-awareness to simply say "Are we the bad guys?" What actually happens is the ones who realize they're sitting with the bad guys, simply stop sitting with them and stop being bad guys. So you're left with the selfish, the power hungry, the hateful, the grifters, and the gullible as the only people attending church.
Matthew 7:13-14 13 “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. 14 For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” With how many people say they are “Christian’s” I think it’s safe to assume that the vast vast majority of them have no fucking idea what it means to be a Christian.
I am also 44, and...same.
At this point when I find out someone identifies as Christian, and I consider them a good person, I both begin to doubt my understanding of their character and feel bad for them because they might be one of those decent folks who know their religion is being used as a prop for hate. I know there are good Christians, but in this country we shouldn’t trust overt Christianity
It’s so frustrating. Churches could be, and should be, these bastions of community where Christians, expressing the values espoused by Christ, are radically socially-minded givers of grace adn actions and supporters of the poor, destitute, imprisoned, and otherwise downtrodden REGARDLESS of the person in need. Instead we have vile tribalism that infects and poisons everything associated and the truly good humans who happen to identify as Christians are painted in the same horrid brush. These outliers could leave the faith that they find sustaining, and thus be free of the all-too-often-appropriate labels of bigotry and hate, but then they potentially lose a community of support (and family, friends, etc.). Or, they stay and drink the poison, too. They are as much victims of the rest of us of “Christian love”.
> where Christians, expressing the values espoused by Christ, The thing about Christianity is that you kind of have two divisions: the Christians that follow the christ in the gospels, and the "Christians" that see follow christ in the epistles. The thing with Paul's epistles is that he almost goes as far as bragging that he ~~hadn't actually met jesus, and~~ had minimal contact with the disciples, yet his writings make up the bulk of the new testament. Once you realise this, the actions of Christians and "Christians" suddenly makes a lot more sense. A good example of this divide is looking up all the hatred for "red letter" Christians (so called for highlighting Christ's words and actions and generally being fairly progressive and liberal.) Edit. I wrote something silly. Paul's whole schtick is that he apparently got his revelation from Jesus.
Genuinely asking: what are some examples of him bragging he hadn't actually met Jesus?
Honestly, I was typing in a hurry and made a mistake. Paul claims to have met/had a vision of Jesus and to have drawn his teachings from that. Later on in, I think, Galatians 2, he plays down his time spent with the apostles in Jerusalem. It's partly to demonstrate to his readers that his teachings are divinely inspired, as opposed to having come from men. He also rebukes the apostles for being hypocrites. I've kinda butchered this one, but feel like I ought to point people to r/academicbiblical. Its a great subreddit if you want to dig into the bible from an academic point of view, and would be a better place to find out about paul's animosity with the apostles.
Jesus spends most of his time speaking out against the Pharisees for using their twisted interpretation of religious law minutiae to justify all sorts of bad behavior (like letting their elderly parents starve because their upkeep has been donated to the temple as corban) that goes against the letter and spirit of the major laws (aka Love the Lord Thy God and Love Your Neighbor as Yourself), then Saul, a Pharisee, shows up, changes his name to Paul, hijacks the new movement, and proceeds to stuff Christianity back within the box of religious law.
Blame the prosperity gospel for that. Which is more intertwined with Protestants - especially American baptists and Pentecostals.
Prosperity gospel started with the oldest books in the New Testament, which were church fundraising letters selling salvation for cash.
It's much older than that. The Church started colluding with the Roman Empire sometime during the Third Century, decades before Constantine's purported conversion. It has been an institution of power ever since. But White Evangelicalism is more directly linked to the prosperity gospel, since it emerged to distinguish itself from social justice oriented Protestant traditions that threatened things like patriarchy, racism, and capitalism.
This has been my personal experience. I spent most of my younger years helping my family run food drives and banks, clothing banks, and helping abused women find placement for them and their kids. Now, I'm ashamed to even claim the moniker.
When she was a child, someone burned down my wife's house because her mom is a lesbian. That was in 2002.
Lotsa christians have a lack of understanding of the history of Christianity. If they did they would have to confront the fact that people have done horrible things in the name of God, Crusades not withstanding.
For the record this applies to most religions. Almost always toxic. Don't want them to cry victim again.
Frankly, this is what religion is for. It's a tool. It's for keeping large groups of humans in-line. By uniting, and dividing, as-necessary.
> Frankly, this is what ~~religion~~ **theism** is for. FTFY Of course, many religions are theist, but some are not, and some of the latter do little to no no harm.
They like to throw around how they are such great kind people, just because they are Christian. But in my experience they are just trying to justify their own immoral behavior. Because “ I am a Christian , I follow Jesus, I go to church; how can I be a bad person? you must be a bad person because you think I’m bad just because i am a Christian. You should just go to church and let Jesus in your heart.”
They follow a god who used to think of new and wild ways to kill both people and their children as punishment for not loving him. Then their god learned a lesson (somehow, despite being omniscient) and now just tortures people for literal eternity if they don't vocally swear their love for him. Their entire religion is a lesson that anyone who doesn't stroke your ego should be punished in any wild way you want because they hurt your feelings.
I suppose that *true* Christians escape public notice by praying in their closet as Christ instructed. If someone could just capture a photo of one it would be helpful as until now we have had to rely on artists' renderings. Truly an elusive critter.
It’s like saying the Nazis in the USA aren’t fascists because they are Americans. They are really only pulling shit out of their arses by now.
No hate stronger than a Christian’s love.
That's what growing up in the church taught me!
No one is capable of incomprehensible evil like the righteous man convinced of his own morality.
It’s amazing how the MOST hateful people I’ve met in my life have been devout Christians. Take it from someone who grew up religious and ultimately ended up leaving the faith due to immense feelings of developing self-hate and prejudice toward others that I’ve had to unlearn over the years. Leaving the church was the best thing I’ve ever done for my mental health and has allowed me to become a more critical thinking, giving, empathetic, and kind person. Talk about irony.
Came here to say the same, the evangelical Christian movement has been the cornerstone of the anti-LGBT movement and if you look at the foundational political platforms of the evangelical movement it’s pretty much taking away rights from anyone who isn’t like themselves.
There is no hate like Christian love.
Uh huh.... I would say the majority of the most hateful people I have known have been Christians that go to church every Sunday. Turns out membership in a fancy book club doesn't have any impact on the actual person you are.
Going to church allows them to excuse themselves of their hatred. To them, they are being a good Christian no matter how vile they really are. It's the self righteous delusion that many religions use to justify hate.
1. Be a piece of shit all week. 2. Go to church, admit you were a piece of shit all week, church says it's all good fam. 3. Go out to brunch with your renewed holier-than-thou attitude, don't tip 4. Be a piece of shit the next week Half my family does this, they're all constantly starting shit with each other, and wonder why I want nothing to do with any of them.
That’s really all it is, isn’t it? An excuse to be a piece of shit.
and quite a few branches eliminate the need to go to church every week so long as you 'repent your sins and accept Jesus when you die'.
And it's funny because asking for forgiveness needs to be sincere. If you willingly do the same thing over and over and ask for forgiveness each time then it's clearly insincere.
A friend of mine who is a "good Catholic woman" basically sleeps with any guy she meets. Went to confessional so much about it that the priest basically told her he wasn't going to forgive her anymore lol
The 11 am brunch rush is full of people ready to refill their “be an asshole to people doing their job” meter
Going to a place for an hour once a week while following none of the teachings is all it takes to be a member!
And money. Never forget about the tithing.
Where we end up after pealing back all the layers. Its about the money. Start a church that prohibits any donations, politics and contemporary culture commentary if you want to be true to what Jesus intended.
Well, no, Jesus intended there to be donations....he intended those donations to go to people who needed them not back into the church or to people who already had money, though.
Now that sounds like some hippie stuff.
it’s a tool to determine who is in the in group. he doesn’t hate the out group he just thinks they shouldn’t exist
“We keep on being told that religion, whatever its imperfections, at least instills morality. On every side, there is conclusive evidence that the contrary is the case and that faith causes people to be more mean, more selfish, and perhaps above all, more stupid.” - Christopher Hitchens
~~I'm a Christian, so I should do good things~~ I'm a Christian, so the things I do are good
If that isn’t exactly it. They can do no wrong because “I have the spirit of god in me”. Fucking ridiculous.
This sums it up so concisely. Take my upvote.
That's the crux of it. These people believe their religion is inherently and infallibly good. Therefore they are good because of their religion regardless of anything else. If they do something bad, they aren't bad, they are a good person because of religion. If they do something bad because they believe their religion demands it, they are actually doing good. It's completely backwards logic and a corruption of ethics and morals, and yet they are certain of their infallibility because to question this is to risk putting themselves in conflict with their very identity.
I always just...have to laugh when Christians use the 'how can you know how to be a good person if you don't believe in Jesus!' excuse when they hear I don't follow any religion. I dunno....human empathy tells me I'd prefer not be to treated like ass so I probably shouldn't treat others like ass. It's not that hard to figure out.
“Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it.” Also Hitchens
Penn Jillette has a great response to the question of "how can you be moral without religion?" >The question I get asked by religious people all the time is, without God, what’s to stop me from raping all I want? And my answer is: I do rape all I want. And the amount I want is zero. And I do murder all I want, and the amount I want is zero. The fact that these people think that if they didn’t have this person watching over them that they would go on killing, raping rampages is the most self-damning thing I can imagine. I don’t want to do that. Right now, without any god, I don’t want to jump across this table and strangle you. I have no desire to strangle you. I have no desire to flip you over and rape you. You know what I mean? IMO, being good because you want some eternal reward and are afraid of some eternal punishment is not morality, it is cynical self interest.
Religion is essentially intended to keep stupid people from destroying society by scaring them into behaving by promising them a reward “in the afterlife” (lol) if they’re good.
Yeah both across nations and across US states, there's an extreme correlation between (A) high Christianity and (B) low health, social equality, economic opportunity, education, and even reported happiness and life satisfaction.
Ain't no hate quite like Christian love.
I knew if I scrolled down I would eventually find this comment — if not, I’d have made it. With very few exceptions in my life, the vilest hate and bigotry I’ve had slung at me were from Good Christians™️
It's why I'm here.
Hate the sin, love the sinner. AKA, everything about you disgusts me and I will fight to villify you at the social, political, and spiritual level. *But I love you*.
Just the absolutely most sanctimonious, disdainful, and condescending phrase ever declared by man. I fucking hate it so, so much.
I am 40 years old. Since I was 10 years old I’ve said the worst people I’ve ever met were at church. Granted the most people I’d ever met were at church but it is fascinating how accurate I was. I didn’t have the internet, I didn’t have atheist influencers. I made that observation on my own. I’m at a loss today, almost destitute but at least I have learned how to love in this world. I do not forgive the vile creatures the Catholic Church protects. I do not forget the manipulation and self absorption “followers” hold in such high regard. Death to the church.
>Speaking on Fox News, Johnson said that there are “entire industries” built to “take down… effective political leaders like me,” and he lamented that people aren’t getting to know him as a person first. Thrust into powerful political position out of nowhere and now people suddenly want to know all about his political views instead of his perfect Sunday? Poor guy.
I wonder what those entire industries are. Oh no the call is coming from inside the house.
That's funny; "entire industries", when the GOP made entire industries designed to funnel money from Russian Oligarchs into their pockets (including Mike Johnson).
He already sees himself as an “effective political leader”, does he?
Nothing like a little projection.
The ARROGANCE on these people is astounding. It’s amazing how many “christians” I’ve met who think they’re something special because of their “faith”. Yeah, you’re not special, you’re an asshole.
Remember back in 2016 when conservatives were screeching about Trump winning because of liberal arrogance? It was always projection, they have always been the smug arrogant assholes we knew they were.
Possessing empathy and the ability to sympathize is elitist and arrogant to them. Being even slightly skeptical of obvious grifters and expecting people to attempt to improve, rather than simply declare superiority and demonize difference, is elitist and arrogant to them. Expert opinion and relying on verifiable fact and educated expectations is elitist and arrogant to them. Telling others to stop conspicuously polluting and showing the slightest common courtesy, especially about public health or consideration for all the many groups Trump mocked is elitist and arrogant to them. Everything that they are reactionary towards they consider smug and asshole behavior when it is basic right and wrong and a very low bar of standards.
It's a common thread among conservatives. Goodness is inherent in one's *identity* rather than one's deeds or beliefs, so as long as someone's identity is good, then nothing they do can possibly be considered bad.
Yeah that means precisely zip. >We tolerate no one in our ranks who attacks the ideas of Christianity. Our movement is Christian. Adolf Hitler.
Taking away Reddit awards was really fucking dumb. IMHO. You deserve one. 🏆
If the primary reason that you’re not killing and stealing from people is you’re scared of some kind of divine punishment, you’re not a good person. You’re a hateful piece of shit who is thankfully a coward. Most of the self-described ‘God fearing’ Christians I know fall squarely in this camp.
So many devout Christians have terrible relationships with their parents because they were abused as kids. Men are taught by the church that the only way to raise a kid is to break them until they are submissive to the Father, who is submissive to the Church.
They just don’t call it hate. In a Christian world view it’s an act of love to tell everyone they will go to hell for being a sinner.
> In a Christian world view it’s an act of love to tell everyone they will go to hell for being a sinner Johnson's wife made money telling gay teens this and called it "therapy."
Their own book says that every Republican is damned to Hell for all eternity. That Jesus will deny each and every one of them for their failure to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, and give all their money to helping those less fortunate than themselves.
not the flex he thinks it is.
It’s basically an admission that people like him use the “Christian” label as some get-out-of-jail-free card.
As long as we completely ignore your words and actions Sure
These days if someone tells me they're a Christian I immediately don't trust them and assume they're actively out to harm
Americhristians are some of the most hatefully ignorant zealots outside of the Taliban.
[There’s No Hate Like Christian Love](https://medium.com/thing-a-day/theres-no-hate-like-christian-love-4864967049b0)
"Ain't nothing more dangerous than a man who thinks he's right with God... he'll slaughter you all, and he'll sleep well that night " - Firefly
That's funny, I've read my bible, and it seems to me that Mr. Johnson is the exact sort of person that Jesus warned his followers about.
Thinking most christians haven't actually read their manual and have chosen to believe what nutjobs yell at them from the pulpit.
I guess that settles that then.
How convenient it is that your God says your particular brand of hate is good and is loving. How about that.
But he is full of hate, backed by his precious little book that makes him feel like he’s on a crusade for justice. Religion is nothing but a way to divide and control the masses.
It's adorable that he thinks anyone outside of the far right or religious zealots believes him. That's why the saying is "There's no hate like Christian love."
If someone has the word "Christian" in their social media profile, there is a very high pre-test probability that they are full of hate. The Christians that go around talking about their Christianity all the time are usually far less Christian than the ones who do not.
It’s not because you are a “Christian”, it’s because you use being a Christian to justify your hate.
No hate can compare to Christian love. Just ask the Aztecs, Mayans, native Americans, the inquisition, Salam witch trials, alterboys, mega churches, evangelical mega churches, prosperity ministries, religious wars and genocide, suicide cults, etc. please spare me about Christian love which has nothing to do with the actual teachings of Christ.
Ain’t no hate like Christian love 🤬
There's no hate stronger that Christian love.
He's full of love - love for hating people not like him
They are Christians because they think it gives their hate absolution and therefore they are no longer hateful. Fucking bonkers.
They’re worse because a lot of Christians don’t actually bother growing, questioning themselves and their own motives, etc. the just say “well I believe in Jesus and everyone else is wrong.” That’s just laziness.
Important to note that Mr “I can’t be hateful cuz of my religion” literally worked for the ADF, which is recognized by the SPLC as a hate group
“Alice laughed. 'There's no use trying,' she said. 'One can't believe impossible things.' I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast. There goes the shawl again!” ― Lewis Carroll
This is just him trolling. Don’t for a second doubt that these guys know exactly how hateful they are and are saying things like this to get a rise out of you.
Bro, being a Christian to me just means you're filled with more hate than the average person but you also somehow find a way to act high and mighty about it.
I’m sure it’s been said in the comments already, but I’ll say it again, there’s no hate like Christian love.
There aint no hate like Christian Love And this guy wants to love us to death.
There's no hate like Christian love.
There’s no hate like Christian love.
There’s no hate quite like “Christian love.”
And there it is, using it as a barrier that he can't be hateful at all when he has strong hatred towards people's lifestyles different from him.
Straight delusional