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[Zoe]

The phrase "first marriage" is used an awful lot...

Don't they know divorce is frowned upon by the Bible?

(Note: I am not against divorce in any way)

That's why they're born-again.

 

[doctorblurg]

Oh boo hoo you think I don't deserve the same rights as you but now that you're feeling persecuted for how you live you're the ones who think it's unfair

 

[RandomSeed]

While other Americans are anxious about the economy, jobs and terrorism, conservative Christians say they fear for the nation’s very soul. Some worry that the nation has strayed so far that God’s punishment is imminent.

Google translate

Other Americans are worried about real things, while some conservative Christians fear about made up things. Watch for falling debris.

 

[dan2026]

Bigots get whats coming to them?

Good, you dug you hateful grave, now lie in it.

 

[johancruijff]

Do these people think God can just commandeer nuclear weapons, or what...? Like if any country launches a nuclear weapon now, it must be God's will...?

Zeus had lightning bolts, God has nuclear warheads

 

[Dalek]

The phrase "first marriage" is used an awful lot...

Don't they know divorce is frowned upon by the Bible?

(Note: I am not against divorce in any way)

I noticed that too-and I think the writer threw that in there to make a subtle point.

 

[Trojita]

Overnight, it seemed, they discovered that even in small-town Iowa they were outnumbered, isolated and unpopular. Everyone they knew seemed to have a gay relative or friend. Mr. Odgaard’s daughter from his first marriage disavowed her father’s actions on Facebook, and his gay second cousin will not speak to him. Even their own Mennonite congregation put out a statement saying that while their denomination opposes gay marriage, “not every congregation” or Mennonite does. Mrs. Odgaard, 64, the daughter of a Mennonite minister, was devastated.

The schadenfreude is delicious.

 

[demosthenes]

He expects that more and more Christians will, like the Odgaards, suffer “persecution” for their beliefs.

Get out of here with this nonsense.

 

[ryseing]

Reminder to evangelicals, to paraphrase the author Rachel Held Evans, gay people being allowed the same rights as you is not the same as you losing rights and is certainly not the same as you being persecuted.

There are places in this world where Christians are being brutally persecuted, and the United States is not one of those places. However, the United States is a place where a person running on a campaign of religious intolerance and discrimination stands a fairly good chance at being elected President, and his target is not Christianity. Open your eyes to the evil you support.

Yeah, I never really understood this. People are literally dying for their faith around the world and yet you're complaining about "persecution", which at most is someone will give you a mean look or you'll get a fine for violating someone's rights. You're not being tortured.

One of the many things that turned me off American Christianity.

I noticed that too-and I think the writer threw that in there to make a subtle point.

Would make sense. They're claiming to be against gay marriage but they themselves are technically living in sin by the same rhetoric.

 

[quackamole]

"I have nothing against the gays, my brother is a gay." Always the perfect opener for people who are against the gays.

 

[Trojita]

I have a hard time understanding the whole "God is going to punish America" thing.

I mean, I'm an atheist. I don't believe in anything except reality, really. I don't care about religion, but I also don't really care what you believe in, and I won't belittle you for your beliefs.

I grew up sort of catholic, all that stuff. I don't recall a single instance of god being a vengeful being, who smites down whoever doesn't apply to his beliefs. It's so puzzling to me - why would your deity "punish" your entire country because abortions are taking place? Why is your deity so insanely dangerous and such?

Is it something to do with specific branches of christianity? It's just... weird... god's going to punish america with a nuclear weapon.....?

There's Sodom and Gomorrah, but they were so morally bankrupt there wasn't a redeeming thing about them apparently.

 

[Astral Dog]

👩+👨= 👶

👨+👨= 👽

👩+👩= 👾

 

[Samara]

There is a video of Trump having a conference with some Latino American (cubans) and it was chilling hearing them saying that he will bring back the nation to its Christian faith, end abortion, christmas and all that nonsense. They talked about him like the messiah.

 

[Glix]

I have a hard time understanding the whole "God is going to punish America" thing.

I mean, I'm an atheist. I don't believe in anything except reality, really. I don't care about religion, but I also don't really care what you believe in, and I won't belittle you for your beliefs.

I grew up sort of catholic, all that stuff. I don't recall a single instance of god being a vengeful being, who smites down whoever doesn't apply to his beliefs. It's so puzzling to me - why would your deity "punish" your entire country because abortions are taking place? Why is your deity so insanely dangerous and such?

Is it something to do with specific branches of christianity? It's just... weird... god's going to punish america with a nuclear weapon.....?

I think these people are nuts...

But I don't think you ever went to Sunday school, bro. The God of the bible is a wrathful motherfucker. (see Adam and Eve, see Noah, etc)

 

[metalslimer]

I'm going to enjoy watching the slow death of the evangelical wing of politics.

 

[SuperDowns]

Engage in discrimination and then complain that others are discriminating against you. Boo hoo.

For real, am I supposed to be sorry for the over-weight, Christian Baby Boomers? Hate to be harsh but this is ridiculous.

 

[echoshifting]

There's Sodom and Gomorrah, but they were so morally bankrupt there wasn't a redeeming thing about them apparently.

And Lo the Heavens
opened and God's wrath spilled forth,
For it is the Will of the Almighty One
to nuke the whole site from orbit,
just to be sure

 

[Atomic Playboy]

I was raised by lesbian mothers, and pretty much the critical issue of my childhood was Evangelical groups like the Oregon Citizen's Alliance trying to make it legal for gays to be discriminated against, including denying them the right to raise children. Evangelicals literally wanted to use the full force of the government to take me away from my parents and put in foster care. So, from the bottom of my heart, fuck you. The only ones sowing hatred are you with your inability to treat other people like human beings. If only Jesus had said something about that...

 

[buttery fistful]

He expects that more and more Christians will, like the Odgaards, suffer “persecution” for their beliefs. He regularly visits the Capitol in Des Moines to pray with and lobby legislators with the Family Leader, a conservative Iowa group.

couldn't help but lol at this

 

[ryseing]

"I have nothing against the gays, my brother is a gay." Always the perfect opener for people who are against the gays.

It's the new "I have a black friend"

 

[BajiBoxer]

I just find it hilarious how it's abortion that does it, what about the countless non-believers who either don't practice religion at all or believe in something other than the super Christian God of America

From their perspective, they're convinced that abortion is Holocaust level sytematic murder egged on by Satan himself. That's a tough belief to crack.

 

[Wiseblood]

 

[cwmartin]

Heads up - People respect your views when they are respectable. Not when they are hateful, bigoted, and discriminatory.

 

[Permanently A]

all this because you can't ignore who someone completely unrelated to you is fucking

lel

 

[SciencePilot]

I'm honestly not sure how Evangelicals came to have so much political focus in the first place. I guess there's some history there that I'm not fully up on.

 

[cooljeanius]

Hillary is pro-women's rights, so nah.

At least she's actually Christian

 

[TimeKillr]

I think these people are nuts...

But I don't think you ever went to Sunday school, bro. The God of the bible is a wrathful motherfucker. (see Adam and Eve, see Noah, etc)

Well as I said, I grew up sort of catholic, and so my exposure to religion and such was religion classes in elementary school (keep in mind I'm in my late 30s, so this was in the 80s) and we didn't have Sunday school up here in Quebec.

But even then all we were told is that god loved everyone despite their sins and that if you were repentant for your sins everything is okay. Like... confess to them, be sorry about it, and everything's honky-dory. None of that wrathful stuff, it was basically "do this or else you'll end up in hell" but absolutely NOTHING of the "do this or else god is going to annihilate you and everyone you love. Oh also btw it's not only you, but everyone else also, so, well, make sure they also do it".

 

[mclem]

“I’m worried for America if we don’t turn away from abortion,” said Mrs. Berkheimer, who is 48. “I think our country is going to be punished, with a nuclear weapon. I don’t think you can mock God forever.”

And that's why we really mustn't be letting God enrich uranium.

 

[ryseing]

I'm honestly not sure how Evangelicals came to have so much political focus in the first place. I guess there's some history there that I'm not fully up on.

Moral Majority helped bring Reagan to prominence.

 

[Briarios]

Dear evangelicals:

Neither nations nor businesses have souls. Jesus was pretty clear on this.

Sincerely,
Me

 

[Aaronrules380]

Do these people think God can just commandeer nuclear weapons, or what...? Like if any country launches a nuclear weapon now, it must be God's will...?

Clearly shin Megami tensei iv was actually prophetic since Angels nuking the entire planet under god's orders is a major part of the game's history

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

I'm honestly not sure how Evangelicals came to have so much political focus in the first place. I guess there's some history there that I'm not fully up on.

I wouldn't be surprised if their population numbers were nearing 100 million.

 

[rjinaz]

Well, the nation doesn't have a soul. You don't have to worry about it, or mine.

Seriously tired of American Christians of all people thinking they are being discriminated against. And of course Ted Cruz would tote them around as champions. Fuck that guy.

 

[jmdajr]

Bout time they took the L.

 

[StMeph]

I'm honestly not sure how Evangelicals came to have so much political focus in the first place. I guess there's some history there that I'm not fully up on.

Moral Majority helped bring Reagan to prominence.

And Rove exploited them to full effect for Bush's campaigns.

 

[BajiBoxer]

couldn't help but lol at this

A scary experience for me was hearing two strangers discuss this while I was waiting in the lobby for my physical therapy appointment. I'm sitting there with a couple other people, and this guy comes in, signs himself in, and sits down next to a woman and starts some small talk. After a couple minutes I hear him say something about " ...the persecution coming in a few years." Then he tells her about how "in Europe they're already murdering Christians." The scary thing was this lady who he clearly had no prior friendship with, calmly seemed to be completely aware of, and in agreement with, his crazy version of reality. They spent the remaining time talking about this stuff the way others talk about the weather.

 

[Maledict]

From their perspective, they're convinced that abortion is Holocaust level sytematic murder egged on by Satan himself. That's a tough belief to crack.

They don't though. That's the thing. Very few people actually do believe that abortion is like a murder, despite what they say.

Why do I believe this?

Because people in nazi germany *died* protesting the government and trying to stop. Students. Military people. Ordinary citizens.

If these people honestly and truly believed that another holocaust was happening, they'd be doing a hell of a lot more than praying and voting for shitstains in government. As I would hope most people would.

 

[tkscz]

Nearly lost it at god going to nuke us.

 

[NealMcCauley]

Do these people think God can just commandeer nuclear weapons, or what...? Like if any country launches a nuclear weapon now, it must be God's will...?

I talked to my dad over the weekend and he joked that evangelicals are seeing the end of the world more and more like Stephen King's The Stand mini-series with Gary Sinise.

He's not far off actually.

 

[FunkyMunkey]

i feel zero pity for these people. oh boohoo you wanted to discriminate against people using bigoted beliefs and gladly championed with other bigots about it. now you're mad that your breed of ancient hate is slowly dying and feel left out? fuck off. trump is exactly what people like you deserve, but not the rest of the american population

 

[cooljeanius]

There's Sodom and Gomorrah, but they were so morally bankrupt there wasn't a redeeming thing about them apparently.

Conservatives like to read the message of Sodom and Gomorrah as, "Don't be gay or God will smite you," but I prefer to read it as, "Don't rape people you're hosting as houseguests." It's really a parable about hospitality.

 

[Aaronrules380]

I talked to my dad over the weekend and he joked that evangelicals are seeing the end of the world more and more like Stephen King's The Stand mini-series with Gary Sinise.

He's not far off actually.

Again literally SMTIV

 

[studyguy]

"I have nothing against ___ but..."

Is a bad way to start forming your opinion on gay rights or most any subject.
Also I didn't know God upgraded to striking people down with nukes instead of disease or you know lightning and shit.

 

[BajiBoxer]

I'm honestly not sure how Evangelicals came to have so much political focus in the first place. I guess there's some history there that I'm not fully up on.

It started pretty early in our country's history.

 

[Somnid]

I'm sorry your culture is being lost (genuinely) but we can't as a society accept those views without challenge and the argument for them is not strong enough. Perhaps this is an opportunity to feel empathy with others who are persecuted and feel they have few options, maybe it might make you see things differently, treat them differently. You can either be bitter about it, but I assure you, if you embrace it you'll come out as better people.

 

[wetflame]

Even their own Mennonite congregation put out a statement saying that while their denomination opposes gay marriage, “not every congregation” or Mennonite does.

This is such an odd statement to make. It's like a police officer saying something like "Look, I'm a racist, but that doesn't mean all police officers are!"

 

[Gentleman Jack]

Damn shame that you absolutely cannot change some people's minds on this, this notion that there is no tolerance of their faith anymore. For as long as white men have ruled this continent, the continued existence of individuals and communities lived under the heel of largely involuntary subjugation to the rules of their faith, and now 400 years later they're shocked to learn that the secular world has 'suddenly' moved on in thought and action from the dumbest rules of their holy book and is tired of their bullshit. Surprise, we found out that we can exist peacefully without subjugating our human rights to cherry-picked verses from Leviticus. We're not sad that extremist bigots get left behind.

 

[Lord Frieza]

I'm honestly not sure how Evangelicals came to have so much political focus in the first place. I guess there's some history there that I'm not fully up on.

It's more complicated than this, but essentially, in the '80s as the world was becoming more progressive and liberal slowly, there became a movement within conservative bases to co-op religion as a major part of their platform, and it spread to a base of religious people who, before this, really didn't participate in politics to a significant degree.

I know it's mostly a satire/comedy show, but Samantha Bee did a sort of abridged version of the "Moral Majority's" rise, and ultimately, slow fall.

Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz4AmUaLbUQ

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPsderlzd6c

 

[DontBeThatGuy]

At least she's actually Christian

You mean the dirty liberal who's advocating for baby-genocide?

 

[Arkeband]

God is essentially complicit in the murdering of these babies.

It gets worse - all of the eggs that are technically fertilized but never attach to the uterine wall (nearly half of all eggs) are, by their own logic, babies with souls that they never even realized existed only to die.

So basically by going through the motions to conceive they end up killing at least as many babies as they create.

Religion is fucking ridiculous.