Actually, what these candidates assure their followers is that one can be a devout Christian (which seems for them to center on eliminating abortion and saying “Merry Christmas” rather than “Happy Holidays) without manifesting any of the paradigm Christian virtues like humility and peacefulness. As long as we reject pornography and eliminate women’s rights to control their own bodies, it is perfectly Christian to avoid any critique of vast inequalities in power and wealth, be verbally aggressive and militaristic, and celebrate “American exceptionalism” while being openly contemptuous of other nations and cultures.

If someone argues that it is just not possible to combine Christianity and modern society, that Christianity is a matter of private faith and personal devotion, I would offer two thoughts.

First, if Christianity is a matter of private faith, then perhaps candidates for president should keep it private. We don’t need to know any essentially personal facts about them, only about those beliefs and actions which would shape them as political leaders. If Christianity is really too demanding, extreme, or idealistic to shape public life, let these men stop pretending it shapes theirs.

Second, however, while it is no doubt very difficult to combine Christianity and modern political life, some people—some Christians—offer us pretty good examples of trying to do so. Martin Luther King is one case. Any cursory examination of his statements and actions reveals devotion to ideals of freedom, democracy, equal rights, care for the poor, humility, respect for enemies, and peacemaking. Dorothy Day, who went from being a communist to being a devout Catholic, is another example. Her passionate concern for the destitute and relentless opposition to American militarism was joined with a gentle spirit and an open mind.

The upshot of all this is that perhaps it is time for Republican candidates to stop using Christianity as a club to beat up democratic opponents, or latte-sipping, environmentalist and feminist college professors like me, and start using it as a rigorous task master of their own behavior. And that it is also time for serious Christians to ask themselves if the public displays of their religion by politicians actually further its public presence—or make Christianity’s spiritual demands seem trivial to non-existent.

I am impelled to write you concerning the responsibilities laid upon you to live as Christians in the midst of an unChristian world. That is what I had to do. That is what every Christian has to do. But I understand that there are many Christians in America who give their ultimate allegiance to man-made systems and customs. They are afraid to be different. Their great concern is to be accepted socially. They live by some such principle as this: “everybody is doing it, so it must be alright.” For so many of you Morality is merely group consensus. In your modern sociological lingo, the mores are accepted as the right ways. You have unconsciously come to believe that right is discovered by taking a sort of Gallup poll of the majority opinion. How many are giving their ultimate allegiance to this way.

But American Christians, I must say to you as I said to the Roman Christians years ago, “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Or, as I said to the Phillipian Christians, “Ye are a colony of heaven.” This means that although you live in the colony of time, your ultimate allegiance is to the empire of eternity. You have a dual citizenry. You live both in time and eternity; both in heaven and earth. Therefore, your ultimate allegiance is not to the government, not to the state, not to nation, not to any man-made institution. The Christian owes his ultimate allegiance to God, and if any earthly institution conflicts with God’s will it is your Christian duty to take a stand against it. You must never allow the transitory evanescent demands of man-made institutions to take precedence over the eternal demands of the Almighty God.

I understand that you have an economic system in America known as Capitalism. Through this economic system you have been able to do wonders. You have become the richest nation in the world, and you have built up the greatest system of production that history has ever known. All of this is marvelous. But Americans, there is the danger that you will misuse your Capitalism. I still contend that money can be the root of all evil. It can cause one to live a life of gross materialism. I am afraid that many among you are more concerned about making a living than making a life. You are prone to judge the success of your profession by the index of your salary and the size of the wheel base on your automobile, rather than the quality of your service to humanity.

The misuse of Capitalism can also lead to tragic exploitation. This has so often happened in your nation. They tell me that one tenth of one percent of the population controls more than forty percent of the wealth. Oh America, how often have you taken necessities from the masses to give luxuries to the classes. If you are to be a truly Christian nation you must solve this problem. You cannot solve the problem by turning to communism, for communism is based on an ethical relativism and a metaphysical materialism that no Christian can accept. You can work within the framework of democracy to bring about a better distribution of wealth. You can use your powerful economic resources to wipe poverty from the face of the earth. God never intended for one group of people to live in superfluous inordinate wealth, while others live in abject deadening poverty. God intends for all of his children to have the basic necessities of life, and he has left in this universe “enough and to spare” for that purpose. So I call upon you to bridge the gulf between abject poverty and superfluous wealth.

jonjonlewis:

You know, shit like this is the reason I don’t like Christianity.

Rob Bell is the most inspiring man I have ever seen and he is the only person I will listen to talk about God.

I could pull many Bible verses out about not calling someone for having a speck in your eye when you have a plank in your own, how the way you judge others is the way God will judge you, and how you are not suppose to call someone out publically unless you have talked to them privately. But people who make stuff like this don’t care.

All they are about is being important. And they hide behind bullshit excuses like “I’m doing Gods work” or “Jesus said the world would hate me” when in reality they are just self obsessed kids with a blog.

Rob Bell is a better man that anyone I know. The person who made this simply needs to take the plank out there eye

Amen to this. Bell knows his stuff, even if he parses it into “layman’s terms” for easier comprehension. He’s certainly a more respectable theologian than, say, Mark Driscoll or Joseph Prince. In fact, I credit Bell for helping my friends convince me that I’m not an utter heretic, or “unChristian.”

It seems that some poor radio producer over in the UK thought it was actually a good idea to give Mark Driscoll some airtime on the show Unbelievable recently. An hour of it, in fact.

It went about as well as you’d expect, really.

I have to give some kudos to Driscoll. It takes either a massive dose of self-confidence, or a level of stupidity unheard of since ancient times, to claim that all the preachers in Britain are “cowards who aren’t telling the truth.” It takes a whole other level of confidence and idiocy to continue insulting the female pastor of the host’s church, after he reveals that his pastor is also his wife.

As amusing as watching Mr. Driscoll stampede over any sense of propriety and tact may be, the priorities he reveals while doing so are less entertaining. In fact, it becomes obvious that he’s obsessed with masculinity, the male gender, and the size of his church, in that order. By the time he makes evident the fact that he only believes in an eternal conscious Hell because it’s more manly, the sheer theological horror sets in. Listening to this auditory train wreck of mangled, misogynistic theology, however, led me to a truly startling realization.

Mark Driscoll doesn’t worship Jesus of Nazareth.

For someone who proclaims Christ as loudly (and bluntly) and Mr. Driscoll does, this seems like quite the stretch. Yet, all of Driscoll’s same theology revolves around a core of brute-force supremacy. He extols MMA cage fighting as soundly Christian, he’s decried the idea of Jesus as a “guy in a dress…who would never hurt anyone.” He explicitly states that his idea of God is that of an entity who “protects, defends, and disciplines.”

Indeed, Driscoll openly admits to everyone who will listen that his theology idolizes the concepts of strength, dominance, and power above all else. To him, mercy is for the weak, women are at best submissive “partners” and wives, and life is a quest for the “glory” of Christ.

Yet who was Jesus of Nazareth? Certainly not a conqueror or a fighter—not the Jesus who claimed that the meek and the peacemaking were blessed. Neither was he a dominator; not he who preached that one should pray for one’s enemies and endure their torments without retaliation. He carried no sword, and indeed, submitted to his captors even though his disciples were willing to defend him with violence.

Those same followers would later preach the Gospel to women and (gasp!) eunuchs, would state the gentle and patient nature of love in Christ—and would claim that in Christ there were no differences between male and female, Greek or Jew, slave or free man. The truth of Christ, as expressed in the New Testament, is an utter condemnation of Driscoll’s love for the brutal, the coarse, and the unkind.

What Driscoll worships, then is not Jesus of Nazareth, but an idol—one that bears more resemblance to the God-Emperors of Rome whose servants crucified Jesus Christ. In love with the mythos of “true masculinity,” Driscoll has created a false Christ, a pale-skinned King with sword in hand and covered in bloody glory, to justify his desires. An attractive idol, yes, and a tempting one.

But it’s not Jesus of Nazareth.

(Author’s note: If you have the stomach for it, you can listen to the entirety of the interview here, and read an excellent blogged reaction to it here.)

jonjonlewis:

hegeomai:

No.

This is where I draw the line.

This verse says that we are more than conquerers over “trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword”… not the rival football team. Go read Romans 8.

This is what’s making the media throw a fit. God doesn’t have a favorite football team. Surely He will reward Mr. Tebow for his faithfulness, but He’s not rigging the scores, Angels in the Outfield style. And if you think He is, please give me evidence for why God is obligated to give His children prosperity and divinely inspired plays for confessing with their mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord.

^^

As if I didn’t dislike Tebow and his acolytes enough. The Bible is very clear about God’s priorities, as displayed by Christ: the poor and sick, the oppressed and disadvantaged, and those doing their level best to make the world a better place one person at a time.

I seriously doubt a football game, played in a multi-million dollar stadium sponsored by mega-corporations and played by the equivalent of modern-day gladiators, really hits the radar.

cognitivedissonance:

kari-kurofai:

hackedmotionsensors:

pompiest:

labocat:

Taken from the Honest Girl Scouts campaign. For a campaign trying to get people /not/ to buy cookies and /not/ support the GSUSA, this is doing an awful lot to suddenly make me want /to/ support the GSUSA. (and I’m saying this a a former Girl Scout of about 6 years who hasn’t bought cookies in years because they’re too expensive). 

I see so much acceptance here, and especially in a time in children’s lives where acceptance is so important, taking that away from them is just cruel.

I love the Girl Scout organization.

I was a Brownie through Senior Girl Scout, even when my Senior troop in high school was reduced to just me and one other girl b/c it just wasn’t that cool. I went to Girl Scout camp every summer, took trips w/ my troop (most memorable being to Idaho w/ a thousand other Girl Scouts), earned badges, held all positions (secretary, treasurer, vice president, and president) in my troop over the years and then I became a co-troop leader when my old leader went on to set up a Brownie troop. (and let me tell you, that shit looks good on applications when you’re just coming out of high school.)

Girl Scouts taught me a lot about people and I just want to encourage everyone to look into helping a troop. whether it’s by buying cookies, or just donating what you can (Girl Scout cookie stands accept donations or if you can’t eat the cookies, you can purchase a box to be donated to someone else). volunteering or looking into becoming a leader/co-leader or if you’re young enough, look into joining! OR IF YOU HAVE KIDS, LOOK INTO FINDING THEM A LOCAL TROOP. when you find a good troop, it’s a blast. I mean that truly and sincerely, I am still friends with people from my old troops and I have nothing but good memories of Girl Scouting.

SO I KNOW THOSE COOKIES ARE EXPENSIVE ($4 a box, I think it’s up to now?) but 70% of that profit—the proceeds not used to pay the baker—go to the local Girl Scout council and yes, each troop gets a portion of that.

COOKIE SEASON STARTS TOMORROW in most places so go find your local troops and support an incredibly worthy cause!

and wow, I’m sorry for the word vomit, but I grew up in Girl Scouting and I hate to think that some people think it’s not a good group to support. I think any organization whose ultimate goal is to help and educate all girls is the best kind of organization to put your money and/or time into.

I never needed incentive to buy Girl Scout cookies. But now I can buy them with 100% good feelings about their organization and their causes. Way to go Scouts!!

BUY ALL THE COOKIES

29 days ‘til cookie season in Laramie, Wyo. Buying lots o’ cookies.

Definitely going to have a house full of cookies this year.

By the way, the scare quotes around “information-based” make me laugh. Also, the idea of it somehow being worse if the sex ed is “explicit.” I’m sorry, if your sexual education curriculum doesn’t get explicit at some point, I doubt that it’s very much of an education!

gaywrites:

EricJames Borges, a 19-year-old from California, committed suicide yesterday after a history of being bullied for his sexuality that included being kicked out of his house and even an attempted exorcism performed by his mother to “cure” him. 

He was a volunteer for The Trevor Project and made an It Gets Better video, which you can also see at the link above. He worked hard to make life better for kids who went through the same struggles he did and was committed to the cause of equality. 

Nothing will ever make this okay. Send your thoughts and prayers to his friends and family; he was truly a beautiful person. 

How long are we going to stand for this, folks? How long are we going to stand for good young men and women being driven to their deaths by close-mindedness and bigoted religion?

Every time something like this happens, it’s one more death on the hands of all the people, especially Christians, who continue tolerating the overwhelming, institutionalized message of hate and discrimination against LGBT teens. And I, for one, have had just about enough of it.

antiproflag:

gaywrites:

Oh, lordy. 

In the Republican debate from last Tuesday, candidates were (inevitably) asked about how LGBT people can form committed relationships, presumably in the absence of marriage equality. Naturally, the candidates turned the question around, arguing that Christians are persecuted more harshly in this country than LGBT people. 

Rick Perry brought up the infamous war on religion, using President Obama’s anti-DOMA stance as evidence. Mitt Romney whined about how Catholic charities are no longer state-sponsored because they discriminate against same-sex couples, and our best pal Rick Santorum suggested children would be better raised by people in jail than by two parents of the same sex. 

“The bigotry question goes both ways,” declared Newt Gingrich. “And there is a lot more anti-Christian bigotry today than there is concern on the other side, and none of it gets covered by the news media.”

I honestly can’t take these people seriously anymore. Have they been treated as second-class citizens? Have they lost any of their basic rights as Americans and as human beings? Didn’t think so. Any ridicule of these individuals is rooted in the hateful words they spew, not the higher power they worship. 

I never understood how people think this argument actually makes sense.

I don’t understand it either. I have spent my life dealing with the sheer power of religion, in culture and otherwise. And they say they’re discriminated against?

I don’t buy it, and I am Christian.