Tag Archives: evangelicals

Under The Influence

Posted on by under Political commentary, Re-blogs, religion, Social commentary

A few weeks ago, I shared a piece by Jeff about religion from a personal perspective. Today, I would like to share a piece he wrote around that time for an online publication that I think you will find quite interesting! Thank you, Jeff, for this post and your permission to share!

On The Fence Voters

I’d like to share with you an excerpt of a piece I wrote for the online and print publication, The Culture Crush. I’m an occasional contributor to the magazine and the subject matter is something that’s been on my mind a lot lately.

A few weeks back, I wrote a piece called, Religion–A Personal Perspective. In it, I asked you to share some of your own personal experiences as it pertained to religion. I was struck by the wide variety of opinions and life-altering effects of early indoctrination. It was clear to me that religion is, and remains, an important, yet divisive subject in our society.

Around the time I was writing my post for this space, I was also working on a piece for The Culture Crush. But instead of religion in general, this particular piece deals with the history of snake oil salesmen and how we’re…

View original post 656 more words

Too Much Noise …

Posted on by under Free Press Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, religion, Social commentary

There is entirely too much noise these days.  Merriam-Webster defines noise as “loud, confused, or senseless shouting or outcry”, and Wikipedia defines it as “unwanted sound judged to be unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing”.  Both are apt descriptions of what we are experiencing today.  The noise is coming from the White House, it is coming from the GOP, and it is coming from the evangelicals.  Mostly, it is coming from the Fool on the Hill, Donald Trump, and his hired sycophants.  The noise is obnoxious and annoying, but worse, it is dangerous.

Robert Jeffress, an evangelical pastor who, by the way, won Filosofa’s Idiot of the Week award in November 2016 for his bigoted and mindless bleating, is back in the news this week.  He appeared on Fox News’ program Fox and Friends Sunday where he said …

“I don’t pretend to speak for all evangelicals but this week I have been traveling the country and I’ve literally spoken to thousands and thousands of evangelical Christians, I have never seen them more angry over any issue than this attempt to illegitimately remove this president from office, overturn the 2016 election and negate the votes of millions of evangelicals in the process. And they know that the only impeachable offense President Trump has committed was beating Hillary Clinton in 2016. That’s the unpardonable sin for which the Democrats will never forgive him. And I do want to make this prediction this morning: If the Democrats are successful in removing the president from office, I’m afraid it will cause a Civil War-like fracture in this nation from which this country will never heal.”

A ’Civil War-like fracture’?  I would rebut that Donald Trump has intentionally and with purpose caused the divide that is driving people apart in this nation.  He has denigrated everyone in one way or another, except of course his loyal fan base who don’t seem to understand the effect of his words and actions.  But, Mr. Jeffress’ words are dangerous, for some may well see them as a call to action.

The United States is a secular nation … that is, no religion determines policy, but policy is driven by the good of the nation as a whole.  The U.S. Constitution calls for separation of church and state.  And yet, Mr. Jeffress objects to that, as well …

“There is no such thing as a separation of church and state in the Constitution.  We have allowed the secularists, the atheists, the humanists to hijack our Constitution and pervert it into something our forefathers never intended.

And I’m gonna say this. I’m gonna say this, and it may cost me some book sales, but I’m gonna say it anyway. Thank God we have a president like Donald J. Trump who understands that. I don’t like seeing my friend under attack like he is under right now, but I don’t like the prospect of what’s going to happen in America if we allow the left to seize control of this country again.”

‘Scuse me, Mr. Jeffress, but I am in the group that you say have hijacked our Constitution, and I am not taking your words sitting down.  This nation wasn’t founded only for you evangelicals, but for all who live here, regardless of their religious views.  I have worked and paid taxes in this country since I was 13 years old, some 55 years ago.  I am a citizen, though not proud to be at this moment.  I vote … I vote in every election.  I have a voice in the government of this country.  I have taken no less than three graduate-level courses in Constitutional Law.  I have actually read the entire U.S. Constitution … many times … have you?  So just how the Sam Hell do you think I have fewer rights than you and your bigoted followers?

I respect your right to believe as you wish, to follow the tenets of whichever religion you choose, but I’ll be damned if you’re going to take away my rights to have as much say in the governance of this nation as you do.  And frankly, I’m a hell of a lot nicer than you are, for I care about people, about animals, about nature and our planet, whereas the only thing you seem to care about is wealth and your cockeyed religion, even though your interpretation of your religion is about hate, not love.  If I could award you Idiot of the Week a second time, I surely would.

See, folks, this is what all that noise does … it makes us all angry, puts us in fight mode, even when we don’t want to be.  It gives us ulcers, nightmares, and sleepless nights, loss of appetite for food and too much appetite for other substances.  And, perhaps most importantly, it keeps us rattled and distracted so we may not be keeping our eye on the ball as we should.  Perhaps that is the intent?

In addition to Jeffress, we have people starting conspiracy theories that are too idiotic, too inane to even mention.  And it’s not just the crew over at Fox, though they are certainly doing their fair share of it. The republicans are coming out of the woodwork with theories about FBI agents, Adam Schiff, Obama, and others that have absolutely no basis in fact, but … I guess it’s simpler than having to admit that you threw your lot in with a president who is almost certainly guilty of violating the very laws he took an oath to uphold, and who is facing impeachment by, at the very least, the House of Representatives.

There is one part of me that truly wishes the media would stop publishing his every word, would stop covering the fools who are trying to cover his sorry patootie.  Yes, I know … First Amendment rights, need to know, and freedom of the press, which I support fully … 100%.  But, responsible reporting … yes, we need to know what is happening, but I’m not sure we need to know every ignominious, hate-filled bit of rhetoric that Trump tweets.  Most of it is meaningless, almost every word is a lie anyway.  There must surely be room for balance.  If it is relevant or apropos of anything, then yes, we need to know.  But his eternal and meaningless rants do nothing more than rile us all, and that is not healthy for us or for the nation.

Your thoughts?

Evangelicals Have Out-Size Influence In President’s Crafting Of US Foreign Policy

Posted on by under Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Re-blogs

When I read this post by Gronda earlier today, I was most disturbed … as I told Gronda in my comment, this was likely the most disturbing thing I have read in years, and that says a lot! Frankly, while I try never to criticize another’s religion, I have to say that what is described here is not religion — it is insanity! Thank you, Gronda, for the thought-provoking post … and for the nightmares I will surely have tonight!

Gronda Morin

Image result for PHOTOS OF Robert Jeffress

For the rapture end times Evangelical Christian true believers, their thinking regarding the Middle East is flawed. They are very versed in discussing their thinking/ version of biblical end times, including the rapture doctrine.

The two members of the republican President Trump’s administration who are steeped in these faith based dogmas are his Vice President Mike Pence and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

I’ve no problem with Evangelicals practicing their beliefs even though I genuinely do worry that they are being led astray, but when this thinking seeps into the formation of US foreign policies, then I have a problem.

That the Evangelical community have been exerting an out-sized level of influence on current US policies  is exactly what I believe has been happening. What’s worse is that President Trump is very dependent on their support to keep his hold on power. Evangelicals comprise about 35% of his base…

View original post 1,145 more words

To Trust … Or Not To Trust?

Posted on by under Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, Social commentary

I find myself having mixed thoughts on this one.  The headline reads:

Senate Bill To Require Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity Data By 2030 Census

The bill is called the Census Equality Act, and was introduced yesterday by Democrats in the Senate, notably Kamala Harris of California and Tom Carper of Delaware.  The rationale …

“The spirit of the census is that no one should go uncounted and no one should be invisible. We must expand data collections efforts to ensure the LQBTQ community is not only seen, but fully accounted for in terms of government resources provided.”

Harris and the other Democrats behind the bill say this information could help more LGBT people get access to Medicaid, Section 8 housing vouchers and food aid through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP. According to a 2013 report by the Williams Institute, income levels of lesbian, gay and bisexual people are more likely than those of heterosexual people to fall below the federal poverty line.

Okay, so I think the bill is well-intentioned, and I cannot argue with any of the above.  They also claim that more comprehensive data about LGBT people could also help better enforce civil rights protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity and prove those cases in court.  Hmmmm … maybe.

My fear is that in the current climate of ever-increasing bigotry, and ‘religious liberty’ laws intended to discriminate against any seen as ‘other’ by white Christian evangelicals, the additional data collected about the LGBT could be used in other, discriminatory ways.

“The Senate bill would require the Census Bureau to protect all sexual orientation and gender identity information it collects under the same privacy standards for other types of data. Federal law prohibits the bureau from releasing any census information that would identify individuals until 72 years after it is collected. But the agency can release anonymized data about specific demographic groups at levels as detailed as a specific neighborhood.”

Very reassuring … until you remember the face of our leadership today.  The term “Federal law prohibits …” disturbs me because as we have seen so many times in the past 18 months, federal law is easily enough changed.  And when one considers Jeff Sessions’ creation of a “Religious Liberty Task Force” just two days ago that is fully intended to discriminate against the LGBT community, I see a disaster looking for a place to happen.

wilbur ross

Wilbur Ross

The U.S. Census Bureau falls under the auspices of the Department of Commerce, headed by Wilbur Ross, another wealthy ($2.5 billion net worth) Trump sycophant.  Already Ross has stirred controversy by adding the citizenship question to the 2020 census form, allegedly to “protect minority voter’s rights”, but the fear is that the intent is to identify non-citizens for the purpose of potential deportation.  Additionally, Ross failed to properly divest from his financial holdings and is the subject of an ethics investigation.  None of which is pertinent to the census question, but rather throws up red flags about his ethics in general.

I cannot help thinking about how, under a corrupt regime, one ruled by a group of people who disparage any who do not fit into their vision for the country, such as LGBT, might use such data.  Perhaps I am being overly-suspicious, but under the Trump regime, I haven’t seen much reason to believe that diversity is valued.

On April 26, 1938, the “Decree for the Reporting of Jewish-Owned Property” issued by Hitler’s government took effect.  Need I say more?

As I said, I am torn on this one, for I think the intent is good, but believe it could lead to something much more devious than the original intent.  Until 20 January 2017, I would have supported the bill, would have taken it at face value and trusted our government.  For me, that trust has been lost. Your thoughts?