Article- "The Death of Christianity in the US"

[NakedKnees]

Hi everyone! I wasn't sure if this article is more appropriate for QfoS or Worldly Distractions, but I figure since it's pretty directly about Evangelism (and I would argue fundamentalism), I put it here. Feel free to move it.

https://baptistnews.com/article/death-christianity-u-s/#.WgxlU2hSzs3

It's a scathing read but that last paragraph really got to me. I'm not an Evangelical or even a Christian, but I do truly hope that this perspective is indicative of a call for change from the inside.

[formergothardite]

 

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Jesus’ teachings concerning justice for the betterment of humanity when it made a Faustian bargain for the sake of political influence. The beauty of the gospel message — of love, of peace and of fraternity — has been murdered by the ambitions of Trumpish flimflammers who have sold their souls for expediency. No greater proof is needed of the death of Christianity than the rush to defend a child molester in order to maintain a majority in the U.S. Senate.

Wow, this guy nails it but I bet the Trump evangelicals are spinning like a top trying to show how he is wrong. 

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 From their gilded pedestals erected in white centers of wealth and power, they gaslight all to believe they are the ones being persecuted because of their faith.

Isn't this the truth. 

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Evangelicalism forsakes holding a sexual predator, an adulterer, a liar and a racist accountable, instead serving as a shield against those who question POTUS’ immorality because of some warped reincarnation of Cyrus. Laying holy hands upon the incarnation of the very vices Jesus condemned to advance a political agenda — instead of rebuking and chastising in loving prayer — has prostituted the gospel in exchange for the victory of a Supreme Court pick.

I remember reading an article before the election that discussed how evangelicals were making a deal with the devil just for a Supreme Court pick. It reminded people that when you make deals with the devil you always lose, and the religious right Trump crowd will lose. It might not seem like it today, but they are aging and the continued defense of monsters has cost them their moral high ground. 

 

Quote

I have always considered myself to be an evangelical, but I can no longer allow my name to be tarnished by that political party masquerading as Christian. Like many women and men of good will who still struggle to believe, but not in the evangelical political agenda, I too no longer want or wish to be associated with an ideology responsible for tearing humanity apart. But if you, dear reader, still cling to a hate-mongering ideology, may I humbly suggest you get saved.

Damn! I do believe this is what those SB preachers called a stepping on toes sermon. 

[RosyDaisy]

Wow....just WOW! I applaud the author for being blunt and saying what needed to be said.

[Jasmar]

That is magnificent. I’ve struggled, coming out of Evangelicalism over the last couple of years, to have a voice. It feels good reading this guy’s eloquent words.

[PennySycamore]

I just decided to print that out.  I hope my husband will read it.

At our family reunion last week, my brother came over and very quietly asked me about current politics.  I told him Trump was incompetent and that I could not believe all these Republicans tying themselves in knots trying to justify Roy Moore.  He agreed with me and actually cited how some had excused Moore's assaulting teenage girls by pointing to Elizabeth or Mary on the Bible.

[Ozlsn]

Wow. I'm not from the evangelical tradition, but I will add a hearty Amen to that sermon. 

[Palimpsest]

I'm a card-carrying member of Miguel De La Torre's fan club.  He really nailed it this time!

Link to some of his other articles in the Baptist News if anyone is interested.  https://baptistnews.com/article/author/miguel/#.Wg2vLGhSzIU

 

[Beermeet]

Bravo!  And, a big Amen to that article.  Spot on.  Keep it up dude!

[Cleopatra7]

While I more or less agree with the thesis of the article, I would say that the problem of white fundegelicalism hitching its cart to white supremacy didn’t just start with Trump but began hundreds of years ago. Almost all of the Protestant denominations in the US experienced one or more splits over the issue of slavery. The number of white fundegelicals who supported the Civil Rights Movement was virtually nil. In the South, the GOP is essentially the white people’s party and the Democrats are the black people’s party and the lines tend not to be blurred (yes, I know there are white liberals in urban areas who vote Democratic, but they are the exceptions that prove the rule). I tend to take a Durkheimian approach to analyzing religion in that I think that organized religion is essentially a community celebrating itself and its values rather than any metaphysical entity. This is why seemingly tangential non-religious issues like pants on women or racial segregation take on such a huge importance in so many religious communities, because they define how the community sees itself. Since white supremacy is deeply baked into American society as a whole, we shouldn’t be surprised that it becomes a religious tenet among white fundegelicals or that maintaining political power against various others trumps any kind of ethical considerations. Conversely, this also explains why black Christianity is so different from white fundegelicalism. The article bemoans culture trumping religion but you can’t really disentangle the two.

[Howl]

On 11/16/2017 at 9:33 AM, Palimpsest said:

I'm a card-carrying member of Miguel De La Torre's fan club.  He really nailed it this time!

Link to some of his other articles in the Baptist News if anyone is interested.  https://baptistnews.com/article/author/miguel/#.Wg2vLGhSzIU

@Palimpsest, who is likely to be reading the Baptist News?  There are some very thought provoking articles in there.

[Palimpsest]

@Howl, good question.  I'd put money on not John Shrader. 

I like it.  It describes itself as mainstream Baptist, but I think it is very ecumenical and distinctly left of center in a lot of things.  It's a comparatively (2014) recent merger between the Associated Baptist Press and the Religious Herald and I only found it about 18 months ago.

Here's the About page for more info. https://baptistnews.com/more/about/#.WhNAGEqnHIU

[Howl]

51 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

@Howl, good question.  I'd put money on not John Shrader. 

I like it.  It describes itself as mainstream Baptist, but I think it is very ecumenical and distinctly left of center in a lot of things.  

I think a lot of "our" fundies would consider them to be raging radicals, if not heretics.  There was a great article about how off-base Operation Christmas Child is (good intentions, useless results) and what really counts when dealing with poverty:  Stuffing shoe boxes for the world’s poor? Maybe you should reconsider. 

I'm aware of OCC only because it's often referenced in Maxwell posts, and this is OCC season over at Maxhell.  There have been other articles at Baptist News that are not OCC favorable, and they are NOT Franklin Graham fans.  

 

[Palimpsest]

1 minute ago, Howl said:

I'm aware of OCC only because it's often referenced in Maxwell posts, and this is OCC season over at Maxhell.

Yeah.  OCC came up on the Duggar side recently too and I posted a couple of links to criticism - and by evangelical Christians too.  So many well-meaning people think OCC is a lovely idea - but it is NOT!  I wish people would give locally instead.  A lot of the stuff that goes into those shoe boxes would benefit US children who are homeless more, cost nothing to mail, and be less destructive to people in developing nations. 

To say nothing of not supporting Franklin Fucking Graham.  Who is a VERY BAD PERSON.  In my opinion, of course.

[EmiGirl]

While I generally can't stand Franklin Graham,  I will say that the Samaritan' s Purse people were fantastic in helping my town when we had massive power outages back on Memorial Day weekend. 

[Ali]

My church was did OCC this year and my husband innocently took a box at my daughter's request. He regretted it after the box was put together and I pointed out the $9 donation request. Many toys won't fit in the box. A small inflated ball appropriate for a two year old will not fit in the box. The age ranges are also annoying. There is a huge difference in the type of gifts that I would pick out for a two year old and a four year old. The same goes for a five year old and a nine year old. My daughter really wanted to do this, so we were trying to figure out how we wanted to handle this. She got sick, so that solved it.

I looked at the links shared about OCC and liked the idea of helping out children in my community. I found an organization that helps homeless men, women, and children. It also seems to be trying help them get out of homelessness and not just providing a place to sleep. I understand making a financial donation to this place will make a greater difference. I am not sure I will be able to convince my seven year old who wants to physically chose a gift for another child will be convinced though.

[Howl]

We were driving home today and passed a guy sitting on the curb of a major street, with one pantsleg halfway up his thigh, obviously drunk or high.   Hubs said, how could he help this guy and my response was, call 311, because that would lead to professional intervention of some type.  I also said if he wanted to donate, he should give $$$ to Mobile Loaves and Fishes at mlf.org, who have been feeding the homeless in our city since 1998.  This is their food truck ministry: Mobile Loaves & Fishes’ food truck volunteers hit the streets 7 nights a week, 365 days a year to serve the homeless, delivering food, clothing, hygiene products and other life-sustaining items. With the support of more than 19,000 volunteers and over 5 million meals served, Mobile Loaves & Fishes is the largest prepared feeding program to the homeless and working poor in Austin, Texas.

They have also procured land and started a community, building and renting tiny houses to the formerly homeless, along with a garden and other services at Community First! Village. 

Amenities at Community First! Village include:

• An innovative mix of affordable housing options
• Memorial garden, columbarium and prayer labyrinth
• Places for worship, study and fellowship
• Medical facility for health screenings, and other support services including hospice and respite care
• Walking trails
• Community gardens
• Outdoor movie theater
• Community market
• Bed & breakfast for overnight visits
• Capital Metro bus stop
• WiFi

[FeministShrew]

@Ali check with your local elementary school or DSS. They often have lists of local kids in foster care, or just low income, that you can buy gifts for at Christmas. 
There's also Angel Tree. Even though there's a religious connection (Salvation Army, I think?), they give gifts to children of prisoners. 

Either way, your little one gets to choose gifts & you can be sure they'll get to a child.

[Ali]

1 hour ago, FeministShrew said:

@Ali check with your local elementary school or DSS. They often have lists of local kids in foster care, or just low income, that you can buy gifts for at Christmas. 
There's also Angel Tree. Even though there's a religious connection (Salvation Army, I think?), they give gifts to children of prisoners. 

Either way, your little one gets to choose gifts & you can be sure they'll get to a child.

Thanks! I was planning on keeping an eye out for someone locally doing an Angel Tree. I'll watch to see if her school does anything too.

[Lurky]

@Ali Here in the UK, one of the big bookchains is helping people buy books for kids in care (eg 9 year old loves Jacqueline Wilson) - I can't google for USA, because I don't know the right terms, but maybe there's something like that?

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

@Ali, there's also Toys for Tots.

I have some items that a relative bought to put in OCC shoeboxes, before they thought better of participating. They asked me to give the items to people at our church who were packing boxes. I don't really want to do that. After reading this thread, I think I'll see if one of the women's and children's shelters here could use the items, at an appropriate time of year. (I haven't looked at the box for over a month, but I think I remember some flip flops and water bags. Summer would be a better time to give those.)

[Rebelwife]

18 hours ago, Ali said:

My church was did OCC this year and my husband innocently took a box at my daughter's request. He regretted it after the box was put together and I pointed out the $9 donation request. Many toys won't fit in the box. A small inflated ball appropriate for a two year old will not fit in the box. The age ranges are also annoying. There is a huge difference in the type of gifts that I would pick out for a two year old and a four year old. The same goes for a five year old and a nine year old. My daughter really wanted to do this, so we were trying to figure out how we wanted to handle this. She got sick, so that solved it.

I looked at the links shared about OCC and liked the idea of helping out children in my community. I found an organization that helps homeless men, women, and children. It also seems to be trying help them get out of homelessness and not just providing a place to sleep. I understand making a financial donation to this place will make a greater difference. I am not sure I will be able to convince my seven year old who wants to physically chose a gift for another child will be convinced though.

Definitely keep an eye out for stuff going on in your community - there's usually a ton of stuff in the paper in you start looking for it.  Here in our small city, a local group works with families whose names are obtained through school principals if people are looking for non-religious ways to buys specific toys for specific kids ("Girl, Age 6 needs long sleeve shirts, would like easy chapter books and a soccer ball", etc.).  One of our Episcopal Churches here in town is a mission church that works primarily with the homeless and underserved and they run an after school tutoring program that I help with.  The director puts together an Angel Tree specific to those kids and their siblings every year that the (more affluent) sister churches take on.  

[FeministShrew]

There's a Toys For Tots collection box in our office building. I need to make a note to get some toys this weekend for it.