It’s Mike Pence and the Pentecostal Evangelicals who really do want to turn America into their version of “The Handmaid’s Tale”… And the lazy, ignorant secular media don’t get it!
It’s Mike Pence and the Pentecostal Evangelicals who really do want to turn America into their version of “The Handmaid’s Tale”… And the lazy, ignorant secular media don’t get it!
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I’m curious about this theocracy business. Was there a theocracy in America when abortion was illegal? Was there a theocracy when marriage was heterosexual only? I don’t recall anyone claiming that a theocracy existed in 1970. Why would going back to those laws mean a theocracy now?
It was a Theocracy back then, more so than now. It has never been fully either / or… but separation of state and religion has been a key element to our governmental system from its inception. It helps keep freedom of all religionious persuasions alive while also making sure the government is not biased by religion, or a religion when setting laws for all. We want moral individuals guiding our government, but not people who claim God told them to e.g. Go to war and so that is what we must do. It is a balance between beliefs and lifestyles and acknowledging that
tolerance religious or otherwise, is as key to our success as individual freedoms.
Having laws that are moral does not mean there is a theocracy. We disagree on what is moral and what isn’t. That is why America is so divided. Many people have rejected morality as defined by God (the God of the Bible) and tried to substitute another “morality”. That is how we got legal abortion and same-sex marriage.
The imaginary deity depicted in the Bible is not a moral character (genocide, Biblical sanctioned misogyny, etc) and it’s good that modern society has rejected much of so-called Biblical morality (stoning, slavery, etc). If a woman wants to terminate your pregnancy, busybodies like yourself should mind your own business. And there NOTHING even remotely immoral about same-sex marriage. Folks like you use the Bible to obsess over other people private sexual relationships.
Edit to comment above. And there is NOTHING even remotely immoral about same sex marriage. Get over it.
joelyn, What moral standard are you using to determine that the God of the Bible is immoral, and that same-sex marriage is moral? And why is that standard the right one?
I grew up & still live in an area in the south that is inundated with pentecostalism & hard-core evangelicalism. I was raised in a staunch Southern Baptist Church & also attended a Pentecostal/Charismatic church later in life. Hate to say it, but everything you say is true. I think you may be talking about “Dominionism” when you talk about churches preaching about taking over to make way for Jesus returning. My last church preached this. The way they try to do this is by “worming” their way into government. Whether this is done consciously or unconsciously by electing certain leaders who represent their religious views I’m not sure. I think they are blind to the terrible implications that could occur by trying to marry their extreme religion with government. Some of them really think they are doing God’s will. I still hear people around town comparing Trump to St. Paul, King Cyrus, Nebuchadnezzar, etc. Whenever they hear something that goes against what they want to hear about him(Trump), they call for people to “pray against these Satanic attacks towards Trump.”
I left my last church, in the middle of a sermon, when I realized just how self-deluded they had become. It was similar to the moment you talked about in your book Crazy For God. I felt as if I had been living in an evangelical twilight zone. It was like I had awaken in just a split second and saw just how ugly things had become. It is great to be out of it.
I just wrote a comment, and upon trying to post, got an error message that this website is unavailable. That has happened a few times lately. If my comment ends up getting duplicated, please delete one of them… Anyway, thank you, Frank, for your blog posts, especially this one! I’ve been saying the same thing and nobody will listen. Everybody says I am exaggerating or paranoid when I tell them that the Religious Right, as represented by guys like Mike Pence and Jeff Sessions, would impose essentially “Christian Sharia Law” in the U.S. and they are using Trump to advance their agenda. Keep up the good work, Frank, and all the best to you and your family.
“never changed a damn thing” – Hello, how do you think we got into the situation we are in now?! Apparently you haven’t read Frank’s books, e.g. “Crazy for God” in which he describes how he helped create the Religious Right, which is now close to achieving its goal of taking over the U.S. government. We can only hope that his efforts will have at least as much effect in our current situation. Somebody has to stop this insanity and Frank is in a good position to help do so. Who are you, the Happiness Police? Yes, Frank deserves to be happy, and speaking for myself, we’re not happy watching our country go to hell in a handbasket.
Thank you for this clear insight on the variations within the Christian ‘evangelical’ movement. You tell it like it is with no beating around the bush bullshit.
I have worked with these people and on occasion had to hear their ideas on why the U.S. has fallen out of gods favor. Their opinions matched the swastika tattoos. A great deal about Jesus etc. Don’t know what religion they were .I never even cared to ask and found them scary enough to avoid.
Seriously–‘christian sharia law?’ Based on what? Throwing all religions into the mix and pulling this idea out because it fits your anti-religious narrative? Sounds like a bunch of fear mongering to me. SMH