Literally laughing out loud at David French’s description of historic racial segregation at church as “white identity politics.” Conservatives will do almost anything to avoid saying “racism.”
I’ve said this before, but conservative Christianity is just reactionary fascism with a thin decoupage of Jesus on top to provide the excuse for any and every heinous thing conservatives want to inflict on the rest of us: “don’t blame me, I’m just following orders from the Man Upstairs.”
No surprise a growing number of people, especially young people, are catching on to their act.
oh noes! jeebus is being cancel-cultured! there's a parallel between declining numbers of church attendees and declared republicans for a good reason. they're both Grift universities. the church is, in a way, the ultimate ideal of the right: absolutely tax-free, authoritarian, misogynistic institutions. I can't be too soon that they are both banished from earth.
I thought it was obvious that the same “qualities” that MAGAs like about Trump are what “Christians” like about preachers: telling them what they want to hear, confirming they’re the chosen tribe, loud fact-free ranting, and yes, the endless fleecing of the flock for personal gain. Why so many feel the need to embrace these type of leaders instead of someone with useful information and practical recommendations is beyond my ken. Cults and cultists are hard to understand if you’re not built to swing that way, I guess.
I passed a conservative looking church the other day and noticed its logo was a large Star of David with a tiny cross in the middle. I thought that summed up conservative “Christianity” quite well. Ninety eight percent Old Testament hate and superstition, two percent lip service to Jesus.
On a different note, apropos of your hed, if you haven’t watched First Reformed with Paul Schroeder’s commentary, I highly recommend it. Gives a lot of insight into how “slow” films are made.
The hand-wringing God-botherers, who overlap significantly with the self-styled pedophile hunters, seem (conveniently?) not to have considered the many child sex scandals that have been revealed in recent years (and not just in the Catholic Church, although certainly it deserves a shout-out for the institutionalization and massive international cover-up of widespread sickening crimes). Maybe folks just don't want their kids mixing with pervs.
I was initially tempted, as I started reading, to go let''s say heavily offensive Failings-of-Xianity-wise by reading on, I saw that Roy did enough of that to relieve the pressure. Thank god?
But a few loose points.
I'm curious whether that less religious thing: Has it been broken down by religion? And in the case of the great tent that's Xianity where you have, I dunno, at one end Mennonites, the other the prosperity gospel, what there any break down in any way of which beliefs, sects and/or denominations are going which way? (Now that I think about, I guess when this nation becomes more explicitly a Xian theocracy (to go with a plutocracy -- talk about a prosperity gospel!), SCOTUS, for one, will have to make theological decisions. I'm thinking of Dobbs which has the effect Orthodox Jewish women, contra to their religion, in cases of pregnancy-related emergency, be allowed to die because the law says the embryo's life is more important than the mothers while the religion says otherwise.)
Too, I get that a Xian thing is suffering in this life, so it's wrong for the state to intervene and mitigate anything -- actually extends to Covid and pandemics -- but, I dunno, when you see mass impoverishment, hollowing out of the economy, etc., etc., one would think even at least some believers are having trouble believing. Hollowed out economy, a mismanaged global pandemic, and now the world on fire -- I dunno, that's gotta do something to the ability to believe. I mean, clearly at least one god out there is clearly not providing.
Anyway, all that suing aside, it looks like religious belie is growing only amongst those for whom it's their flavor of identity politics. Yes, of course, I love that irony.
Jul 21, 2022·edited Jul 21, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso
I think these days when the church leadership pulls their usual fuck kids, steal money, hire pool boys to fuck their wives while they watch stuff all the while living like degenerate royalty it's more than likely going to end up all over the internet and subsequently turning a lot of people away from the mainstream religious experience .
Out in the country where I live
folks will build a pole barn and open a feed store or a tractor dealership.Some sell horse trailers and utility trailers and such. The Smart Ones will open a church because the real big money is in Jesus.
Everyone knows that.
Right around the corner from me some guy built a pole barn and opened a church a couple of years ago.. It wasn't anything real big - couple thousand square foot and after a year or so on a Sunday morning there would be 20 - 30 cars in the parking lot. Probably enough donations to pay the bills maybe take one of those nice Cancun vacations.
Early this year they tripled their parking lot space and built another, jumbo size pole barn.
Once they increased the size of the facility they went from 30 cars there on a Sunday to what seems like a couple of hundred. I don't know what that was about. Hey, God is good and now they probably own a time share in Cancun.
it's one of those non- denominational churches. The sign out front says " Heritage Church." There isn't a cross or a stained glass window or picture of Jesus anywhere.
Just Heritage. Oh yeah. Everybody seems pretty white. I work early Sunday Mornings and they are usually letting out as I drive by. White, White White. There's probably a big picture of Trump over the altar and Nazi flags on either side. Maybe a Confederate flag.It's Heritage after all. Not hate.
Jul 21, 2022·edited Jul 21, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso
Two things you've pointed to here that are worth thinking about more broadly: these absolutely smack-on analogies between both 'prosperity gospel,' which of course would exalt the flashy, gold- toilet-having fictious-real estate czar as its hierophant, but also the idea of the 1% as the 'elect' in the Calvinist sense. These are theological structures being mapped directly onto the political and the economic & are in all likelihood going to crush us, at least in the short term.
Jul 21, 2022·edited Jul 21, 2022Liked by Roy Edroso
"reminiscent of many rightwing observations I’ve seen that Americans really agree with them if you just take out the black people"
Robin Vos, Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, who has been in the news of late, once said, "If you take out Madison and Milwaukee, Republicans do pretty well." I laughed when I first heard that, until I realized it was an actual program of action and not just an idle observation.
The whole "yoots are getting less religious" thing reminds me of the old "yoots will save us in the next election" that for me dates back to when Nixon signed that amendment lowering the voting age to 18 (ah, the 26th Amendment. Misty watercolored memories). As overall yoots vote like their parents, so too the human need for something that looks like religion will remain strong, the only question is what will fill that hole.
The 1-2 punch of tax exemption and incumbency advantage means the Christian faith has powerful motivation and advantage to keep their monopoly on faith, adapting their message to appeal to the current generation of their "flock" as they so accurately view their parishioners. The megachurches with their coffeehouses and day care are I think a good example of how that plays out. The Catholic church, on the other hand, has chosen to move its focus from its traditional European/American base in favor of recruiting in the ROW rather than give up its need for unquestioned obedience from its flock. Devotion matters more than anything else (other than power, whose engine is that devotion) to them. Their goal in the West is stronger commitment from fewer numbers, much like the Republican party. Bring back the Latin Mass! Opus Dei! No communion for you, liberal baby killer!
Christian/Protestant churches will have the numbers in the West, but the Catholic church will give up power when you pry it from its cold, dead, hands.
Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q881g1L_d8
Literally laughing out loud at David French’s description of historic racial segregation at church as “white identity politics.” Conservatives will do almost anything to avoid saying “racism.”
I’ve said this before, but conservative Christianity is just reactionary fascism with a thin decoupage of Jesus on top to provide the excuse for any and every heinous thing conservatives want to inflict on the rest of us: “don’t blame me, I’m just following orders from the Man Upstairs.”
No surprise a growing number of people, especially young people, are catching on to their act.
oh noes! jeebus is being cancel-cultured! there's a parallel between declining numbers of church attendees and declared republicans for a good reason. they're both Grift universities. the church is, in a way, the ultimate ideal of the right: absolutely tax-free, authoritarian, misogynistic institutions. I can't be too soon that they are both banished from earth.
I thought it was obvious that the same “qualities” that MAGAs like about Trump are what “Christians” like about preachers: telling them what they want to hear, confirming they’re the chosen tribe, loud fact-free ranting, and yes, the endless fleecing of the flock for personal gain. Why so many feel the need to embrace these type of leaders instead of someone with useful information and practical recommendations is beyond my ken. Cults and cultists are hard to understand if you’re not built to swing that way, I guess.
I passed a conservative looking church the other day and noticed its logo was a large Star of David with a tiny cross in the middle. I thought that summed up conservative “Christianity” quite well. Ninety eight percent Old Testament hate and superstition, two percent lip service to Jesus.
On a different note, apropos of your hed, if you haven’t watched First Reformed with Paul Schroeder’s commentary, I highly recommend it. Gives a lot of insight into how “slow” films are made.
Jesus loves me, this I know
'Cause He makes me lots of dough!
I damn those liberals! And the Blacks!
'Cause Jesus says "Make these attacks!"
Beatitudes? That's all fake news!
And Jesus says "Watch out for Jews!"
So give your money, check or cash!
'Cause Jesus says "Increase my stash!"
"the young will get to know and love Him through forced exposure" Why, it's as if the concept of faith and the idea of coercion are contradictory!
I haven‘t had to think about folk masses for decades... Thanks fella
The hand-wringing God-botherers, who overlap significantly with the self-styled pedophile hunters, seem (conveniently?) not to have considered the many child sex scandals that have been revealed in recent years (and not just in the Catholic Church, although certainly it deserves a shout-out for the institutionalization and massive international cover-up of widespread sickening crimes). Maybe folks just don't want their kids mixing with pervs.
I was initially tempted, as I started reading, to go let''s say heavily offensive Failings-of-Xianity-wise by reading on, I saw that Roy did enough of that to relieve the pressure. Thank god?
But a few loose points.
I'm curious whether that less religious thing: Has it been broken down by religion? And in the case of the great tent that's Xianity where you have, I dunno, at one end Mennonites, the other the prosperity gospel, what there any break down in any way of which beliefs, sects and/or denominations are going which way? (Now that I think about, I guess when this nation becomes more explicitly a Xian theocracy (to go with a plutocracy -- talk about a prosperity gospel!), SCOTUS, for one, will have to make theological decisions. I'm thinking of Dobbs which has the effect Orthodox Jewish women, contra to their religion, in cases of pregnancy-related emergency, be allowed to die because the law says the embryo's life is more important than the mothers while the religion says otherwise.)
Too, I get that a Xian thing is suffering in this life, so it's wrong for the state to intervene and mitigate anything -- actually extends to Covid and pandemics -- but, I dunno, when you see mass impoverishment, hollowing out of the economy, etc., etc., one would think even at least some believers are having trouble believing. Hollowed out economy, a mismanaged global pandemic, and now the world on fire -- I dunno, that's gotta do something to the ability to believe. I mean, clearly at least one god out there is clearly not providing.
Anyway, all that suing aside, it looks like religious belie is growing only amongst those for whom it's their flavor of identity politics. Yes, of course, I love that irony.
I think these days when the church leadership pulls their usual fuck kids, steal money, hire pool boys to fuck their wives while they watch stuff all the while living like degenerate royalty it's more than likely going to end up all over the internet and subsequently turning a lot of people away from the mainstream religious experience .
Out in the country where I live
folks will build a pole barn and open a feed store or a tractor dealership.Some sell horse trailers and utility trailers and such. The Smart Ones will open a church because the real big money is in Jesus.
Everyone knows that.
Right around the corner from me some guy built a pole barn and opened a church a couple of years ago.. It wasn't anything real big - couple thousand square foot and after a year or so on a Sunday morning there would be 20 - 30 cars in the parking lot. Probably enough donations to pay the bills maybe take one of those nice Cancun vacations.
Early this year they tripled their parking lot space and built another, jumbo size pole barn.
Once they increased the size of the facility they went from 30 cars there on a Sunday to what seems like a couple of hundred. I don't know what that was about. Hey, God is good and now they probably own a time share in Cancun.
it's one of those non- denominational churches. The sign out front says " Heritage Church." There isn't a cross or a stained glass window or picture of Jesus anywhere.
Just Heritage. Oh yeah. Everybody seems pretty white. I work early Sunday Mornings and they are usually letting out as I drive by. White, White White. There's probably a big picture of Trump over the altar and Nazi flags on either side. Maybe a Confederate flag.It's Heritage after all. Not hate.
Two things you've pointed to here that are worth thinking about more broadly: these absolutely smack-on analogies between both 'prosperity gospel,' which of course would exalt the flashy, gold- toilet-having fictious-real estate czar as its hierophant, but also the idea of the 1% as the 'elect' in the Calvinist sense. These are theological structures being mapped directly onto the political and the economic & are in all likelihood going to crush us, at least in the short term.
Has French ever actually listened to a black preacher? Franklin Graham = William Barber?
Amen and put another high capacity mag in the collection plate!
"reminiscent of many rightwing observations I’ve seen that Americans really agree with them if you just take out the black people"
Robin Vos, Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly, who has been in the news of late, once said, "If you take out Madison and Milwaukee, Republicans do pretty well." I laughed when I first heard that, until I realized it was an actual program of action and not just an idle observation.
The whole "yoots are getting less religious" thing reminds me of the old "yoots will save us in the next election" that for me dates back to when Nixon signed that amendment lowering the voting age to 18 (ah, the 26th Amendment. Misty watercolored memories). As overall yoots vote like their parents, so too the human need for something that looks like religion will remain strong, the only question is what will fill that hole.
The 1-2 punch of tax exemption and incumbency advantage means the Christian faith has powerful motivation and advantage to keep their monopoly on faith, adapting their message to appeal to the current generation of their "flock" as they so accurately view their parishioners. The megachurches with their coffeehouses and day care are I think a good example of how that plays out. The Catholic church, on the other hand, has chosen to move its focus from its traditional European/American base in favor of recruiting in the ROW rather than give up its need for unquestioned obedience from its flock. Devotion matters more than anything else (other than power, whose engine is that devotion) to them. Their goal in the West is stronger commitment from fewer numbers, much like the Republican party. Bring back the Latin Mass! Opus Dei! No communion for you, liberal baby killer!
Christian/Protestant churches will have the numbers in the West, but the Catholic church will give up power when you pry it from its cold, dead, hands.