This piece in The Guardian illuminates the mind of some Christians and also explains that many people who voted for trump did so, not because of what he stood for, but much more what he, and they, were against.
It may also help explain why, in the first 7 months of his regime, his policies and actions through his cabinet picks have almost universally destroyed rather than built.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/05/donald-trump-why-do-evange...
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I've never understood who or what evangelicals are.
According to them:
https://www.nae.net/what-is-an-evangelical/
Looking at those characteristics, the whole thing just seems redundant to me. Believes in Christ? Believes in the Bible? Believes in the Gospel? Then they're just Christians.
Adding the word Evangelical makes it seem as if it were a unique thing within Christianity. Yet they're not unique in the way a denomination is unique.
I dont think all xtian sects are into the 'born again' thing or require proselytism.
@John Breezy
Oh, but they are unique John. You may equate them with radicalized muslims. Evagelicals are unique in that they act and think that they are on a crusade. Every aspect of their life is about jesus. I live among them. I see them every day. Thy are total nutcases!
I can see that, seeing how I only hear them mentioned in political conversations such as the one in the OP.
But, every aspect of your life being about Jesus, just makes one devout, not an Evangelical.
The central tenant of Evangelicalism, is the idea that you must be born again to receive salvation. And by this they mean a very specific act that takes place in a unique instant in time before baptism (or is often the case: "re-baptism"). Example conversation:
They also like his antiLGBT stance.
The article points to Trump overturning Roe vs Wade as a big draw for them.
Well lets see what Trump/Pence has accomplished so far.
Appointed a conservative supreme court justice. (actually they more just robo-signed in the republican party's choice) So far, revisiting Roe VS Wade is not even on the radar of the supreme court. They are far to busy with their backlog and dealing with all the crap the trump administration is doing, like attempted Muslim bans.
Proposed new healthcare law that attempted to defund all government grants of Planned Parenthood. Of course PP does much more then just abortion procedures, and all abortion procedures by PP are not in any way funded by the government in the first place. Private donation to PP soared, and now PP funds for abortions are better funded then they ever been. (Many donations amusingly done in Mike Pence's name!)
The health care bill failed spectacularly due to infighting within the republican's own party. Planned Parenthood remains fully funded, plus all the additional private donor dollars PP received.
In evangelical's eyes, their "problem" with abortion has only gotten worse since Trump was elected president. How long are they going to stand behind Trump? Probably as long as they refuse to look at the actual truth of things. But even these people have to be aware that the PP clinic nearest them is still open.
Of course Trump has allowed churches more freedom to take part in state affairs and begin to donate and to lobby politicians more freely now. So the churches have room to get even richer... Just this supposed highly important issue of "genocide of babies" continues to go on unabated to them. (Evangelical religious leaders have won, but their followers have not.)
This is EXACTLY why we see so many theists preaching and quoting Bible versus over and over and over again in this forum while having zero influence:
The more we engage with them, the more we feed them what they seek and need ... to be a martyr.
I wasn't aware of that! They're fatalists, yes, they are trying to look like victims... Now it makes sense!
They don't believe in divorce, they believe Earth is 6.000 years old, they don't wear clothes made of two pieces of different fabric because it's sinful, art is work of evil (even cartoons! yes, Winnie the Pooh!)...
'But beyond the pragmatism and the eagerness to forgive things like “locker-room talk”, I believe that evangelicals recognize a fellow outsider in Trump, someone not only unafraid to shake things up and offend people, but actively goes out of his way to do it.'
'“One of the reasons I support him is he doesn’t say what’s politically correct,” Jerry Falwell Jr, Liberty University president and today’s face of political evangelicalism, said on ABC This Week, when commenting on Trump’s outrage-inspiring response to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.'
'To evangelicals, pissing off liberals and defending unpopular opinions makes Trump appear more like one of them.'
As a Christian, Trump's ability to offend is definitely a big plus. I preferred Ted Cruz but settled for Trump. I really hated Hillary and Bill. At the end of the day, I was as shocked as most people that Trump actually won.
@Matt
So you like Trump because he pisses people off. That is just ignorant and stupid. You don't choose a leader because he can piss people off. You choose a leader that can LEAD and get things done. You make a positive choice not a negative choice. Christians, evangelicals, freedom caucus/tea party people are just fucking destructive. They have false indignation, are uninformed and misinformed. Fucking NAZIs the lot of them!
You're stalking me. Stop it. I don't want to hear from you again.
I didn't pick Trump. I settled on Trump because I hated Hillary.
@Matt
I am not stalking you. I am replying to your post. If you don't like my replies you can ignore them or leave. I will reply to any post I see fit.
You continue to be aggressively hostile as I have said in the past. I don't have to put up with that. Be civil or I am going to forward your replies to admin.
Civil? Do you know what that even means? Were you civil about Anne Frank?
He's arguing back and making sense. If you can't take the heat don't stand in the kitchen.
Too funny. This guy is a riot.
My partner has shown me the video of the "praying moment" in the White House, and it has given me shivers... Watching people, who believe the bs we're talking about in charge of a country... The blonde lady (she was Kellyanne Conway, wasn't she) so idiotic... Oh, boy... Atheists are the ones who should be "praying" for this to stop. I'd never thought that in comparison to them, someone could make me consider the Bushes as nice and competent people... There's a proverb in my language that translated would be: "Others will come and good you'll become"
I'm so so sorry for people from the USA... You have narrow-minded clowns in your government and your constitutional rights (Separation State-Church) are over.
I understand that you hate Trump, but what about Hillary? Did you like Hillary? Or were you a Bernie fan?
@Angiebot
Yeah you know its bad when Bush Jr seems like a positive saint compared to who we have in the white house now. I would take Bush Jr over tRump in a heartbeat.
Although on the plus side, tRump power has eroded so much he is basically a figurehead with little power. And that he adds to the dysfunction of the republican party instead of helping the clean sweep the republicans got in the 2016 elections of all the houses. The only thing stopping republicans getting everything they want is themselves, and tRump is a huge part of that.
I realize he's some kind of a puppet, but it's wipping off the little international credibility you have left... And about the Paris Agreement... simply WOW.
And what are Democrats doing to stop this? Why haven't they forced an impeachment out of the treason charges? They are letting time go by, so tRump (and therefore the Republicans) wear away... Don't they care about the damage that this clown is doing to the country's image? They're just been selfish, just thinking on the midterm election.
Yeah, not pleased with the democrats either. They really lost what little respect I had in the last democratic primaries. The US needs a valid 3rd party, and a complete rework of current voting laws, redistricting, gerrymandering, money in politics etc.
The short answer is that it takes a majority vote in the House to impeach an officer of the US Government, and the Democrat party doesn't have enough seats to accomplish this. This has only happened twice (A. Johnson, B. Clinton). And that is only step 1 in the removal process. No president has ever been successfully removed.
I'm not a USA citizen, but if I were, I would had definetely voted for Sanders. Even though, from a European perspective, he sounds like a moderate right-winded politician sometimes (I guess because he was a Democrat candidate and had to do some licenses). Clinton, by European standards, sounds right-winded and tRump ultra right-winded.
That's the spectrum of USA politics. From my perspective, you don't really know what a left-winded party means.