You CANNOT Reason with Zealot, Republican Evangelicals.

[Philosoraptor]

Forget it Barak Obama, its a waste of time, I've tried it, for many years.

Their mindset is such that it does not allow for any other thought process other than blind devotion to dogma and biblical passages.

Reach out to evangelicals? Why bother?

Look where they have gotten us. Look inside to imagine where they want us.

------ON EDIT: If this is not appropriate and needs locked, I understand in advance.

Title changed three times to be more concise.

[stepnw1f]

1. My Brother In-Law is an Evangelical

His Church HATES Bush and the GOP. Probably the only thing he despises more in Reagan for screwing with his home country.

[Philosoraptor]

3. I know several who now hate Bush.

But I blame them for voting for him twice and being fooled so easily.

They got us into this crap, now they want our help fixing it.

[rucky]

10. You're getting fundamentalists and evangelicals mixed up, I think.

I've heard this liberal Christian group refer to themselves as evangelicals & they've been fighting conservative politics for years:

www.sojourners.com

not sure what the technical difference is, though, or if there's really anything you can call them other than "Religious Right" that doesn't alienate other Christians.

:shrug:

[dysfunctional press]

14. evangelicals are there to "spread the word"- i.e. evangalize.

fundamentalists are the ones that take the bible literally.
a lot of people are both.

[stepnw1f]

22. He And His Church Didn't Vote for Bush

[katty]

17. My EX-bro-in-law was a nasty piece of work-NO reasoning allowed

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. Just another 2008 wannabe putting the party down for his own profit.

Nothing more.

Nothing less.

[leftofthedial]

4. they need therapy, not reason

they are incompetent (legally) and mentally ill

[Warpy]

5. You can't reason with SOME of them

You also can't paint them with too broad a brush. Many of them are starting to realize they've been bamboozled on wedge issues for too long by men who exploited those issues to get into power to push a very, very unchristian agenda.

Stupid has lost a lot of support among Evangelicals. It's only a matter of time before they start to connect the dots and realize he's just the symptom of the disease infecting the whole Repuglican party.

Just because they are Evangelical doesn't mean they're stupid. They're a little easier to get to suspend critical thinking, but it tends to creep in, even with them.

Reaching out to them and explaining economic and social justice in the terms they best understand does NOT mean turning the party over to them to control.

The GOP already pretended to do that, then stabbed them in the back.

[Philosoraptor]

6. They always want more, its never enough.

I know, they want the whole ball of wax. Bush disappointed them by not being Christian ENOUGH.

[Kookaburra]

8. That's it, Philosoraptor!!!

He's not Christian enough for their liking, so now the democrats should swoop down and pander to their outrageous, bigoted demands? Forget it. The sooner these people realize that you CAN'T LEGISLATE MORALITY the better off we'll all be.

[Warpy]

15. Bush disappointed them by not being

Christian AT ALL.

Believe it or not, the Schiavo grandstanding did it for a lot of them. The callous approach to the Katrina disaster has finished them off.

Yeah, they always want more. So do all of us. However, pointing out the reality of the present situation in terms they can understand may give them an alternative to robotically voting for the party that yells about wedge issues then does nothing.

[donco6]

16. YES.

That's very clear. Even James Dobson and D. James Kennedy call themselves "evangelicals." And they're pissed at Bush for not destroying homosexuals. It's not just the marriage ban - that's just the beginning for these guys. They want sodomy laws back on the books. They want gays IMPRISONED. They want homosexuality CRUSHED. They're only looking for a leader who will do that for them. They are absolutely uninterested in compromise.

[Monkeyman]

20. Your Right on here look at what is going on at our Military schools

Evangelicals will not budge on one way of teaching Religion. We fought for God An Country not just one Religion

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. they want their rulebook to apply to the rest of us. Why don't they try

living according to Ye Olde Testament rules 100% on their own for a while, and then come talk to us?

No, that would not work. They would be tortured by the fact that somewhere some people would not be suffering as much as they. (Thanks, Mr. Mencken)

[ContraBass Black]

9. Well, of course.

Not a single one of them is reasonable or liberal.

[Philosoraptor]

12. The worst of them are the ones I'm referring to.

I assume you are not one of those.

[Atman]

11. Thank you.

I didn't want to jump into that Obama thread, but you make an excellent point. If there was any way to "reason" with evangelicals, they wouldn't be evengelicals. Evangelicals have thrown reason out the window, and decided long ago exactly what they believe, and if you try to "reason" with them, they're far more likely to start proslytizing to you and trying to convert you.

I understand his point about not denying the existence of a large religious population in the United States. That's just a fact...most of America considers itself religious. But here's the trouble...the republicans are successfully equating "democratic" with "atheist" and "godless." They don't understand that the democrat's positions on prayer in schools and religious symbolism in courthouses is in no way anti-religion. It is PRO CONSTITUTION. That should be/could be a strong message for us as we "reach out." We don't want to take away ANYONE'S rights. Christians have the right to bow their head and pray any time they want to. Any time. In court, in school, in traffic, wherever. Pray your little hearts out. But your religiousity, no matter how much you think it is mainstream, is Constitutionally prohibited from becoming part of the state. It is that simple. Just as Christians have the right to pray anywhere they want, there are millions of Americans who don't want to pray, have no one to pray to, pray in totally different ways to totally different gods, and therefore have an EQUAL RIGHT as Americans not to have other people's religions crammed down their throats. The republichristians never seem to understand that. They think they are so mainstream that the Constitution shouldn't apply to them -- obviously, everybody would love to be one of them if they only had the opportunity to pray before math and feel the glory of God wash over their algebra problems.

But alas, life don't work that way.

[Ezlivin]

13. Evangelical and Fundamentalist are not interchangeable terms

To those who are outside of the faith they can appear to be one-and-the-same.

Not all Evangelicals are Fundamentalist.

While they may share a certain passion for the "Word", they often disagree on the extent of the Bible's errancy and on eschatology (the study of end times) among other things.

[Bretttido]

18. What about the 21% that voted for Kerry? and the 30% that voted for Gore?

When you stereotype all evangelicals you are being no better than certain republicans that like to stereotype all black or poor people. Long story short, stereotyping will get you nothing but hate. Just look at today's republican party after perfecting the art of stereotyping.

[Philosoraptor]

21. I said Zealot Evangelicals.

I know already that there are Democratic Evangelicals, its the REpublicans I worry about.

[Bretttido]

23. Obama wasn't trying to reach out to the zealot evangelicals.

The zealot republican evangelicals would not be caught dead listening to an Obama speech unless they were there with protest signs.

[tabasco]

19. That's a true statement.

There's a reason they are called "kool-aid drinkers."

:toast: :spray: :toast: :spray: :toast: :spray: :beer:

[JuniperLea]

24. Zealot, Republican, Evangelicals....

That narrows it down fairly well...

You can't reach them; the kool aid addiction is too strong.

I lived in that world for many years... I questioned everything and my non-conformity caused much consternation and hypocrisy... I don't deal well with hypocricy.









You can't hate or teach hate or allow hate or condone hate and be a Christian. Period. That is NOT Christ-like.

[stepnw1f]

25. Bravo on the Edit, Philosoraptor

it makes a difference.

[applegrove]

26. Sorry but evangelicals have been meeting and reaching out. And

discussing their role. Worth holding out a hand. We are all in this together.