Xtra News Community 2
March 29, 2024, 05:11:04 am
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: Welcome to Xtra News Community 2 — please also join our XNC2-BACKUP-GROUP.
 
  Home Help Arcade Gallery Links BITEBACK! XNC2-BACKUP-GROUP Staff List Login Register  

“Alternative Christianity” in Jesusland…

Pages: [1]   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: “Alternative Christianity” in Jesusland…  (Read 346 times)
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32232


Having fun in the hills!


« on: August 12, 2017, 04:31:35 pm »


from the Los Angeles Times....

The Trump administration's alternative Christianity

“Jesus loved and protected those who were targeted and deemed outcasts by society's reactionaries.”

By PHIL ZUCKERMAN | 4:00AM PDT - Friday, August 11, 2017

Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin pray in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on May 4th. — Photograph: Evan Vucci/Associated Press.
Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson
and Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin pray in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on May 4th.
 — Photograph: Evan Vucci/Associated Press.


EVANGELICALS have never had it so good, politically speaking.

Since President Trump took office in January, the White House has become a Christian roundtable, with just about every top-tier seat filled by a faithful member of the fold or someone who is happy to further the fold's agenda.

The lineup of believers who are in positions of power is truly dizzying. Betsy DeVos, who leads the Department of Education, has stated that her goal as a public servant is to “advance God's kingdom.” Secretary of Energy Rick Perry employed mass prayer as a means of addressing social problems when he was governor of Texas. Ben Carson, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, believes that the theory of evolution was encouraged by the devil.

It doesn't stop there. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has said that people who don't believe in God can't be truthful. Scott Pruitt, the Environmental Protection Agency chief, is a devout Baptist who denies that climate change is real. Mike Pompeo, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, is an evangelical who opposes abortion even in cases of rape. The president's attorney, Jay Sekulow, another evangelical, has defended school prayer at the Supreme Court, and Trump's spiritual advisor, Paula White, is a Pentecostal televangelist who teaches that if people give her church thousands of dollars, God will reward them with favors. Vice President Mike Pence might be the most piously anti-gay politician in America.

What's really remarkable about this group, however, is not that so many ardent worshippers of Jesus are running the country, but how non-Christian this ostensibly Christian government is proving to be. The Trump administration's Bible devotees are pushing an agenda that flies in the face of their own savior's message.

Jesus taught that wealth was deeply problematic, if not inimical to spiritual health, for instance. He preached that a person cannot serve both God and money (Luke 16), that it is nearly impossible for the rich to get into heaven (Matthew 19) and that if you want to be in good graces with the Lord, you ought to support the poor (Matthew 19). It's those living in poverty, Jesus said, who are truly blessed (Luke 6).

And yet Trump's appointees are doing all they can to increase the wealth of the wealthy and cut funds and services for the poor. Some of the most supposedly Christian members of the administration have worked the hardest to take away healthcare from millions of poor Americans.

Jesus was big on mercy (Luke 6) and forgiveness (Colossians 3), and was himself tortured and murdered by a brutal regime. Trump and his administration have called for harsher penalties for non-violent drug offenders and more draconian sentencing in general.

Consider what Jesus taught about violence and weapons: They're bad. “He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword,” he said (Matthew 26). The White House embraces America's powerful gun lobby and does so despite terrible mass shootings that have become routine.

Jesus loved and protected those who were targeted and deemed outcasts by society's reactionaries. But it's Trump's associates and other Christian politicians who show the least empathy for gay people, transgender people, Muslims and other vulnerable groups.

Oh, and how about that inn? You know, the one where poor Joseph, and pregnant, unmarried Mary couldn't get a room (Luke 2). Surely Jesus would welcome the outsiders and refugees of the world to the most wealthy of nations. Yet his most zealous followers in the White House want to keep the poor and persecuted out. No room at this inn, they say. You have to wonder: Do they make such decisions before or after Bible study?

Millions of Christians across the world take the teachings of Jesus seriously, of course. They work in soup kitchens, homeless shelters and orphanages. They help people overcome addiction. They support the most vulnerable, advocate nonviolence and compassion, fight for human rights. They care about the pain climate change will cause. Unfortunately, they are not the Christians running this country.

Many Americans shuddered when Kellyanne Conway used the phrase “alternative facts” to defend White House claims about the size of the crowd at Trump's inauguration. But the administration's alternative Christianity may prove just as detrimental as its loose grasp on truth. While these men and women profess love for Jesus, they create suffering and misery in his name.


• Phil Zuckerman is a professor of sociology and secular studies at Pitzer College and the author of Living the Secular Life.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-zuckerman-christians-trump-administration-20170811-story.html
Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32232


Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2017, 04:32:39 pm »


Naturally, in the photograph accompanying that article, there is absolutely NO PROOF WHATSOEVER that those clowns aren't merely praying to thin air and are therefore DELUSIONAL.

Which kind of says it all about the Orange Goblin and the clowns who are part of his administration.
Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 
Donald
Part-Of-The-Furniture Member
*
Posts: 898



« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2017, 08:23:57 pm »

Anyone remember who said this


"And why should this concern you as to what goes on in Australia?

What Australians do is none of your business.

Talk about a rightie-trash busybody....that's YOU alright."


.....and...
...what you on about now....have you not heard of religion in the US before....

....which politicians in America have said they are atheists...may be a short list..

...get over it...even in your own motherland parliament sittings start with the Lord's Prayer...

....I am an athiest myself....but some things in life you need to learn to live with....religion is one of them..

Problem is that most religions are bad in one way or another...but some are very bad..and need neutralising🙄

....
Report Spam   Logged
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32232


Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2017, 08:39:34 pm »


Would you like to put up PROOF that god is REAL and not merely a delusion inside some human beings' heads?

And just like many muslim nations, America is full of delusional people who believe the god delusion inside their heads.

Why would you wish to learn to live with insanity?

You are a very fucked-up individual if you make excuses for delusions and insanity.

Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 
Donald
Part-Of-The-Furniture Member
*
Posts: 898



« Reply #4 on: August 12, 2017, 08:58:56 pm »

Ktj....
"Would you like to put up PROOF that god is REAL and not merely a delusion inside some human beings' heads?

And just like many muslim nations, America is full of delusional people who believe the god delusion inside their heads.

Why would you wish to learn to live with insanity?

You are a very fucked-up individual if you make excuses for delusions and insanity."

...soooo...you are protesting at parliament using  the Lord's Prayer and or asking for gods guidance...everyday parlimint sits....what are you doing about it?.....or do you just accept it because you don't want your snout out of the trough for to long😏

...
You so often show your arrogance and only ever look at the situation from your perspective only...not what may be logical, reasonable and fair...I guess it's a troughing associated condition...
..if you read my last post properly you would have noticed that am an athiest...so how would I be proving god is real....are you able to read ok.....sometimes I get the impression that you need basic facts punched into you😜
Report Spam   Logged
aDjUsToR
Part-Of-The-Furniture Member
*
Posts: 882


« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2017, 09:37:19 pm »

Never believe the mainstream media. Especially when it's Trump Derangement Syndrome caused outbursts of dribble 😁
Report Spam   Logged
Donald
Part-Of-The-Furniture Member
*
Posts: 898



« Reply #6 on: August 12, 2017, 10:34:09 pm »

Nah...Trump is just explaining the facts of life to dear leader😜.
...dear leader may even be having second thoughts as China has explained that it sides with the US😜
Report Spam   Logged
aDjUsToR
Part-Of-The-Furniture Member
*
Posts: 882


« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2017, 02:33:19 pm »

KTJ I'm quite allergic to waffling loony left dribble.

Can you give us a quick summary of what you think their meaning is?
Report Spam   Logged
Kiwithrottlejockey
Admin Staff
XNC2 GOD
*
Posts: 32232


Having fun in the hills!


« Reply #8 on: August 13, 2017, 05:39:13 pm »


Nobody has ever proved the actual existence of a god or gods and until such time as somebody does prove it, then as far as I am concerned it is all a load of piffle.

The fact that a so-called sophisticated nation such as the USA is full of delusional religionists in the 21st century speaks volumes about the collective insanity of that country.

And that puts them in the same category of nations as muslim countries where people are likewise sucked-in by unproven religious clap-trap.

And the fact that Reality/Donald makes excuses for religious insanity speaks volumes about him!!
Report Spam   Logged

If you aren't living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space! 
Donald
Part-Of-The-Furniture Member
*
Posts: 898



« Reply #9 on: August 13, 2017, 06:06:41 pm »

....getting a bit confused....your post makes it look like you have not read the previous posts...you ok🙄

...because what you post seems like "rabid rabble"......or is it just me😳
Report Spam   Logged
aDjUsToR
Part-Of-The-Furniture Member
*
Posts: 882


« Reply #10 on: August 13, 2017, 09:34:46 pm »

So was the USA "insane" with Obama in charge?

Are all the Buddhist SAE countries "insane"?

How about Indonesia and the Middle East? All insane? If not, why not?
Report Spam   Logged
Donald
Part-Of-The-Furniture Member
*
Posts: 898



« Reply #11 on: August 16, 2017, 09:16:08 am »

....NZ religion more mad than than America's....
....hang on ..is this NZ 2017....nah...just checking🙄


Rachel Smalley: Anti-gay preacher is inciting violence - he must be referred to police


You may have read the story about the pastor in West Auckland who's taken aim at the gay community and Jacinda Ardern as a woman leader.

This is the WestCity Bible Baptist Church and the pastor who delivered the sermon is Logan Robertson.

Let me take you through what he said.

"My view on homo marriage is that the Bible never mentions it so I'm not against them getting married, as long as a bullet goes through their head the moment they kiss. Because that's what it talks about - not homo marriage but homo death."


Read more:
• West Auckland pastor preaches gay people should be shot

Robertson says he's just repeating the Bible and when asked if it was hate speech he said "Of course it is. If the world thinks it's hate speech then that's fine".

In the past he's admitted emailing a gay author and telling him he was praying for him to commit suicide.

Robertson's the pastor at the WestCity Bible Baptist Church, an independent church that has no association with the Baptist denomination of New Zealand.

St Matthew-In-the-City in Auckland says his comments are "inciting violence, verging on hate speech and verging on criminal behaviour". I would go one step further and say this isn't verging on hate speech, it IS hate speech.

And if you delve a little further into the sermons of this man, you'll realise his horrendous, bigoted views go beyond the gay community.

Related articles:
NEW ZEALAND
NZ preacher calls for gay people to be shot


For example, he's very opposed to the Labour Party appointing a woman as Leader.

In a video he posted on the church's Facebook page he said: "I don't let my wife vote. I don't believe in women voting.

"The Bible actually says that it's a curse for a nation to have a woman ruling over them.

"Don't vote for Jacinda. She needs to shut up, go home and get in the kitchen where women belong and bake a cake for her boyfriend."

Now, my first thought when I read this was - well, ignore him. Don't give him any air-time. He's an idiot. And I always question whether those who pour such scorn and hatred on the homosexual community are, in fact, questioning or denying their own sexuality. But that's by-the-by I guess.

Some will argue we live in a democracy and this is free speech.

Well, is it? His comments about Ardern are misogynistic but they fall under the category of free speech.

But his reference to same-sex marriage - that he has no problem with the marriage as such, as long as a bullet goes through their heads the moment they kiss - that is hate speech. That's inciting violence and that's a criminal offence.

If his comments haven't already been referred to police, they should be.

He has an audience, he has followers, and he's clearly a very angry, troubled man.
Stuff
Report Spam   Logged

Pages: [1]   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Open XNC2 Smileys
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum


Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy
Page created in 0.056 seconds with 14 queries.