“We thank you for the upcoming election, Lord — or caucus, as we call it in Iowa,” said Hundley, speaking from the sanctuary of his evangelical Christian church in his slight Texas drawl as his parishioners bowed their heads.
“It doesn’t matter what our opinion is,” he went on. “It’s really what’s your opinion that matters. But you’ve given us the privilege of being able to exercise a beautiful gift. The gift of vote. We thank you for that.”
While Hundley stops short of suggesting to his parishioners which candidate divine guidance should lead them to support, he is among more than 300 pastors and other faith leaders who’ve been described as supporters by former President Donald Trump’s campaign. It’s a message that some members of Hundley’s First Church of God have taken to heart, saying their faith informs their intention to caucus for Trump.
Ron Betts, a 72-year-old Republican who said he plans to caucus for “Trump all the way,” said he felt the former president “exemplified what Jesus would do.”
“Iowa’s conservatives pretend their faith says whatever they feel like when voting, and some say it leads them to Cheetos.”
Thou shall licketh the orange from thyne fingers in holy glory, sayeth the Lord.
Ezekiel 29:17
Its because they’re Christian Nationalists.
They don’t think of it as our country, they think of it as their country that was stolen by secularism and “wokeness.” Their version of religion means they must rule at the top of the theocratic hierarchy and force the rest of us to live under a system where women are subservient, sexual minorities are persecuted, and the church writes the law.
And if they successfully turn America into a theocracy then they’ll start picking other countries to “liberate” for Jesus.
Not hard to imagine TX sending out “Cruz aides” (say that fast a few times) to spread the love of the Lord. They may need some special
inquisitionsinquiries to find anyone who undermines their righteous cause.
WWJD?
According to these people He’d lie, cheat, steal and rape his way to power - then He’d con a few people into beating and murdering others while committing insurrection against a democratically-elected gov’t.
Sounds like Supply-side Jesus.
Sweet reference. I totally forgot about that 😂
I guess it makes sense that a religion full of rape and incest would lead them to Trump??
“It’s A bible”
As a former Christian, I still can’t believe how many of these people never even read that book they’re so fond of. Not a god damn clue in their heads if they think Trump is anything “Christ like”. He does in many ways resemble an anti-christ though, so I could see the Armageddon accelerationists being supporters for their own twisted reasons
Dude, look up Trump + signs of antichrist, its unreal
Seriously. I know that every president has their own laundry list of “OMG signs of the anti-christ”! However, trump is so on point its actually unsettling. Not a whole lot of stretching required for trump to be the legit anti-christ.
The first time I heard the article, I nearly fell off my dinosaur. Like fr
Haha, maybe the photo-op with the upside down Bible wasn’t an accident
I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. ― Susan B. Anthony
Get fucked religious people, I’m sick of your delusional life. Go somewhere else and fuck it all up, you aren’t wanted here.
Problem is that people can no longer tell the difference between evangelical Christians and the Republican Party. Evangelicals complain that Christians are hated and persecuted. But people don’t hate Christians and they certainly don’t want to persecute anyone. However, many people hate the Republican Party. And when you can’t tell the difference between the Republican Party and evangelicals, they are hit with hate by proxy.
https://news.gallup.com/opinion/polling-matters/324410/religious-group-voting-2020-election.aspx
“The AP VoteCast survey shows that 81% of White evangelical Protestant voters went for Trump this year, compared with 18% who voted for Biden. The Edison exit polls estimate that 76% of White evangelicals voted for Trump, 24% for Biden.”
There might be a technical difference between Evangelicals and the Republican Party, but there ain’t much of one.
The GOP is a criminal conspiracy to elevate their own figurehead above the reach of politically-actionable law and order. There is no practicable difference between the American Fascist and the partisan Republican. There has not been since the southern strategy. Politicized Christianity is a declaration of intent.
Since you missed it, get fucked christians.
Get fucked religious people, I’m sick of your delusional life. Go somewhere else and fuck it all up, you aren’t wanted here.
I actually want all kinds of different people, as diverse perspectives lead to improved outcomes for everyone.
I just want those people to also accept one another.
Plenty of religious people I know actually are kind and generous and accepting. Their religion isn’t a cudgel to be wielded to silence and command those who think differently, but rather a guide and solace for their own lives.
It’s when religion becomes a worship of the religion itself, a veneration of the rules and structure rather than of the beliefs, that it becomes a problem. And unfortunately that’s what we often see in a large portion of religious folks around the world throughout history. Where the religion becomes a tool to control populations, a path to power, a virtue to signal, rather than a living faith.
But I caution you against hatred of religion for its own sake. We must be intolerant of intolerance, but not intolerant of religion itself.
I stand by my comment.
Religious people can get fucked.
Plain and simple. I don’t care about your delusions or perspective because it’s based on false information.
How dare you insult their imaginary friend!
Ask me how many fucks I give. It rhymes with zero.
Ask me how many fucks I give. It rhymes with zero.
Nero? Antihero? Fearow?
Surely you don’t mean “zero,” rhyming a word with itself is just lazy. ;)
You are correct, that is lazy :)
I still give zero fucks about peoples delusions.
What a backwards shithole this place sounds like.
If you want Iowa to look neat and logical you’d have to reverse so much of the place it would have to be called ‘Awoi’.
that’s america all right
Are American Christians not able to tell the difference between their internal monlogue and divine guidance, or what?
It’s crazy how God is always telling these people the things that reinforce their biases and never things like “Go help Habitat For Humanity.”
There is no difference. They think there’s a difference. Got it backwards.
Finding a definitive answer on whether or not any god exists is way above most of our pay grades.
But even if I were religious, I don’t see myself thinking “maybe chili tonight for dinner?” And responding “okay, thanks God”.
We literally have a scene from a children’s movie here in Sweden from our famous author Astrid Lindgren where exactly that’s the joke, the kid answers their own prayer asking if they can take more cake
There is credible speculation that our internal monologue is what started the idea of God in the first place.
American Evangelicalism is a tulpamancy cult. I was raised Evangelical, sent to a private Evangelical school, and made to attend several Evangelical churches until adulthood. In all of these communities, it was universally believed that God directly speaks to each person through a special voice in their head. I was very strongly pressured to find, listen to, and obey this voice, and made to feel like I was not a “true believer” for being unable to channel it into glossolalia.
Tulpa:
“Modern practitioners, who call themselves “tulpamancers”, use the term to refer to a type of willed imaginary friend which practitioners consider to be sentient and relatively independent. Modern practitioners predominantly consider tulpas to be a psychological rather than a paranormal concept. The idea became an important belief in Theosophy.”
This is a huge point that should be talked about more. Tulpamancy isn’t pseudoscience, it’s very real and religion, especially Christianity, uses it to great effect. The process of finding and cultivating the “voice of God” is the exact process used to create an intentional tulpa of any number of various other types, there are entire internet communities about it. A little bit of research with this context in mind is extremely eye opening.
They shift attribution depending on whatever is politically convenient. Religion is America’s original sin and those traitors know it.
Religion is America’s original sin
It’s worse than that. Religion was co-opted into the maintenance of slavery, and it caused schisms in multiple sects, including the Baptists, Presbyterians, and Methodists
Generation after generation, Southern pastors adapted their theology to thrive under a terrorist state. Principled critics were exiled or murdered, leaving voices of dissent few and scattered. Southern Christianity evolved in strange directions under ever-increasing isolation. Preachers learned to tailor their message to protect themselves. If all you knew about Christianity came from a close reading of the New Testament, you’d expect that Christians would be hostile to wealth, emphatic in protection of justice, sympathetic to the point of personal pain toward the sick, persecuted and the migrant, and almost socialist in their economic practices. None of these consistent Christian themes served the interests of slave owners, so pastors could either abandon them, obscure them, or flee.
What developed in the South was a theology carefully tailored to meet the needs of a slave state. Biblical emphasis on social justice was rendered miraculously invisible. A book constructed around the central metaphor of slaves finding their freedom was reinterpreted. Messages which might have questioned the inherent superiority of the white race, constrained the authority of property owners, or inspired some interest in the poor or less fortunate could not be taught from a pulpit. Any Christian suggestion of social justice was carefully and safely relegated to “the sweet by and by” where all would be made right at no cost to white worshippers. In the forge of slavery and Jim Crow, a Christian message of courage, love, compassion, and service to others was burned away.
That is an amazing read! Thanks for the history lesson!
Ron Betts, a 72-year-old Republican who said he plans to caucus for “Trump all the way,” said he felt the former president “exemplified what Jesus would do.”
And lo, did our Lord grabbeth Mary Magdalene by the pussy…
This is what bothers me the most. I’ve heard the “he’s an imperfect vessel” before, which is kind of hard to argue with, albeit super convenient that allows you to support whoever you want.
But this? This is just madness. He exemplified what Jesus would do? How did this guy even get himself to this position? What bible is he reading?
He shamed her for the allowance
Yet praised her for her obedience
If your religion leads you to trump, you need a new religion or no religion at all
This shit is so aggravating, it’s like how tf do you interpret the Bible so badly that you wind up following the guy that checks every box for being the antichrist?
It’s the same thing with all my fellow veterans who follow Trump, they all claim he’s the best leader, yet I and similarly minded veterans have to wonder wtf leadership classes these idiots got that they would think Trump qualifies for any kind of leadership position, because he absolutely does not.
you realize most of these people have never even read the bible, right?
they just like the sense of authority and power claiming faith gives them.
Which is wild because it seems like every former Christian atheist has read that book cover to cover.
Uneducated mind virus.
They only listen to the “right things” Trump says because they only hear it indirectly from secondhand sources who filter out all the crazy and evil parts. Lots of people hate critical thinking and love being spoonfed what they should do and believe. Ignorance is bliss and they fully embrace it because they hate confrontation, feelings of helplessness, and guilt (if they ever realize they’re on the wrong side).
Of course, this doesn’t include all Trump voters; this does describe a large portion of the church-goers though, especially the older folk. This is my anecdotal opinion from when I used to regularly attend church a few years ago before I became an atheist. There are a lot of good, but really stupid people in Christian churches who will actively avoid anyone trying to burst their bubble. The only real way to fight it is convince the people feeding them information to change their tune, which is basically impossible. The best you can do is swap them out for new people who aren’t intentionally manipulative and misleading. Unfortunately, those kinds of people are naturally attracted to the position due to how trusting the “flock” can be.
As a theistic Christian, if Jesus were to come back right now he would slap the shit out of trump on national television.
There is no excuse for anyone calling themselves followers of Christ to think anything but pity and regret for the life cheetolini has led.
if Jesus were to come back right now he would slap the shit out of trump on national television.
And then tell him to turn the other cheek so he could slap that too.
Oh, but you probably don’t know about Supply Side Jesus, the new Jesus. He’d be right up there with the fat walrus.
Al Franken is a gem and him stepping down lessened all of congress.
That said, I sincerely with zero irony or humor want to start a reformation that reminds conservatives what Jesus was really about.
I don’t think Jesus was a theistic Christian
He probably wouldn’t even know the word Christos. Since he was from the sticks and almost certainly monolingual.
I beg to differ, it’s certain he spoke both Hebrew and Aramaic. Additionally, the label of ‘the annointed one’ was given to several false messiahs contemporary to Jesus’s time.
Additionally, romans were already using the sobriquet ‘Little Christs’ to mock his followers before the Crucifixion.
He certainly did not speak Hebrew as it was a dead language ant that point. Aramaic descended from Hebrew and was the spoken language. It’s like saying Italians speak Latin because they’re catholic and their language derives from Latin. We even have him speaking Aramaic on the cross. And if the false messiahs were as provincial as jesus they were illiterate. What is your source for “little Christs”? Edit: and it goes without saying that christos is Greek, and while evangelicals like to say that jbird spoke koine, it’s wishful thinking intended to wave away textual inconsistencies.
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Hebrew did not become a dead language until a century and a half after Jesus’s Crucifixion. It was still the scholarly and prayer language contemporary to his time and as he has been directly titled ‘Rabboni’, an exemplar of ‘Rabbi’ and only used with highly respected priestly scholarship, it is ridiculous to claim he did not speak Hebrew.
What is your source for “little Christs”
The concept of being anointed was near universal in both cultures.
Hebrew: המשׁיה Hamashiach means ‘The anointed one’ and was a title of reverence reserved for the coming Messiah, in fact the word messiah has its root and origin in Hamashiach.
Greek: Χριστός Christos ‘The one (lit) rubbed with oil’, the same root can be found in christen, which is named after the act of daubing the child’s head with oil, known as Chrism also takes its name from the act of applying oil (also known as myrrh)
Before Christianity, Greeks used the root when referring to anointing ceremonies for contest victors and assuming high office, so there was already a connotation with ‘someone special getting oil poured/rubbed onto them’.
Since both cultures had existing concepts for ‘putting oil on someone special’ it was only natural that the sobriquet arise contemporary to the time that he was ALREADY being called Hamashiach. And in fact was part of the reason he was brought before Pilate as claiming to be a king, as his anointing by John the Baptist was almost deliberately misconstrued as a claim for kingship by the Roman occupiers.
Ofc he was theistic … he was a Jew.
And ofc he wasn’t a Christian because that religion only developed because of his death.
That’s my point, he was Jewish, not a Christian.
he felt the former president “exemplified what Jesus would do.”
Funny thing, that statement basically comes as close to the only unforgivable sin Jesus speaks about, ‘denying the miracles of the Holy Spirit’.
If he’s saying Jesus acted like trump, that’s a direct denial of nearly everything Jesus did and said.
I feel like Ron Betts has never actually read any of the Jesus parts of the Bible.
If you think your faith leads you to Trump, then you’ve betrayed basically every tenant of your faith to get to that conclusion.
but then again, these people never read their bibles, so they have no idea what their faith actually is besides what the hateful, manipulative and money grubbing preachers spout at them to believe.
