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quote:
ORIGINAL: dcnovice
quote:
ORIGINAL: sirsholly
quote:
Who really cares?
Quoted for truth
Why is a nincompoop such as that even worth a second thought?
Point taken. And yet . . .
When views like Cameron's, claiming to be be rooted in faith, seep into the atmosphere, you know there will be folks who latch on to them as proof that God shares their prejudices. So I think it's important for others, particularly people of faith, to say, "Wait. That's not how I see it."
As a sometime Episcopalian, I was particularly proud when my bishop spoke out for marriage equality. Her essay won't convince everyone, I well know, but it helped make clear that Christianity need not equal Cameron's perspective.
It's mostly the SBC evangelicals, who split from the Northern churches after the civil war (all the major denominations, including Episcopalians split into Northern and Southern branches) but who grew in influence during reconstruction thereafter - ironically, they spread far and wide throughout the West, including California, largely by following government public works programs during the Depression, though earlier waves populated the gold fields and cattle trails, both North and West.
Mostly rural and reactionary, they have a particular dislike of carpetbagging Northern inty-lec-tuals ("liberal elites"), and highly androcentric, i.e., they're not too fond of feminists either.
They're the constituency propping up both Gingrich and Santorum, who pander to them directly, and who Romney has to get into his camp, although they oppose him on religious grounds (he's a Northerner).
Don't underestimate their influence, the Bush administration, the pres, VP, and speaker of the house were all SBC, and Chief Justice Roberts, also SBC, was appointed by Bush.
Statistically, they're still only roughly a third of the population, but they've been steadily infiltrating the bureaucracy for a couple many decades now - Harry Trueman was the first Southern Baptist in the White house, followed by Johnson, Reagan (Disciples of Christ, Southernized evangelials), Clinton and both Bushes, they practically got a lock on the presidency, and RNC gerrymandering is only going to solidify that.
Clinton was SBC too, believe it or not, and they do go through occasional internal liberalization phases, most recently in the Eighties, but AEI has been working on whipping them into a frenzy (and is probably behind the shift towards Calvinism - militant exceptionalism) for some time now - Limbaugh started up in earnest back during the Schiavo incident, the whole "culture of life" thing, and has been stumping the SBC ever since, same with Murdoch and Fox, the SBC is the RNC's secret weapon of mass distraction.
There Will Be Blood is kind of a metaphor for the whole thing, the petrodollar cabal and the Northern philanthropies are the money and the policy architects, the SBC are the grunts, even Clinton threw 'em a bone with DOMA.
Thing is, they don't really share the same concerns as the republican leadership itself (oil mostly), but they're a gullible bunch, and easy to hook with any kind of millennial/evangelical bait.
The South done riz agin'.
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Walking nightmare...
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RE: Kirk Cameron Doesn't Like Homosexuality - 
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