Damned Christians

[Fake Messiah]

Christian scholar urges evangelicals to abandon church as it's lost 'moral credibility'

Dr. David P. Gushee, a distinguished university professor of Christian ethics at Georgia's Mercer University and chair of Christian social ethics at the Free University of Amsterdam, spoke with Salon's Chauncey Devega about what he says is a crisis in "White Christianity" as it slowly submits to Donald Trump.

Gushee began by saying that the political divisions in Christianity began in the 1960s with the culture wars, money in politics and the Christian right's slide into GOP devotion.

"I abandoned it in the 2015-2018 period. I write about that in my memoir Still Christian and my book After Evangelicalism. I fear that what 'evangelical' has come to mean is an authoritarian, reactionary white conservative population whose religion has become indistinguishable from radical right-wing politics."

https://www.rawstory.com/evangelicas-hav...edibility/

[Fake Messiah]

More than 200 Spokane churches were asked to open their doors to homeless people during dangerously cold weather — four agreed

A dangerous cold snap is forecast. Hundreds of unhoused people are in danger of freezing to death, and there isn't a clear plan to keep them warm. With the clock ticking, the city scrambles.

The idea of using churches to house homeless people during cold weather has been long in the making. In theory, it makes sense: Hundreds of Spokane churches sit empty every night. With city shelter space consistently below what's needed, why not ask the faith community to help?

But making that vision a reality has been an uphill battle.

Johnny Edmondson, the family ministry director at Shadle Park Presbyterian Church, helped organize this year's efforts to open up churches. Over the course of about three months, Edmondson says the group of volunteers and service providers contacted 227 local churches.

He says almost every church said they were interested in supporting the effort. But many expressed concern about potential liability, damage to their buildings and other things that could go wrong.

The biggest hurdle, Edmondson says, was fear.

By late December, a few churches were considering the idea, but none had officially committed. McKinney with the Low Income Housing Consortium says there were moments when he worried the project would fizzle.

By Thursday, three churches had committed. Several others were on the fence.

Garcia says she's grateful to see the support but disappointed that more churches didn't step up.

"In talking with some of these churches, I think people forget who Jesus was," Garcia says. "We've gotten away from 'What would Jesus do?'"

https://www.inlander.com/news/more-than-...d-27303574

[Fake Messiah]

Protest Convoy Headed to Southern Border Is Calling Itself an ‘Army of God’

A trucker convoy of “patriots” is heading to the U.S. border with Mexico next week, as the standoff between Texas and the federal government intensifies.
The organizers of the “Take Our Border Back” convoy have called themselves “God’s army” and say they’re on a mission to stand up against the “globalists” who they claim are conspiring to keep U.S. borders open and destroy the country.

“This is a biblical, monumental moment that’s been put together by God,” one convoy organizer said on a recent planning call. “We are besieged on all sides by dark forces of evil,” said another. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God. It is time for the remnant to rise.” (The remnant, from the Book of Revelation, are the ones who remain faithful to Jesus Christ in times of crisis).

Experts say that the Christian nationalist overtones in this rhetoric adds a dangerous dimension to an already fraught situation.

https://www.vice.com/en/article/5d9adk/t...ationalism

[zebo-the-fat]

Blessed are the peacemakers... so why do they need an army?

[Fake Messiah]

Blessed are the peacemakers... so why do they need an army?

[Pat Mustard]

Katharine Birbalsingh's school is currently being sued by a muslim student for not providing a private space to do his daily prayers. One of her defences is that the school is "secular" and doesn't cater to any faith.

Turns out the woman forces all students (no matter their religion) to sing one of three christian hymns at daily assembly. I know that reich wing christians call christianity "a relationship, not a religion", but Katharine love, this is taking your neo-nazism too far.

[Fake Messiah]

Sweden has cut out all grants and subsidies to the Russian Orthodox Church after Swedish intelligence warned that Russia was using the churches as an intelligence base

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/28838

[no one]

Churches and intelligence, seems like an oxymoron.

[Fake Messiah]

It seems so strange when people wonder why "Christianity is not a healing force in the world instead of being a divisor".

I mean when was it ever a healing force? It was always dividing people to look at non-Christians and "different" Christians with suspicion and then as enemies.
Like this article where the author is even stunned by "the political idolatry" - I mean, hello; ever heard of Popes, kings and other ruling figures "chosen by god"? And then he goes on cherrypicking the new testament where Jesus says people to "love our enemies", but ignores the parts where Jesus says he'll burn everyone who disbelieves in him, as well as antisemitic amd other hateful parts in the new testament.

Where Did Evangelicals Go Wrong?

One might reasonably expect that Christians, including white evangelicals, would be a unifying, healing force in American society. After all, the apostle Paul wrote that Jesus came to tear down “the dividing wall of hostility” between groups that held profoundly different beliefs. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God,” Jesus said. In that same sermon, Jesus also said, “I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Even if those goals have always been unattainable, they were seen as aspirational.

Yet in the main, the white evangelical movement has for decades exacerbated our divisions, fueled hatreds and grievances, and turned fellow citizens into enemies rather than friends. This isn’t true of all evangelicals, of course. The movement comprises tens of millions of Americans, many of them good and gracious people who seek to be peacemakers, including in the political realm. They are horrified by the political idolatry we’re witnessing and the antipathy and rage that emanate from it. But it is fair to say that this movement that was at one time defined by its theological commitments is now largely defined by its partisan ones.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...mp/677610/

[no one]

Hatred, division, and intolerance are far more profitable than, love, acceptance, and understanding. Especially for those already under the delusion of the one doing the propheting.