The pilgrims were exiled from Britain for religious extremism… Manifest Destiny, the massacre of First Nations, the Cold War, the war on terror… every time we make it about our religion versus the world… this is kind of our brand, the (ill)logical conclusion of where we started.
For Alito, what he wants is constitutional and what he doesn't want isn't. Hey, I turn 70 next month and still an atheist.
I think the “old person suddenly trying to get into heaven” thing is much more prevalent among those raised Protestant. I imagine cultures a bit more chill about their relationship with metaphysical beings wouldn’t have this problem.
Let me tell you, you're absolutely wrong. It happens with Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and quite obviously as we can see in Gaza right now Judaism as well. You can see the same crap happening in India with the Hindu nationalism of Modi, with Judaism with Netanyahu, and with the Rohingya in Malaysia with the Buddhist majority there. When there is no tolerance for the minority group, they are persecuted and destroyed. It just comes down to whether those in power are going to fan the flames to persecute and blame the minority group(s) for the majorities challenges such like Alito is doing here, or are they going to try and calm things down such as what Dubya did after 9/11. We're at a crossroads at the moment as the country is crossing this Rubicon of changing demographics. We're going to be a minority majority country very soon, and simultaneously the country is becoming less and less religious. There's a clear choice in 2024 between a continuation of tolerance, and someone who wants to persecute minorities and political rivals purely for political purposes.
I've said before and I'll say again--it absolutely baffles me as a Bible-believing Christian that so many Christians so closely link their religion with politics. Jesus was notoriously apolitical, repeatedly refusing to engage when people wanted Him to address political hierarchy or taxation. Paul repeatedly talked about Christians' citizenship being in heaven and not of this world, as well as Christians being "dead to the world and alive in Christ". I completely understand people voting based on their personal beliefs--we all do that--but to act as though there is some sort of divine command for people to vote in a certain manner is notoriously anti-Biblical.
I was talking specifically about old people becoming more religious as they approach death. But to your point, yeah religion is being used as a cudgel everywhere and it sucks (I myself am atheistic). However, I have a quibble: Dubya very much didn’t calm things down after 9/11, if you include 2002 and 2003 in your sample size.
Fair enough. And I disagree, Dubya was far more of a moderating influence than in comparison to Republican politicians now. It’s one of the few things I think Dubya deserves some credit for. Here’s an example of what he said on September 17, 2001. https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/quotes/george-w-bush-on-islam-and-terrorism--3 In September 2001 Bush didn’t need to moderate folks anger, he could have leaned in like Trump does and just fanned the flames for political gain. But he didn’t. He deserves credit for that.
It's because of sex-position branding. If we renamed the missionary position the 'atheist's position', religious people would avoid it, leading to less sex for them and thus fewer kids. We'll rename anal sex the 'missionary position'. Brilliant, yes? I would like my Nobel Prize now. barfo
I have a small rainbow flag on my porch. I want to go buy a flagpole and hang outside the biggest rainbow pride flag I can find. Take that, Martha-Ann.
Exactly right. The concept of free will...the freedom to choose to believe in God and follow Jesus, or not... is absolutely central to Christianity. Why so many folks who consider themselves Christians believe that it's their job to seek to enact laws to force compliance with behaviors that they think are consistent with God's desires is totally beyond me.
