News He was a top church official who criticized Trump. He says Christianity is in crisis

[nakedfrog]

From the article:

He criticized Donald Trump and the Southern Baptist Convention's response to a sexual abuse crisis. Then he found himself on the outside.
Who is he? Russell Moore was one of the top officials in the Southern Baptist Convention.
On why he thinks Christianity is in crisis:

It was the result of having multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount, parenthetically, in their preaching — "turn the other cheek" — [and] to have someone come up after to say, "Where did you get those liberal talking points?" And what was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, "I'm literally quoting Jesus Christ," the response would not be, "I apologize." The response would be, "Yes, but that doesn't work anymore. That's weak." And when we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we're in a crisis.

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/08/1192663920/southern-baptist-convention-donald-trump-christianity

So, I guess some of these folks really are literally Christian in name only now. I feel sympathy for the good Christians out there (yes, even as a queer person I know they're out there, and it makes me happy when I see them) that are shackled to these lunatics.

 

[HomerJS]

Evangelicals are a bunch of phonies

 

[Drach]

Fuck people that pretend to follow Jesus's teachings.
90+ percent of them don't follow anything he taught.

 

[MtnMan]

From the article:

He criticized Donald Trump and the Southern Baptist Convention's response to a sexual abuse crisis. Then he found himself on the outside.
Who is he? Russell Moore was one of the top officials in the Southern Baptist Convention.
On why he thinks Christianity is in crisis:

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/08/1192663920/southern-baptist-convention-donald-trump-christianity

So, I guess some of these folks really are literally Christian in name only now. I feel sympathy for the good Christians out there (yes, even as a queer person I know they're out there, and it makes me happy when I see them) that are shackled to these lunatics.

Most so-called Christians are in name only. And if they profess to be "christian" it is guaranteed, they ain't.

Growing up, my daddy gave me some sage advice.

"Son, the only reason to go to church on Sunday is to see who is sitting in the front pew, for that is the bastard that will try and screw you on Monday"

 

[sandorski]

Ya, glad he realized it.

 

[Sunburn74]

Evangelicals are a bunch of phonies

For sure. Literally voted for the anti Christ to win a small and fleeting battle.

 

[dingster1]

Russell is an outlier in white evangelical spaces. They hate him because he tells them what they need to hear. I’m reading his latest book right now.

 

[zinfamous]

They are all terrorists, and completely indistinguishable from any voting republican.

 

[Moonbeam]

Unfortunately for phony Christians, Christianity is a religion that was designed to overthrow a previous religion that had become sick, so it is filled with the details of human self deception and waywardness. With all of that wisdom and insight into self deception as part of the teachings of Jesus, it is a lot harder for Christians to lie to themselves that for most people. In order to be a phony Christian you really have to be fucked up. Fortunately, a good Christian will be chock full of all of the symptoms of people who have gone wrong and since his or her insights will be into the worst kind of people it's guaranteed the phonies are going to really hate them for seeing their real condition.

 

[trenchfoot]

A Nazi Aryan Christian is on the face of it an theocratic oxymoron, yet to some of them it may be somewhat paradoxical yet excusable as an acceptable mystery of life. However to the vast majority of racists like themselves, there is no conflict whatsoever being that way because over time they've reinterpreted whatever biblical scripture needed to be rewritten (or ignored) to their liking and to them it's all good. Being a racist Christian is now in vogue thanks to Trump giving his thumbs up on that as evidenced by those many folks who go to church wearing a red MAGA cap. They see no issue with the contradiction it represents. That cap is no different from wearing a swastika or a pointed hood to church as far as I'm concerned.

 

[ch33zw1z]

From the article:

He criticized Donald Trump and the Southern Baptist Convention's response to a sexual abuse crisis. Then he found himself on the outside.
Who is he? Russell Moore was one of the top officials in the Southern Baptist Convention.
On why he thinks Christianity is in crisis:

https://www.npr.org/2023/08/08/1192663920/southern-baptist-convention-donald-trump-christianity

So, I guess some of these folks really are literally Christian in name only now. I feel sympathy for the good Christians out there (yes, even as a queer person I know they're out there, and it makes me happy when I see them) that are shackled to these lunatics.

Those good Christian’s still voted for trump in all likelihood.

It won’t get better until they dump the extremists rhetoric, get back to their values, and stand strong in their values.

 

[dingster1]

I’m going to say this again, the Southern Baptist Convention does NOT represent the entirety of Christianity in America! I really wish folks would learn that!

 

[Zor Prime]

I dislike religion more than most. It would be fine, and is fine with me, when core principles are upheld and followed and people are being true but that's often not the case. I don't care if I lived in a place completely surrounded by religious people so long as they weren't hypocrites and didn't call the cops on me over noise ordinances. The problem is that if you want to find a pit of vipers all you need to do is go to your local church and look around -- there's your pit of vipers.

 

[evident]

I’m going to say this again, the Southern Baptist Convention does NOT represent the entirety of Christianity in America! I really wish folks would learn that!

They represent alot, and Catholics too. Catholics supporting Trump is the most hypocritical shit i've seen in my personal life.

 

[Fenixgoon]

They represent alot, and Catholics too. Catholics supporting Trump is the most hypocritical shit i've seen in my personal life.

I'm curious what the Big Church thinks compared to individual churches.

For example, one person in my gaming group attends an LGBTQ group at their Catholic church. My head damn near exploded (me being a former Catholic no less).

Some individual churches, I do think, really take their mission seriously and earnestly and support humans regardless of who they are, where they came from, or how they identify.

 

[igor_kavinski]

"Son, the only reason to go to church on Sunday is to see who is sitting in the front pew, for that is the bastard that will try and screw you on Monday"

More of his advice, please!!!

 

[Stokely]

They don't like Trump as much now because he might be a loser, again.

If he was a lock to beat Biden you wouldn't hear any religious people complaining. Most of them are massive hypocrites and just as shitty and selfish (ie, human) as everyone else. They just don't like to lose. And for the record, Trump might beat Biden in the end IMO.

 

[zinfamous]

A Nazi Aryan Christian is on the face of it an theocratic oxymoron, yet to some of them it may be somewhat paradoxical yet excusable as an acceptable mystery of life. However to the vast majority of racists like themselves, there is no conflict whatsoever being that way because over time they've reinterpreted whatever biblical scripture needed to be rewritten (or ignored) to their liking and to them it's all good. Being a racist Christian is now in vogue thanks to Trump giving his thumbs up on that as evidenced by those many folks who go to church wearing a red MAGA cap. They see no issue with the contradiction it represents. That cap is no different from wearing a swastika or a pointed hood to church as far as I'm concerned.

Christianity is the foundation of the Nazis. Remember, Hitler was a devout Christian and his vision was of creating a pure Christian world controlled by the Nazis. The two are inseparable.
Today's Nazis are well aware of this and are just trying to continue what Hitler started. Today's republicans that reject all that is known in history, refuse to believe this fundamental truth because it hurts their feelings and makes them uncomfortable because they identify so closely with Nazis, but feel that their fake Christianity is what keeps them human. They just don't want to believe that they are fundamentally Nazis so they must convince themselves that Nazis were atheists, which was of course never true.

 

[KB]

Unfortunately people don't subscribe to religion in order to better themselves. They join a religion to restrict others in the community; to create a set of rules that people are required or coerced into following. This is inherent to religion and the religious, so this should be no surprise. A lot of republicans want a religion of punishment and ostracization, so when they find out Jesus preached kindness and inclusivity, they ignore those parts.

 

[BlueWeasel]

I’m going to say this again, the Southern Baptist Convention does NOT represent the entirety of Christianity in America! I really wish folks would learn that!

I agree, but here in the South, the SBC has tremendous influence. I grew up Baptist...I'm still a Christian, but will never set foot in a Baptist church ever again.

If Jesus returned, these same people who claim to love him, would be the ones to crucify him again.

 

[MtnMan]

I’m going to say this again, the Southern Baptist Convention does NOT represent the entirety of Christianity in America! I really wish folks would learn that!

My problem with christianity, is most (80%+) don't abide by the fact I have a choice. They judge, condemn, and chastise anyone not on the same page they are. They all too are often proselytizing anyone they don't see in the pews of their Sunday morning superstition gathering.

I know people from many different sects (baptist, Catholic, Methodist, etc.) of christianity that go on missionary trips, mostly to Caribbean countries. Sure, they may fix the roof of a school, but goal #1 is proselytizing.

 

[brycejones]

Conservative "Christians" really just ignore what Jesus was really saying. They are pretty much the same as all other religious fundamentalists just looking to control those around them.

Depending on where you live the fundamentalists looking to fuck you over could be:

Christian
Muslim
Jewish
Hindu


Fuck them all.

 

[igor_kavinski]

Remember, Hitler was a devout Christian and his vision was of creating a pure Christian world controlled by the Nazis.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/04/20/hitler-hated-judaism-he-loathed-christianity-too/

Either you are misinformed or they are.

 

[igor_kavinski]

They judge, condemn, and chastise anyone not on the same page they are.

That's the problem with most religious people. They forget and even ignore their own flaws and view everyone else as beneath themselves. And they search out people like themselves who will hate non-believers. Very few religious people realize that the best way to promote their religion's teachings is to serve as the perfect role model and embody the same virtues taught by that religion. Almost every decent religion preaches being kind to fellow human beings, not just fellow religious believers.

 

[igor_kavinski]

If Jesus returned, these same people who claim to love him, would be the ones to crucify him again.

So true. They would be the first to doubt that he is the real Jesus and give him a hard time, mocking him and asking him to show real proof. And when given that proof, they will say it's magic and sorcery. These people have existed in every time and age.