Tag: Religious Right

What Happened To Separation?

Before I go any further let me state here and now….when it comes to religion I just do not care….it is a personal practice and should be left to that….it should not be forced onto anyone by anyone for any reason.

If you will recall the first amendment states….The first clause in the Bill of Rights states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”

And yet the Donny show wants religion at work….

Federal workers now have broader leeway to pray and discuss their faith at the office under new guidelines from the Trump administration. The changes, outlined by the Office of Personnel Management, permit employees to share religious beliefs and try to “persuade others of the correctness of their own religious views,” as long as they don’t cross into harassment, per Politico. Supervisors can also encourage religious expression, including prayer, without fear of violating workplace rules.

  • OPM Director Scott Kupor framed the move as a step toward making federal workplaces more accommodating for employees of all faiths. The White House noted that similar language appeared in a Bill Clinton-era memo.
  • Reaction has been mixed. Supporters like Andrew Walker of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary say the policy simply reinforces basic constitutional rights, provided no one is coerced or harassed. “To me, that’s simply reaffirming the First Amendment,” Walker tells Politico.
  • On the other side, advocates for church-state separation voice concern about potential pressure in the workplace. Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation warns the new rules might blur lines between personal faith and professional advancement. He questions whether employees might feel compelled to conform to a supervisor’s religious preferences, framing it as a potential constitutional conflict.
  • Still other critics note that allowing religious talk in the workplace also raises the potential for more conflict. “The more religion is allowed into the workplace, the more likely it is that differences of opinion are raised,” Stefanie Camfield of HR firm Engage PEO tells the Washington Post. “In the current political environment, these types of differences have a way of turning into arguments. In some cases, it leads to outright hostility, which makes it more likely that an employee will feel singled out and discriminated against for their beliefs.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5423969-trump-memo-religious-expression/

I am sorry if this upsets anyone but I refuse to step anywhere near some ‘prayer group’ if I were at work….I would be paid to act in the interest of my country not some form of religious missionary work.

This needs a challenge but that would be a fart in the wind for the political hacks we have at SCOTUS are worthless and not working in the interests of the Constitution or this nation.

+++Off I go to get juiced(chemo) so this will be it for today I will be trying to shake off the funk afterwards….have a good day and a better weekend….+++

Peace.  Out.

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Does Theocracy Approach?

There seems to be a more lively conversation especially from the fringe Right about this nation as being a ‘Christian nation’ founded by Christians for Christians.

I hate to break it you you people but it is absurd on the face of it.

Many Americans believe the United States was founded as a Christian nation, and the idea is energizing some conservative and Republican activists. But the concept means different things to different people, and historians say that while the issue is complex, the founding documents prioritize religious freedom and do not create a Christian nation.

According to the Constitution (remember that document?) was the US founded on Christianity?

Very simple answer….NO!

Alright you want more….what does the Constitution say about religion….

No religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” (Article VI)

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” (First Amendment)

I bring this all up because of what I see as the rise of a dangerous movement here in the US….Christian Nationalism.  (And I am not alone)

The resurgence of Christian nationalism will come as no surprise to anyone who has watched Trump’s MAGA movement merge with a constellation of extremist preachers and apocalyptic prophets. Many of them, including prominent Mississippi Pastor Shane Vaughn, believe Trump was anointed by God to rule America. A growing number of evangelical voters now view the former president as the second coming of Jesus Christ and frame the 2024 election as a battle not just for America’s soul but for the salvation of all mankind.  

…

What’s truly shocking is tracking how the GOP’s embrace of Christian nationalist ideology has weedled its way into our government, most concerningly on the state Supreme Courts that will hear all manner of legal challenges to the 2024 election results. But the corrosive impact of Christian nationalism goes beyond just Trump, as Alabama’s Supreme Court again reminded us this week.

America is facing a threat of biblical proportion: The rise of Christian nationalism 

This brings us to this election, 2024 election, and Trump’s embracing of Christian Nationalism….

Donald Trump has frequently hinted or implied that he has been chosen by God as some type of prophet and messiah, a divine champion in the 2024 presidential election. The suggestion is that Trump is somehow infallible, above and outside the Constitution, the rule of law and other restraints placed on the behavior of mere mortals in modern society.

Such claims are patently absurd, but that is almost not a liability. In his overtly cruel and mendacious behavior, Trump has shown himself to be anything but “godly” and “righteous,” by supposed Christian standards. He rarely attends church and displays open disdain for his evangelical followers, a group he views as a means to an end: They provide him with the narcissistic energy, campaign funds and fervent support — and, of course, the votes — he will need to become America’s first dictator

In all, the relationship between Trump, his MAGA movement and the Christian right is transactional on both sides. During his presidency and beyond, Trump has promised the Christian right — and largely delivered — the power to enforce their will on the American public with the goal of turning the country into a theocracy. The Christian right has made Trump into the leader of its “spiritual warfare” campaign despite, or even because of, his obvious criminality. (To them, Trump is a victim of persecution by evil and demonic forces, further proof of his prophetic status.) Public opinion polls and other research increasingly suggest that Republicans, and in particular MAGA voters, do in fact believe he has been chosen by God to lead the country.

https://www.salon.com/2024/02/22/apocalypse-now-donald-dons-the-armor-of-god/

I stand my assertion that this ‘movement’ or thinking if you will is dangerous….the sooner Americans realize this the better the country will be.

Believe what you will but do not force me into believing…..PERIOD!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

As The Constitution Shreds

In the recent past the conservs on the supreme court have continually shredded the US Constitution piece by piece….right of choice is about gone……the right of a people’s Congress is gone and now the separation of church and state is shredded…..

The most recent ruling by SCOTUS is just another incident of why politics does not fit for the health of the country…..

As the nation awaits the Roe v. Wade decision, the Supreme Court continues to release other high-profile rulings from this year’s term—including one on Tuesday that opens the door to lawsuits over the herbicide Roundup. Another on Tuesday has to do with the specific issue of education in rural Maine but the larger issue of the separation of church and state. Maine offers an unusual deal to parents in remote areas: If no public secondary schools exist where they live, the state will pay to send their children to a private school—but only if those schools are secular, per the Wall Street Journal. Two families who wanted to send their children to Christian private schools sued, and the court agreed with them that the restriction is illegal. The vote was 6-3, falling along the court’s conservative-liberal split.

  • Majority: “There is nothing neutral about Maine’s program,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts for the majority, per the Washington Post. “The State pays tuition for certain students at private schools—so long as the schools are not religious. That is discrimination against religion.” Another point he made: “A state need not subsidize private education,” Roberts wrote. “But once a state decides to do so, it cannot disqualify some private schools solely because they are religious.”
  • Dissent: “This Court continues to dismantle the wall of separation between church and state that the Framers fought to build,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor in dissent.
  • Assessment: In its coverage, the New York Times calls the ruling in keeping with the Supreme Court’s recent shift. “The decision, from a court that has grown exceptionally receptive to claims from religious people and groups in a variety of settings, was the latest in a series of rulings requiring the government to aid religious institutions on the same terms as other private organizations.”

We all should be concerned at the shredding of our Constitution…..but instead we applaud it when they tear parts of the document up and spit it out.

The conservs are slowly removing blocks of our democratic foundation…..the weakness will eventually collapse the whole structure of government.

How much more will this cost the people of this country?

Watch This Blog!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–10Dec21

Remember from your school days (that is if you studied at all) about the Founders wanting a separation of church and state?

Well that desire is slowly being eroded away and the Supreme Court is assisting in the erosion….the newest assault on the ideal…..Carson vs Makin…….

At an oral argument held Wednesday morning, all six members of the Supreme Court’s Republican-appointed majority appeared likely to blow a significant new hole in the wall separating church and state.

The case is Carson v. Makin; the question is whether the state of Maine is required to subsidize religious education; and the majority’s answer appears, at least under certain circumstances, to be yes.

Under current law, as Justice Elena Kagan noted during Wednesday’s argument, the question of whether to fund religious education is typically left up to elected officials. Maine’s legislators decided not to do so when they drafted the state’s unusual tuition voucher program that’s at issue in Carson, and is meant to ensure that children in sparsely populated areas still receive a free education.

The overwhelming majority of Maine schoolchildren attend a school designated by their local school district. But a small minority — fewer than 5,000 students, according to the state — live in rural areas where it is not cost-effective for the state to either operate its own public school or contract with a nearby school to educate local students. In these areas, students are provided a subsidy, which helps them pay tuition at the private school of their family’s choice.

https://www.vox.com/2021/12/8/22824027/supreme-court-carson-makin-first-amendment-religion-schools-subsidize-roberts-alito-kavanaugh

Just another attempt to combine church and state….never a good idea.

Religion and governing should never be combined…..when it is someone will suffer some sort of injustice.

I read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

The Flock Flees

For too long there has been a religious presence in politics that has brought about the culture wars….those issues that have NOTHING to do with this countries well being.

There are too many ‘pastors’ that try to influence politicians…not with blessings but rather with cash…..thus the culture wars continue.

This abortion of American society has been holding politicians by the cajones for about 40+ years……but that hold may be loosening….

For the first time in the United States, church attendance has dropped below 50 percent, Gallup revealed Monday.

It’s a warning that was issued when evangelical churches began loudly pushing far-right policies and supporting Republican candidates. While there are progressive and non-partisan churches that have risen above the fray, many of the loudest voices have been those promoting conservative policies.

“U.S. church membership was 73 percent when Gallup first measured it in 1937 and remained near 70 percent for the next six decades, before beginning a steady decline around the turn of the 21st century,” the report said.

https://www.rawstory.com/churches-losing-people/

And this…

https://www.rawstory.com/gop-religion/

What could make Americans flee from ‘church’….well there is an opinion why….

Because, while church membership is declining, people are still as hungry for the things of God as they ever have been. People are still seeking justice, forgiveness, hope, love and belonging. People are still desperate for mercy, for meaning, for second chances. People are still seeking the Holy, and the Holy One is still seeking people. So the problem isn’t with those outside the church, and it certainly isn’t with God. The problem — and it is a problem — is with us. The problem is that most of the church in America looks more like America than the body of Christ.

The church makes the news for all the wrong reasons — seminary leaders who passionately denounce Critical Race Theory but are silent about the white supremacy that forms their curriculum and institutions. Pastors who care more about not being called racist than learning how to meaningfully participate in racial reconciliation. Christians who care more about defending their right to buy a weapon than advocating to end police brutality.

 
I agree that religion spends too much time trying to force Americans to believe inn their vision of the ‘perfect’ society instead of working on the souls and the spiritual needs of their flocks.
 
Time for religious leaders to step back and only comment when asked….I have never asked but I am still bombarded with stuff that means little to me.
 
I Read, I Write, You Know
 
“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–22Dec20

Just Another Worthless Religious Leader

I have never been a fan of the faux religious leaders that call themselves ‘evangelicals’…..since they emerged back in the Reagan years they have been the drivers of policy of the government…..and not until Trump has their true nature been so obvious.

One of the most irritating is Liberty Univ Falwell……and now that he has been disgraced more and more corruption has been uncovered……recently it is the amount of cash that Liberty fed to the Trump machine…..

After shocking many in the evangelical movement by endorsing Donald Trump over other Republicans for the 2016 presidential nomination, Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. pumped millions of the nonprofit religious institution’s funds into Republican causes and efforts to promote the Trump administration, blurring the lines between education and politics.

The culmination of his efforts was the creation of a university-funded campus “think tank” — which has produced nopeer-reviewed academic work and bears little relation to study centers at other universities — that ran pro-Trump ads, hired Trump allies including former adviser Sebastian Gorka and current Trump attorney Jenna Ellis to serve as fellows and, in recent weeks, has aggressively promoted Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud.

The think tank — called the Falkirk Center, a portmanteau of Falwell’s name and that of GOP activist Charlie Kirk, who co-founded it — purchased campaign-season ads on Facebook, at least $50,000’s worth of which were designated by the network as political ads, that promoted Trump and other Republican candidates by name.

“Pray For Our President,” declared one, featuring a photo of Trump with his hands clasped in prayer.

“Be a radical for our republic,” said another Facebook ad that ran over the summer with a photo of a beaming Madison Cawthorn, the rising GOP star and congressional candidate from North Carolina who spoke at Trump’s convention.

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/14/jerry-falwell-trump-liberty-university-444661

Time to tell these creeps to go back to serving their flock and leave the running of this country to the bureaucrats…..they have helped turned this country into a ‘combat zone’ that continues to tear the people apart.

Be Smart!

Learn Stuff!

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Closing Thought–30Nov20

Since the election of 1980 the religious right have had a strangehold on the GOP and its policies and rhetoric…..is it possible that the hold could be weakening and possibly ending?

Donald Trump, by his own words and actions, does not appear to be the most religious person.

He has claimed he doesn’t seek forgiveness from God, and he once tried to put money in a Communion plate. Apart from his controversial photo op while holding up a Bible in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church, he doesn’t seem especially concerned with Christian symbolism.

And yet 76% of white evangelical voters supported him in the 2020 election. It’s clear American evangelicals value something other than his religious devotion.
As a Christian ethicist, I’m especially interested in the ways Christians seek to gain and use political power. Why did so many Christians vote for Trump? And what are they afraid of losing when he leaves?

Many evangelical Christians are drawn to Trump’s promises to protect religious liberty. President-elect Biden, meanwhile, has also promised to protect religious liberty. But it might not be on evangelicals’ terms.

https://www.rawstory.com/2020/11/evangelicals-stronghold-on-american-politics-may-finally-be-over-thanks-to-trump/

Could the religious right have finally met its match with Donald the Orange?

Personally if it has then I can thank Trump for his breaking of the power that these zealots held over a political party…..religion has NO place in government.-

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Those Religious Hypocrites

I grew up in the South and the Southern Baptist tradition…..no I was not a member of that bunch….my grandfather always told me to never turn my back to a Baptist or a knife will be the result.

I also remember in the 1980s when the “Religious Right” rose with Reagan and became the “moral compass” of the GOP…..and ever since the GOP has pretended to hold the “moral high” ground because of the support from the Southern Baptist pulpits.

And then Trump was elected and their “moral high ground” and the Baptist found themselves wallowing in the slime and muck of sexual issues…plus turning blind eyes to sexual abuse and assault in the name of Jesus (personally thought….a bunch of assholes that need to burn)

I bring all this up because of something I recently read……

In all, since 1998, roughly 380 Southern Baptist church leaders and volunteers have faced allegations of sexual misconduct, the newspapers found. That includes those who were convicted, credibly accused and successfully sued, and those who confessed or resigned. More of them worked in Texas than in any other state.

About 220 offenders have been convicted or took plea deals, and dozens of cases are pending. They were pastors. Ministers. Youth pastors. Sunday school teachers. Deacons. Church volunteers.

Journalists in the two newsrooms spent more than six months reviewing thousands of pages of court, prison and police records and conducting hundreds of interviews. They built a database of former leaders in Southern Baptist churches who have been convicted of sex crimes.

The investigation reveals that:

• At least 35 church pastors, employees and volunteers who exhibited predatory behavior were still able to find jobs at churches during the past two decades. In some cases, church leaders apparently failed to alert law enforcement about complaints or to warn other congregations about allegations of misconduct.

• Several past presidents and prominent leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention are among those criticized by victims for concealing or mishandling abuse complaints within their own churches or seminaries.

• Some registered sex offenders returned to the pulpit. Others remain there, including a Houston preacher who sexually assaulted a teenager and now is the principal officer of a Houston nonprofit that works with student organizations, federal records show. Its name: Touching the Future Today Inc.

• Many of the victims were adolescents who were molested, sent explicit photos or texts, exposed to pornography, photographed nude, or repeatedly raped by youth pastors. Some victims as young as 3 were molested or raped inside pastors’ studies and Sunday school classrooms. A few were adults — women and men who sought pastoral guidance and instead say they were seduced or sexually assaulted.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/Southern-Baptist-sexual-abuse-spreads-as-leaders-13588038.php

This is a disgusting lot.  Granted not all are of this ilk but if you turn a blind eye to this abuse then you are part of that problem

This is just another reason why I continue to say that these religious types have lost any claim to the “moral high ground”….

I do not mind a religious person….but live by what you preach or shut the fuck up.  PERIOD!

Then some say that the rise of Trump came from ex-churchgoers that had lost faith in the government…..

If you’ve ever been to a Donald Trump rally, you’ll notice it doesn’t match the impression left by the media coverage of the president’s base.

Anger, for instance, isn’t the prevailing mood. Hopefulness is more characteristic. But there’s more. There’s something about these rallies that goes beyond politics, and his harshest critics have found it fearful. “Trump has harnessed the kind of emotional intensity from his base that is more typical of a religious revival meeting than a political rally,” liberal religion scholar Reza Aslan wrote, “complete with ritualized communal chants.”

This isn’t unprecedented. At Barack Obama’s 2008 rallies, fans fainted, and those blessed with an Obama handshake pondered never washing that hand again. Obama was more than a politician. He was nearly a religious figure for his base. Something similar is going on with Trump.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/why-ex-churchgoers-flocked-to-trump/

“The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that’s also a hypocrite!” ~ Tennessee Williams

“The true hypocrite is the one who ceases to perceive his deception, the one who lies with sincerity.” ~ Andre Gide

And favorite…

“Hypocrites are those who apply to others the standards that they refuse to accept for themselves.” ~ Noam Chomsky

A wee bit of music……

The Terrifying Underbelly

For years pundits have been trying to explain the habits, voting and others, of the rural Southern voter…..I live among these people and I really cannot explain their habits…but I have read something that may clear it up just a bit…..

I have tried to understand how these voters can vote against their own interests…..time and time again……

As the election of Donald Trump is being sorted out, a common theme keeps cropping up from all sides: “Democrats failed to understand white, working-class, fly-over America.”

Trump supporters are saying this. Progressive pundits are saying this. Talking heads across all forms of the media are saying this. Even some Democratic leaders are saying this. It doesn’t matter how many people say it, it is complete BS. It is an intellectual/linguistic sleight of hand meant to draw attention away from the real problem. The real problem isn’t East Coast elites who don’t understand or care about rural America. The real problem is that rural Americans don’t understand the causes of their own situations and fears and they have shown no interest in finding out. They don’t want to know why they feel the way they do or why they are struggling because they don’t want to admit it is in large part because of the choices they’ve made and the horrible things they’ve allowed themselves to believe.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/02/insider-explains-rural-christian-white-america-dark-terrifying-underbelly/

Did this help?

Should You Avoid Yoga?

It is Sunday and what better time to post something religious?  How about Yoga for an example?

There are some Yoga Nazis next to where my daughter works…..they are forever bitching about the foul odor when I cook on the grill for the office…..so to be a dick I cooked a lot.

I think most are pretentious dicks…..there is some religious types that think it is anti-Christian to practice Yoga…..but I think these days it is a silly notion.

A Daily Wire writer caused a Twitter firestorm Thursday after comparing yoga to occult rituals like Ouija boards. Matt Walsh, who writes from the perspective of the religious right, garnered widespread attention after sharing his dismay that Christians indulge in “Hindu worship” like yoga.

https://www.vox.com/2018/2/3/16964714/catholic-blogger-christians-yoga-matt-walsh

In reality there are not many that know yoga is a religious practice….they see it as some sort of effective exercise…..besides who listen to these dorks after all they support pedophiles, rapists, abusers and the like…..

Time to relax and get ready for another week of bitching about memos, immigrants and Russia…..I can hardly wait…..chuq