Weird Time for Christians

A little leaven spoils the whole loaf.    When history is written 50 years from now, the historians will look back and clear show how tRump may indeed be the worse president ever.  Not only for his self serving narcissistic traits, not only for his political corruption ,  not only for his ineptitude, not only for his handling of the major crisis of our day, etc, etc but I think most of all on his corrupting influence on politics, religion, and culture.  He's hijacked a whole party, drew a religious segment from its roots by promising too much and delivering too little, and he has invigorated the alt right movement while greatly increasing the political divide in DC.  

 
BigRedBuster said:
I just don't get it.  Why do Christians in America think they have to distinguish themselves in political terms?
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To answer your question, I think in America we are much more tribal conscious than many of our brothers and sisters in other countries. Our country is made of people from around the world. In many countries they are more homologous - there may be one or just a few ethnic groups, fewer denominational differences, - basically a more long term traditional culture. Here in the USA, with our individualistic culture and the freedom of expression, we tend to divide based on so many variables. We therefore create more tribes to separate the 'we from the them'.    Anyway that is my take, it may

be a bunch of hooey but just a thought. 

This quote at the end of your article says a lot.   The last line in bold is important --- under Trump (probably before that) I have seen the emphasis on being more connected to the 'political right' vs the 'religious right'.  That is why we see such duplicity among evangelical voters - they will stand for God and guns, God and Wars, God and Walls, etc while not acknowledging that much of what they are standing for is anti-gospel.  It is as much a false gospel as the prosperity gospel is false.  

And that leads me to my second point: what has been assumed by just about everyone in this debate is that the Religious Right is an observably religious movement, and it’s the Religious Left that has to prove their claim to religious-motivation. The last few years, at least, ought to lead us to question that. The Religious Right is not the standard here. Faith claims that just a decade ago were supposed to be essential to their political activism have now been completely discarded for the sake of political power and a political coalition in which they can hardly be said to be in the driver’s seat. Look at how many of the Religious Right figures who, for their own benefit, have sidled up to Trump only after making clear during the Republican primary that he was not their first, second or sixteenth choice.

Liz was right: the Religious Left is not presently an indispensable, decision-altering part of the progressive coalition. It does not exist in that way. The Religious Right exists, alright, but it might not quite exist as we imagine it. It’s commitment to the “Right” over the “Religious” becomes more apparent by the day. Let that be a warning.
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RedDenver said:
That plot should be devastating to Christians.
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Correction. That plot should be devastating to white evangelicals. Looks to me like Catholics and white mainline Protestants, both of which are Christian, are in line or doing better than the “all Americans” category.

Ive got a neighbor who used to be reasonable but he became convinced God chose Trump to lead this country and, since God can do no wrong...yada yada, then Trump can do no wrong. And when he does, they rationalize it as somehow being acceptable because he is God’s chosen one. It’s quite disturbing.
 

And relative to some of the recent discussion, he has a very strong belief in prayer and healing and fancies himself as a sort of healer, always offering to “pray over” others. I’ve witnessed some things that cause me to believe faith healing “can” work but it is my belief it is entirely dependent upon the faith of the person being healed and has virtually nothing to do with any other persons.

 
TGHusker said:
The Religious Right exists, alright, but it might not quite exist as we imagine it. It’s commitment to the “Right” over the “Religious” becomes more apparent by the day. Let that be a warning.
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That is the problem.

I believe it's because people think about themselves politically a lot more than Religiously.  But, they want the self righteousness of saying they are "religious".

 
BigRedBuster said:
That is the problem.

I believe it's because people think about themselves politically a lot more than Religiously.  But, they want the self righteousness of saying they are "religious".
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Bingo and Amen   And they are so PROUD of being so Righteous.   If we think religiously, it demands something of us - sacrifice for others, humility, dying to our own selfishness - that is all hard work.  But politically - we get to sit at the table of power, it strokes us up and puffs us up and costs us nothing.

 
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