War on Christmas

so is a fundamentalist christian necessarily an evangelist?

 

I think you are missing the point.

They can proselytize all they want.

They cannot impose their beliefs on the country through the political process, which is what they attempt to do increasingly at every level of govt.

 

i guess i don't see how this is happening. if anything, it seems that there is a continuing drift away from traditional christian values and norms

 

In recent years, it is the difference between Billy Graham, who knew every president on a personal basis but refrained from imposing his beliefs on the country and Pat Roberson and groups like the Family Research Council who believe the Bible (and their literal interpretation) should serve as a public policy document for the entire country.

 

but with a growing religiously indifferent society, isn't all that ranting and raving for naught? chuck norris was going to run for vice president, but nobody's getting all guarded about a martial artist trying to inject his beliefs into government

 

So you are comfortable with imposing the Christian literal interpretation of the New Testament on all US citizens....Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, atheists?

 

Yeah, that's because this is America: good luck to anyone who thinks there's a danger in a politician actually motivating us all to become physically fit and interested in defending ourselves with unarmed combat.

 

The right has characterized Michelle Obama's Lets Move campaign as socialism.

 

Michelle Bachmann described Obama's voluntary anti-obesity campaign as the "nanny state" yet she wants to amend the Constitution to define marriage and limit women's reproductive rights.
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More recently, Huckabee's solution to gun violence.....bring God (only the Christian variety) back into public schools.

 

Yup. The idea of a "wall of separation between church and state" in the US is crumbling rapidly. These right-wing Christian conservatives scare the shit out of me. If they really got the power they want, America would be a fundamentalist Protestant theocracy, the Christian version of the Taleban. They're the same breed of cat as the right-wing Haredi fanatical zealots that make life a pain in the ass for non-Orthodox Jews in Israel.

Even when there is a religious character to a nation, I basically always believe that actual religious-practice authority needs to be out of the hands of the government, and the essential character of the government be secular. It's the only way to ensure fairness of religious freedom for all. And that goes double for keeping religious fundamentalism away from public education and science.

Fundamentalist power is bad for everyone. In the end, it's even bad for the fundamentalists, even if only in the sense of Lord Acton's warning.

 

An example of Christian fundamentalism run amok in public policy -- Paul Broun, a senior member of the House Science and Technology Committee (and a medical doctor):

Is this a person anyone really believes is shaping government policy objectively and in the best interest of the country?

 

i'd rather have a predictable jerkoff who's taking instructions from the most printed book of all time. at least then you know where he's getting his ideas from

 

Whose interpretation of the Bible do you suggest we follow as instructions for public policy?

Pat Roberson and James Dobson or Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton?

 

Seriously. The simplistic, utterly un-nuanced fundamentalist theology and philosophy are appalling. Just appalling.

 

i had rather hoped this war on xmas would have made enough progress to short-circuit the family obligation i am about to attend. but no.

 

Indinawemaaganidag (Ojibway:all my relations/we are all one people) I don't know about you guys here but I enjoy sharing my traditions but also enjoy sharing and learning about the traditions of others. I would go so far as to say that it is truly an honor for me to have had the opportunities to share as I have. I'll share the apple pie with you if that's cool, kosher would be awesome can't say I fancy a lard crust. If you wished me a happy Hanukkah I would wish one back. Would I think of it as an insult? No. I would be no more insulted than a person wishing me a nice weekend or vacation. To those people who wish you a merry Christmas in a sarcastic way... well, that's not very Christian.

I think the Christian nation thing is definitely whack. I believe people twisted "one nation under God" to assume God = Christianity. I would simplify it to be a Deist country. On historical and constitutional grounds it seems quite clearly that the nation is not Christian though I believe fair to say that no faith has exercised nearly the amount of influence on the United States as Christianity to date.