GOP

mickeyrat said:

brianlux said:

Bentleyspop said:

brianlux said:

cblock4life said:

brianlux said:

DewieCox said:

brianlux said:

Saw this on FB this morning and found it worth quoting here:

Somber warning from a Pastor about the intentions of Evangelical "conservative" christians in American politics.

Pastor John Pavlovitz: “I’ve been a pastor in the church for over two decades, much of that in predominantly white churches in the American South.

I’ve spent countless hours in church staff meetings and men’s Bible studies and youth pastor conferences.

I’ve stayed connected on social media with thousands of people still there in those churches. I read what they share and post and amplify and I know how they think and what they believe.

I need you to understand something and I say it without any hyperbole: white Evangelicals need to be stopped, now.

If the 2022 midterms elections allow Republicans to gain control of Congress, Conservative Christians will decimate this nation, and LGBTQ people, Muslims, women, people of color, and non-Christians will never have equality under the law again. We will all be at their mercy—and they will no longer have use for mercy.

This is not alarmist, sky-is-falling histrionics, it is the clear and sober forecast from someone who knows these people better than anyone. Over the last decade and a half, as my theology shifted and my beliefs grew more and more progressive, I’ve been a kind of undercover Liberal in an increasingly extremist movement, that while once relegated to minor fringe noisemakers is now at the precipice of Roman Empire-level power. They are less than two years away from having a dominance that they will wield violently and not relinquish.

I watched it all unfold from the inside:

I was at a North Carolina megachurch when Obama was elected and I saw the shift take place firsthand. I saw the fear slowly being ratcheted up and the agenda become solidified and the prejudices leveraged.

I was speaking regularly at the Billy Graham headquarters when Fox News reporters and Republicans like Sarah Palin started walking the halls with frequency.

I saw the messages at pastor’s conferences grow more incendiary and urgent, and heard the supremacist dog whistles become louder and more frequent.

While many decent people around this nation celebrated the progress of a black president and the many civil and human rights victories and gradually let down their guard—the white Conservative church set off the alarms and prepared for a holy war.

Yet, they were still a largely powerless, dying dinosaur until 2016, when Donald Trump acquired the presidency and gave the Evangelicals the perfect amoral partner to serve as the biggest bully pulpit they’ve ever had. Combine that with a fragmented Left, a general fatigue by the larger population, a ceremonial victory in Congress (thanks to Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema), and Republican attacks on voters’ rights— and we are now a hair’s breadth from the subjugation of diverse humanity here.

These are not followers of Jesus despite the trappings and window dressing. They are Jesus-less extremists: blind zealots for nothing but power. They have been conditioned by decades of polluted theology and FoxNews alternative facts to see diversity as a threat, to see progress as attacks on America, and to interpret more people being treated with dignity as oppression of white people.

Trust me when I tell you that we won’t recover from the theocracy Evangelicals are constructing once it is established. If we fail in 2022, they will have a political power that will render every election null and void, and we will never have a voice again in our lifetimes.

Women will lose autonomy over their own bodies.

LGBTQ people will have the rights to marry and adopt taken away.

People of color will be fully squeezed out of the electoral process.

Immigrants will be denied access to opportunity and refuge here.

These are not creative projections. They are precisely what Evangelicals have repeatedly stated as their intentions, and they’re closer than they’ve ever been to having a rubber stamp.

We can still stop it, though.

We just need a unity and coordination that transcends theirs.

We need a sustained, passionate, dedicated defense of humanity that rivals their relentless assaults on it.

I hear many people say they’re terrified, but being terrified alone doesn’t do anything but help these people.

Be terrified and get angry.

Be terrified and get busy.

Be terrified and go to work.

Be terrified and fight like hell.

I wish more decent people in America remembered they are among the vast majority instead of acting as if they are helpless victims of Republican Christians. We could defeat them, and we need to. We just need to stop lamenting how much damage they are doing and start doing something to oppose them.

We’ve seen this play out throughout history and we know how it ends. We know what unchecked religious extremist is capable of and we know the cost of the silence and inaction of good people. We also know what people are capable of when they refuse to accept fascism and white supremacy cloaked in the Bible and wrapped in the flag, when they fight for something inherently good together.

As someone who knows just how much these Christians have lost the plot of their faith tradition, believe me when I tell you that they cannot be allowed to steer this nation. It will not end well for the disparate people who call it home or who one day wish to.

Love and equity and diversity are in the balance.

It’s time we made a choice.

It may be the last one we get.”

Pastor John Pavlovitz

This is legit. My dad’s talked about the detrimental effect of religion and government mixing for at least a decade. You always see nutters blaming things on taking god out of wherever and god given rights and blah blah blah,  and they tie it to every aspect of their being so much that they lose any sort of individuality. It’s directly tied to every opinion they have, every stance they take, how they’re entertained, who they interact with,w who they celebrate, who they look down upon, successes and failures, and who they vote for…. just whole hog indoctrination.

I used to enjoy going to church, serving the community, hanging with mostly pretty upstanding citizens and bigots and zealots have taken that away from me. If you’re reading the Bible and coming away with any other message but to be a decent person, then you’re doing it wrong. 

That is sad, Dewie.  I too have known churches with many good people.

I sometimes think about that Bible story in Matthew 21:12-13:

"Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. 13 “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.’"

He was pissed!  Imagine what he would feel today.  Probably would have apoplexy.  Beyond sensing there is mystery in the universe which feels spiritual to me, I'm not religious myself, but I know people of faith who are true to their beliefs and use their faith for the good, which I respect.  But their numbers are shrinking.  Phony, hateful, racist Christians abound.

You’re a smart man. 

 I have an enormous amount of faith in something greater than myself but I have no faith in organized religion. 

My preference is God, Jesus, no building, Jesus preached without a building all the time and of course I could be mistaken but I don’t think he charged a lot to attend his sermons.  

LOL, no, I don't think Jesus would be a televangelist raking in the bucks!

The so-called "christians" get wound up when you remind them that Jesus was a dark skinned Jewish guy from Palestine who loved and cared for everyone.

Exactly, likely something like this:

painting at this Lutheran church I've attended aa meetings at.

feels right to me.

Cropduster-80 said:

cincybearcat said:

Cropduster-80 said:

cincybearcat said:

So - a friend shared a survey from their local high school with me.  One of the questions was "What is your sexual orientation"

Straight = 62%
Gay/Lesbian = 10.9%
Bi/Pan = 18.5%
Asexual = 4.3%
Other = 4.3%

Nationally Gallup found 7.1% put themselves into a category other than straight.

So why the disparity?  Is this more legit data?  Are kids not sure and trying different things out?  Is the GOP correct in that schools, etc (while allowing those that are truly other than straight to be themselves) are also encouraging experimentation and false moves away from the mean?

It is a very interesting statistic.  Wish I knew what the real data was...it's quite the difference...7.1% vs 38%....is the 7.1% just low cause people are scared to be and tell the world you they really are?

I would suspect data set is different.

a 50 year old may be gay and isn’t comfortable sharing that fact.  A teen may be more comfortable.  

Are there more gay people that are teens? Probably not.  There are probably more out teens 

Seemed strange to me as this is in a very conservative state...but in one of the smaller liberal pockets (university area).  Those numbers were shocking to me that they were so high. I do wish there could be a true deep dive with all the reasons on it to understand it better.

In college I was aware of a lot of experimentation going   on.  I know those same people today. Twenty years later they are married and have kids. 

sexuality on the whole is more fluid than we think.  Those people grow up, have kids, get married. They choose family and being committed to their spouse. They probably identify as straight. They aren’t gay, but they are not exactly straight either