Damned Christians

[no one]

Also, maybe putin and his lackeys who are making these bold claims should lead by example.

Record themselves being shot in the head with a high powered round, then being resurrected.

[Fake Messiah]

At least we get to see where the macho culture, that we are urged to be part of by clergy and Christian pundits, ultimately leads: men need to be Christian and "manly" so they can die as cannon fodder in some religious war convinced that they are fighting against Satan (embodied as effeminate and gay men) with Jesus on their side.

In Russia they literally have camps to make the "effeminate" men manly by making them chop wood, pray, and slaughter animals.

[Fake Messiah]

Russian Orthodox Church priests destroy identity of deported Ukrainian children

DOXA reported that from the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Russian officials have been relocating children from orphanages and boarding schools in occupied Donetsk Oblast to Russia’s Rostov Oblast. There, Metropolitan Mercury (born Igor Ivanov) of Rostov and Novocherkassk visited the children, talking to them about the ROC and encouraging them to consider baptism into the church.

DOXA and Kidmapping found that children deported from occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts were housed in shelters run by the ROC in Russia's Voronezh Oblast. In these shelters, ROC clergy and associated officials held "military-patriotic" events aimed at promoting pro-Russian and pro-ROC sentiments, thereby distancing the children from their Ukrainian identities.

The ISW has highlighted the ROC's crucial role in executing the Kremlin's occupation plans in Ukraine. This role extends to the assimilation efforts targeting Ukrainian children who have been deported to Russia.

Maria Lvova-Belova, the Kremlin-appointed Commissioner on Children's Rights, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for her involvement in the deportation of Ukrainian children, is married to a ROC priest.

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/06/5/7459233/

[Fake Messiah]

Alarming Report Warns Of ‘Greatest Threat To American Democracy You’ve Never Heard Of’

A growing Christian supremacist movement that labels its perceived enemies as “demonic” and enjoys close ties to major Republican figures is “the greatest threat to American democracy you’ve never heard of,” according to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The SPLC, a civil rights organization that monitors extremist groups, released its “Year In Hate And Extremism 2023” report on Tuesday. A significant portion of the report, which tracked burgeoning anti-democratic and neo-fascist movements and actors across America, is devoted to the New Apostolic Reformation, “a new and powerful Christian supremacy movement that is attempting to transform culture and politics in the U.S. and countries across the world into a grim authoritarianism.”

NAR adherents also believe in the existence of modern-day “apostles” and “prophets” — church leaders endowed by God with supernatural abilities, including the power to heal. In 2022, a handful of these “apostles,” the report notes, issued what they called the Watchman Decree, an anti-democratic document envisioning the end of a pluralistic society in America.

“There are claims that whole neighborhoods, cities, even nations are under the sway of the demonic,” the report states. “Other religions, such as Islam, are also said to be demonically influenced. One cannot compromise with evil, and so if Democrats, liberals, LGBTQ+ people, and others are seen as demonic, political compromise — the heart of democratic life — becomes difficult if not impossible.”

This rhetoric has become increasingly widespread among Republican lawmakers, including former President Donald Trump, who last year referred to Marxists and atheists as “evil demonic forces that want to destroy our country.”

Mike Johnson, who is now the speaker of the House, joined the NAR’s “Global Prayer for Election Integrity,” which called for Trump’s reinstatement as president, in the weeks leading up to the attack on the Capitol. Johnson has also stated that Jim Garlow, an NAR leader, has had a “profound influence” on his life.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/new-apost...32183f25a8

[Fake Messiah]

40 Church and Ministry Leaders’ Beach Houses, Beach Condos and Waterfront Homes Identified; Their Total Net Worth Is $140 Million

Beach houses and beach condos along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts have become the vacation homes of choice for America’s wealthiest pastors.

Thirty of the properties are vacation homes. The most expensive secondary pastor residence is currently for sale at a price of $14.9 million. Florida is the most common location for pastor vacation homes.

For televangelist Benny Hinn, one beach house is not enough. Hinn appears to reside in two beach houses. Hinn’s Dana Point, California, beach house is currently worth $12 million, according to Redfin.

During an inquiry into religious ministry abuses of the tax code, Hinn’s attorney informed Senator Chuck Grassley that Benny Hinn Ministries “decided the best use for the facility was as a retreat for Pastor’s contemplation and study, Church-purposed entertaining, and for short-term overnight stays preceding or following travel.”

The accumulation of wealth by America’s religious leaders is an under-reported story because few religion reporters engage in data journalism.

To understand the big picture requires identifying the property assets of hundreds of pastors and ministry leaders to build an informative data set.

https://trinityfi.org/investigations/40-...0-million/

[Fake Messiah]

Wife reveals dark underbelly of being in a deeply conservative Christian marriage

Tia Levings reveals the dark underbelly to being a wife in a deeply conservative Christian marriage in “A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy (Macmillan, Aug. 6).”

Levings was raised in a Southern Baptist church that railed against homosexuality and abortion while encouraging women to marry early and procreate. She met her future husband Allan at 18 and married him the following year despite numerous red flags including physical violence.

Despite Allan’s protests, Levings remained a virgin during their year of courtship. However their wedding night was certainly not the stuff of romance novels.

Allan “tore into me like long-awaited mail, shocking me with dry, hard stabs and strokes,” she writes. “I gasped from searing pain as my skin broke, and then my body went numb.”

Four days later, Levings went to see a doctor who told her she had a terrible infection and advised her to take a rest because “your body can’t handle that much battering.”

Things only worsened as Allan became more immersed in strict Calvinist theology.

At one point he insisted that Levings call him “My Lord” and “submit” to his every want.

Other traditional wives advised her to follow the tenets of the controversial Institute in Basic Life Principles, which stresses the absolute “surrender” of wives to husbands.

Levings bore five children and home-schooled her brood. She desperately tried to please her husband, but it was never enough. He constantly berated her, calling her a “s–t mother and s–t Christian.”

Eventually Levings fled her marriage in 2007 and has devoted herself to exposing the perils of Christian fundamentalism.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/wife-rev...00598.html

[Ivan Denisovich]

Wife reveals dark underbelly of being in a deeply conservative Christian marriage

Tia Levings reveals the dark underbelly to being a wife in a deeply conservative Christian marriage in “A Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy (Macmillan, Aug. 6).”

Levings was raised in a Southern Baptist church that railed against homosexuality and abortion while encouraging women to marry early and procreate. She met her future husband Allan at 18 and married him the following year despite numerous red flags including physical violence.

Despite Allan’s protests, Levings remained a virgin during their year of courtship. However their wedding night was certainly not the stuff of romance novels.

Allan “tore into me like long-awaited mail, shocking me with dry, hard stabs and strokes,” she writes. “I gasped from searing pain as my skin broke, and then my body went numb.”

Four days later, Levings went to see a doctor who told her she had a terrible infection and advised her to take a rest because “your body can’t handle that much battering.”

Things only worsened as Allan became more immersed in strict Calvinist theology.

At one point he insisted that Levings call him “My Lord” and “submit” to his every want.

Other traditional wives advised her to follow the tenets of the controversial Institute in Basic Life Principles, which stresses the absolute “surrender” of wives to husbands.

Levings bore five children and home-schooled her brood. She desperately tried to please her husband, but it was never enough. He constantly berated her, calling her a “s–t mother and s–t Christian.”

Eventually Levings fled her marriage in 2007 and has devoted herself to exposing the perils of Christian fundamentalism.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/wife-rev...00598.html

I could try for something more eloquent but what the fuck? Truly religion is nothing more than a blight upon mankind.

[Fake Messiah]

Christianity costs

Christian clergy urge government to pay monthly dole

INDIA The Telangana United Christians Pastors Association on Tuesday made a fervent appeal to the State government to ensure that the recognised pastors got monthly financial support as is paid to other religious preachers.

At a huge gathering at Baptist Church, Narayanguda here, as many as 602 pastors, who had rendered long service in the rural areas were felicitated by TUCPA.

Speaking at the function, TUCPA General Secretary Goneh Solomon Raj and several pastors urged the government to issue permission for construction of churches. They also wanted allotment of lands for Christian burial grounds and free power for religious places under LT VII B category as applicable to religious structures.

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/t...573645.ece

[Fake Messiah]

Oklahoma To Spend $6 Million To Buy Classroom Bibles

Oklahoma’s top elected education official said Thursday he is very close to his goal of placing a Bible in “every school” in the Sooner State to both combat “woke” curricula in today’s textbooks and ensure students have access to an incredible “historical document.”

In a phone interview with Fox News Digital, Oklahoma Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters said that America’s founders called upon the Bible when organizing the Republic, and therefore it is key that today’s generation understand the texts from which the country they live in came from.

Walters said exclusively that his department has now allocated $3 million of its budget to the endeavor and announced that he will be asking for an additional $3 million in an upcoming legislative appropriation to the Republican-majority legislature to meet his goal.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/oklahom...ery-school

[Fake Messiah]

Oh, Christians are sinning with their eyes.

Shock Study: 62% of Christians Think It’s OK to Watch Porn

A new study from Barna Group and Pure Desire Ministries reported that 62% of Christians now believe someone can regularly watch porn and still lead a sexually healthy life. This evolving perspective coincides with a notable rise in porn consumption among religious communities—more than half of practicing Christians (54%) admit to occasional use, while back in 2016 only 13% of practicing Christians admitted to watching.

The study highlights a gender shift as well, with 44% of women reporting they regularly view porn, a significant increase from 2016 which reported only 12% of women regularly viewed it.

However, despite this shift in attitudes and behaviors, the church has largely remained silent, leaving many Christians to struggle without guidance. Only 10% of Christians reported that their church offers any programs to help. The majority of porn users (84%) say they have no one helping them avoid it, and nearly half say no one knows about their use.

“The changing landscape requires the Church to step in and respond,” Kinnaman said. “For both porn users and betrayed spouses, we want to see the Church come alongside those struggling and provide hope to those looking for freedom from porn.”

https://relevantmagazine.com/current/sho...atch-porn/