One of the most important things you can do as an ally and as fighter of fascism is stop laughing at evangelical Christians and realize they mean every single word they say. They’re not funny, they’re absolutely terrifying. Take them extremely seriously and act accordingly.
"they're so stupid and hypocritical. don't they realize—?"
no, the Christian Nationalists are not particularly stupid, and they aren't even hypocritical
they just don't believe all of us are fully human, and they worship power
Yeah, I've had so many people tell me I hurt my credibility when I call evangelicals in cabinet-level offices or heading federal agencies apocalyptic death cultists wielding policy to bring about the end of the world.
It is not a joke, and acting like it is makes it harder to discuss it seriously.
It’s terrifying that mostly these folks are not taken seriously. If they were there’d be protestors in front of every church right now. But they’re silly so no one takes them seriously.
What’s wild is that Christ literally (well scripture but you know what I mean) says “none shall know the hour” so you can’t just “summon” the apocalypse like some bunch of demon worshippers in a movie.
But, then, paying attention to what Christ said isn’t a big priority for that crowd.
Also…
…it doesn’t mean you can’t get a hell of a lot of people killed following that messed up goal, which they’re pretty indifferent to since after all, they’re not “people” to them as noted upthread.
That was certainly the point where I gave up on trying to talk to the nutcases, they prefer the shroom tripping apocalypse to the books that claim to actually quote their supposed ”lord”.
the wickedness of this world is caused by those who have decided that their god and their prophecies are the only ones deserving of life
"you shall have no other gods before me" was a threat. if gods subsist on faith, a god threatening all others with irrelevance is a deicidal one
Even more than that, I think they’re hoping to be the generation that gets raptured directly into Heaven without dying first. So if they can force God to kick off Armageddon a little sooner, it’s His divine will anyway so he won’t be mad at them, right? /s
I've decided to call them "rapture activists."
It's not enough for them to go to heaven when they die. They have to have everyone else see them go to heaven -- to know that they're the super-special people and you're not.
I wish we knew how many Pompeo and Flynn left lying about.
The push towards the christian Apocalypse is scary, but not scary. I am reassured in Christ Jesus and his coming in Glory. But I am not pleased that this genocide is happening. The Kings of the East will cross the dried Euphrates soon. Greece and turkey will soon go to war.
maybe you'd think it was more scary if you were on the side of those being genocided by your purity cult instead of on the side that wants to genocide the world to purify it
The zionists/evangelicals want the third temple rebuilt. This will bring about the lawless one who will deceive the evangelicals he will be seen as a peace maker, and offer spectacle and miracles, he will pronounce himself GOD. Trust no one who does this. Jesus and the Gospel are the only truths.
I think you might be referring to politicians and other control freaks who either identify as Christian to lever their cause, or to slur the Christian idea with badness.
Either way, nobody can decide when the end comes, and many have tried to bring it on, or make people believe its here
Hypocrisy itself is just...
Okay, at some point you MUST stop going "LOL haha you contradicted yourself by your own logic!!!" and maybe realize that hypocrisy is itself the point.
It is a show off power, my rules are not your rules. They change rhetoric all the time and folks just roll with it.
i think about this a lot, with all rightwing people. online dems love to dunk on them for their “hypocrisy” when they’re actually totally logically consistent, they just believe that there should be different rules for different types of people.
“oh you think abortion should be illegal for us, but you think your mistress should be allowed to get one???” yes, that’s literally what they think, and it’s because they think of you as the wrong type of person. it only feels like hypocrisy if you believe rules should be fair, but they just don’t.
Many people can’t understand that Christian nationalists (and the far right in general) do not think like them at ALL and thus can’t be understood in terms of their own inner experiences. See “the right can’t meme” / “right wingers can’t do comedy”
The Bible, as a source document, is a lot like The Dress.
What someone perceives is being represented by the artifact depends a lot on their assumptions, knowledge, mood, culture, age, and gender.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dress
I was raised in it. They are deadly serious. It is not an act. My father disowned me rather than defy it. They will cause unmitigated harm any time they seize power, and they indeed already have done so.
I know how that feels. My parents disowned me for five years when they discovered I was gay. It was devastating. In the end, my father was able to bring about change but my mom had trouble until the end.
I wasn't quite _raised_ in it, but my parent's best daycare option when I was young was with an Evangelical church.
I had other reasons for walking away from my mother when I turned 18.
I've been warning people about this for 37 years now, more or less.
Yep. Lying is bad, except when in service of gaining political power, in which case the lies ultimately serve God, so it’s ok actually.
For a case study in this, Chris Luxon, PM of Aotearoa NZ.
When someone genuinely, literally sees the world outside their own walls as inherently corrupted and evil, they can't be shamed for breaking their own rules, because they believe the whole entire point of those rules is to protect THEM from US, and never the other way around.
This
Plus I do wonder what proportion of political evangelicals are sociopathic, or if ppl with typical levels of affective empathy can *become* that way after being trained by their church.
These churches seem to reward those who don't feel a strong sense of shame.
"They engage in wild hypocrisy as an act of domination, adhering to something demonstrably untrue out of spite, because they believe that power belongs to those with the greatest will to take it, and what greater sign of will than the ability to override truth?"
Dan Olson
youtu.be/JTfhYyTuT44?...
Not religious, but anyone who lies for their Lord is breaking the 9th commandment; “Thou shalt not bear false witness.”
Jesus must be very disappointed in quite a few of his “followers.”
I’ve listened to experts in this divide evangelical Christians into different types. Cultural (grew up with it, still in it), devout (knows Bible really well) & political. This last group is especially mendacious and dangerous.
Yep, and from what little of that damned book (bible) I remember, Jesus was never overly political—and was DEAD SERIOUS about loving your neighbor and caring for the vulnerable.
He would most likely be horrified by Christian Nationalism.
❤️❤️ I’m so sorry I can’t even imagine what that must have been like. Fact checking a book that includes their beliefs about the treatment of children was excruciating.
I've floated between dark humor and rage over the years as I've processed things they did to us and want to do to everyone else, but I'm pretty much just all rage the past couple years. Seeing the terrible mixture of QAnon and Christianity we grew up with becoming mainstreamed is horrifying.
