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Christianity unmasked.
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a322x1n
Sep 26, 2021, 11:48:12 AM9/26/21
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<https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/the-christian-fallacy-at-the-heart-of-
marjorie-taylor-greene-s-latest-meltdown/ar-AAOQ9EJ?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531
>
<https://tinyurl.com/5n3yhve9>
This Marjorie Taylor Greene meltdown reveals an uncomfortable truth
about Christianity. Noah Berlatsky, 1 hr ago.
On Friday, congressional representatives got into a screaming match on
the Capitol steps about, among other things, Christianity. High-volume
theological disputes aren’t generally illuminating. But this one showed
how Christianity remains a moral bedrock of political dispute in this
country — and why that’s a bad thing.
The argument began following the passage of a House bill that would
codify abortion rights into law. Right-wing conspiracy theorist and
anti-abortion advocate Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., began to yell
somewhat incoherently at gathered lawmakers and demonstrators. Rep.
Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., a supporter of abortion rights, yelled back at
Greene that she was being uncivil.
“You should practice the basic thing you're taught in church: respect
your neighbor,” Dingell shouted. Greene blasted back, “Taught in church,
are you kidding me? Try being a Christian and supporting life!" Dingell
responded, “You try being a Christian... and try treating your
colleagues decently!”
Dingell thinks being a Christian means being neighborly and civil.
Greene thinks being a Christian means attacking anyone who supports
abortion rights. But they both agree that being a Christian is morally
good, and that Christianity is virtuous.
For a Jewish atheist like myself, that framework is wearisomely
familiar. It’s also disheartening. Despite Dingell’s best intentions,
the equation of Christianity and goodness buttresses Greene’s white
Christian nationalism and the politics of hate and hierarchy that go
along with it.
About two thirds of Americans describe themselves as Christian. So it
makes sense that people in public life would frame Christianity as a
good thing. Christians may disagree strongly about what the Christian
virtues are, but they agree that Christian virtues are, well, virtues.
That’s part of what being a Christian means.
Many of us, though, aren’t Christian, and don’t want to try to be
Christian. Just to take one example: Jewish people’s experience of
Christian morality has not been universally uplifting, to say the least.
Some will argue that antisemitism is not real Christianity. But you
can’t just disavow a couple of thousands years of persecution and hate.
And if Christianity equals virtue, where does that leave Jewish people —
or Muslims, or atheists, or Buddhists, for that matter?
Of course there are good Christians, as there are good people of every
faith, and of no faith. But one of the hallmarks of immoral forms of
Christianity is a belief that Christianity can only be good — and that
the good can only be Christian.
This is the logic of Marjorie Taylor Greene and the rabidly Trumpist
politics she represents. Sociologist Philip Gorski argued in a 2019
article that evangelical white Christians loved Trump not despite his
violent and scabrous language, but precisely because he told them they
were better than everyone else. Evangelicals, Gorski said, responded to
“Trump’s racialized, apocalyptic, and blood-drenched rhetoric.” That
rhetoric harkened back to the Christian language deployed to justify
slavery and Native American genocide.
Trump told white evangelical Christians that they had a right and a duty
to impose their morality, through force, on others. Marjorie Taylor
Greene is following through on a tradition of dispossession and cruelty
when she insults abortion supporters or tries to seize control of
people’s bodies in the name of a higher morality.
Deb Dingell’s Christianity would seem to be more inclusive — her
definition of loving thy neighbor translates politically into policy
(same-sex marriage, abortion rights, etc.) that Marjorie Taylor Greene
abhors. But nonetheless, it also, inadvertently, reinforces one of the
chief tenets of white Christian nationalism — the idea that Christianity
has a monopoly on virtue.
Christianity is a powerful and important tradition in the U.S.; it
shouldn’t just be left to the Greene's and the Trump's. But part of
contesting their hold on Christianity is refusing to acquiesce to
Christian supremacy. It means acknowledging non-Christians in
discussions of America, and in discussions of goodness.
Marjorie Taylor Greene is, unfortunately, still a Christian when she
spews ugly antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish space lasers.
She’s still a Christian when she attacks her colleagues. She’s still a
Christian when she tries to force people to give birth because of her
own particular convictions about souls and cell clusters. But being a
Christian doesn’t make you a good person, just as being a good person
doesn’t make you a Christian. When we, including Dingell, accept that,
maybe we’ll be closer to defeating the evil, violent and Christian
movement of which Greene is a part.
marjorie-taylor-greene-s-latest-meltdown/ar-AAOQ9EJ?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531
>
<https://tinyurl.com/5n3yhve9>
This Marjorie Taylor Greene meltdown reveals an uncomfortable truth
about Christianity. Noah Berlatsky, 1 hr ago.
On Friday, congressional representatives got into a screaming match on
the Capitol steps about, among other things, Christianity. High-volume
theological disputes aren’t generally illuminating. But this one showed
how Christianity remains a moral bedrock of political dispute in this
country — and why that’s a bad thing.
The argument began following the passage of a House bill that would
codify abortion rights into law. Right-wing conspiracy theorist and
anti-abortion advocate Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., began to yell
somewhat incoherently at gathered lawmakers and demonstrators. Rep.
Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., a supporter of abortion rights, yelled back at
Greene that she was being uncivil.
“You should practice the basic thing you're taught in church: respect
your neighbor,” Dingell shouted. Greene blasted back, “Taught in church,
are you kidding me? Try being a Christian and supporting life!" Dingell
responded, “You try being a Christian... and try treating your
colleagues decently!”
Dingell thinks being a Christian means being neighborly and civil.
Greene thinks being a Christian means attacking anyone who supports
abortion rights. But they both agree that being a Christian is morally
good, and that Christianity is virtuous.
For a Jewish atheist like myself, that framework is wearisomely
familiar. It’s also disheartening. Despite Dingell’s best intentions,
the equation of Christianity and goodness buttresses Greene’s white
Christian nationalism and the politics of hate and hierarchy that go
along with it.
About two thirds of Americans describe themselves as Christian. So it
makes sense that people in public life would frame Christianity as a
good thing. Christians may disagree strongly about what the Christian
virtues are, but they agree that Christian virtues are, well, virtues.
That’s part of what being a Christian means.
Many of us, though, aren’t Christian, and don’t want to try to be
Christian. Just to take one example: Jewish people’s experience of
Christian morality has not been universally uplifting, to say the least.
Some will argue that antisemitism is not real Christianity. But you
can’t just disavow a couple of thousands years of persecution and hate.
And if Christianity equals virtue, where does that leave Jewish people —
or Muslims, or atheists, or Buddhists, for that matter?
Of course there are good Christians, as there are good people of every
faith, and of no faith. But one of the hallmarks of immoral forms of
Christianity is a belief that Christianity can only be good — and that
the good can only be Christian.
This is the logic of Marjorie Taylor Greene and the rabidly Trumpist
politics she represents. Sociologist Philip Gorski argued in a 2019
article that evangelical white Christians loved Trump not despite his
violent and scabrous language, but precisely because he told them they
were better than everyone else. Evangelicals, Gorski said, responded to
“Trump’s racialized, apocalyptic, and blood-drenched rhetoric.” That
rhetoric harkened back to the Christian language deployed to justify
slavery and Native American genocide.
Trump told white evangelical Christians that they had a right and a duty
to impose their morality, through force, on others. Marjorie Taylor
Greene is following through on a tradition of dispossession and cruelty
when she insults abortion supporters or tries to seize control of
people’s bodies in the name of a higher morality.
Deb Dingell’s Christianity would seem to be more inclusive — her
definition of loving thy neighbor translates politically into policy
(same-sex marriage, abortion rights, etc.) that Marjorie Taylor Greene
abhors. But nonetheless, it also, inadvertently, reinforces one of the
chief tenets of white Christian nationalism — the idea that Christianity
has a monopoly on virtue.
Christianity is a powerful and important tradition in the U.S.; it
shouldn’t just be left to the Greene's and the Trump's. But part of
contesting their hold on Christianity is refusing to acquiesce to
Christian supremacy. It means acknowledging non-Christians in
discussions of America, and in discussions of goodness.
Marjorie Taylor Greene is, unfortunately, still a Christian when she
spews ugly antisemitic conspiracy theories about Jewish space lasers.
She’s still a Christian when she attacks her colleagues. She’s still a
Christian when she tries to force people to give birth because of her
own particular convictions about souls and cell clusters. But being a
Christian doesn’t make you a good person, just as being a good person
doesn’t make you a Christian. When we, including Dingell, accept that,
maybe we’ll be closer to defeating the evil, violent and Christian
movement of which Greene is a part.
Siri Cruise
Sep 26, 2021, 12:48:30 PM9/26/21
to
In article <XnsADB16DE488EF9ti...@85.12.62.249>,
a322x1n <vo...@void.void> wrote:
> Marjorie Taylor Greene
'Many are called. Few are chosen.' What makes you think Marjie is
a christian? I can call myself an irish folk singer. That doesn't
make my voice any closer to on key.
--
:-<> Siri Seal of Disavowal #000-001. Disavowed. Denied. Deleted. @
'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' /|\
Discordia: not just a religion but also a parody. This post / \
I am an Andrea Doria sockpuppet. insults Islam. Mohammed
a322x1n <vo...@void.void> wrote:
> Marjorie Taylor Greene
'Many are called. Few are chosen.' What makes you think Marjie is
a christian? I can call myself an irish folk singer. That doesn't
make my voice any closer to on key.
--
:-<> Siri Seal of Disavowal #000-001. Disavowed. Denied. Deleted. @
'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' /|\
Discordia: not just a religion but also a parody. This post / \
I am an Andrea Doria sockpuppet. insults Islam. Mohammed
Ted
Sep 26, 2021, 1:32:32 PM9/26/21
to
On Sun, 26 Sep 2021 09:48:28 -0700, Siri Cruise
<chine...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> In article <XnsADB16DE488EF9ti...@85.12.62.249>,
> a322x1n <vo...@void.void> wrote:
> > Marjorie Taylor Greene
> 'Many are called. Few are chosen.' What makes you think Marjie is
> a christian? I can call myself an irish folk singer. That doesn't
> make my voice any closer to on key.
Well said.
<chine...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> In article <XnsADB16DE488EF9ti...@85.12.62.249>,
> a322x1n <vo...@void.void> wrote:
> > Marjorie Taylor Greene
> 'Many are called. Few are chosen.' What makes you think Marjie is
> a christian? I can call myself an irish folk singer. That doesn't
> make my voice any closer to on key.
NoBody
Sep 27, 2021, 8:52:13 AM9/27/21
to
proceeeds to attack religion and being bigotted. NO credibility to be
found in this author.
Lee
Sep 27, 2021, 11:15:04 AM9/27/21
to
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_atheism
> who
> proceeeds to attack religion and being bigotted. NO credibility to be
> found in this author.
David Hartung
Sep 27, 2021, 12:10:11 PM9/27/21
to
> found in this author.
Another dig at his credibility is that he is apparently part of a group
working to "normalize" pedophilia.
David Hartung
Sep 27, 2021, 12:12:31 PM9/27/21
to
ethnic/nationality designation.
NoBody
Sep 28, 2021, 9:51:11 AM9/28/21
to
>
>> who
>> proceeeds to attack religion and being bigotted. NO credibility to be
>> found in this author.
NoBody
Sep 28, 2021, 9:52:09 AM9/28/21
to
aaa
Sep 28, 2021, 10:24:19 AM9/28/21
to
--
God's spiritual evidence:
Truth, love, wisdom, compassion, knowledge, consciousness, intelligence,
happiness, faith, courage, justice, peace, freedom, and life itself.
God's spiritual evidence is evident in everyone.
Find it and treasure it because it's the covenant of God.
It's the reason why we are given this life on earth.
It's the foundation why we can have meaning in life.
Let's all honor our personal spiritual evidence of God for the sake of
Christ!
AlleyCat
Sep 28, 2021, 11:02:01 AM9/28/21
to
BeamMeUpScotty
Sep 28, 2021, 11:02:49 AM9/28/21
to
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