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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/3377375
I read an essay by a christian a while ago that pointed out that the separation of church and state wasn’t about protecting the state from religion - it was about protecting religion from the state.
The gist of the argument was that religion should be concentrating on the eternal, and politics, by necessity, concentrates on the immediate. The author was concerned that welding religion and politics together would make religion itself political, meaning it would have to conform to the secular moment rather than looking to saving souls or whatever.
The mind meld of evangelical christianity and right wing politics happened in the mid to late 70s when the US was trying to racially integrate christian universities, which had been severely limiting or excluding black students. Since then, republicans and christians have been in bed together. The southern baptist convention, in fact, originally endorsed the Roe decision because it helped the cause of women. It was only after they decided to go all in on social conservatism that it became a sin.
Christians today are growing concerned about a falloff in attendance and membership. This article concentrates on how conservatism has become a call for people to publicly identify as evangelical while not actually being religious, because it’s an our team thing.
Evangelicals made an ironically Faustian bargain and are starting to realize it.
I like your Christ, you Christians are nothing like your Christ
The closer I got to Christ, the less republican I became. I had to actually stop going to church because my views changed so drastically, the other church members were attacking me. It’s certainly crazy to discover that mainstream Christianity today is anything but.
It has pretty much always been that way. This isn’t new. Your eyes have just been opened to it. Conservatives especially, but most Christians cherry pick passages from the Bible to justify their actions, which is easy to do, since every passage has a contradicting one. Conservatives have now focused on only the old testament, which is mostly Judaism, and they ignore the new testament, you know, the part of Jesus. They like the fire, retribution, punishment, ect. Screw all that hippy bullshit love thy neighbor. Feed the hungry and poor.
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It is because, like pretty much all religions, it is used as a tool to get people to act a certain way. It is why we had the crusades hundreds and hundreds of years ago, and why we have the jihad situation now.
If you have to be a good person from the threat of eternal damnation, you’re not a good person, you’re just evil on a leash.
Christians talk about “thought crimes”. My grandfather who was a minister for 30 years legitimately believes that if he sees written profanity, he will go to hell. He even believes that partaking in alcohol consumption will send you straight to hell (completely ignoring the fact that Jesus provided wine for a party).
I remember in jr high relgion class and learning about how jesus was fighting against corupt religious authority. In a Catholic school
Christianity was a grassroots religion for roughly 300 years, but then emperor Constantine “helped” to “standartize” it. Ever since then Christianity is more about making you more manageable by the state than it is about saving your soul.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea
Just imagine Christ coming back, a middle east person with a beard and a darker skin tone, no machine gun, no MAGA hat, not “Vote Trump Or Die” pin on his tunic, and a message of peace and understanding. Most US “Christians” would be seriously disappointed. Or at least confused.
They would be putting him back on the cross
https://imgur.com/X6NUA87
There’s an old Margaret Cho joke about how if Jesus were to return today, he’d be screaming, “THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT!”