Today's right wing Christians have nothing to do with God or Jesus.

[Initech]

They are mean, cruel, and completely sadistic. That is why they love Trump and will continue to worship him - he's as mean, cruel, and sadistic as they are, the only difference is, Trump has power. They seem to love that. We must, and have to fight them at every turn as their policies do not favor us. In order for us to fight back against them in November and beyond, we have to hammer this point home.

[wasupaloopa]

1. My brother is a Catholic priest. I was talking to him yesterday. He reminded me of the time I was

very anti immigrant and that I had changed to were an immigrant said that I was the nicest American he had ever met.

He asked how I changed because he wants to try and get his parishioners to not be so anti immigrant. I told him I met with immigrants and got to know them and their struggles.

He said he tried that with parishioners and Muslims. The parishioners left his church.

[gratuitous]

11. A friend of mine has suggested

In the realm of GLBT acceptance I have a friend who has suggested that people have 10 meals with people and couples they know to be gay. That's all; just share a meal with the object of your antipathy. Anti-Muslim? Seek out 10 individuals and families, and have lunch or dinner with them.

Surprisingly (or not), he doesn't get very many, if any, takers.

[anarch]

2. Jesus Himself would punch most of these assholes in the face if he had the chance

The Orange Menace is the closest thing to the Antichrist that I've ever seen...

"And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false, so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned"

- 2 Thessalonians 2

[Caliman73]

7. Christ does not appear to be a big "face puncher"

Granted, there are his parables where he tells people what they will be sent to the "eternal fires" for and that time where he whipped the money changers and ran them out of the Temple. Other than that He doesn't seem the type to punch people.

I am not a big Paul fan either. He's that guy who wasn't really there but is really intense about the experience and just goes overboard.

[anarch]

9. that's only because he didn't meet any Republicans

[Caliman73]

13. Dude. He met Romans, who literally hung Jews from crosses.

I think that you are thinking of Jesus' dad. That guy had some anger issues, wiping out cities and sending plagues. Christ was a hippie compared to the old man.

[jberryhill]

3. "They are mean, cruel, and completely sadistic"

In what way is that inconsistent with the deity described in the Bible?

"we have to hammer this point home"

What is the point that you want to "hammer home" to them? That your interpretation of the Bible is more well-informed than theirs?

The only thing they would understand by your point is that (a) you don't believe what they do, and (b) you are likely going to Hell for that. Anything else you have to say beyond that is just noise to them.

They have no problem with "mean, cruel and completely sadistic".

[Garrett78]

6. Yeah, the main character in that silly book is a pretty horrible being.

The Jesus character isn't so bad, but he's also not very believable. What with the raising people from the dead, walking on water, etc.

Whether it's "true Christian" or "true patriot," it's all based on nonsense concepts.

[Caliman73]

4. Right wing Christians rarely do. Yesterday's right wing Christians didn't either.

History is littered with examples of conservative Christians using religion as a pummel. They pummel people of other faiths, people who are atheists, and people who try to model the actual actions of Christ like feeding the poor, ministering to the downtrodden, and trying to love their enemies.

Right wingers are all bound by one trait which they tend to favor, authoritarianism. They are typically more fearful than people who are more liberal and are drawn to people who project power and who will "protect" them.

[C_U_L8R]

5. I've never seen one of these jerks actually act like a christian.

I know plenty of folks who live their faith with selfless deeds... but these sanctimonious rightwing clowns are full of shit.

[jberryhill]

8. How did you feel about "yesterday's" Christians

Christianity has been around a while.

How were they in, say, 1490?

Name any despotic leader in Europe between, say, 300 to 1900 who was not a Christian and who was not supported by numbers of people who were likewise Christians.

This notion of Christianity as being some happy fun ball of "be nice", is a very recent and limited notion, compared with the overwhelming historical trend.

[Caliman73]

14. I was going that route when I first responded.

There have always been multiple strains of Christianity including progressives and conservatives. St. Francis of Assisi was someone who attempted to live a lifestyle similar to Christ's teachings, helping the poor, caring for the natural environment. Many Jesuits sought to advance science and learning merging it with the faith.

Religion is a very tricky thing. If used for enlightenment, it can be powerful and positive. If used (as it unfortunately has been too often) as a method of social control and to consolidate power it is a destructive force.

Again, not to tar every single conservative with a broad brush, but the ideology tends to lend itself to authoritarianism and the service of power, so I feel safe saying that conservatives are highly likely to be behind much of the misuse of Christianity.

[trotsky]

10. Oh, then what are they?

Atheists?

[Mosby]

12. conservatives like evangelical xtianity

Because of the "get out of jail free card" aka, salvation theology.

They think they can treat people like shit, screw people over, commit crimes against innocents, but their love for Jesus fixes everything.

Evangelical xtianity is tailor made for RWers, salvation theology, end times theology and prosperity theology. Nothing about service.

[Initech]

18. I always wondered about that.

In one breath, evangelicals talk about how everyone is supposed to love god and that he's a gentle, kind soul.

And then in the next breath they talk about how he's a vengeful, fearful god that you're supposed to be afraid of.

I'm getting mixed signals here. One minute he's the cool uncle and the next minute he's the creepy abusive uncle. Which is it?

[jberryhill]

20. He's the uncle with borderline personality disorder

[DavidDvorkin]

15. You're saying that they're not real Scotsmen?

[Initech]

16. There can only be one highlander!

[MountCleaners]

17. "Blessed are the meek"

They're all guilty of the sin of pride.

[VOX]

19. The RW "Christians" keep dipping into the Old Testament to justify the hateful things they do.

Because a long-haired, bearded, brown-skinned revolutionary, who stirred up stuff in a Roman-occupied territory, and threatened the establishment with a bunch of “peace and love,” and was executed for being a political subversive...really isn’t their type of guy.