Request from a Christian.

[chimp3]

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If im going to believe the Bible, I might as well believe all of it. Else im a hypocrite.

Doubt is good.

[mlmooney89]

The only negative impact Christians make on me is when they tell me they are going to pray for me, full well knowing I'm not religious. Prayer isn't going to work, but physically assisting me with a problem, will. It's as if prayer is helping the person doing the praying, feel better about themselves, like making them think they actually did something. There's no excuse for that. If a person can't help, say so. But don't goad yourself into thinking that praying for me works, because in my 45 Years on this earth, not once has that ever worked for me.

Omg yes! I mentioned on Facebook that I might not be able to have kids but we are going to try and two of my good friends were like I will pray for you. I was like wtf y'all see everything atheist related that I post, you see that I don't like being told bless you, why in the world do you think I want you to pray for me?! Them knowing my views on it and still saying it is rather insulting instead of what they act like it is... Supportive help. Pfffft.

---

Well I was with you until the demonic possession... And then the black mass thing... And then trump supporter and thinking registering Muslims have good reasons... Mmm no thank you.

My husband is Catholic and I'm atheist. I know difference in beliefs don't have to be negative. I also know that religion can be a good thing when giving someone a reason to live or behave (behaving for Christ isn't as good as behaving just to be a good human but hey take what we can get right?) And I know that living in the bible belt is hard as an atheist but not dangerous like other parts of the world so I am lucky. Christians are known to have a bloody past. Most of the wars stem from religious beliefs and a lot of those beliefs deal with the Christian god. I wanted to take part in the original topic of this thread but there is so much more involved now and honestly I can't take anyone seriously that thinks a demon possessed someone and they helped expel it.

If im going to believe the Bible, I might as well believe all of it. Else im a hypocrite.

I feel like there are a LOT of rules yalls bible tells y'all to follow that most don't. Trivial shit that no longer makes any sense. How do you go about following that stuff without being a hypocrite or do you follow it to the letter?

[Dragonspride1995]

The only negative impact Christians make on me is when they tell me they are going to pray for me, full well knowing I'm not religious. Prayer isn't going to work, but physically assisting me with a problem, will. It's as if prayer is helping the person doing the praying, feel better about themselves, like making them think they actually did something. There's no excuse for that. If a person can't help, say so. But don't goad yourself into thinking that praying for me works, because in my 45 Years on this earth, not once has that ever worked for me.

Omg yes! I mentioned on Facebook that I might not be able to have kids but we are going to try and two of my good friends were like I will pray for you. I was like wtf y'all see everything atheist related that I post, you see that I don't like being told bless you, why in the world do you think I want you to pray for me?! Them knowing my views on it and still saying it is rather insulting instead of what they act like it is... Supportive help. Pfffft.

---

If im going to believe the Bible, I might as well believe all of it. Else im a hypocrite.

I feel like there are a LOT of rules yalls bible tells y'all to follow that most don't. Trivial shit that no longer makes any sense. How do you go about following that stuff without being a hypocrite or do you follow it to the letter?

If you are speaking about the stuff in deuteronomy and a lot of the stuff from the old testament no. Again theological reasons that I won't get into unless specifically asked about in respect for the context of the thread. Basicly, The mosaic covenant. As for prayers, would you rather we not say anything at all and pray for you anyways?

---

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If im going to believe the Bible, I might as well believe all of it. Else im a hypocrite.

Doubt is good.

Yes skepticism is a good thing.

[mlmooney89]

This isn't related to anything in the convo but sweetie in order to quote two people you need to write in between the quotes. Your part keeps getting mixed in with the quote and I keep almost over looking it. Are you seeing the quotes as bubbles or the actual code?

---

Nvm that I see you went back and fixed it.

[Dragonspride1995]

This isn't related to anything in the convo but sweetie in order to quote two people you need to write in between the quotes. Your part keeps getting mixed in with the quote and I keep almost over looking it. Are you seeing the quotes as bubbles or the actual code?

---

Nvm that I see you went back and fixed it.

Lol, im making an effort.

[mlmooney89]

If you are speaking about the stuff in deuteronomy and a lot of the stuff from the old testament no. Again theological reasons that I won't get into unless specifically asked about in respect for the context of the thread. Basicly, The mosaic covenant. As for prayers, would you rather we not say anything at all and pray for you anyways?

I think I know the answer anyway but you are right that's off topic. As for prayer I don't care what anyone prays about, that's their business, but I don't appreciate it when they know I don't believe in that, that I think it's useless, and yet they still come up to me and tell me they will get their god to fix my body.
One; it may never work and I may never have children so even if I did believe and was naive enough that is just giving me false hope which isn't what I need. I need a friend to be supportive and realistic.
Two; 'you' sound conflicted when you say that because god is supposed to be all knowing and already has a plan. What good is a prayer then? Either he already made the decision to let me have kids or he already said no. Their pray shouldn't move anything in my favor. If I get enough of them does that tip the odds? Does he listen to just those prayers and not someone else's that can't have children also?
Three; It's rude, to me at least, to tell someone you are involving them in your religion. I know full well if I was someone that required sacrifice and chanting and I told my Christian coworker that I would sacrifice a fly in her name so she had better luck in whatever she was doing and I actually meant it she would go ballistic. Even if I said I would pray to Allah for her she would glare at me. I would love to see her reaction to me saying I was a Satanist and involving her name in my ceremonies.

[Mystical]

Stop it? When has religion/the Church ever stopped attacking its enemies? Lol.

Crusades aside, I do have a argument for that but i'll ignore it. When else has there been a organized Christian attack on others, by a Church? 

I remember hearing something about a guy bombing a abortion clinic but thats about it? Oh and I have heard arguments attributing the salem witch trials to Christians. Am I missing any?

My god man! You're further down the rabbit hole than I'd first imagined!  

Here. 

There are Christian anti social crimes regularly and often. For example:

Ones that hit home: 

Child abuse and neglect, with biblical convictions at the heart of reasoning:

• Faith healing/neglect of medical care, legalized
  

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/201...oogle.com/

In Idaho the coroner doesn't even do an autopsy when children die without medical care in faith healing sects. Here's a few of the children, and their stories.

http://idahochildren.org/articles/a-few-...-children/

• Prejudice : Atheists can't hold public office of Governor (state)
  

Arkansas, :
No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any Court.
Maryland, :
That no religious test ought ever to be required as a qualification for any office of profit or trust in this State, other than a declaration of belief in the existence of God; nor shall the Legislature prescribe any other oath of office than the oath prescribed by this Constitution.
Mississippi, :
No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office in this state.
North Carolina, 
The following persons shall be disqualified for office: Any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.
South Carolina, 
No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office under this Constitution.
Tennessee, 
No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this state.
Texas, :
No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, in this State; nor shall any one be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being.
So, what do you think of these laws? Are they an affront to the secular nature of our local, state, and federal governments, or are they just antiquated but harmless relics from the past? Should there be an active effort to remove these anti-atheist provisions from the respective state constitutions, or should the nonreligious movement just let federal law trump these discriminatory provisions as conflicts arise?
I think that the legislatures of these states have a duty to eventually get around to removing these provisions and any other elements of their state constitutions that institutionalize discrimination. Now might not be the time due to the large number of pressing issues that plague this nation, but the change ought to eventually be made. Atheists, or any other religious minority for that matter, shouldn’t have to go to court after winning an election just so that federal law is upheld and discrimination is rejected.

• Spanking/Christian based punitive measures including legalized manslaughter
  

: 

This book has almost unbelievably sold upwards of 700,000 copies!

The Pearls recommend whipping infants only a few months old on their bare skin. They describe whipping their own 4 month old daughter (p.9). They recommend whipping the bare skin of “every child” (p.2) for “Christians and non-Christians” (p.5) and for “every transgression” (p.1). Parents who don’t whip their babies into complete submission are portrayed as indifferent, lazy, careless and neglectful (p.19) and are “creating a Nazi” (p.45).
On p.60 they recommend whipping babies who cannot sleep and are crying, and to never allow them “to get up.” On p.61 they recommend whipping a 12 month old girl for crying. On p.79 they recommend whipping a 7 month old for screaming.
On p.65 co-author Debi Pearl whips the bare leg of a 15 month old she is babysitting, 10 separate times, for not playing with something she tells him to play with. On p.56 Debi Pearl hits a 2 year old so hard “a karate chop like wheeze came from somewhere deep inside.”
On p.44 they say not to let the child’s crying while being hit to “cause you to lighten up on the intensity or duration of the spanking.” On p.59 they recommend whipping a 3 year old until he is “totally broken.”
On p.55 the Pearls say a mother should hit her child if he cries for her.
On p.46 the Pearls say that if a child does obey before being whipped, whip them anyway. And “if you have to sit on him to spank him, then do not hesitate. And hold him there until he is surrendered. Prove that you are bigger, tougher.” “Defeat him totally.”  On p.80 they recommend giving a child having a tantrum “a swift forceful spanking.” On the same page they say to whip small children on their bare skin until they stop screaming. “Don’t be bullied. Give him more of the same.” They say to continue whipping until their crying turns into a “wounded, submissive whimper.”
On p.47 they recommend their various whips, including “a belt or larger tree branch” to hit children.
The Pearls  recommend pulling a nursing infant’s hair (p.7), and describe tripping their non-swimming toddler so she falls into deep water (p.67).  They recommend ignoring an infant’s bumped head when he falls to the floor, and ignoring skinned knees (p.86). They also say “if your child is roughed-up by peers, rejoice.” (p.81)  And on p.103 the Pearls say if children lose their shoes, “let them go without until they (the children) can make the money to buy more.”


- See more at: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfemi...GcVHm.dpuf 

• Real life cases of this book in action:
  

In the last seven years, the deaths of three children – all adopted – have been attributed to use of the Pearls’ book. 4-year-old Sean Paddock was killed by his adoptive mother Lynn Paddock in 2006, 7-year-old Lydia Schatz was killed by her adoptive parents Kevin and Elizabeth in 2010, and 13-year-old  was killed by her adoptive parents Larry and Carri in 2011. In all three cases, the parents were convicted of murder.

  Sean Paddock, 4yrs

 Lydia Schatz

  Hana Williams

• Rife with controversy as one would expect, the Pearls are not alone in their "tough love" take on punishing children:
  

http://theweek.com/articles/443585/chris...g-children

Peterson isn't the only Christian who thinks good parents should hit their children, or even that their faith commands it. Eighty percent of born-again Christians believe that spanking is acceptable. This is 15 percent higher than the general population

In reality, as a study based on real-time home audio recordings showed, children who were hit or slapped by their parents usually misbehaved again within 10 minutes. And a 2010 study published in the journal Pediatrics showed that frequent spanking (defined as more than twice per month) was linked to higher levels of child aggression. It's also been linked to "hostile attribution bias," which in layman's terms means the child expects people to be mean to them.

Recent studies have also shown that children who are spanked may develop less grey matter in their brains, which hampers their ability to evaluate rewards and consequences or make critical decisions. This may also predispose them to addiction or depression. Contrary to Ingram's (and James Dobson's and other conservative Christians') assertions, the more you physically punish your children, the less self-control they have.

*bold added by me

• Umm.. I stumbled across this legitimate (I think!) Website
  

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0303/spanking.html

Godly Tips on How to Punish and Beat Your Christian Child  
"Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being." Proverbs 20:30
From the Landover Baptist Department of Creation Science
1. To begin with, a Christian parent must understand that a child will never learn a lesson unless they are beaten on their naked bottoms until the imprint of the rugged cross is plainly visible on both cheeks.  (Proverbs 23:13-14) A clothed bottom is less humiliating and less painful for the wicked child. In fact, the child may feel no pain at all if they are cunning enough to sin while wearing heavy jeans or khaki pants.  A youngster who can sit comfortably after a Godly beating will think they have outsmarted you and tend to repeat their misdeed and feel a license to move on to more hardcore sins, like rape and blasphemy.  If a child is able to sit down within three days without ointment or a bag of frozen vegetables after their punishment, you have failed as a Christian parent.   A good spanking should be traumatic and something the child will remember well into adulthood. 
2. Use a heavy object, a ruler is too light, a belt-buckle may cause bleeding and suspicion from liberal democrat  schoolteachers if you are careless enough to allow your child to attend a public school. We suggest a heavy King James 1611 authentic cowhide leather bound Bible.
3. Find a comfortable place to sit and ask your child to come over and have a seat on your lap. Act as if there is nothing amiss. We suggest that you smile or wink at your child. If it is your daughter, say "Come on over here and sit on daddy's lap, sweet heart. I want to talk to my little angel for a minute." If it is your son, we suggest you say, "Hey there, sonny - how's Dad's little quarterback? Come on over here and sit on my lap for a minute and let's talk about Jesus."
4. As soon as you have the child on your lap, clench his hands so that he cannot move.  Immediately flip the child over so that his stomach is across your knees. If the child struggles, give him a good whack across the back of his head and tell him to shut up. Whisper in his ear, "You're going to get a whole lot worse from Jesus, you rebellious, hateful, little sissy!"
5.  This is the point where the child may act like a little demon and start screaming.  Be prepared for this wicked outburst.  Have an athletic sock in your back pocket and cram it into the child's mouth. Stuff it back until you get to the stripes at the top of the socks.  Don't worry: if the child is smart enough to remember to breath through their nose, they won't suffocate.
6. Ready your Bible, and lift it high above your head with one hand. Keep the child secure with your free hand. Landover Baptist Creation Scientists agree that the most effective way of securing the child for beating is to clench the back of his neck like a turkey. If they are still struggling, we suggest you raise your voice and say something like, "I'll give you something to squirm over, you little devil!"
7.  Pull down their pants and underwear to reveal their pink little hiney.  May sure both cheeks are fully exposed.
 8. To ensure that the child is aware of their misdeed, and they never forget it, it is often best to smack the child across the bottom with the Bible as you speak out their misdeed. Each word would be one healthywhack across their naked hind quarters. For example: "YOU" [WHACK!] "DIDN'T" [WHACK!] "EAT" [WHACK] "YOUR" [WHACK] "BRUSSEL" [WHACK] "SPROUTS" [WHACK!] "YOU" [WHACK!] "LITTLE" [WHACK!] "DEMON!" [WACK!] and finishing off with a lighter whack, "did" [whack!] "you?" [whack!]
9.  Rebuke the child in the sweet name of Jesus, toss them aside like a used Kleenex and let them roll to the floor to contemplate their sinful nature.
10. After about an hour, when the child has calmed down, have him sit on your lap again and read him some scripture verses about Hell (We recommend, Matthew 13:41-42) from the same Bible you used to beat him with.  Let the child know that the punishment he received today is nothing compared to the eternal punishment of Hell where Jesus burns and cooks all the bad little boys and girls who don't do what their daddy tells them.

• Catholic church worldwide sexual predator round up after being unveiled as a supremely powerful haven for pedophiles for the last few centuries at least:
  

GENEVA — The Vatican released comprehensive statistics for the first time Tuesday on how it has disciplined priests accused of raping and molesting children, saying 848 priests have been defrocked and another 2,572 given lesser sanctions over the past decade. The

Vatican’s U.N. ambassador in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, revealed the figures during a second day of grilling by a U.N. committee monitoring implementation of the U.N. treaty against torture. Tomasi insisted the convention applied only inside the tiny


Vatican City state. But he nevertheless released statistics about how the Holy See has adjudicated sex abuse cases globally, and significantly, he didn’t dispute the committee’s contention that sexual violence against children can be considered torture. Tomasi said that since 2004, more than 3,400 credible cases of abuse had been referred to the German Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, a member of the anti-pedophilia Pontifical commission, speaks at Vatican press conference on child abuse and the Catholic Church.
IMAGE BY: TIZIANA FABI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Vatican, including 401 cases in 2013 alone. He said that over the last decade, 848 priests had been defrocked, or returned to the lay state by the pope. Another 2,572 were sentenced to a lifetime of penance and prayer or some other lesser sanction, which is often used when the accused priest is elderly or infirm. Acknowledging the high number of priests sanctioned with the lesser punishment, Tomasi said it still amounted to disciplinary action and that the abuser is “just put in a place where he doesn’t have any contact with the children.” The Associated Press in January reported that then-Pope Benedict XVI had defrocked 384 priests in the final two years of his pontificate, citing documentation Tomasi’s delegation had prepared for another U.N. committee hearing that matched data contained in the

Vatican’s statistical yearbooks. Tomasi told the AP on Tuesday that those figures from January were “incomplete” and that the data he provided the torture committee Tuesday — the first ever year-by-year breakdown of how cases were adjudicated — was complete. He told the committee that “there is no climate of impunity but there is a total commitment to clean the house” and prevent more abuse. “I think we have crossed a threshold so to say in our evolution of the approach to these problems,” he concluded. “It’s clear that the issue of sexual abuse of children, which is a worldwide plague and scourge, has been addressed in the last 10 years by the church in a systematic, comprehensive, constructive way.”

• Religious (Christian) belief based Murders
  

Innocent bystanders along with Abortion doctors are routinely murdered, one physician in his own church., by unrepent killers who feel that their actions are completely justified. 

In my hometown: 

Garrett Swasey, 44, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs police officer who was shot and killed while responding to a shooting at a  office, was described by his fellow church members and friends as a courageous man and loving father who drew strength and inspiration from his Christian faith.

Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Lewis Dear was a doomsday Christian who believed his religion gave him the right to do anything he wanted. This is what one of his three ex-wives said about him in divorce documents dated in 1993. Raw Story reports that  of Christian dogma emboldened him to commit various crimes over the course of his life — and, ultimately, the shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood that killed three innocent people.

Attacks on medical professions amd bystanders over abortion, which has been legal since the 70s:

Here is a brief look at the history of deadly violence against abortion clinics, their staff members, patients and their guests in the United States and Canada. 

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/29/us/30abortion-clinic-violence.html?_r=0

• Haphazard side effects including mortality, of indoctrinated beliefs and practices
  

Tiny Tombstones: Inside the FLDS Graveyard for Babies Born from Incest
by Molly Oswaks
MAR 9 2016

In the polygamist cult of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, cousins were encouraged to marry in order to preserve certain bloodlines. Years of inbreeding have resulted in children born with serious birth defects—many of whom don't make it past a few years old

In 2006, Warren Jeffs, then the president and prophet of the FLDS, was arrested and charged with accomplice rape, for just two of the underage marriages he had arranged. In 2011, Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison, plus 20 years. Through his brother Lyle—Bishop of the FLDS and mouthpiece for his imprisoned brother—Jeffs enacted a Judgment wherein FLDS members were asked a series of bizarre personal questions; their answers were judged, and the most righteous were welcomed into the United Order of FLDS elite. Those who did not make it into the UO were separated from their families, placed in patchwork homes of other UO "orphans," and told to repent.

*bold by me

---

Up to 1,000 teenage boys have been separated from their parents and thrown out of their communities by a polygamous sect to make more young women available for older men, Utah officials claim.
Many of these "Lost Boys", some as young as 13, have simply been dumped on the side of the road in Arizona and Utah, by the leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), and told they will never see their families again or go to heaven.
The 10,000-strong FLDS, which broke away from the Mormon church in 1890 when the mainstream faith disavowed polygamy, believes a man must marry at least three women to go to heaven. 

• Doomsday mentality and society
  

Doomsday is always upon us, or so we are told. Belief in the apocalypse informs the way many view time, and it often works against active politics. But this belief has grown diverse, complex. Left-leaning evangelicals such as Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis, and Shane Claiborne continue to challenge evangelical policies. For Wallis, “Many American Christians are simply more loyal to a version of American nationalism than they are to the body of Christ.” With sarcasm, McLaren also notes the disconnect: If God has predetermined that the world will get worse until it ends in a cosmic megaconflict between the forces of Light (epitomized most often in the United States) and the forces of Darkness (previously centered in communism, but now, that devil having been vanquished, in Islam), why waste energy on peacemaking, diplomacy, and interreligious dialogue?”
Positions held by McLaren, Wallis, and others on the left indicate a growing trend among evangelicals. Still, conservative Christianity remains a powerhouse. But even when Jesus People USA fully embraced conservative theology, their social activism was unfettered, in spite of evangelicalism’s near-fanatical dedication to the writings of Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye. The power of rapture theology (the belief that Jesus will secretly return and sweep born again Christians into Heaven) remains strong for many. And it often influences political decision or indecision.
Evangelicals value Creation, but they remain divided over God’s timeline and their responsibility. Christian author Frank Schaeffer recalls how Richard Cizik, former vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals, “had almost been forced out…when James Dobson [Focus on the Family] wrote to the NAE [National Association of Evangelicals] board demanding Cizik’s dismissal for saying that he thought global warming was real.” The moratorium placed on environmentalism has been cloaked (at least in the past) in a shroud of religious determinism, and the specter of doomsday continues to fuel economic theory. Doomsday has been made readily available to be gobbled up by consumers who hope to catch a glimpse of the wizard…or at least decode his message.

http://www.cupblog.org/?p=17218

Domestic Terrorist Groups: (Christian)

“[L]est we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place, remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition, people committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,” Obama noted.  “In our home country, slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ,” he added, referring to segregationists’ for Biblical injunctions against interracial mingling.

Below are six extreme Christianist groups that have shown their capacity for violence and fanaticism.


1. The Army of God

A network of violent Christianists that has been active since the early 1980s, the Army of God openly promotes killing abortion providers—and the long list of terrorists who have been active in that organization has included Paul Jennings Hill (who was executed by lethal injection in 2003 for the 1994 killings of abortion doctor John Britton and his bodyguard James Barrett), John C. Salvi (who killed two receptionists when he attacked a Planned Parenthood clinic in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1994) and Eric Rudolph, who is serving life in prison for his role in the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta in 1996 and other terrorist acts. Rudolph, in fact, has often been exalted as a Christian hero on the Army of God’s website, as have fellow Army of God members such as Scott Roeder (who is serving life without parole for murdering Wichita, Kansas-based abortion doctor George Tiller in 2009), Shelley Shannon (who attempted to kill Tiller in 2003) and Michael Frederick Griffin (who is serving a life sentence for the 1993 killing of Dr. David Gunn, an OB-GYN, in Pensacola, Florida).

Although primarily an anti-abortion organization, the Army of God also has a history of promoting violence against gays. And one of the terrorist acts that Rudolph confessed to was bombing a lesbian bar in Atlanta in 1997.

2. Eastern Lightning, a.k.a. the Church of the Almighty God

Founded in Henan Province, China in 1990, Eastern Lightning (also known as the Church of the Almighty God or the Church of the Gospel’s Kingdom) is a Christianist cult with an end-time/apocalypse focus: Eastern Lightning believes that the world is coming to an end, and in the meantime, its duty is to slay as many demons as possible. While most Christianists have an extremely patriarchal viewpoint (much like their Islamist counterparts) and consider women inferior to men, Eastern Lightning believe that Jesus Christ will return to Earth in the form of a Chinese woman. But they are quite capable of violence against women: in May 2014, for example, members of the cult beat a 37-year-old woman named Wu Shuoyan to death in a McDonalds in Zhaoyuan, China when she refused to give them her phone number. Eastern Lightning members Zhang Lidong and his daughter, Zhang Fan, were convicted of murder for the crime and executed in February. In a 2014 interview in prison, Lidong expressed no remorse when he said of Shuoyan, “I beat her with all my might and stamped on her too. She was a demon. We had to destroy her.”

Eastern Lightning’s other acts of violence have ranged from the killing of a grammar school student in 2010 (in retaliation, police believe, for one of the child’s relatives wanting to leave the cult) to cult member Min Yongjun using a knife to attack an elderly woman and a group of schoolchildren in Chenpeng in 2012. Christian groups are not exempt from Eastern Lightning’s fanaticism: in 2002, cult members kidnapped 34 members of a Christian group called the China Gospel Fellowship and held them captive for two months in the hope of forcing them to join their cult. Although mainly active in the communist People’s Republic of China, Eastern Lighting has been trying to expand its membership in Hong Kong.

3. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)

The mainstream media have had much to say about the Islamist brutality of Boko Haram, but one terrorist group they haven’t paid nearly as much attention to is the Lord’s Resistance Army—which was founded by Joseph Kony (a radical Christianist) in Uganda in 1987 and has called for the establishment of a severe Christian fundamentalist government in that country. The LRA, according to Human Rights Watch, has committed thousands of killings and kidnappings—and along the way, its terrorism spread from Uganda to parts of the Congo, the Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan. The word “jihadist” is seldom used in connection with the LRA, but in fact, the LRA’s tactics are not unlike those of ISIS or Boko Haram. And the governments Kony hopes to establish in Sub-Saharan Africa would implement a Christianist equivalent of Islamic Sharia law.

4. TheNational Liberation Front of Tripura

India is not only a country of Hindus and Sikhs, but also, of Muslims, Buddhists, Catholics and Protestants. Most of India’s Christians are peaceful, but a major exception is the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT). Active in the state of Tripura in Northeastern India since 1989, NLFT is a paramilitary Christianist movement that hopes to secede from India and establish a Christian fundamentalist government in Tripura. NLFT has zero tolerance for any religion other than Christianity, and the group has repeatedly shown a willingness to kill, kidnap or torture Hindus who refuse to be converted to its extreme brand of Protestant fundamentalism.


In 2000, NLFT vowed to kill anyone who participated in Durga Puja (an annual Hindu festival) And in May 2003, at least 30 Hindus were murdered during one of NLFT’s killing sprees.

5. The Phineas Priesthood

White supremacist groups don’t necessarily have a religious orientation: some of them welcome atheists as long as they believe in white superiority. But the Christian Identity movement specifically combines white supremacist ideology with Christianist terrorism, arguing that violence against non-WASPs is ordained by God and that white Anglo Saxon Protestants are God’s chosen people. The modern Christian Identity movement in the U.S. has been greatly influenced by the Ku Klux Klan—an organization that has committed numerous acts of terrorism over the years—and in the 1970s, new Christian Identity groups like the Aryan Nations and the Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA) emerged. Another Christian Identity group of recent decades has been the Phineas Priesthood, whose members have been involved in violent activities ranging from abortion clinic bombings to bank robberies (mainly in the Pacific Northwest). On November 28, 2014, Phineas Priesthood member Larry Steven McQuilliams went on a violent rampage in Austin, Texas—where he fired over 100 rounds at various targets (including a federal courthouse, the local Mexican Consulate building and a police station) before being shot and killed by police.

6. The Concerned Christians

One of the ironic things about some Christianists is the fact that although they believe that Jews must be converted to Christianity, they consider themselves staunch supporters of Israel. And some of them believe in violently forcing all Muslims out of Israel. The Concerned Christians, a Christianist doomsday cult that was founded by pastor Monte “Kim” Miller in Denver in the 1980s, alarmed Colorado residents when, in 1998, at least 60 of its members suddenly quit their jobs, abandoned their homes and went missing—and it turned out there was reason for concern. In 1999, Israeli officials arrested 14 members of the Concerned Christians in Jerusalem and deported them from Israel because they suspected them of plotting terrorist attacks against Muslims. One likely target, according to Israeli police, was Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque—the same mosque that was targeted in 1969 (when a Christianist from Australia named Denis Michael Rohan unsuccessfully tried to destroy it by arson) and, Israeli police suspect, was a likely target in 2014 (when Adam Everett Livix, a Christianist from Texas, was arrested by Israeli police on suspicion of plotting to blow up Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem).

In 2008, Denver’s KUSA-TV (an NBC affiliate) reported that members of Concerned Christians had gone into hiding and that Miller hadn’t been seen in 10 years

• Rampant sexual abuse by an entire Community of Christians towards girls.
  

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=316371&page=1

Amish women are not taught anything about sex, according to Garrett, which makes it even harder for a girl who's being abused to describe what's happening to her.

Mary said she didn't know how to describe what was happening. "I thought they were being bad to me. That was the only word I had to express it," she said.

In an Amish culture unaccustomed to women speaking up, Mary felt she got more scolding than sympathy when she told her mother what was going on.

She said her mother told her, "You don't fight hard enough and you don't pray hard enough." Mary said her mother made her feel as if the assaults were her fault. "Every time I would talk about this she would say that they have already confessed in church and you're just being unforgiving," she said


Amish are told how to live most aspects of their life.  They are taught how to dress, wear their hair, even to include what color inside their homes should be.  They are taught about forgiveness, even to forgive acts of adultery, rape, or even murder.  It seems almost any sin is forgivable, except the ultimate sin: leaving Amish culture.  David and Fran Yoder committed the unforgivable sin."Once I was gone I was not allowed to step foot on my father's property. They wouldn't speak of me. They considered me dead. The entire Amish community turned their backs. I was not allowed to attend my parent's funerals and neither were my children," David Yoder explained.  In fact, Amish law even forbids reporting acts of crime to authorities.  Fran Yoder confessed "I was raped by my brother-in-law when I was just 17, but as a woman I kept quiet for a while."  Amish authorities prefer to handle crime without the federal government involvement.  
In the past, there have been few known cases of rape within amish community, because reporting crime is highly looked down upon.  In the case of Jacob Weaver, 55 year old Amish man, who was charged and pleaded guilty of raping a young child.  A family member commented about his trial.  "We would just be happy to continue on and we would like to fellowship with him and bring (him) to church and move on in spirit and grow that way. That's why we want him home,"  The family of Chris Mullet, a 28 year old man who was charged with rape of a young girl, said a similar statement about his trial.  “If you ask for forgiveness and they show us they’re sorry. We don’t think about it. If it happens today tomorrow it’s forgotten.”  Acceptance of rape in Amish community is far beyond average American culture.  It seems as though a person faces complete rejection in society if named  a sexual predator.  
As if rape wasn't bad enough, even cases of murder have been covered up within Amish Community. David Yoder claimed that his sister even confessed to the murder of his niece.  Yoder explained that authorities response to the confession was "This can never leave this room.   It has to remain this way for the betterment of community."
How ironic that the Amish are able to forgive acts such as rape and murder so easily but are unable to forgive those who wish to experience a life away from Amish community?

[Dragonspride1995]

If you are speaking about the stuff in deuteronomy and a lot of the stuff from the old testament no. Again theological reasons that I won't get into unless specifically asked about in respect for the context of the thread. Basicly, The mosaic covenant. As for prayers, would you rather we not say anything at all and pray for you anyways?

I think I know the answer anyway but you are right that's off topic. As for prayer I don't care what anyone prays about, that's their business, but I don't appreciate it when they know I don't believe in that, that I think it's useless, and yet they still come up to me and tell me they will get their god to fix my body.
One; it may never work and I may never have children so even if I did believe and was naive enough that is just giving me false hope which isn't what I need. I need a friend to be supportive and realistic.
Two; 'you' sound conflicted when you say that because god is supposed to be all knowing and already has a plan. What good is a prayer then? Either he already made the decision to let me have kids or he already said no. Their pray shouldn't move anything in my favor. If I get enough of them does that tip the odds? Does he listen to just those prayers and not someone else's that can't have children also?
Three; It's rude, to me at least, to tell someone you are involving them in your religion. I know full well if I was someone that required sacrifice and chanting and I told my Christian coworker that I would sacrifice a fly in her name so she had better luck in whatever she was doing and I actually meant it she would go ballistic. Even if I said I would pray to Allah for her she would glare at me. I would love to see her reaction to me saying I was a Satanist and involving her name in my ceremonies.

1. You are right there is nothing that forces God to answer our prayers.
2. I have a argument for this, will only get into it if you ask.
3. Subjective, I have no worthwhile response.


Christians can't be touched by a demon or by the devil, (Take job for instance) but you are right she may have had a reaction toward that.

[Cyberman]

Christians can't be touched by a demon or by the devil,

What a coincidence - neither can anybody else.

[Dragonspride1995]

---

Crusades aside, I do have a argument for that but i'll ignore it. When else has there been a organized Christian attack on others, by a Church? 

I remember hearing something about a guy bombing a abortion clinic but thats about it? Oh and I have heard arguments attributing the salem witch trials to Christians. Am I missing any?

My god man! You're further down the rabbit hole than I'd first imagined!  

Here. 

There are Christian anti social crimes regularly and often. For example:

Ones that hit home: 

Child abuse and neglect, with biblical convictions at the heart of reasoning:

• Faith healing/neglect of medical care, legalized
  

http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/201...oogle.com/

In Idaho the coroner doesn't even do an autopsy when children die without medical care in faith healing sects. Here's a few of the children, and their stories.

http://idahochildren.org/articles/a-few-...-children/

• Prejudice : Atheists can't hold public office of Governor (state)
  

Arkansas, :
No person who denies the being of a God shall hold any office in the civil departments of this State, nor be competent to testify as a witness in any Court.
Maryland, :
That no religious test ought ever to be required as a qualification for any office of profit or trust in this State, other than a declaration of belief in the existence of God; nor shall the Legislature prescribe any other oath of office than the oath prescribed by this Constitution.
Mississippi, :
No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office in this state.
North Carolina, 
The following persons shall be disqualified for office: Any person who shall deny the being of Almighty God.
South Carolina, 
No person who denies the existence of a Supreme Being shall hold any office under this Constitution.
Tennessee, 
No person who denies the being of God, or a future state of rewards and punishments, shall hold any office in the civil department of this state.
Texas, :
No religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office, or public trust, in this State; nor shall any one be excluded from holding office on account of his religious sentiments, provided he acknowledge the existence of a Supreme Being.
So, what do you think of these laws? Are they an affront to the secular nature of our local, state, and federal governments, or are they just antiquated but harmless relics from the past? Should there be an active effort to remove these anti-atheist provisions from the respective state constitutions, or should the nonreligious movement just let federal law trump these discriminatory provisions as conflicts arise?
I think that the legislatures of these states have a duty to eventually get around to removing these provisions and any other elements of their state constitutions that institutionalize discrimination. Now might not be the time due to the large number of pressing issues that plague this nation, but the change ought to eventually be made. Atheists, or any other religious minority for that matter, shouldn’t have to go to court after winning an election just so that federal law is upheld and discrimination is rejected.

• Spanking/Christian based punitive measures including legalized manslaughter
  

: 

This book has almost unbelievably sold upwards of 700,000 copies!

The Pearls recommend whipping infants only a few months old on their bare skin. They describe whipping their own 4 month old daughter (p.9). They recommend whipping the bare skin of “every child” (p.2) for “Christians and non-Christians” (p.5) and for “every transgression” (p.1). Parents who don’t whip their babies into complete submission are portrayed as indifferent, lazy, careless and neglectful (p.19) and are “creating a Nazi” (p.45).
On p.60 they recommend whipping babies who cannot sleep and are crying, and to never allow them “to get up.” On p.61 they recommend whipping a 12 month old girl for crying. On p.79 they recommend whipping a 7 month old for screaming.
On p.65 co-author Debi Pearl whips the bare leg of a 15 month old she is babysitting, 10 separate times, for not playing with something she tells him to play with. On p.56 Debi Pearl hits a 2 year old so hard “a karate chop like wheeze came from somewhere deep inside.”
On p.44 they say not to let the child’s crying while being hit to “cause you to lighten up on the intensity or duration of the spanking.” On p.59 they recommend whipping a 3 year old until he is “totally broken.”
On p.55 the Pearls say a mother should hit her child if he cries for her.
On p.46 the Pearls say that if a child does obey before being whipped, whip them anyway. And “if you have to sit on him to spank him, then do not hesitate. And hold him there until he is surrendered. Prove that you are bigger, tougher.” “Defeat him totally.”  On p.80 they recommend giving a child having a tantrum “a swift forceful spanking.” On the same page they say to whip small children on their bare skin until they stop screaming. “Don’t be bullied. Give him more of the same.” They say to continue whipping until their crying turns into a “wounded, submissive whimper.”
On p.47 they recommend their various whips, including “a belt or larger tree branch” to hit children.
The Pearls  recommend pulling a nursing infant’s hair (p.7), and describe tripping their non-swimming toddler so she falls into deep water (p.67).  They recommend ignoring an infant’s bumped head when he falls to the floor, and ignoring skinned knees (p.86). They also say “if your child is roughed-up by peers, rejoice.” (p.81)  And on p.103 the Pearls say if children lose their shoes, “let them go without until they (the children) can make the money to buy more.”


- See more at: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/lovejoyfemi...GcVHm.dpuf 

• Real life cases of this book in action:
  

In the last seven years, the deaths of three children – all adopted – have been attributed to use of the Pearls’ book. 4-year-old Sean Paddock was killed by his adoptive mother Lynn Paddock in 2006, 7-year-old Lydia Schatz was killed by her adoptive parents Kevin and Elizabeth in 2010, and 13-year-old  was killed by her adoptive parents Larry and Carri in 2011. In all three cases, the parents were convicted of murder.

  Sean Paddock, 4yrs

 Lydia Schatz

  Hana Williams

• Rife with controversy as one would expect, the Pearls are not alone in their "tough love" take on punishing children:
  

http://theweek.com/articles/443585/chris...g-children

Peterson isn't the only Christian who thinks good parents should hit their children, or even that their faith commands it. Eighty percent of born-again Christians believe that spanking is acceptable. This is 15 percent higher than the general population

In reality, as a study based on real-time home audio recordings showed, children who were hit or slapped by their parents usually misbehaved again within 10 minutes. And a 2010 study published in the journal Pediatrics showed that frequent spanking (defined as more than twice per month) was linked to higher levels of child aggression. It's also been linked to "hostile attribution bias," which in layman's terms means the child expects people to be mean to them.

Recent studies have also shown that children who are spanked may develop less grey matter in their brains, which hampers their ability to evaluate rewards and consequences or make critical decisions. This may also predispose them to addiction or depression. Contrary to Ingram's (and James Dobson's and other conservative Christians') assertions, the more you physically punish your children, the less self-control they have.

*bold added by me

• Umm.. I stumbled across this legitimate (I think!) Website
  

http://www.landoverbaptist.org/news0303/spanking.html

Godly Tips on How to Punish and Beat Your Christian Child  
"Blows and wounds cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the inmost being." Proverbs 20:30
From the Landover Baptist Department of Creation Science
1. To begin with, a Christian parent must understand that a child will never learn a lesson unless they are beaten on their naked bottoms until the imprint of the rugged cross is plainly visible on both cheeks.  (Proverbs 23:13-14) A clothed bottom is less humiliating and less painful for the wicked child. In fact, the child may feel no pain at all if they are cunning enough to sin while wearing heavy jeans or khaki pants.  A youngster who can sit comfortably after a Godly beating will think they have outsmarted you and tend to repeat their misdeed and feel a license to move on to more hardcore sins, like rape and blasphemy.  If a child is able to sit down within three days without ointment or a bag of frozen vegetables after their punishment, you have failed as a Christian parent.   A good spanking should be traumatic and something the child will remember well into adulthood. 
2. Use a heavy object, a ruler is too light, a belt-buckle may cause bleeding and suspicion from liberal democrat  schoolteachers if you are careless enough to allow your child to attend a public school. We suggest a heavy King James 1611 authentic cowhide leather bound Bible.
3. Find a comfortable place to sit and ask your child to come over and have a seat on your lap. Act as if there is nothing amiss. We suggest that you smile or wink at your child. If it is your daughter, say "Come on over here and sit on daddy's lap, sweet heart. I want to talk to my little angel for a minute." If it is your son, we suggest you say, "Hey there, sonny - how's Dad's little quarterback? Come on over here and sit on my lap for a minute and let's talk about Jesus."
4. As soon as you have the child on your lap, clench his hands so that he cannot move.  Immediately flip the child over so that his stomach is across your knees. If the child struggles, give him a good whack across the back of his head and tell him to shut up. Whisper in his ear, "You're going to get a whole lot worse from Jesus, you rebellious, hateful, little sissy!"
5.  This is the point where the child may act like a little demon and start screaming.  Be prepared for this wicked outburst.  Have an athletic sock in your back pocket and cram it into the child's mouth. Stuff it back until you get to the stripes at the top of the socks.  Don't worry: if the child is smart enough to remember to breath through their nose, they won't suffocate.
6. Ready your Bible, and lift it high above your head with one hand. Keep the child secure with your free hand. Landover Baptist Creation Scientists agree that the most effective way of securing the child for beating is to clench the back of his neck like a turkey. If they are still struggling, we suggest you raise your voice and say something like, "I'll give you something to squirm over, you little devil!"
7.  Pull down their pants and underwear to reveal their pink little hiney.  May sure both cheeks are fully exposed.
 8. To ensure that the child is aware of their misdeed, and they never forget it, it is often best to smack the child across the bottom with the Bible as you speak out their misdeed. Each word would be one healthywhack across their naked hind quarters. For example: "YOU" [WHACK!] "DIDN'T" [WHACK!] "EAT" [WHACK] "YOUR" [WHACK] "BRUSSEL" [WHACK] "SPROUTS" [WHACK!] "YOU" [WHACK!] "LITTLE" [WHACK!] "DEMON!" [WACK!] and finishing off with a lighter whack, "did" [whack!] "you?" [whack!]
9.  Rebuke the child in the sweet name of Jesus, toss them aside like a used Kleenex and let them roll to the floor to contemplate their sinful nature.
10. After about an hour, when the child has calmed down, have him sit on your lap again and read him some scripture verses about Hell (We recommend, Matthew 13:41-42) from the same Bible you used to beat him with.  Let the child know that the punishment he received today is nothing compared to the eternal punishment of Hell where Jesus burns and cooks all the bad little boys and girls who don't do what their daddy tells them.

• Catholic church worldwide sexual predator round up after being unveiled as a supremely powerful haven for pedophiles for the last few centuries at least:
  

GENEVA — The Vatican released comprehensive statistics for the first time Tuesday on how it has disciplined priests accused of raping and molesting children, saying 848 priests have been defrocked and another 2,572 given lesser sanctions over the past decade. The

Vatican’s U.N. ambassador in Geneva, Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, revealed the figures during a second day of grilling by a U.N. committee monitoring implementation of the U.N. treaty against torture. Tomasi insisted the convention applied only inside the tiny


Vatican City state. But he nevertheless released statistics about how the Holy See has adjudicated sex abuse cases globally, and significantly, he didn’t dispute the committee’s contention that sexual violence against children can be considered torture. Tomasi said that since 2004, more than 3,400 credible cases of abuse had been referred to the German Jesuit Father Hans Zollner, a member of the anti-pedophilia Pontifical commission, speaks at Vatican press conference on child abuse and the Catholic Church.
IMAGE BY: TIZIANA FABI/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Vatican, including 401 cases in 2013 alone. He said that over the last decade, 848 priests had been defrocked, or returned to the lay state by the pope. Another 2,572 were sentenced to a lifetime of penance and prayer or some other lesser sanction, which is often used when the accused priest is elderly or infirm. Acknowledging the high number of priests sanctioned with the lesser punishment, Tomasi said it still amounted to disciplinary action and that the abuser is “just put in a place where he doesn’t have any contact with the children.” The Associated Press in January reported that then-Pope Benedict XVI had defrocked 384 priests in the final two years of his pontificate, citing documentation Tomasi’s delegation had prepared for another U.N. committee hearing that matched data contained in the

Vatican’s statistical yearbooks. Tomasi told the AP on Tuesday that those figures from January were “incomplete” and that the data he provided the torture committee Tuesday — the first ever year-by-year breakdown of how cases were adjudicated — was complete. He told the committee that “there is no climate of impunity but there is a total commitment to clean the house” and prevent more abuse. “I think we have crossed a threshold so to say in our evolution of the approach to these problems,” he concluded. “It’s clear that the issue of sexual abuse of children, which is a worldwide plague and scourge, has been addressed in the last 10 years by the church in a systematic, comprehensive, constructive way.”

• Religious (Christian) belief based Murders
  

Innocent bystanders along with Abortion doctors are routinely murdered, one physician in his own church., by unrepent killers who feel that their actions are completely justified. 

In my hometown: 

Garrett Swasey, 44, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs police officer who was shot and killed while responding to a shooting at a  office, was described by his fellow church members and friends as a courageous man and loving father who drew strength and inspiration from his Christian faith.

Planned Parenthood shooter Robert Lewis Dear was a doomsday Christian who believed his religion gave him the right to do anything he wanted. This is what one of his three ex-wives said about him in divorce documents dated in 1993. Raw Story reports that  of Christian dogma emboldened him to commit various crimes over the course of his life — and, ultimately, the shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood that killed three innocent people.

Attacks on medical professions amd bystanders over abortion, which has been legal since the 70s:

Here is a brief look at the history of deadly violence against abortion clinics, their staff members, patients and their guests in the United States and Canada. 

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/29/us/30abortion-clinic-violence.html?_r=0

• Haphazard side effects including mortality, of indoctrinated beliefs and practices
  

Tiny Tombstones: Inside the FLDS Graveyard for Babies Born from Incest
by Molly Oswaks
MAR 9 2016

In the polygamist cult of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, cousins were encouraged to marry in order to preserve certain bloodlines. Years of inbreeding have resulted in children born with serious birth defects—many of whom don't make it past a few years old

In 2006, Warren Jeffs, then the president and prophet of the FLDS, was arrested and charged with accomplice rape, for just two of the underage marriages he had arranged. In 2011, Jeffs was sentenced to life in prison, plus 20 years. Through his brother Lyle—Bishop of the FLDS and mouthpiece for his imprisoned brother—Jeffs enacted a Judgment wherein FLDS members were asked a series of bizarre personal questions; their answers were judged, and the most righteous were welcomed into the United Order of FLDS elite. Those who did not make it into the UO were separated from their families, placed in patchwork homes of other UO "orphans," and told to repent.

*bold by me

---

Up to 1,000 teenage boys have been separated from their parents and thrown out of their communities by a polygamous sect to make more young women available for older men, Utah officials claim.
Many of these "Lost Boys", some as young as 13, have simply been dumped on the side of the road in Arizona and Utah, by the leaders of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS), and told they will never see their families again or go to heaven.
The 10,000-strong FLDS, which broke away from the Mormon church in 1890 when the mainstream faith disavowed polygamy, believes a man must marry at least three women to go to heaven. 

• Doomsday mentality and society
  

Doomsday is always upon us, or so we are told. Belief in the apocalypse informs the way many view time, and it often works against active politics. But this belief has grown diverse, complex. Left-leaning evangelicals such as Brian McLaren, Jim Wallis, and Shane Claiborne continue to challenge evangelical policies. For Wallis, “Many American Christians are simply more loyal to a version of American nationalism than they are to the body of Christ.” With sarcasm, McLaren also notes the disconnect: If God has predetermined that the world will get worse until it ends in a cosmic megaconflict between the forces of Light (epitomized most often in the United States) and the forces of Darkness (previously centered in communism, but now, that devil having been vanquished, in Islam), why waste energy on peacemaking, diplomacy, and interreligious dialogue?”
Positions held by McLaren, Wallis, and others on the left indicate a growing trend among evangelicals. Still, conservative Christianity remains a powerhouse. But even when Jesus People USA fully embraced conservative theology, their social activism was unfettered, in spite of evangelicalism’s near-fanatical dedication to the writings of Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye. The power of rapture theology (the belief that Jesus will secretly return and sweep born again Christians into Heaven) remains strong for many. And it often influences political decision or indecision.
Evangelicals value Creation, but they remain divided over God’s timeline and their responsibility. Christian author Frank Schaeffer recalls how Richard Cizik, former vice president of the National Association of Evangelicals, “had almost been forced out…when James Dobson [Focus on the Family] wrote to the NAE [National Association of Evangelicals] board demanding Cizik’s dismissal for saying that he thought global warming was real.” The moratorium placed on environmentalism has been cloaked (at least in the past) in a shroud of religious determinism, and the specter of doomsday continues to fuel economic theory. Doomsday has been made readily available to be gobbled up by consumers who hope to catch a glimpse of the wizard…or at least decode his message.

http://www.cupblog.org/?p=17218

Domestic Terrorist Groups: (Christian)

Below are six extreme Christianist groups that have shown their capacity for violence and fanaticism.


1. The Army of God

A network of violent Christianists that has been active since the early 1980s, the Army of God openly promotes killing abortion providers—and the long list of terrorists who have been active in that organization has included Paul Jennings Hill (who was executed by lethal injection in 2003 for the 1994 killings of abortion doctor John Britton and his bodyguard James Barrett), John C. Salvi (who killed two receptionists when he attacked a Planned Parenthood clinic in Brookline, Massachusetts in 1994) and Eric Rudolph, who is serving life in prison for his role in the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta in 1996 and other terrorist acts. Rudolph, in fact, has often been exalted as a Christian hero on the Army of God’s website, as have fellow Army of God members such as Scott Roeder (who is serving life without parole for murdering Wichita, Kansas-based abortion doctor George Tiller in 2009), Shelley Shannon (who attempted to kill Tiller in 2003) and Michael Frederick Griffin (who is serving a life sentence for the 1993 killing of Dr. David Gunn, an OB-GYN, in Pensacola, Florida).

Although primarily an anti-abortion organization, the Army of God also has a history of promoting violence against gays. And one of the terrorist acts that Rudolph confessed to was bombing a lesbian bar in Atlanta in 1997.

2. Eastern Lightning, a.k.a. the Church of the Almighty God

Founded in Henan Province, China in 1990, Eastern Lightning (also known as the Church of the Almighty God or the Church of the Gospel’s Kingdom) is a Christianist cult with an end-time/apocalypse focus: Eastern Lightning believes that the world is coming to an end, and in the meantime, its duty is to slay as many demons as possible. While most Christianists have an extremely patriarchal viewpoint (much like their Islamist counterparts) and consider women inferior to men, Eastern Lightning believe that Jesus Christ will return to Earth in the form of a Chinese woman. But they are quite capable of violence against women: in May 2014, for example, members of the cult beat a 37-year-old woman named Wu Shuoyan to death in a McDonalds in Zhaoyuan, China when she refused to give them her phone number. Eastern Lightning members Zhang Lidong and his daughter, Zhang Fan, were convicted of murder for the crime and executed in February. In a 2014 interview in prison, Lidong expressed no remorse when he said of Shuoyan, “I beat her with all my might and stamped on her too. She was a demon. We had to destroy her.”

Eastern Lightning’s other acts of violence have ranged from the killing of a grammar school student in 2010 (in retaliation, police believe, for one of the child’s relatives wanting to leave the cult) to cult member Min Yongjun using a knife to attack an elderly woman and a group of schoolchildren in Chenpeng in 2012. Christian groups are not exempt from Eastern Lightning’s fanaticism: in 2002, cult members kidnapped 34 members of a Christian group called the China Gospel Fellowship and held them captive for two months in the hope of forcing them to join their cult. Although mainly active in the communist People’s Republic of China, Eastern Lighting has been trying to expand its membership in Hong Kong.

3. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA)

The mainstream media have had much to say about the Islamist brutality of Boko Haram, but one terrorist group they haven’t paid nearly as much attention to is the Lord’s Resistance Army—which was founded by Joseph Kony (a radical Christianist) in Uganda in 1987 and has called for the establishment of a severe Christian fundamentalist government in that country. The LRA, according to Human Rights Watch, has committed thousands of killings and kidnappings—and along the way, its terrorism spread from Uganda to parts of the Congo, the Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan. The word “jihadist” is seldom used in connection with the LRA, but in fact, the LRA’s tactics are not unlike those of ISIS or Boko Haram. And the governments Kony hopes to establish in Sub-Saharan Africa would implement a Christianist equivalent of Islamic Sharia law.

4. TheNational Liberation Front of Tripura

India is not only a country of Hindus and Sikhs, but also, of Muslims, Buddhists, Catholics and Protestants. Most of India’s Christians are peaceful, but a major exception is the National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT). Active in the state of Tripura in Northeastern India since 1989, NLFT is a paramilitary Christianist movement that hopes to secede from India and establish a Christian fundamentalist government in Tripura. NLFT has zero tolerance for any religion other than Christianity, and the group has repeatedly shown a willingness to kill, kidnap or torture Hindus who refuse to be converted to its extreme brand of Protestant fundamentalism.


In 2000, NLFT vowed to kill anyone who participated in Durga Puja (an annual Hindu festival) And in May 2003, at least 30 Hindus were murdered during one of NLFT’s killing sprees.

5. The Phineas Priesthood

White supremacist groups don’t necessarily have a religious orientation: some of them welcome atheists as long as they believe in white superiority. But the Christian Identity movement specifically combines white supremacist ideology with Christianist terrorism, arguing that violence against non-WASPs is ordained by God and that white Anglo Saxon Protestants are God’s chosen people. The modern Christian Identity movement in the U.S. has been greatly influenced by the Ku Klux Klan—an organization that has committed numerous acts of terrorism over the years—and in the 1970s, new Christian Identity groups like the Aryan Nations and the Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord (CSA) emerged. Another Christian Identity group of recent decades has been the Phineas Priesthood, whose members have been involved in violent activities ranging from abortion clinic bombings to bank robberies (mainly in the Pacific Northwest). On November 28, 2014, Phineas Priesthood member Larry Steven McQuilliams went on a violent rampage in Austin, Texas—where he fired over 100 rounds at various targets (including a federal courthouse, the local Mexican Consulate building and a police station) before being shot and killed by police.

6. The Concerned Christians

One of the ironic things about some Christianists is the fact that although they believe that Jews must be converted to Christianity, they consider themselves staunch supporters of Israel. And some of them believe in violently forcing all Muslims out of Israel. The Concerned Christians, a Christianist doomsday cult that was founded by pastor Monte “Kim” Miller in Denver in the 1980s, alarmed Colorado residents when, in 1998, at least 60 of its members suddenly quit their jobs, abandoned their homes and went missing—and it turned out there was reason for concern. In 1999, Israeli officials arrested 14 members of the Concerned Christians in Jerusalem and deported them from Israel because they suspected them of plotting terrorist attacks against Muslims. One likely target, according to Israeli police, was Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa Mosque—the same mosque that was targeted in 1969 (when a Christianist from Australia named Denis Michael Rohan unsuccessfully tried to destroy it by arson) and, Israeli police suspect, was a likely target in 2014 (when Adam Everett Livix, a Christianist from Texas, was arrested by Israeli police on suspicion of plotting to blow up Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem).

In 2008, Denver’s KUSA-TV (an NBC affiliate) reported that members of Concerned Christians had gone into hiding and that Miller hadn’t been seen in 10 years

• Rampant sexual abuse by an entire Community of Christians towards girls.
  

http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=316371&page=1

Amish women are not taught anything about sex, according to Garrett, which makes it even harder for a girl who's being abused to describe what's happening to her.

Mary said she didn't know how to describe what was happening. "I thought they were being bad to me. That was the only word I had to express it," she said.

In an Amish culture unaccustomed to women speaking up, Mary felt she got more scolding than sympathy when she told her mother what was going on.

She said her mother told her, "You don't fight hard enough and you don't pray hard enough." Mary said her mother made her feel as if the assaults were her fault. "Every time I would talk about this she would say that they have already confessed in church and you're just being unforgiving," she said


Amish are told how to live most aspects of their life.  They are taught how to dress, wear their hair, even to include what color inside their homes should be.  They are taught about forgiveness, even to forgive acts of adultery, rape, or even murder.  It seems almost any sin is forgivable, except the ultimate sin: leaving Amish culture.  David and Fran Yoder committed the unforgivable sin."Once I was gone I was not allowed to step foot on my father's property. They wouldn't speak of me. They considered me dead. The entire Amish community turned their backs. I was not allowed to attend my parent's funerals and neither were my children," David Yoder explained.  In fact, Amish law even forbids reporting acts of crime to authorities.  Fran Yoder confessed "I was raped by my brother-in-law when I was just 17, but as a woman I kept quiet for a while."  Amish authorities prefer to handle crime without the federal government involvement.  
In the past, there have been few known cases of rape within amish community, because reporting crime is highly looked down upon.  In the case of Jacob Weaver, 55 year old Amish man, who was charged and pleaded guilty of raping a young child.  A family member commented about his trial.  "We would just be happy to continue on and we would like to fellowship with him and bring (him) to church and move on in spirit and grow that way. That's why we want him home,"  The family of Chris Mullet, a 28 year old man who was charged with rape of a young girl, said a similar statement about his trial.  “If you ask for forgiveness and they show us they’re sorry. We don’t think about it. If it happens today tomorrow it’s forgotten.”  Acceptance of rape in Amish community is far beyond average American culture.  It seems as though a person faces complete rejection in society if named  a sexual predator.  
As if rape wasn't bad enough, even cases of murder have been covered up within Amish Community. David Yoder claimed that his sister even confessed to the murder of his niece.  Yoder explained that authorities response to the confession was "This can never leave this room.   It has to remain this way for the betterment of community."
How ironic that the Amish are able to forgive acts such as rape and murder so easily but are unable to forgive those who wish to experience a life away from Amish community?

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I'm going to copy this post down for further study, however after a close look none of these instances are justified within any realm of morality, and I would further say not backed by the Bible. The attacks by these self subscribed Christians are evil, and should be universally condemned by atheists and Christians alike.

However I do believe that spanking is necessary but not in the manner described. If you go to spank a Child you sit them down, explain what they did wrong, and why they are being punished. No marks should be left behind, and it should never be done when angry. The millennial generation has a major problem with discipline in all instances of the word. Any amount of time playing a online game should make that immediately apparent.

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