6 Sneaky Ways the Christian Right Foists Its Biblical Agenda on America

reply to post by wildtimes


Wild dear, it's purely anti-Christian propaganda. The article doesn't mention the other large groups against those things for reasons of Federalism and/or an originalist belief/mentality of the Constitution. Could you have been presupposed to bite it hook line and sinker ? Maybe?

reply to post by adjensen

I've never, in my life, heard anyone say "God wants us to ruin the Earth. Rock on, oil companies!!!"

Just today I was looking at an ATS thread about the 'Global Warming' "conspiracy". It was pretty dogmatic and twisty (as in panties or knickers) and very, erm, animated.

But anyway, thanks. I hear ya

Originally posted by wildtimes
NuT;
adj;
okay. Point taken.
Thanks for your participation.

K. YW.

(Are we being kicked out of the party).

Originally posted by wildtimes
reply to post by sacgamer25

 

Why would I 'bash' you, sac?
I posted an article from a third-party site. I stated my reaction to it.

I was hoping to get a broad spectrum of opinions about it....
all I can say is that it made sense to me. I want to be wrong about what I see happening....
but the fact is, I see the Right-Wing Conservative Christian hard-liners getting noisier and pushier, and the article pointed out some things that I think are worth looking at.

All minorities are getting louder. I am not anti-gay simply because I don’t care anymore. But I am anti Gay-Rights parades. Simply because who you have sex with is something I don't care about either. Of Course what they do at Westborough is something I don’t want to hear about either.

If democracy works than none of this should be an issue.

I knew you wouldn't bash me but I have seen enough on the boards to know the trolls are lurking.

reply to post by NOTurTypical


Yes, I suppose I could have. I'm pretty shaken up by what I see going on right now -- I don't post these things just to convince people. I actually want discussion and to have a balanced view. Yes, the hard-line Christian Fundamentalist stuff has got my dander and hackles all up......
and yes, it frightens me. A lot. The world is falling apart, as far as I can tell, and I'm beginning to feel hopelessly lost and irrelevant, no matter how hard I try to look at all sides and stay balanced and calm. What is SO WRONG with secular humanitarian philosophy? Don't we really want to know the truth and move forward? It appears there are lots of people fighting both humanitarian efforts AND truth being discovered.
Anyway.
Thanks for your reply.

reply to post by NOTurTypical

(Are we being kicked out of the party).

Of course not! You may not believe me, NuT, but I really am trying to learn and figure things out, here...

I know I have a ways to go.....
and apologize if I come across from time to time as zealous and abrupt/abrasive myself. I think those of us who haunt these forums all have some things to learn and discuss and hear from one another.

I had hoped that I'd made that clear, but....well, I'm infamous for saying what I think and 'damn the torpedoes'!

Maybe none of you have noticed, but over the last 2+ years my stances and positions have shifted quite notably.

reply to post by wildtimes


Do you mean what's wrong with humanism? Or are you just shell-shocked from the horror of today? Today's events apparently is the work of a sophisticated terror plot.

Originally posted by wildtimes
reply to post by NOTurTypical

 

(Are we being kicked out of the party).

Of course not! You may not believe me, NuT, but I really am trying to learn and figure things out, here...

Well, I have to go to bed, but I'll drop back in tomorrow to give non-religious reasons for the others in the op. I was against most of those as a Federalist/Conservative long before I was a Christian. So maybe at least you can hear why were against those things even if you don't agree with our rationale.

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
reply to post by wildtimes

 

Except for perhaps the evolution bit those are all just Conservative/Libertarian issues.

Libertarians are observers; beholding BOTH tenents of the Left and Right, EXTREME no Middleground. They hold true the exact examination of the best or worse views/values of conservatism and liberalism (to my mind perfect) of both extremes no muddling middle ground (a moderate conservative)(a liberal fencesitter) eyeballing belief systems without embracing them; the more cautious approach needed. Libertarians have the whole thing wired for sound, visual and inexplicable soothsaying. No one wonders why they actually held one seat in Congress? No one understands what the Libertarian is about; the fact they are the TRUE Constitutionalists is obvious; the other; they define it in all of its glorious beauty/interpretation and imperfection (its allowed to be corrected).

reply to post by NOTurTypical


Humanism, humanitarianism......yeah, I'm kinda shell-shocked by today (seeing as my daughter might have been there, but wasn't).....

but yesterday, in another thread, I was totally bashed and attacked as 'valuing secular human[itarian]ism over 'the wisdom of the ages' as though it was something bad.

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
Today's events apparently is the work of a sophisticated terror plot.

I don't know what to think of today's events, although I'm inclined to see it as domestic terrorism, given the Boston Marathon (kind of a minor event), Boston's "Patriot Day" and the IRS tax deadline. Combined with near anniversaries of Waco and Oklahoma City, seems like a possible connection.

ABSOLUTELY no connection to orthodox Christianity, though. Christ did not teach that people should blow up innocents, for any reason. If the responsible party is "Christian", they have no idea what's in the Bible.

reply to post by adjensen


Wait. WHAT?! Who said it was some 'orthodox Christian' pushy thing?!!!
I never implied that. I certainly don't think that, either!
I'm on the verge of tears here. I'm not ready to log off yet, but I'm just damned confused and scared right now.

reply to post by vethumanbeing

They hold true the extreme views/values of conservatism and liberalism (to my mind perfect)

Sorry - what is 'to your mind perfect'? You lost me there.

Originally posted by wildtimes
reply to post by adjensen

 

Wait. WHAT?! Who said it was some 'orthodox Christian' pushy thing?!!!

The "Six Issues" that your source article cited are not Christian issues, they are conservative issues. The teaching of evolution is the only one that's really a purely religious issue, and most Christians don't really take issue with that, so the overall sense of the cited article is that it's anti-religious, without a valid basis for being so.

Go down the list of the issues, and ask yourself if people could be opposed to them for a reason other than religion and you'll see what I mean.

Originally posted by wildtimes
reply to post by vethumanbeing

 

They hold true the extreme views/values of conservatism and liberalism (to my mind perfect)

Sorry - what is 'to your mind perfect'? You lost me there.

If that was all you picked up on of course I lost you. Libertarians are of the stuff of both extremes, conservatism and liberalism. They believe both need to exist IN THEIR PARTY, not divided Goats and Camel left right wingism. Kind of interesting and insidious taking the extremists of both major parties and having them defect to theirs, welcoming arms. Would imagine some argueing resultant.

reply to post by vethumanbeing


uh,
Nope! Still lost.

They hold true the extreme views/values of conservatism and liberalism (to my mind perfect)

Which are you saying is 'perfect' to your mind? All extreme views/values? Conservative ones? Liberal ones?
It's your syntax that is unclear to me. I was wondering if you might clarify which views/values are to 'your mind perfect.'
It looked to me like you were saying the 'liberalism' views were perfect.
Just wondered.

Originally posted by adjensen

Originally posted by NOTurTypical
reply to post by wildtimes

 

Except for perhaps the evolution bit those are all just Conservative/Libertarian issues.

Exactly.

The fact that the country is still a majority Christian nation (for the time being) means that conservative Christians will be behind most of those issues, but it is disingenuous, on the part of the author of the article, to claim that Christianity is behind it all.

I've never, in my life, heard anyone say "God wants us to ruin the Earth. Rock on, oil companies!!!"

The article doesn't claim that the Christian right is behind it ALL! Nor, does the article claim that Christians are in favor of ruining the earth. But the Christian Coalition does have an agenda and their presence has an effect on US politics.

An impending sense of "end times" is good news for that portion of the Religious Right that sees destruction of the earth as fulfillment of Biblical Prophecy. Those who don't seek "end times," blame resource depletion on environmentalists who view natural resources as limited. Secular society "lack(s) faith in God's providence and consequently, men will find fewer resources... The Christian knows that the potential in God is unlimited and that there is no shortage of resources in God's earth." (America's Providential History.)

From the OP article:

The unconstitutional, actual religious reasons: They justify this to themselves religiously coming and going. The fundamentalist Cornwall Alliance claims that belief in climate change is anti-Christian, because it “rests on and promotes a view of human beings as threats to Earth’s flourishing rather than the bearers of God’s image” and implies that God’s creation is “the fragile product of chance, not the robust, resilient, self-regulating, and self-correcting product of God’s wise design and powerful sustaining.” On the other side of it, as Ben Jervey of GOOD argued, 41% of Americans believe Jesus Christ will usher in Armageddon before 2050. If you believe the world is about to end, it seems pointless to make huge sacrifices to preserve its health into the future.

So, dealing with pollution driven climate issues is anti-Christian either because it is a denial of God's wise design or it's a futile attempt to stop God's plan!

U.S. Senator James Inhofe, (R-Okla) said at the 2002 Christian Coalition Road to Victory gathering, "Get the few liberals out! You will be doing the Lord's work, and He will richly bless you for it." Senator Inhofe was richly blessed. Since 2000 he has received more than $500,000 in campaign contributions from oil, gas, electric and mining industries. more

When Republicans won a majority in the U.S. Senate after the 2002 elections, Senator Inhofe became chair of the Committee on the Environment and Public Works. One of his first acts was to appoint a coal mining lobbyist to oversee clean air legislation. more

While Europe was sweltering in record-breaking heat, Inhofe made an impassioned two-hour speech on global warming. On July 28, 2003, he said, "With all of the hysteria, all of the fear, all of the phony science, could it be that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people?"

Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) appeared on Voice of Christian Youth America’s radio program Crosstalk with Vic Eliason yesterday to promote his new book The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future, where he repeated his frequent claim that human influenced climate change is impossible because “God’s still up there.” Inhofe cited Genesis 8:22 to claim that it is “outrageous” and arrogant for people to believe human beings are “able to change what He is doing in the climate.”

Inhofe: Yeah, as a matter of fact I do. My favorite is Genesis 8:22 which is ‘as long as the earth remains there will be seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, day and night,’ you know, God’s still up there. There’s another piece of Scripture I’ll mention which I should’ve mentioned, .... I would say that the other Scripture that I use quite frequently on this subject is Romans 1:25, ‘They give up the truth about God for a lie and they worship God’s creation instead of God, who will be praised forever.’ In other words, they are trying to say we should worship the creation. We were reminded back in Romans that this was going to happen and sure enough it’s happening.

www.rightwingwatch.org...

In other words, environmentalist are considered creation worshiping heathens among the Christian Coalition lobbyists.

reply to post by windword

But the Christian Coalition does have an agenda and their presence has an effect on US politics.

Who cares?

Do you think that they should be disallowed to vote, simply because they are the "Christian Coalition"?

Seriously, what is wrong with people voting as their conscience directs them to do so?

Originally posted by wildtimes
reply to post by vethumanbeing


uh, Nope! Still lost.

They hold true the extreme views/values of conservatism and liberalism (to my mind perfect) Which are you saying is 'perfect' to your mind? All extreme views/values? Conservative ones? Liberal ones? It's your syntax that is unclear to me. I was wondering if you might clarify which views/values are to 'your mind perfect.' It looked to me like you were saying the 'liberalism' views were perfect.
Just wondered.

They cancel each other. Two Extremes brought into one party (Libertarian) thought process will cancel and come to an agreement in THE MIDDLE GROUND area. Let me see, combine black with white pigments they become a nuetral shade of grey (hopefully without killing each other in process and turning a nasty shade of PINK).

reply to post by windword


Thanks for your thoughts and input, wind!!
I think it's clear by now that I'm having a hard time thinking through all of this with a clear head at the moment.
Very much appreciate your additions to the thread. Good points.