Thoughts and Prayers: The Religion Thread

Self market. If you aren’t a born again, Protestant, evangelist-style Christian woven with Rightwing politics you’re just not a Christian. Ted Cruz and Tom DeLay and Donald Trump are Christians. Nancy Pelosi and AOC are not.

 

Easier to demonize, is more like it. If every Christian is straight out of a big box church with specific political beliefs, that tends to make it a lot easier to separate from the mainstream.

Not that Christians should ever be surprised by it or take any effort to retaliate against. Persecution and ridicule is to be expected, especially when pitted against secularism, a religion of its own kind.

 

This is the piece I originally linked to upthread:

How ‘Christian’ Overtook the ‘Protestant’ Label

which references this:



and links a couple other studies, like this one:

The consequences of response options: Including both “Protestant” and “Christian” on surveys

Another here

Is the Christian believer conservative or liberal?

Me? I'm not that interested in the shorthanding of 'Christian' as a political designation, so much as I'm interested in how a very American strain of born-again evangelicalism has crowded out of language and consciousness other mainstream Protestant churches, as well as 'Catholicism,' the original Christianity.

 

Our rector yesterday, lightheartedly starting off his sermon, joked about the "highest of high holy days" that's coming up. That everyone in the congregation EXCEPT ME figured he was talking about the Super Bowl and not the Daytona 500 has triggered a crisis of faith in your humble correspondent.

 

An anecdote from many moons ago. When we first moved here, one of the kids was involved in some fund-raiser or another (I think it was Cub Scouts popcorn sales). During my (and my child's) allotted segment, our tablemates were a very nice woman and her son. I really don't recall how it came up, but at one point she invited us to come to her church. I don't recall the name/denomination of same, but she described it as a place of "good conservative Christian gospel." I nodded politely and thought, "Hun, have you really thought about those words?"

She really was (and still is, I assume) very nice. As many would find out in a couple of years, her private-equity-manager husband was canoodling around on her at the time.

 

First Church of France

 

My point is...there's no particular reason for any of them to not call themselves Christians. It's what they profess to be. They all celebrate the same Easter.

The Apostle's Creed, which I've said in many different denominations, has the word "Catholic" or "universal" in it. They're synonymous.

"Evangelical Christianity" has been no favors by Christians themselves, at times, but the idea is also demonized out of ignorance. Episcopalians are supposed to share the gospel. United Methodists. Lutherans. Catholics. It's the commission. That's all evangelizing is.

 

A really nicely done article on why we likely get Jesus’ profession wrong and what the significance is of visualizing him as a contractor working mostly in stone.

My Boss Is a Jewish Construction Worker

 

There's evangelizing the good word as a Christian, and then there are "Evangelical Christians" who have only the vaguest clue about the tenets that Jesus preached. Two very different things.

 

So at any moment of the day, public school teachers in Oklahoma are supposed to identify the majority viewpoint of their students?
Anybody there ever heard of the First Amendment?

 

I think I get your point, but you're making a blanket assumption about a lot of Evengelical Christians/churches.

No person, or church, is perfect, and that's what ends up tainting, or completely derailing, all these kinds of discussions. Because unless someone/something is perfect, they're considered irrelevant, and totally irredeemable, and as if "Christian" is some kind of curse word. It's ironic, actually. But the "what-about...?" syndrome definitely gets in the way of anything good or productive, and just shuts them down.

 

The campaign/push to narrowly define “evangelical Christians” by specific right-wing political aims has been successful. Most of the evangelical Christians I know - and it’s what they are - tilt way left on just about every political issue but one. Elevation Church - which produces some of the most popular worship music today - is “evangelical.” Quite frankly I have issues with some of that operation, but it is evangelical and it doesn’t neatly conform to a Democrat’s prevailing view of the label.