“This is how we should order our lives together,” he said. “And frankly, yes, we are going to impose it upon you. If you don’t like it, I’m sorry, but this is good and right and just if it lines up with God’s standards, and I am going to enforce my morality on you in as much as our morality is God’s morality.”

“You should always check yourselves,” he continued. “Do I believe what God believes? Am I defending what God says is good?”

“And if it is, then you should have the courage to say, ‘This is how we’re going to run our town, this is how we’re going to run our county, this is how we’re going to run our state, and this is how we should run the United States of America by legislating the morality that we can find in the Bible.'”

  • Maeve@kbin.earth
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    They can’t even impose Christian values on themselves. And that’s what I’ve noticed about control freaks: those who can’t control themselves will absolutely try to control everyone else. Virtue by proxy is a hell of a vice.

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    7 days ago

    What did Jesus have to say about immigrants?

    What did Jesus have to say about taxes?

    What did Jesus have to say about retaliation?

    What did Jesus have to say about money and what should be done with it if you have it?

    What did Jesus say you should do with everything you own?

    Jesus was a Communist. Own nothing. Share everything.

    • phx@lemmy.world
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      Yeah, my question for this was “WHAT Christian values”, because if they were going to push the fundamental teachings of Jesus I’d actually be ok with that. What they really mean though, is to hang crosses and Bibles in every school and then watch the government speed run breaking every one of the 10 commandments, never mind the teachings of JC.

  • auris@lemmus.org
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    7 days ago

    The “I’m not homophobic! You can do what you want but just dont force it on me or my kids” crowd, everybody.

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    Forcing Jews to have Christian values is NOT Anti Semetic! Anti Semetic is when you DONT Bomb Children!

    -Republicans, The ADL AND AIPAC!

  • Bahnd Rollard@lemmy.world
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    I feel like that one line from Kingsman (the good one, right before the fight scene in the church) is appropriate here.

    Harry Hart: [to bigoted church lady] I’m a Catholic whore, currently enjoying congress out of wedlock with my black Jewish boyfriend who works at a military abortion clinic. So, hail Satan, and have a lovely afternoon, madam.

  • MrSulu@lemmy.ml
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    7 days ago

    US religious fundamentalism is no different to any other religious fundamentalism. None of those people can see the irony in their hatred in pursuit of a love that they, and only they can define.

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    Good luck. This is a stupid hill to die on. A huge chunk of Gen Z identifies under the LGBT umbrella (around one in three.) There’s no going back.

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    Yeah, I mean some people are trying to bring back the pet rock, doesn’t mean it’s going to work.

    Most people are tired of religion and all of its hypocritical rules and guidelines. Then you learn that a large portion of leaders in religions are pedophiles and abusers.

    No real “OOOOOOOHHH SHINYYY” moment for people to want to join.

    • hateisreality@lemmy.world
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      Just like Republicans… religion has outlived its usefulness and the only way to remain is to force your ideas on people…fucking assholes need to all go live in Oklahoma or Missouri together and create their perfect Utopia of ignorance, racism and hate.

    • stringere@sh.itjust.works
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      I’ve always thought of jesusians as predatory because they target the most vulnerable people for their brainwashing.

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    Assuming he actually believes this, he just needs to extend that logic one tiny step forward. A more plausible explanation is he knows that it isn’t true but still needs some sort of argument that explains the regime’s repugnant behaviour. Those are your dismal options. Reminds me of that South African leader who claimed he was raping girls as a cure for AIDS because raping girls has bad optics.

  • Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca
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    I have rarely seen a nation further from “christian values” than the United States at this moment.

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    8 days ago

    You mean their made up fake Christian values. If an actual Christian saw what these creeps consider Christian values, they’d be very upset. Pretty sure infidelity, bribery, cheating, fraud, name calling, mockery, gambling, false worship, casting out of strangers and all the rest is exactly contradictory to the book they claim to hold in reverence.

      • AlexLost@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Well, this is the Bible… Didn’t want to get too specific, but there is a little bit of child rape and murder in that book…

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        No, there are.

        The “teachings of Jesus” seem just fine: stuff like love thy neighbour no matter what (aka don’t hate minorities), let the one without sins throw rocks first (aka don’t judge), throwing a tantrum at money changers (aka communist).

        If only Christians looked up to the one and only character they literally believe is God in human form and try following his actions.

        But alas, those Christians are “Christians”, and most know more abot the teachings of Thomas Aquinas than Jesus Christ.

      • frostedtrailblazer@lemmy.zip
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        At what point is something considered an entirely different belief system though?

        Part of why there are so many different sects of Christianity is because belief systems can differ quite a lot on what the focus is for followers of the faith.

        Even Mormons are considered Christian, but many Christians would put them in their own category since they have an entirely different holy book that they follow.

        Maybe it comes back to the word for ‘Christian’ being this less meaningful, all encompassing, definition. In which case, I feel there’s an argument to be made that having at least some other way to show distinction matters, whether that’s a new word or phrase entirely.

        For the sake of conversation though, I feel there is some utility in using the word we are already familiar with, in this case ‘Christian’, and making a compelling definition, in the context of the conversation, based on the values echoed in the text. I feel that we can still hold the general understanding that this is a narrow definition, but it’s one made based on those values that we may want to see encouraged.

        TL;DR: It’s difficult to have a conversation about any group of people that is made up of a wide assortment of people from different walks of life.

      • AlexLost@lemmy.world
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        I would have gone with RINO, but I get ya. When is a thing not a thing it claims to be though? What’s that thingy called, because it’s this.

    • azertyfun@sh.itjust.works
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      As opposed to the traditional catholic values of murdering brown people, burning apostates, progroming Jews, policing every aspect of sexuality, and most importantly enforcing a rigid belief in social hierarchy and the divine rights of nobility?

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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      I remember a particular asshat on DP forums that would try to get me booted all the time, and always crying that there is no such thing as xtian Shariah Law and that calling xtianists talibangelicals was so very unfair and so mean, and oh my god, the civility of it all!

      The xtianists definitely have Shariah Law even if, sure, they don’t call it that, duh.

      Other than the days they worship and a few other differences about ritual and so on, explain the difference between backward dumbasses of the fundamentalist stripe of either of these Abrahamic religions?

      Both groups ache to subjugate women and murder infidels and gays, etc.

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    Bullshit. Trump or his officials are not Christians. Dictator is cosplaying as christian but is secretly the anti christ

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      In his book, “It Can’t Happen Here” (1935), Sinclair Lewis wrote, “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying the cross.”

      Only look like 80 years but gonna real, I didnt think the anti christ would be soo like obvious about it. Humanity had such a low bar to overcome.

    • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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      Stop this Obama-era “they go low, we go high” bullshit! It didn’t even work in those days, it’s just Mitt Romney was both a charisma vacuum, and unlike Trump didn’t hide his theocratic ambitions under multiple layers of post-irony.

      All this “they’re not real christians” bullshit led to is the disappearance of religious criticism, and the right immediately hijacking every talking points on what a “good christian” should look like, to further push their theocratic fascism. Secularism? Now it’s a radical christian ideology, because “Obama likes his neighbor”, so we have to accept theocratic fascism, because coMmON SeNsE. At worst this is being pushed so much into the extremes, that nowadays people think christianity was the first (!) religion to outlaw murder, pedophilia, etc.

      Are islamist terrorists “fake muslims”, who probably get drunk every day? Are the hindu extremists of India “fake hindus” for being awful to the muslim population? Was Stalin a “fake atheist” for persecuting the church? FUCK NO! All you’re doing is giving an excuse to religious extremists by excluding them from religion the moment they’re not adhering to the model religious person stereotype, so the next generation of them can continue the same fucking bullshit, all because “good christian Obama liked his muslim and atheist neighbor”, and we continue handling the power of irrationalism to theocratic fascists in the hopes of a second Obama.

      • mcv@lemmy.zip
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        He’s right, though. Nothing about what they’re doing is even remotely Christian. They’ve been claiming abortion as their central tenet of Christianity, but the bible doesn’t condemn that even once. The bible does tell us thousands of times to help the poor, feed the hungry, etc., but they are strongly against that and see the poor as deserving of that poverty. There are dozens of aspects where they go out of their way to miss the point of Christianity and preach the polar opposite.

        They only hijack Christianity as a conservative identity to rally around in order to bind voters to their fundamentally anti-christian cause. Religion to them is a tool for social control, not about honest faith.

        And repeating that is important to free believers who fell for their lies. If you allow them to own the label “christian”, you allow them to continue to fool people into supporting them. We have to unmask them, show them for who they really are.

        • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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          "We must allow a theocrat to rise to power, because what if there would be a theocrat that would use my interpretation of christianity, which is about kindness and good things, would rise to power?"🤡

          For every “love thy neighbor” quote, there’s a quote about violent conversion. For every “pedos must be thrown into the river with a stone tied to them”, there’s a “menstrual marriage”. And while the “turn the other cheek” sounds nice out of context, it was about slaves. These theocrats see you as their literal slaves (!), and I’ve seen my fair share of alt right shitheads using the full quote to justify their tactic of “we go low, you go high”, and then to mock the people who fall for them.

          • mcv@lemmy.zip
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            I don’t know where you got that naive quote, but I completely disagree with that. Theocracy corrupts both religion and politics, and it’s important that people see that. They lie and pervert, and that needs to be exposed.

            And one vital step in that is to expose their lies, undermine the base they have mislead into supporting them. Don’t allow them to keep that.

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              CHRISTIANS HAVE STOOD FOR BIGOTRY, FOR REGRESSION, FOR KINGS FOR TWO MILLENNIA . EVERY SINGLE CHRISTIAN IS A BAD PERSON AND A SUPREMACIST PIECE OF SHIT. RELIGIOUS PEOPLE ARE LESS MORAL THAN NAZIS BECAUSE THEY DO NOT EVEN TAKE THEIR EVIL ONTO THE THEIR OWN CONSCIENCE, BUT INVENT A FASCIST SEXIST BIGOT OVERLORD WHO REJOICES WHEN THEY SLAUGHTER CHILDREN.

        • CXORA@aussie.zone
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          The bible doesnt command us to feed the hungry or care for the poor thousands of times. There a handful of times in the new testament where it does so, but pretending the bible is this spotless pro-humanity text is at best ignorant and at worst misinformation.

          • mcv@lemmy.zip
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            Someone counted it. Apparently it’s over 2000 times for helping the poor, and a maximum of 5 times “gay is bad” and in several of those that interpretation is questionable.

            The book of Amos starts with God saying he doesn’t want Israel’s prayers and sacrifices because they don’t take care of the poor. It is the primary theme across the entire bible.

            I’m not denying there are some questionable parts, but nothing in there is repeated as often as this. Well, maybe praising God.

            • CXORA@aussie.zone
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              Forgive me for not taking “someone counted it” as a citation.

              And its absolutely not the primary theme of the bible, that is supplication to god in all things.

              Saying “starts with” when it doesnt appear until half way into the second chapter is fascinating. Amos is a short book, we’re nearly a quarter of the way through it before the needy are mentioned.

              And even then its not “give to the needy”. Its “dont sell the needy for money”. Did you read Amos before mentioning it?

              • mcv@lemmy.zip
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                Maybe I’m remembering it in a more condensed form, but Amos mentions mistreatment of the poor several times as reason for the punishment. But what stuck out to me is that all the religious services, songs, offerings etc become worthless in light of their sins, and that it’s the country as a whole that’s held accountable for this. Conservatives sometimes justify their inhuman policies by claiming it’s an individual responsibility to help the poor, and not something for the government to concern itself with, but here it’s the country as a whole that’s held responsible for it.

                And it’s not just about selling the poor into slavery, it also mentions taxing the poor, justice for the poor, and corruption. I recall there being explicit mention of feeding widows and orphans, but I can’t find that right now.

                • CXORA@aussie.zone
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                  The one citation you did give me turned out to be false… I will need actual chapter and verse references before I believe you on any other bible claims.

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      They’re absolutely christian. Its just Christianity has many flavours of evil assholes.

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        If you actually read Revelations you’ll be surprised that the word antichrist is nowhere to be found.

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        I still feel obligated to call it out lest stupid people believe their lies