2005.04.15

The Problem with Religious Conservatives in America

One of the biggest problems I see with the seemingly dominant form of religious conservatism in America today is they do not follow the teachings of Christ. The New Testament is a their rhetorical slave and the Old Testament is their whip. The wrathful Old God who drowned the world in a righteous rage is who they are worshipping, not the gentle and tolerant Christ. These people aren’t Christians. They are worshippers of Yahweh the wrathful, vengeful, angry, jealous God of the Old Testament who killed, punished and taunted his enemies and followers.

If Christ appeared before them today they would stone him for harboring the poor (The War on Poverty), comforting a prostitute (showing actual compassion), throwing out the money lenders (Corporate Responsibility), healing the sick (Health Care), and speaking his mind (First Amendment). I am not against true Christians, for they are my natural allies. I am against those who use his name in vain and who worship the Old Testament God. Except the Jews.

7 Comments Categorized: political

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7 Responses to “The Problem with Religious Conservatives in America”

  1. Mookee says  (April 15th, 2005 at 09:13:23 )

    While the New Testament God is more likely to want to hold hands, sing songs, and simply say, “Oh poo!” if he spills His triple tall latté mochachino (the old testament God would smite you if he spilled his black coffee)…

    …the Old Testament God is much more entertaining. Who wouldn’t rather read about a giant flood to punish, as opposed to reading about a bunch of people sharing food?

  2. dugh says  (April 15th, 2005 at 21:32:58 )

    More entertaining? Perhaps…
    But when his followers are trying to make America into the image of what they consider a Holy State then that’s a little too far. There are a lot of not so nice events in the Old Testament that are just a little to fscked up for me to think these people are sane.

    Besides, all I’m saying here is that these people claim they are Christians, when in fact they go against most of what Christ teaches. They are about as Christian as is a Buddhist, except the Buddhists generally know to keep their noses out of other people’s business and not try to create a theocracy to dominate everyone.

  3. NHK says  (April 16th, 2005 at 03:02:32 )

    Dugh, you make an excellent point. As an Atheist whose address book runneth over with Catholic contact information, I can tell you that most religious people I know share the sentiment you express in the above entry. As do I.

  4. Uncle Roger says  (April 19th, 2005 at 04:28:10 )

    If you want to be scared…
    There a series of radio ads that have been running locally as of late that start off with something like “Susan heard the noise at the back door and her heart began racing… and she realized it was time to put the book down and go to sleep”. Then the announcer says (roughly) “if you want to be scared, we can recommend some good books; otherwise we can keep you safe” (it’s for a burglar alarm company).

    Sure, the OTG is more entertaining, and that’s fine for movies and all, but for real life, “Why can’t we be friends” is a better philosophy.

    Of course, if I *had* to pick a God to believe in, I think I would go with the Goa’uld…

  5. NHK says  (April 21st, 2005 at 08:40:14 )

    The Goa’uld
    Yup. That sounds good. They have lots of cool toys and FTL starships to play with. And those nifty pain-inducing bracelet thingies. I want one of those for the office.

  6. Uncle Roger says  (December 29th, 2005 at 13:15:58 )

    Long-Haired Radical Socialist Jew
    Heard a “christmas” song on the radio the other day and then saw your December Challenge post… This seems appropriate: http://home.earthlink.net/~h2jukebox/rocketscience.html#jesus

    btw, NHK, I want those bracelets that would link me forever more to Vala… Yummm!

  7. dugh daren says  (December 29th, 2005 at 22:57:51 )

    Excellent lyrics!
    I really like those lyrics. I’ve never heard the song… I’m imagining it was not on a commercial radio station, though!