Bye, Felicia :D :) :browhappy
Wow it feels good to eliminate a bully from your life!

This is my bishop, the man who confirmed my daughter, protesting against Nazis in Charlottesville the morning another protester in the same town got killed when she was run down by one.
Attachment 61680

See the black lives matter signs?

Confusing. I know. Good people are Christians too.

That's awesome, glatt. Good for you. I was aware that clergy of all faiths were integral in the protests, because they had to be physically be protected from harm by the heroic efforts of patriotic, freedom-loving Antifa volunteers.

I wish the good Christians would "speak out" against the bad ones, you know, like we say about the Muslims. And, ironically the good Muslims do speak out, and I'm sure the good Christians do, too. It just never seems to be loud enough to drown out the few million bad apples.

There are so many different ways to be a Christian, and so many different organisational structures and theoretical underpinnings that it makes very little sense to take Christianity as some kind of united, homogeneous whole.

We do.

I said you do in the post you quoted.

I agree absolutely. Worship as you please--I support this 100% percent. It's not my place to question anyone's beliefs.

Also... there IS a "united, homogenous whole" of White, Evangelical Christian voters in the United States. Poll after poll shows that this is a logical grouping. Unquestionably respecting authority and not listening to contradictory viewpoints or evidence is an ugly recipe, and it's tearing the USA apart.

Well...I'm way late to this thread, but here is my .02.

The core concepts of Christianity are not exclusive to Christianity. The essence of all of them are present in every religion of any muster. They can be summed up quite succinctly..."Don't suck."

What sets Christianity apart...what causes it to be vile and horrible... is what I have always termed "the evangelical imperative"...in other words, "shove it down others' throats until they do what we want".

Be a Christian...don't insist that others be a Christian.

That doesn't set Christianity apart; it sets religions with political power apart. It's obviously true of Islam in Muslim-majority nations. Israel had a decent run of relative secularism, but fundamentalists are gaining control. India is enacting a bunch of Hindu-centric laws. And, while not a religion, atheism was treated as a state religion in Communist states.

For the most part, the problem isn't a particular religion, its theocracy.

And the theocracy that affects ME and MY KIDS is the Christian one. I'm not anti-Christian for no reason, IT DIRECTLY AFFECTS ME AND EVERYONE I LOVE. So, good Christians, deal with the overflow criticism you get. You know why I feel this way, because if you're a good Christian, YOU FEEL THE SAME WAY ABOUT THE SAME PEOPLE. It's not my fault you're in the same social club*.

*Or a different club, with the exact same name..?

The good Christians' thoughts and prayers are with you.

I know that many good Christians support gay rights. Fine. Now tell me.. why does anyone in America oppose gay rights? What's the underlying reason? Are there any massively influential, organized voting blocs that oppose gay rights? As an unquestionable moral law? As literally, ridiculously the WORD OF GOD?? That's a bad group. It's, as a group of people, who call themselves "Christian", bad for society. Evil. I wouldn't want to be in that group. Call me crazy! Bad things are bad.

Good things are good. Demanding that people who are doing good things change the people who are doing bad things, for you or anyone, just because they share a label is bad. The Evangelicals are human and you're human. You share a label with them; so, you change them. It's not our fault you're human like the Evangelicals. Blame your parents.

If you continue to take out your frustrations on good people, in an attempt to badger them into dealing with others you don't like instead of dealing with them yourself, you'll simply become known as :

FLINT: A CAUSE WITHOUT A MAN

The evangelicals as a bloc, and Mormons as a bloc, opposed gay marriage, but I'm sure there a some people in both groups who don't.
I just as sure there are other Christians, Jews, Islamics, and atheists who oppose it individually.

So why have the label at all?? I didn't tell them to mis-identity themselves. It's confusing as hell that they insist on self-identitying as a monolithic bloc with one title. I didn't tell them to do that. Of COURSE they'll be misjudged. I don't go around telling people, "I'm a murderer, but I'm not, you know, a murderer." WTF