Monday, December 23, 2019

The Eve Of Christmas Eve

[RANT]
Christmas is one of the most holly days in the Christian calendar.

I was baptized into the Catholic church and was confirmed. One of the things that I remember from my catechism class was that Jesus taught love.

But there is now a branch of the Christian religion that has turned away from love and now has corrupted those teaching and turn to hate and now they worship a new idol.

A Christian newspaper called them out on it.
Christianity Today made big news with its anti-Trump editorial. The impact on evangelicals might not be as big.
The Washington Post
By Paul Farhi
December 20, 2019

Christianity Today, an evangelical magazine, has mostly concentrated on the spiritual, not the political, during its 63 years in existence. So the editorial it published Thursday went over like a thunderclap from on high: Editor Mark Galli wrote that President Trump should be removed from office, describing him as “a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused.”

Trump’s fiery denunciation (“a far left magazine [that] . . . knows nothing about reading a perfect transcript of a routine phone call,” he tweeted) and the massive news coverage the editorial received Friday suggested it marked a watershed moment. The implicit idea was that evangelicals — one of Trump’s key voting blocs — had finally turned on the president after years of ignoring his trampling of at least a few of the Ten Commandments.
Many evangelical Christians worship Trump as their savior. In another Washington Post article…
Comparing Trump to Jesus, and why some evangelicals believe Trump is God’s chosen one
By Eugene Scott
December 18, 2019

It is no secret that many conservative Christians think highly of President Trump. He has consistently maintained high approval ratings from white evangelicals since he won the majority of white evangelicals and white Catholics in the 2016 election.

But while defending Trump during the president’s impeachment hearing, Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) made remarks that gave some the impression that the lawmaker thought Trump was worthy of better treatment than Jesus Christ.

Loudermilk, who was involved in a church ministry that served underprivileged children years before heading to Congress, said: “Before you take this historic vote today one week before Christmas, I want you to keep this in mind: When Jesus was falsely accused of treason, Pontius Pilate gave Jesus the opportunity to face his accusers. During that sham trial, Pontius Pilate afforded more rights to Jesus than the Democrats have afforded this president in this process.”
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me."

Many evangelical Christians seemed to have forgotten that Commandment.

When the Trump administration proposed allowing homeless shelter to turn away LGBTQ+ people on religious grounds many evangelical Christians applauded.

When the Trump administration proposed allowing food kitchens to turn away LGBTQ+ people on religious grounds many evangelical Christians applauded.

When the Trump administration proposed allowing businesses to fire LGBTQ+ people on religious grounds many evangelical Christians applauded.

When the Trump administration proposed allowing businesses to not serve LGBTQ+ people on religious grounds many evangelical Christians applauded.

When the Trump administration put a ban on Muslims from entering the US many evangelical Christians applauded.

When Jesus feed the people, he didn’t ask them their nationality or their religion or their sexual orientation, he just feed all of them that were there.

Now is the time for moderate evangelical Christians to speak up, don’t let the right wing conservative  evangelical Christians dominate the debate.
Anti-Trump evangelicals saw Christianity Today editorial ‘as a breath of fresh air,’ magazine’s former editor says
The Washington Post
By Eugene Scott
Dec. 21, 2019

A day after the House impeached President Trump, charging that he pressured Ukraine to investigate a political rival, one of the most prominent institutions in evangelical Christianity also determined that he was unfit for his office.
[…]
 Among anti-Trump Christians and evangelicals, the editorial has been received as a breath of fresh air. They’ve been looking for evangelical institutions to speak out about the more troubling aspects of the Trump presidency. And the fact that editors decided to take such a strong stance is almost a relief to those more moderate or liberal evangelicals who want to see more courage and conviction from the magazine. Because, for them, it’s not so much the pro-Trump evangelicals that frustrate them, it’s the silent evangelicals. And to a lot of people, silence looks like tacit approval. So choosing not to be silent is encouraging.
Sinclair Lewis said "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross".

When the Nazi party came to power they rounded up the Jews, the gays, the trans people, the disabled, the Romani people, and anyone else who was different and many Christians pointed them out to the Nazis and cheered when they took them away.

Many evangelical Christians say religion is under attack… maybe it is not religions that are being attack, maybe it is the hate that they spew forth that is under attack.

One last word… don’t paint religion with a broad brush. Not all evangelical Christians hate us, there are also many affirming religions and only a few vocal religions that persecute us.


Update 5:30 PM

I came across these additional links…
Evangelical tussling over anti-Trump editorial escalatesStudy Shows White Evangelicals Want Christian Supremacy, Not “Religious Freedom”


During the House debates on impeachment many Republicans were using the word “hate” to describe the Democrats; during a press conference a reporter from Sinclair News asked the Speaker of the House “Do you hate the president, Ms. Speaker?” Speaker Pelosi replied “I don’t hate anybody.”

Hate is a Republican word… the Democrats are disappointed… mad… angry… but they don’t hate Trump.

It is the Republicans that say gays should be put to death, I don’t know about you but when you call for the death of someone… that’s hating them.
[/RANT]

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