- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- politics@lemmy.world
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/48166923
James Talarico has been found guilty of quoting Jesus. The sentence he uttered, according to right-wing media, was “demonic” and “blasphemous,” exposing him as a “fake Christian.” Talarico is running for the U.S. Senate in Texas on a platform The New Yorker recently described as basically the New Testament. One Newsmax host accused him of using fake Bible passages.
The passages in question are familiar ones, found in Matthew 22 and Matthew 25. Love God and love your neighbor. Feed the hungry, heal the sick, welcome the stranger. They are, in fact, in the Bible.
The right’s attacks on Talarico aren’t about him, or at least not entirely. They’re about a much older argument — one progressive Christianity has been losing in public for 50 years — about whose version of the faith gets to count as real. The answer to that question has consequences far beyond any Senate race. When Christianity becomes a tool of power rather than a challenge to it, it doesn’t just damage the church. It destabilizes democracy. We are watching that happen in real time.
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Pete Hegseth quoted a fictional passage and they said nothing.
I don’t know the books and numbers so well, but there’s literally a passage where Jesus says nonsense for five lines, and the pharisees all ponder it in deep contemplation, but he explains to his followers that it’s not what he says that gets people to listen, it’s the authority in which he spoke. Jesus was a confident man. A con man. And it changes the meaning of “Jesus said nothing,” so those who attacked him were idoltarers who just wanted an excuse to be awful people to what would have been perceived to Pontius as a mentally disabled man.
Christianity, like ALL religion, has ALWAYS been a “Tool of Power.” That’s all it’s ever been. It’s the very reason for it’s existence.
Yeah, I was like “wdym when it becomes a tool of power”?
No no no you see they weren’t True Christians, as defined by my interpretation of the Bible. Doesn’t count.
Tool of power? You mean when the Catholic church was founded?
Funny thing they did back in ye olde times (circa 200-300 AD), back when there wasn’t an “orthodox christianity”, which was accumulate power and declare every other type of christianity heresy
Well, modern day American Christians are exactly the opposite of what Jesus and Christianity stand for, so I get it that they see Jesus as demonic.
When Christianity becomes a tool of power
When? We are far beyond that point…
Religion was always a tool of power. Men in robes making making shit up to control others. Tribalism is our downfall.
Yeah, people remember hippie Jesus from the 1960’s and forget the 1,500 years Christianity propped up monarchical feudalism. Forget it, guys: religion will never lead people to the promised land. The human instinct to us/them is too strong and religion is an accelerant to that more that it ever will be for neighborly love.
When? The day after Jesus died ( the second time)
He promised to come back, but it seems he realized what an immense fuck up it’d be. He could at least say “Guys, I’m not coming back anymore, ok?”
They are just pissed he called them out. If they were smart enough to understand the Bible, they would have to admit they are the bad ones in the book. Luke 18, 9-24…
The “Christian” right should try reading the Bible more than listening to Fox News.
Faux News is their bible.
The Christian right is actually worshipping a false idol, taking His name in vain, and working to undermine the word of God by trying to force the starting of Rapture. The fools are so eager to not die they’re killing the world.
You lost them at “reading”
Pronounced Faux Nooz. When you want to think, they will tell you what to think.
read? the bible?
Why?
The bible is nothing but a tool, a cudgel, used to beat others into submission. Its not like theres anything important inside of it.
I still maintain that they need to introduce a new Bible. One that’s actually interesting and the people would read.
“Jesus Christ, the teenage years”. I want a YA novel about Jesus’ misspent youth running from Roman police.
you laugh, but the quran already exists
iirc there are books from the bible that cover Jesus’s youth, but they are kept out to preserve the desired narrative.
Oh I know. That’s what I mean, the Bible is it stands is boring and isn’t engaging to anyone. That’s why both Christians and non-Christians both failed to read it.
At one point Jesus has a brother, who presumably wasn’t very successful which is why he’s never mentioned again. Oh and there’s also a dragon. At one point Jesus fights a dragon. Officially, Christians believe in dragons. Why are they hiding all of this, it’s good stuff. I’d worship a dragon.
anti-Christian right. There are no right-wing Christians. The whole concept is oxymoronic. It’s like meat-eating vegans or smart crypto bros.
It’s not though, Christianity does not equal Jesus teachings as much as you wish it did. Christianity has been against Christ’s message from day one. He literally says don’t worship me, and then a religion worshipping him is born almost immediately.
Following “Christ” means doing the very very minimum of what “Christ” said to do. Anyone who believes otherwise is an illogical nihilistic moron.
Of course there are lots and lots of right wing Christians. The credentials to calling yourself Christian is exactly that: “call yourself Christian”. There aren’t any authority on who can call themselves Christian. There are authorities on whether you can join specific nominations, but there are countless of them, and in the end you can just make your own if that is your thing.
So arguing that they aren’t Christians is using the “no true Scotsman” fallacy. If you call yourself Christian you are in the same group as these people, and it is a personal issue whether that is a problem for you or not.
This nihilistic attitude is exactly what people in power desperately want. The minimum requirement to any ostensible commitment to “Jesus” is abiding by “His” explicit commands.
That’s logically non-negotiable. Calling yourself Christian doesn’t make it so. And we are fools for failing to rub it in their anti-Christian faces.
Any true Scotsman though?
depends on who you ask.
As a tradition, orthodoxy has it. As an active form of magical practise, the gnostics have it (watch out for fakes lol) As an expression of the Holy Spirit, atheists who perform good for its own sake have it.
How did logic ever hurt you that you hate it so?
Most of them cant read above a 4th grade level and could not write a coherent essay on literally anything. So. Ya know. Ta-da!
“whatsoever you do to the least of mine you do unto me” right? that’s kryptonite for the GOP, suicidal empathy as they like to say these days
to be fair demons are closer to “god” than evangelicals to jesus/christianity.
The only real question in this race, and its a very real question, is whether or not Texans are capable of thinking for themselves or not. A very open question.
Which is why republicans have spent 50 years trying to undermine and destroy the American Education System.
If you sabotage the system, so kids cant learn how to think, investigate, or question… then it becomes super easy to pump out new generations of conservatives.
Well Satan himself quotes Jesus so I guess sure
Or herself… eh? Think about it…
I mean, literally “him” from the Powerpuff girls:
Both the real Christians and the fake ones can get in the sea because they’re both as bad as each other. The Catholic church covers up horrendous crimes and the American televangelists take advantage of the most vulnerable in society. Neither of them actually practise the religion they claim to represent.
Counterpoint: test everything against what you KNOW to be true.
