HAH, that's the understatement of the year.

I actually think we should start loudly and publicly challenging their claims of being "Christian."

True Christians honor Jesus's version of the Golden Rule: Do unto others ... in His view it was "whatever you do to the least of these, you do to Me."

Is shouting and bullying and terrorizing a busload of unattended children from a foreign land, all of them alone, confused, probably frightened to death at this rabble in front of them, no one to turn to, no one to trust - is THAT taking care of "the least of these"? Seriously?

Is insisting YOUR views trump the health and welfare of the people working for you who need insurance coverage taking care of "the least of these"? Especially when it's women and others who are working low-pay jobs where you also whine and moan and groan about having to pay them a higher minimum wage? 'Zat good for "the least of these"?

Is swaggering around with your automatic rifles and other assorted massacre machines in public, in stores, in malls, in fast-food joints and other general-interest restaurants because YOU DEMAND the right to swagger and intimidate and bully - how's THAT for taking care of "the least of these"?

Does bellyaching about paying a few dollars extra in taxes so the poor can eat, and throwing hissy fits in public about how aggrieved you supposedly are - how's THAT for taking care of "the least of these"?

Does giving aid and comfort to the rich, the money-changers, and all others who are doing just FINE, thank you, and don't need any help from anybody, so those who really DO need the help - does THAT take care of "the least of these"?

Does cutting back so mercilessly on women's health clinics and hospitals both, because you hate the idea of women having the right to decide important things for themselves and also you hate the idea that anything out there will sustain the Affordable Care Act (which most of you don't realize is the dreaded "Obamacare" you think you despise because it's another freebie for moochers.

Modern-day christianity (I question the whole idea of capitalizing the word in this type of case - seems to me this kind of alleged "Christianity" is really anything but!) is so damn CRUEL! With what clearly appears to be a view of life in which there's supposed to be pain and suffering, either meted out or allowed by an unforgiving, punishing God. To put it in crudely and heathen-esque, you weren't supposed to have any fun. I suppose this is an across-the-eons extension of Adam and Eve being evicted from the Garden of Eden.

Indeed, when I was pregnant the first time, I read as much as I could find about that whole business and I came across one passage that described the "controversy" ("controversy?" Huh? Whaddya mean "controversy"?) over, of all things, the epidural, which an obstetrician administers during labor for pain relief. BELIEVE ME! Any woman who is going through childbirth the hard way, you WANT that epidural BIGTIME!!! CRIMINY!!! Sounds like something that is so broadly acceptable and deemed essential that it just sorta goes without saying, doesn't it? Well! I didn't know that at one time there were VERY strong voices raised against epidurals from pastors and ministers and conservatives of the day (Conservatives! Hah, figures. Color me shocked. NOT!). Those primordial limbaughs and swaggarts objected to ANY pain relief being made available to a woman in active labor. ANY of it. Why? Because it was part of the price she was expected to pay for the Sin of Eve. Childbirth was supposed to hurt. You weren't supposed to interfere with that, it was God's will. It wasn't for you to go against God's will and try to change that or alleviate the pain in any way. It was a women-only toll bridge - indeed, a bridge to nowhere.

I was shocked to read this. Astonished! I hadn't known that. That there were actually people who opposed and actively fought the practice of alleviating labor pains - because it was the sin that womankind for which atonement was expected - from the Daughters of Eve. Yep, we were expected to pick up the tab for that by enduring unrelieved but easily relievable pain!!! CRAP! What the HELL!?!?! Because we weren't worthy of happiness until and unless we reached their God's Heaven at the end of the line? WHAT????

I wonder if what we have here are the sons and daughters of the Puritans. Heck, I remember reading about how, back in the day, even dancing was considered improper, because, again, the underlying philosophy was about the severity of life, how everything was about work and no time for fun. Just slogging through the years, the hard way, where suffering is king and you're aiming for something in the afterlife rather than the now or even the foreseeable future.

I was looking around, considering whether this was latter-day Calvinism or something and when I attempted to look that up, I found this:

Fundamentalist Christianity, also known as Christian fundamentalism, is defined by historian George M. Marsden as "militantly anti-modernist Protestant evangelicalism." Marsden explains that fundamentalists were evangelical Christians who in the 20th century "militantly opposed both modernism in theology and the cultural changes that modernism endorsed. Militant opposition to modernism was what most clearly set off fundamentalism."[1] The name is taken from the title of a series of essays published by the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth.

https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Fundamentalist_Christianity.html

"Militantly anti-modernist." AHA! I think we've found our truth! They don't want modern times. No wonder a lot of 'em want so badly to "take their America BACK." As in BACKWARDS. We weren't allowed to progress or evolve. No wonder they don't believe in evolution either. Weren't no birth control back in the day (when we was ridin' 'n' ropin' them dinosaur varmints...) or some such thing, so we certainly can't enjoy that modern scientific advancement now. Maybe they want us all back in the day when we had to chisel words into stone, or press them into wet clay? Even that probably wouldn't be acceptable to them.

Kick!!!

LOVE Ann Richards!

republi-CONS.

They say they're pro-life. But they and their little tea-pals and their narrow little minds and their willful ignorance will not stop until they've killed our entire planet - and probably almost every life form on it except for cockroaches, algae, and a few bacteria. They are quite literally toxic.

Make sure they all vote. And that they make all their friends vote, too.

Dammit! That's a conclusion I keep coming back to again and again.

They have an EXTREMELY unhealthy interest in a woman's lady parts. Aren't they all married men, too? Isn't what's at home already enough for them?

Besides, where I come from, forcible entry into a woman's private parts is rape. So now SCOTUS is clearing the way for state-sponsored rape. That's what they tried to force upon women in Virginia under Governor Vaginal Probe, too! Yet another CON who was married and thus had his own vagina to play with all he wanted, at home, and obviously that one wasn't enough, either. He wanted in on EVERY woman's vagina in the state!

I want to keep the Senate AND reclaim the House of Reps. We Will NOT Go Back!!!

I once knew a family that owned an island. For awhile I thought - MAN, THAT is the living end!

I fantasized about being so successful I could buy my own island someday. Suffice it to say I gave up on that dream, and willingly! Even if I somehow had that kind of money, that's STILL the farthest thing from my mind and nowhere in my fantasies. There are islands that are literally going under - NOW.

Everybody on this thread from Skidmore onward has said what I'm feeling.

This is utterly frightening! I really can't believe what I'm seeing in this country now. Women are UNDER SEIGE!!! Our rights are UNDER SEIGE!!! I wonder how many of us really will take the bull by the balls and go vote in November? Have we had enough yet? Are we SCARED enough yet? I'm watching the devolution - like that mess in Murrieta CA, and actually feeling ashamed of being an American. I am NOT that. WE are NOT that. I want MY country back - the one I fought and marched for and which inspired my first activism. I want the America that believes in a level playing field. One in which ANYBODY can realize at least a few of their dreams. One in which nothing surface-related holds you back, what color you are, whom you might love, where you came from, what language you first learned, whatever. Things I worked toward when I was younger. All that progress my generation initiated and shepherded at least part-way through - it's all being rolled back, peed on, shredded and unraveled, pitted and pock-marked, chipped away and eroded in every sense imaginable. WHY is that America viewed so horribly by this rowdy little rabble? And why are they getting their way? They're in the minority, moreso every day as the demographic shift proceeds. WHY does what they want supersede what the majority of us want? Why is their agenda more important than the numerical majority's?

It's horrible, and horrifying. And deeply discouraging.

Thanks! Think termites.

You'll understand the adversary better.

May I echo this statement? PLEEEEZE get everybody you know to vote!

Preferably for Ds of all sorts, but seriously, just VOTE!!! Be counted! Otherwise, somebody else's voice will be counted instead of yours! And fellow women, VOTE. No excuse for YOU not to. Vote as though your very life depended on it. Because, actually, it does. Certainly your body and the ultimate jurisdiction over same depends on it! Remember which "big letter" appointed all the Supreme Court justices who voted against us this week. They were all brought to you by the GOP. Not one Democratically-appointed justice voted for that Hobby Lobby my-religion-trumps-your-health-and wellbeing crap. Not ONE! Where'd all the women on the high bench lean on that one? And all those women? Appointed by a Democratic President.

Think about it. Who do you want voting on SCOTUS nominees? And who do you want to select the nominees? Is a day like Monday worth sitting it out and not voting in November? 'Cause if you don't, there'll be more Mondays like that. A LOT more. Especially as long as we remain outnumbered on that bench.

One other thing: thank you SO much, YoungDemCA, for this post! We all feel the same way! DU was an oasis in the desert for me for almost the entire last decade. Settle in and keep learning. I personally learn something new and useful or illuminating every day I check in here!