The absurdity of Christian America

Philosophy Forums Religion and Spirituality
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Now that we’re making it illegal to be homeless or poor inside the United States by just arresting people putting them in jail cells we’re all reminded of the lack of Christian morality or ethics inside the United States that claims to be religiously Christian nationally. The national religious irony here is not lost at all.

Looking forward to future debtor prisons being back in vogue here, won’t that be fun?

Oh, and they’re cutting all national housing programs as well on top of this national fiasco. :roll_eyes:

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Just two questions for the sheep.

  1. How many innocent people died during the Crusades?
  2. How many were destroyed by the Inquisition?
    Scum with a cross on their minds - you are to blame.
    And there is no salvation from God.

Read the Bible. Your fate is clearly written there.

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Roughly three months into President Donald Trump’s second term, White evangelical Protestants continue to be among his strongest supporters:

  • 72% approve of the way Trump is currently handling his job as president.
  • 69% rate the ethics of top Trump administration officials as excellent or good.
  • 57% say they trust what Trump says more than what previous presidents said.

A PRRI study published on April 23, 2025 found that relatively few voters regretted their decision in November however, three in 10 non-voters regret not turning out to vote last fall. Just around four and 10 Americans approved of the job that Trump was doing as president. Americans were far more likely to view Trump as a dangerous dictator than a strong leader, restoring American’s greatness, although such views were polarized along partisan and religious lines.

Christian Evangelicals lost any moral credibility they might have had when they supported Trump in 2016. The above poll was before Trump’s Epstein file coverup.

Relying on two classic approaches to measure authoritarianism a PRRI study published on 9/10/24 found that most Americans do not hold highly authoritarian views. Right wing authoritarian views are more prevalent among Republicans, particularly those who hold favorable views of Trump white evangelical protestants, and weekly churchgoers.

Republicans score high on the child rearing authoritarianism scale.(CRAS) as do a majority of black protestants.; church, attendance and less formal education are also linked to higher scores. There is strong overlap among Americans who hold Christian nationalist and authoritarian views.

Most Americans disagreed that those convicted of crimes from January 6 are being held hostage by the government or that Trump should do whatever it takes to be president if he is not declared winner in 2024.; authoritarian and Christian nationalists are more likely to agree.

Republicans, authoritarians and Christian nationalist are far more likely than other Americans to believe that the Democrats have weaponized the department of justice to try and silence, Donald Trump and his supporters. Right wing authoritarian, and Christian nationalist are most supportive of the need for a strong leader who is willing to break the rules.

Americans remain broadly supportive of the separation of powers and believe presidents should not have immunity from criminal prosecution or be allowed to limit opposing parties. While most Americans reject political violence, those who score high on the RWAS, CRAS and Christian nationalism scales, as well as Republicans with favorable views of Trump are more likely to do so. Apocalyptic religious views support for Seven mountains theology, and the idea that America was chosen to be a promised land for European Christians are strongly linked to support for authoritarianism and Christian nationalism, religion partisanship, and news.

Strong support for authoritarianism, and Christian nationalism are associated with the belief that America is in danger of losing its cultural identity. Most Americans reject patriarchal views that defend traditional, gender roles however Republicans and Christian nationalist are more likely than others to support these views. Views about immigrants impact on the economy and local communities, as well as extreme views on immigration are strongly related to authoritarianism and Christian nationalism as is partisanship. (The 9/10/24 PRRI survey included more than 5000 Americans.

Cognitive scientist and philosopher, George Lakoff found that right wing conservatives are more likely than others to have a strict father model of politics. To them the world is a dangerous place and it always will be because there is evil out there in the world. The world is also difficult because it is competitive. There will always be winners and losers.. There is an absolute right and an absolute. Children are born bad in the sense that they want to do what feels good not what is right therefore they have to be made to do good.. what is needed in this kind of world is a strong strict father who can
Protect the family in a dangerous world
Support the family in a difficult world
Teach his children right from wrong.
What is required of the child is obedience because the strict father is a moral authority who knows right from wrong.
The only way to teach kids obedience that is right from wrong is through punishment painful punishment when they do wrong. this includes hitting them with sticks belts or wooden paddles if necessary. (See Dr. James Dobson, “Dare to Discipline”, a best selling book among conservative Christians.

Now Dobson is very clear about the connection between the strict, father worldview, and free market capitalism. The link is the morality of self interest which is a version of Adam Smith’s view on Capital. Adam Smith said that if everyone pursue their own profit, then the profit of all will be maximizing by the invisible, and that is by nature just naturally. Go about pursuing your own profit and you are helping everyone. Lakoff links this belief to a general metaphor that views well-being as wealth.

Applying this metaphor to Adam Smith’s law of nature, if everyone pursue her own self interest then by the invisible hand by nature, the self interest of all will be maximized. That is it is moral to pursue self interest, and there is a name for those people who do not do it.. The name is “do-gooder.” A do gooder is someone who is trying to help someone else rather than themselves and is getting in the way of those who are pursuing their self interest. Do gooders screw up the system.

A good person a moral person is someone who is disciplined enough to be obedient to learn what is right to do what is right and not do what is wrong and to pursue their self interest to prosper and become self reliant. A good child grows up to be like that. A bad child is one who does not learn discipline does not function morally does not do what is right and therefore is not disciplined enough to become prosperous. Such a person cannot take care of themselves and becomes dependent.

When children are mature they either have learned discipline and can prosper or have failed to learn it. From this point on this district father is not to me in their lives.. this translates politically to no government meddling.

This means it’s immoral to give people things they have not earned because then they will not develop discipline and will become both dependent and immoral. This theory says that social programs are immoral because they make people dependent. Promoting social programs like that is immoral.

God is the original strict father. God is at the top of the natural hierarchy in which morality is linked to power. God wants good people to be in charge. Virtue is to be rewarded with power. Therefore, he wants a hierarchical society in which there are moral authorities who should be obeyed.

God makes the laws commandments defining right and wrong. One must have discipline to follow God’s commandments.. God is punitive he punishes those who do not follow his Commandments and rewards those who do. Following God’s laws takes discipline. Those who are disciplined enough to be moral are disciplined enough to become prosperous and powerful.

The natural moral order is
God above man
Man above nature
Men above women
Whites above non-whites
Christians above non-Christians
Straights above LGBTQ+
Adults above children
Western culture above non-western culture
America above other nations.

So when Trump started talking about making America great again, this is what conservative Christians understood he was talking about. And they see him as a strict father figure who is brutal enough to get the job done.

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Hell on earth for anyone who is not white, male and Christian.

They think that by making the world a hell, they can force God’s hand and he’ll send Jesus back!

What a delusion. If they could see clearly (and figuratively), they’d see horns on their heads and their own cloven feet or cloven hooves (according to popular tales, art, and religious symbolism).

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Trump in this term checks every box defining fascism listed in Jason Stanley’s 2018 book, How Fascism Works:

  1. The mythic past: Fascists draw on a mythical past to justify a glorious future.
  2. Propaganda: Propaganda in fascist politics often operates through inflammatory speech, stirring hostility and manipulating emotions, and displacing reasoned public debate with fear and division.
  3. Anti-intellectual: Fascist politics attacks education, expertise, and language, weakening the tools necessary for informed public debate and leaving power and group identity as the only basis for judgment.
  4. Unreality: By flooding the public space with falsehoods and attacking trusted institutions, fascist politics destabilizes reality and shifts truth from a shared understanding of reality to the authority of a leader.
  5. Hierarchy: Unlike liberal thought, which expands dignity and rights to all, fascist ideology sees hierarchy as rooted in nature, using myths to legitimize dominance by the powerful. Equality is portrayed as a denial of this natural order.
  6. Victimhood: Fascist politics blurs the line between equality and discrimination, portraying the dominant group as victims of a hidden conspiracy.
  7. Law and order: A healthy democracy ensures equal justice and mutual respect among citizens and authorities. Fascist law-and-order rhetoric, by contrast, divides society into the naturally lawful and the inherently criminal, portraying those who defy traditional norms—such as women outside gender roles, nonwhites, immigrants, or religious minorities—as threats to order simply by existing.
  8. Sexual anxiety: Fascist politics ties national strength to patriarchal manhood and the traditional family, treating any deviation as a threat. It exploits sexual anxiety and economic insecurity, fueling panic over race mixing, gender nonconformity, and nontraditional sexuality to reinforce ideals of purity and order.
  9. Sodom and Gomorrah: Fascist politics idealizes rural life as morally pure and central to national strength, while depicting cities as corrupt and influenced by outsiders. Policies are framed to protect rural communities from urban and foreign “contamination.”
  10. "Arbeit Macht Frei”: In fascist ideology, aid in times of crisis is reserved for the so-called chosen nation—“us,” not “them.” Those excluded are portrayed as lazy and undeserving of state aid, with hard labor seen as a means of reform —an idea symbolized by the Nazi slogan “Arbeit macht frei” at the gates of Auschwitz and Buchenwald.

Notice #8 corresponds with the strict father role.

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You’ll find Christianity and capitalism are ideologically entwined here. Good righteous people enjoy heaven (prosperity)on earth, sinners deserve their life of hell (poverty) on earth.

This nation of ours is an exemplary form of religious hypocrisy at its finest. It’s everywhere to observe and see.

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I remember when I was homeless in subzero winter I had a Catholic nun close the door on me at a cathedral and call the police because I was trespassing seeking warmth trying not to freeze to death. That was my first lesson that Christianity was bullshit and it wasn’t my last lesson in terms of experience with churches either.

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I also distanced myself from the church because I was unhappy with it, but I acknowledge that I was no better; I was just better informed as a result of that negative experience. It’s like when you’re driving and you criticise another driver for what they did, and then five minutes later you do the same thing. Recognising this fact and keeping it in mind helps you to improve.

In my view, the problem with American Christianity is that this kind of reflection is undertaken too seldom. But the same is true of anyone who is pressing an interventionist morality. Hypocrisy comes easily to anyone who believes they are superior (or ‘better off’, as Christians sometimes say).

It stems from our delusions about the self and autonomy, confusion about strength and weakness, and the failure to understand that all separation is a construct of the mind and that we are best advised to be modest about our own behaviour.

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I despise all forms of Abrahamism, none of it is any good, it is all built on the condemnation of others. The seed of Abraham has been a plague on this world.

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It’s not Christian nationalism that endangers the United States, more like Zionist internationalism. Christians are submissive servants of Jews, Christians don’t do anything without the approval of the political synagogue first.

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Christians are apocalyptic, Jews envision a religious fundamental global government out of Jerusalem awaiting their moschiach, and Muslims never seen a jihad they didn’t like for the total conversion of populations to Allah. The poisoned fruits of Abrahamism.

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Evangelicals are the morbid religious retards of the United States. Mormons come in a close second to them.

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Hatred corrupts the soul. You know this.

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Compassion is incompatible with those who wish eternal damnation on everybody else, there is limits to both compassion and patience especially dealing with people like that.

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That would be true if compassion were finite. But both Buddhism and Christianity reveal that compassion is infinite.

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There is a difference between being peaceful and suicidal, I am not suicidal. It is suicidal showing infinite compassion towards those who seek your annihilation. Maybe the celestial saints can, I am simply just a layperson.

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All Abrahamic religions are religions of hate and disastrous to humanity.

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Your calculus shows youdon’t know who you are.

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There comes a time where infinite compassion or pacifism becomes self injurious. I am a realist.

I strive for peace, cooperation, and compassion, but it is not always possible in every single situation.

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I know how you feel. But that’s incompatible with Buddhism and Christianity. Evangelical Christianity has distorted the image of Christ beyond recognition. Human nature being what it is, I suppose there are professing Buddhists who do the same thing with Buddha.

Even so, I can testify that there are evangelical Christians exhibit Christ-like compassion in their lives. As a matter of fact, the two party system and the polarized mass media tend to exacerbate and exaggerate a splits between religious and ethnic persuasion in society.

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