the few assholes who make all Christians look bad should be EXPOSED

[mopaul]

the majority of Christians are wonderful people. i shouldn't have to actually say it, but the tiny minority of asshole's in the Christian right make so much noise, one starts to get the impression that all Christians are like that, which couldn't be further from the truth.

and now that tiny minority has infiltrated our government, and made great strides toward an American theocracy by exploiting religion, and they are endangering us all with undertones of Armageddon.

whenever one confronts one of these pompous, hyper pious, holier than thou gas bags, they should be EXPOSED, and straightened out roundly. one should not let them get away with stupid ass bullshit just because they share the same religion. Jesus didn't want them around, and neither should those who profess to be followers of Christ.

when your co-worker Susan starts spouting off about how god put w in the white house to save the world, just step up and say, "Susan, they've put cyanide in the watercooler today, you might want to be first in line", or, "Would God really pick THAT stupid jerkoff to do his work?"

stand up! be a real Christian and scold these jerks! don't let them get away with bullshit and hypocrisy! carry a copy of the bible around with tabs opening to the passages that prove they aren't even REAL CHRISTIANS!

have fun with it.

[whistle]

1. They essentially expose themselves

[coloradodem2005]

9. Too bad most people don't get it.

[whistle]

17. Yep, they just don't know what they don't know.....

...Rumsfeld's favorite exploitation point.

[derby378]

2. Just don't try that on a Christian web site

I got kicked off of one for basically doing the same thing.

[whistle]

18. Like that TV commercial that shows a fundie church with bouncers

...wearing headphones and mics selectively screener who is allowed in and who is kept out. Eventually that mentality will spread from private property boundaries to whole communities, perhaps even walled cities with posted signs that read: "All Non-Christian fundamentalist believers -- KEEP OUT"

[Brianboru]

21. You can win the argument with fundamentalists

if you use their beliefs to show them how wrong they are.

Here’s one example:

Many Christians fervently believe that homosexuality is a behavioral disorder, and that people who commit homosexual acts are committing a grave sin. However, I point out that adultery (including re-marriage after divorce) carries the same scriptural penalty as homosexuality (Death by stoning). Since the punishment is the same, this tells me that the sins of divorce and remarriage are on par with that homosexuality. (They will reluctantly agree)

I ask the people who are fighting secular homosexual marriage if they are opposed to re-marriage after divorce? If not, why not? It is just as grave a sin. Should we prevent the state from allowing divorced people from re-marrying? Should the children of divorced parents be denied medical benefits? I tell them it is just that they prefer the sin of adultery over sin of homosexuality. They cannot come up with a logical response. We need to separate the religious aspects of marriage from the secular ones. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s”. I don’t want the state to interfere with religion. Using the state to promote a religious view is the wrong approach.

You can quote them from Cal Thomas (not normally an ally!). This is excerpted from his 7/22/04 column, “When the foundations are being destroyed”:

“Neither the cultural problem nor its solution can be found in Washington. It lies in the decisions by millions of Americans … to construct their own moral authority. Sufficiently large numbers of Americans either do not believe, or do not practice, what the Scriptures teach and cannot be made to do so through a constitutional amendment or any other law. Neither side is going to persuade the other of the correctness of its position, so it becomes a political power game. … Paul the Apostle writes of what to expect during the "end times," … "There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God - having a form of godliness but denying its power." Having proclaimed his prophecy, Paul does not tell believers to embrace politics to influence or change the Roman government. Quite the contrary. He says, "Have nothing to do with them" (2 Timothy 3:1-5). To seek to implement such a code through human law is an exercise in futility and is neither expected nor mandated in that New Testament covenant. … The Bible is a book for those who would accept its message. Should anyone who does not believe it be expected to obey what it says? Given what the book quoted by some senators predicts, I wouldn't count on a "wicked and adulterous generation" rescuing itself through a marriage amendment or any other human effort.”

It takes a little effort and you need to do your homework, but it can work.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

3. Amen!

Christian friends, this agnostic urges you to take back your religion from the haters. Will be glad to help you, too.

[Marnieworld]

4. Mopaul, why do you hate America?

;-)

I personally think that it is the REAL christians who are going to put a stop to this all. It's the true civil war in this country but I think the good guys will win. I'm an eternal optimist.

[Marnieworld]

5. Mopaul, why do you hate America?

;-)

I personally think that it is the REAL christians who are going to put a stop to this all. It's the true civil war in this country but I think the good guys will win. I'm an eternal optimist.

[Jacobin]

6. There's not enough time in the day to expose them all

Sorry.

[msongs]

7. your "tiny minority" is at least hundreds of millions, not so tiny, eh?

anyhow non-xians are all going to hell anyway.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[mopaul]

10. hardly tiny

but the ones in the government are few. and they have way too much power.

[LizW]

19. Really not tiny - read the scary articles in the May Harper's

It's not online yet, but it's worth a trip to the bookstore to buy the print edition.

Soldiers of Christ

I. Inside America's Most Powerful Megachurch by Jeff Sharlet

It is hard for me to pick out quotes that really give the full impact of the piece. You need to read the whole thing. And check out the illustrations. They are reproductions of the artwork inside the New Life Church in Colorado Springs. Your blood will run cold.

The article tells how the New Life Church "plants" churches in the exurbs all over America. He gives a run-down of just some of them and how their numbers have swelled quickly: "Church of the Highlands in Alabama, pastored by a New Life alumnus from 34 to 2,500 souls in the last four years; a New Life look-alike in Biddleford, Maine, that has multiplied to 5,000; Rocky Mountain Calvary, the New Life neighbor that has swelled in a decade from a handful to 6,000."

"Pastor Ted" of the New Life Church in Colorado is president of the National Association of Evangelicals, which claims 45,000 churches and over 30 million members.

:scared:

II. Feeling the Hate with the National Religious Broadcasters by Chris Hedges

"(Dr. James Luther) Adams (the author's ethics professor at Harvard Divinity school twenty five years ago) told us to watch closely the Christian right's persecution of homosexuals and lesbians. Hitler, he reminded us, promised to restore moral values not long after he took power in 1933, then imposed a ban on all homosexual and lesbian organizations and publications. Then came raids on the places where homosexuals gathered, culminating on May 6, 1933, with the ransacking of the Institute for Sexual Science in Berlin. Twelve thousand volumes from the institute's library were tossed into a public bonfire. Homosexuals and lesbians, Adams said, would be the first 'deviants' singled out by the Christian right. We would be the next."

I'm scared of these people, and some of them are my family members.

[KlatooBNikto]

8. You are dead on.There is absolutely nothing wrong with Christianity

at all.It is probably the one religion that challenges us to be better than what we are and wants to judge us by our actions not our words.

In one of his conversations Gandhi was asked what do you think of Christian civilization, he said" I think it is a good idea" LOL!

[coloradodem2005]

11. The problem is, that people would corrupt it.

Now we would get something like what Focus on the Family, Pat Robertson or Tim LeHaye would envision. It needs to be fixed. It has been corrupted.

[MichaelJH]

13. Corrupted is not the word for it

The guys you mentioned are out there in a world of their own.
I have family members who think they are the best men and GODLY MEN at that. I try to give them a different perspective, but end up getting stoned and bible thumped.

[MichaelJH]

12. I agree totally

A good Christian will not judge anyone or condemn them to hell or look down on anyone. We see everyone as equals and we are all products of our environment. Plus, we question the hell out of everything daily. An ignorant Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, that dos not educate himself on all perspectives, are being led by other peoples opinions of what they think is right and wrong.

Just keep the faith as much as you can and Peace in your heart.

Gandhi also said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”
Gandhi was a great man.

[KlatooBNikto]

15. Gandhi was a true Christian, IMHO.

[mnmoderatedem]

14. Couldn't agree more

I have a good friend who's pretty much a fundamentalist Christian, as well as being a Vietnam vet, and loathes Bush and voted for Kerry.

Some people are just able to see through the smoke and mirrors...

[Walt Starr]

16. They AREN'T "Christians". THEY ARE FRISTIANS!!!! n/t

[mtnsnake]

20. Yes, most Christians are wonderful people, but they gather like a flock

of brainwashed sheep behind the minority of jerkoffs running the show. That's mostly their fault, and it's also partly ours for not properly getting the message across to them in previous years in simplistic terms that even the most naive of sheep can understand.

So I guess the majority of Christians have good basic values, but at the same time they're as naive as it gets....and they played a major part in getting Shithead elected.

I agree with you we need to "educate" them as to what's really going on. Every little bit helps, and sooner or later our words of wisdom will sink in to them if we keep harping to their faces whenever the opportunity arises. Better days ahead.

[The Stranger]

22. The majority gladly tolerate or tacitly support the hateful extremists,

and neither is acceptable. They need to clean house or put up with the image they are helping create.