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Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as a f... - 6/7/2011 1:32:12 AM   
Brain


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Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as a fulfillment of Christian ideals.



Heightening The Republican Contradictions, Ctd


The relationship between religion and politics is, to my mind, the central question of our time. As the false totalisms of the twentieth century - communism, fascism, Nazism - have been revealed as oppressive, murderous lies, insecure and inadequate human beings in need of totalist solutions to the human dilemma have returned to religion. But more accurately, they have returned to fundamentalism, because only fundamentalism, with its absolute certainty and literal precision and binding, unquestionable authority, can assuage the anxieties of a world dislocated from tradition, up-ended by capitalism, globalized to the point of cultural panic.

What we are seeing on the Republican right at the moment, it seems to me, is an extension of this response to anxiety. The new orthodoxy is fundamentalist Americanism. This is not regular American exceptionalism of the kind that the president adheres to: a belief that this miraculous new world has opened up vistas of democratic opportunity to the rest of the planet, that its inspired constitution has enabled stability and freedom in equal measure, that it played an indispensable role in keeping freedom alive during some dark, dark times, and that its core idea - government by, for and of the people - is universalist in nature. No, the Americanism now heard on the right is that America was uniquely founded on Christianity, that America is therefore a chosen instrument of divine Providence, and that this moral superiority is so profound that indicting America on any prudential, moral or political grounds is un-American or, if it comes from abroad, evil.

This is how a country with one of the least efficient healthcare systems in the world must retain it for fear of mass serfdom. This is how a country that has tortured prisoners, using the classic brainwashing techniques of totalitarian dictatorships, has actually done nothing but apply enhanced interrogation to terror suspects. This is how a country allowed the critical regulation of a free market to lapse, and then suffered the consequences not of capitalism but of risk-seeking cronyism and self-serving irresponsibility. This version of American exceptionalism is the one that sees a stimulus regarded by most economists as a no-brainer in the face of a potential depression as an assault on freedom. It is the one that sees a successful bail-out of the banks and auto-companies as a form of communism, that regards the integration of gay citizens into the civil order as demonic, that views any engagement with our foes as appeasement, even when it has been accompanied by a massive surge in the Afghan war and the killing of Osama bin Laden.

And so the notion of America as a unique nation in the eyes of God is a Christian heresy. And the rest of the current Republican agenda is also, extremely hard to square with Christian orthodoxy. A reader writes:
Let us count the ways in which Republican doctrine contradicts Christian teachings:

1.

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/06/heightening-the-republican-contradictions-ctd.html







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RE: Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as... - 6/7/2011 2:16:48 AM   
Fellow


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Something feels wrong with this man's thinking. Does he want US politics be more religious or less? Why introduce this aspect at all. Just follow the money and 99% US politics is explained.

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RE: Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as... - 6/7/2011 4:02:23 AM   
Edwynn


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Something is wrong with the OP's 'thinking,' were we to call it that.

He keeps posting relentlessly this ideoligical crap, ever intent on bleating that he is the problem, not the solution.

Three posts in succession regarding Sarah Palin yesterday indicates that we should not count on people figuring things out anytime soon here.

Fun and games. That's all it means to them.









< Message edited by Edwynn -- 6/7/2011 4:05:58 AM >

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RE: Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as... - 6/7/2011 5:50:32 AM   
xssve


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Been a while since Christianity had anything to do with Jesus or the bible.

Sounds like Palin is onboard with the Christian reconstructionists, there have been a lot of hints.

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RE: Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as... - 6/7/2011 12:51:04 PM   
ladyneedshelp


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This man id full of shit. He has no idea what the bible says other than what has been quoted to him. Jesus was never anti wealth. A wealth man who worshiped his wealth came to ask what he must do to enter the kingdom and Jesus replied give away everything u have. That was not because he was rich....Jesus did not say that to every rich man he met.....he saaid it because the man worshiped his wealth over all else. And inorder to "get right with God" he had to give up that master of hiis life and he would no more do that than give it all away!

People are always taking one verse to support an idea....if there is not a single verse that fits they use anything simular.
People say God is aginst alcohol because he told someone he could not serve a master of the drink(for alcholics alchol is their master) and serve THE Master, God. Jesus made not only wine he made the best wine at the wedding. If God were aginst drinking that would not have happened. Saame concept of wealth as ur master.

Most of our founding fathers were christians. Straight up. Their christian values influenced their conception of goverment. One need only read their writings to know this is so. To deny is to ignore what they wrote. that does not mean they expected everyone to be christian, nor I imaigan did they care....dbeyond concern for a brothers soul) when they made a seperation of church and state they were only defining the creation of a state wide church. Its not up to the goovt. To decide how someone dose or does not worship, that's a personal right to choose or not to choose.

To depend on some jerk who goes to a church were they depend on the priest to tell them what the bible says is pure stupidity. And palin is not into the christian reconstruction.....do people actually belive everything the media or bloggers say? Geeseeee.....eyes roll......

Did ya'll hear that the historical experts said paliin was right about paul rever?

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RE: Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as... - 6/7/2011 1:24:57 PM   
SternSkipper


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quote:

that America is therefore a chosen instrument of divine Providence


I love that phrase 'divine providence' written obviously has never been to modern "Providence"


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RE: Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as... - 6/7/2011 2:23:17 PM   
willbeurdaddy


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quote:

ORIGINAL: SternSkipper

quote:

that America is therefore a chosen instrument of divine Providence


I love that phrase 'divine providence' written obviously has never been to modern "Providence"





I almost died in modern Providence...as it was I left the Biltmore in quite a mess. Theres a deli on the street behind the Biltmore and their pastrami was literally nearly lethal. I couldnt make it from the bed to the bathroom, and couldnt leave for the 4 hour drive home till 6 pm the day after. Is pastrami in the Bible?

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RE: Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as... - 6/7/2011 3:20:17 PM   
Musicmystery


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quote:


Most of our founding fathers were christians. Straight up. Their christian values influenced their conception of goverment. One need only read their writings to know this is so.


No. Deists.

Go read them again. You'll see.

(in reply to ladyneedshelp)
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RE: Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as... - 6/7/2011 3:21:50 PM   
Musicmystery


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quote:

modern Providence


No, that's Amateurvidence.

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RE: Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as... - 6/7/2011 3:57:09 PM   
willbeurdaddy


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quote:

ORIGINAL: Musicmystery

quote:

modern Providence


No, that's Amateurvidence.



I thought those were home D/s videos?

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RE: Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as... - 6/7/2011 6:25:24 PM   
Brain


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Our founding fathers were not Christians

None of the Founding Fathers were atheists. Most of the Founders were Deists, which is to say they thought the universe had a creator, but that he does not concern himself with the daily lives of humans, and does not directly communicate with humans, either by revelation or by sacred books. They spoke often of God, (Nature's God or the God of Nature), but this was not the God of the bible. They did not deny that there was a person called Jesus, and praised him for his benevolent teachings, but they flatly denied his divinity. Some people speculate that if Charles Darwin had lived a century earlier, the Founding Fathers would have had a basis for accepting naturalistic origins of life, and they would have been atheists. Most of them were stoutly opposed to the bible, and the teachings of Christianity in particular.

http://freethought.mbdojo.com/foundingfathers.html


quote:

ORIGINAL: ladyneedshelp

This man id full of shit. He has no idea what the bible says other than what has been quoted to him. Jesus was never anti wealth. A wealth man who worshiped his wealth came to ask what he must do to enter the kingdom and Jesus replied give away everything u have. That was not because he was rich....Jesus did not say that to every rich man he met.....he saaid it because the man worshiped his wealth over all else. And inorder to "get right with God" he had to give up that master of hiis life and he would no more do that than give it all away!

People are always taking one verse to support an idea....if there is not a single verse that fits they use anything simular.
People say God is aginst alcohol because he told someone he could not serve a master of the drink(for alcholics alchol is their master) and serve THE Master, God. Jesus made not only wine he made the best wine at the wedding. If God were aginst drinking that would not have happened. Saame concept of wealth as ur master.

Most of our founding fathers were christians. Straight up. Their christian values influenced their conception of goverment. One need only read their writings to know this is so. To deny is to ignore what they wrote. that does not mean they expected everyone to be christian, nor I imaigan did they care....dbeyond concern for a brothers soul) when they made a seperation of church and state they were only defining the creation of a state wide church. Its not up to the goovt. To decide how someone dose or does not worship, that's a personal right to choose or not to choose.

To depend on some jerk who goes to a church were they depend on the priest to tell them what the bible says is pure stupidity. And palin is not into the christian reconstruction.....do people actually belive everything the media or bloggers say? Geeseeee.....eyes roll......

Did ya'll hear that the historical experts said paliin was right about paul rever?


(in reply to ladyneedshelp)
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RE: Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as... - 6/7/2011 6:26:56 PM   
ArizonaBossMan


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Christian ideals. Amazing. Better than the socialist/atheist/pagan ideals of the modern democrat party. Their poster boy is tony "the" weiner. He embodies everything wrong about the democrats. Thanks for the update. Always good to know.

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RE: Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as... - 6/7/2011 6:50:57 PM   
slvemike4u


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It just wouldn't be fair to make the claim that you embody everything that is wrong with Republican's.....you are too far over the top...and I have no desire to taint all Republicans with your idiocy

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RE: Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as... - 6/7/2011 7:07:53 PM   
Lucylastic


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Did ya'll hear that the historical experts said paliin was right about paul rever?
thats funny cos Id heard just the opposite
please furnish me with the source?


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RE: Andrew Sullivan demolishes the Republican agenda as... - 6/7/2011 8:09:50 PM   
Owner59


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quote:

ORIGINAL: ladyneedshelp

This man id full of shit. He has no idea what the bible says other than what has been quoted to him. Jesus was never anti wealth. A wealth man who worshiped his wealth came to ask what he must do to enter the kingdom and Jesus replied give away everything u have. That was not because he was rich....Jesus did not say that to every rich man he met.....he saaid it because the man worshiped his wealth over all else. And inorder to "get right with God" he had to give up that master of hiis life and he would no more do that than give it all away!

People are always taking one verse to support an idea....if there is not a single verse that fits they use anything simular.
People say God is aginst alcohol because he told someone he could not serve a master of the drink(for alcholics alchol is their master) and serve THE Master, God. Jesus made not only wine he made the best wine at the wedding. If God were aginst drinking that would not have happened. Saame concept of wealth as ur master.

Most of our founding fathers were christians. Straight up. Their christian values influenced their conception of goverment. One need only read their writings to know this is so. To deny is to ignore what they wrote. that does not mean they expected everyone to be christian, nor I imaigan did they care....dbeyond concern for a brothers soul) when they made a seperation of church and state they were only defining the creation of a state wide church. Its not up to the goovt. To decide how someone dose or does not worship, that's a personal right to choose or not to choose.

To depend on some jerk who goes to a church were they depend on the priest to tell them what the bible says is pure stupidity. And palin is not into the christian reconstruction.....do people actually belive everything the media or bloggers say? Geeseeee.....eyes roll......

Did ya'll hear that the historical experts said paliin was right about paul rever?



"Did ya'll hear that the historical experts said paliin was right about paul rever"

No I heard them say she wasn`t correct.The spin was pretty lame too.Just dug herself deeper .

The wall of separation between church and state is as much a part of the FF as was their religious beliefs.

Many of the FF were diests.

Thomas Paine
I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of...Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all."

George Washington
The first president of the United States, never declared himself a Christian according to contemporary reports or in any of his voluminous correspondence. Washington Championed the cause of freedom from religious intolerance and compulsion. When John Murray (a universalist who denied the existence of hell) was invited to become an army chaplain, the other chaplains petitioned Washington for his dismissal. Instead, Washington gave him the appointment. On his deathbed, Washington uttered no words of a religious nature and did not call for a clergyman to be in attendance.

John Adams
The country's second president, was drawn to the study of law but faced pressure from his father to become a clergyman. He wrote that he found among the lawyers 'noble and gallant achievements" but among the clergy, the "pretended sanctity of some absolute dunces". Late in life he wrote: "Twenty times in the course of my late reading, have I been upon the point of breaking out, "This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it!"
It was during Adam's administration that the Senate ratified the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, which states in Article XI that "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion."

Thomas Jefferson
Third president and author of the Declaration of Independence, said:"I trust that there is not a young man now living in the United States who will not die a Unitarian." He referred to the Revelation of St. John as "the ravings of a maniac" and wrote:
The Christian priesthood, finding the doctrines of Christ levelled to every understanding and too plain to need explanation, saw, in the mysticisms of Plato, materials with which they might build up an artificial system which might, from its indistinctness, admit everlasting controversy, give employment for their order, and introduce it to profit, power, and pre-eminence. The doctrines which flowed from the lips of Jesus himself are within the comprehension of a child; but thousands of volumes have not yet explained the Platonisms engrafted on them: and for this obvious reason that nonsense can never be explained."

James Madison
The fourth president and father of the Constitution, was not religious in any conventional sense. "Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise."
"During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What have been its fruits? More or less in all places, pride and indolence in the Clergy, ignorance and servility in the laity, in both, superstition, bigotry and persecution."

Ethan Allen
Whose capture of Fort Ticonderoga while commanding the Green Mountain Boys helped inspire Congress and the country to pursue the War of Independence, said, "That Jesus Christ was not God is evidence from his own words." In the same book, Allen noted that he was generally "denominated a Deist, the reality of which I never disputed, being conscious that I am no Christian." When Allen married Fanny Buchanan, he stopped his own wedding ceremony when the judge asked him if he promised "to live with Fanny Buchanan agreeable to the laws of God." Allen refused to answer until the judge agreed that the God referred to was the God of Nature, and the laws those "written in the great book of nature."

Benjamin Franklin
Delegate to the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, said:
As to Jesus of Nazareth, my Opinion of whom you particularly desire, I think the System of Morals and his Religion...has received various corrupting Changes, and I have, with most of the present dissenters in England, some doubts as to his Divinity; tho' it is a question I do not dogmatize upon, having never studied it, and think it needless to busy myself with it now, when I expect soon an opportunity of knowing the Truth with less trouble." He died a month later, and historians consider him, like so many great Americans of his time, to be a Deist, not a Christian.

And no,thinking that maybe because there were more Christians than anyone else doesn`t mean that Christianity "wins" the official stamp of America.It doesn`t work that way.Christian/fundies aren`t in charge,are not god`s favorite,aren`t America`s official state religion and Christians don`t get more of a say than anyone else.



Is it arrogance or insecurity that make some "Christians" think they are in charge?


Jesus said "Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”

Jesus himself wanted government and religion separate.Not because religion would have ill affects on government/nations but because government would be a bad influence on religion.

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