I know that a lot of my readers from Facebook have been reading these stories, and a lot of them are still on the fence, at least about some of it even while accepting much of the more atrocious mockeries as obviously bad.
But here is a blog from Patheos, "Why I still Talk to Jesus - In Spite of Everything", written by Frank Schaeffer. He is an ex-evengelical now attending an Eastern Orthodox church. His post written on November 2, 2012, "How the Evangelicals Doomed the Republican Party, God and (Maybe) America", was obviously written before the election, but he is prescient about the results, and after you read his piece, you'll see why.
He pretty much hits on all of the stuff I've written about, plus a lot of the things we (in the FB group Thinkers Without Malice) have been seeing and talking about, and I am encouraged by the fact that a progressive christian is noticing this stuff and talking about it. I do have one beef about it though,
I say again: Touch it where you may the evangelical/Republican Party/billionaire alliance is doomed, it’s doomed because the non-retributive Jesus is the true Lord, not a hate filled ideology of imperial overreach that is embraced by crazed and militarized right wing neoconservatives and the haters of not just our first black president but of God and his good earth.No.
It is doomed because most Americans aren't right wing crazed religious fanatics wedded to a Republican/billionaire alliance. As a matter of fact, when you get right down to it, a vast majority of Americans aren't. This has nothing to do with whether there is a god, or who/what that god may be or which theology may or may not be right.
This is about politics and real American values, not the fake stuff Republicans like to natter on about. This is about the fact that America is becoming a progressive country, whether the right wing likes it or not. Attitudes and social trends often take a decade or more to work their way between Europe and the US, no matter which side of the pond a particular social thing began on. In this case, the trend away from religion began in Europe, as a reaction to how Europeans saw the churches bow down to and fail to stand up to the Nazis and how well those christian "values" were twisted and bent to fit the Nazi programs. The trend away from religion began with the children who were born before the war, who grew up during and through the war and survived in spite of the inaction of the churches in countering that evil. Their parents were too busy themselves fighting the war and trying to survive to teach their children religion in an era in which churches were not a major part of peoples' lives.
As my generation was born, the trend accelerated until, today, the very most religious European countries have less than half of their populations claiming christianity as a spiritual home, some claiming as few as 10%.
That trend has not gone unnoticed here, as the younger generations in the US now claim as few as 30% as being religious, and many of those do not adhere to any organized groups.
I encourage you to go read Frank's post. It is a wonderful collection of all the things Republicans are doing wrong, at least as of the days immediately prior to the election. As we all know now, Republicans have not wised up, and are as set on tearing their party apart as they were then.
Here's hoping they keep at it. It will be fun to watch, although there may be some painful moments to watch. Kind of like watching some guy on TV playing ball with his four year old who whacks him in the balls with the bat.
Yeah, you know, the moment when you're glad it's him and not you.
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