(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Fake Christians Lust For the Power To Rule Over the Rest Of Us [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-06-20 I’m not going to claim I remember any of those lessons I heard in catechism classes when I was a kid. And I’m not going to tell you that when I was a Catholic that I listened with rapt attention to the priests’ sermons every Sunday. But I do know that the God they kept talking about was one of love and peace. I left the church about eight years ago, so tell me, when did that all change? When was the loving and forgiving God replaced by a God of hate. When did the Bible start telling us that we should not only disagree with those who live their lives in a way that the church considers sinful, but we should also despite them, dehumanize them, and demonize them. The Christian right always cries about their religious freedom being threatened, which is a bald-faced lie. But the truth is their idea of religious freedom is making sure their views are forced on everyone else. That no one has religious freedom but them. The Washington Post recently ran a story titled, “Here’s what the Christian right wants from a second Trump term.” If Donald Trump wins the presidency, the Christian right is hoping “to put their interpretation of Christianity at the center of government policy,” the Post story said. Conversely, advocates of civil, women’s, and gay rights see this as “a threat to basic freedoms and a dangerous blurring of boundaries between church and state.” You be the judge. Here’s some of the things they want, according to the Post: *Removing the words “gender” and “abortion” from federal program documents, as well as the related funding. *Imposing new restrictions on abortion pills, perhaps through the authority of the Food and Drug Administration. *Carving out greater exceptions to anti-discrimination laws intended to protect the LGBTQ community. *Establishing a more visible role for Christianity in public schools, including more prayer led by both teachers and students. This week the governor of Louisiana signed a law requiring that the Ten Commandments be displayed in every classroom in every public school – including all grade levels – and every public college. Think about it. This is nothing more than shoving specific religious beliefs down the throats of children with no regard for the positions of the parents. If this assault isn’t stopped by the courts, then it will be a case of legalized indoctrination of children by the Christian right and the favoring of their religious freedom over everyone else’s. And it will only get worse. You can read the New York Times reporting on this issue here. These guys are hardcore. Conservative Christian leaders said they support Donald Trump’s call for the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants and ideological screening of newcomers, the Post reported. Mass deportations? Ideological screening? What’s Christian about that? How much more can they hate immigrants than they do now? You can read the Post’s story here. *** These people want their religious views to be reflected in our laws and government policies. They want their beliefs forced upon the rest of us, instead of us having the freedom to live our lives as we wish. But the freedom gate swings both ways. If you want freedom for you and not for the other guy then you’re a lying hypocrite. They lust for power. They’ve placed Trump at the right hand of God, a four-time indicted, twice impeached, sexual assaulter, tax fraudster, convicted felon. His sins are fine and dandy because he can provide them the power to achieve their goals. His lying, racism, hate, and corruption are just quirky little features to be ignored. They don’t care about the obvious damage he’ll do our democracy and rule of law. They don’t care that he’ll make climate change even worse. They don’t care that the social safety net and entitlements will be in grave danger as he looks for money to justify tax cuts for the rich. They don’t care what he’ll do to our allies, or his danger to nation security, or his allegiance to the rich at the expense of the poor and middle class. They don’t care as long as they get what they want. As long as they get the power. There’s nothing Godlike about that. Sounds more like a ticket to hell to me. The main focus of their hate is the LGBTQ community – folks created by God, just like he created the ones who are trying to destroy them now. It’s one thing to think someone is sinning, it’s another to call for their basic rights be taken away. That’s what hate looks like. As has been written here before: Nobody hates like a Christian. These people have to be stopped. They’ve already doing damage with the Dobbs decision by our corrupt U.S. Supreme Court, which took away the 50-year right of women to control her own bodies When you hear that a 10-year-old girl is raped and impregnated and then forced to be taken across state lines to receive the care she needs, that’s the result of their work. When a woman almost dies because doctors are afraid to remove a dead fetus from her body, that’s fine with them. When laws are passed that dictate the treatment of transgender children, taking that decision away from his or her parents and doctor, the Christian right stands up and cheers. And they aren’t stopping there. They’re going to go after the right to contraception, same-sex marriage, and anything else they find loathsome. And Trump will do whatever they want. Even if he loses in November, he’ll still want them to keep giving him money. Truthfully, I don’t know what the hell organized religion is nowadays. When you see them doing the opposite of God’s teaching, believing that they’re instruments of God’s hate and not his love. What’s the point anymore? These people want to weaponize government against the people they perceive as sinners. I seem to remember that it’s God’s job to judge us, not man’s. I guess that went out the window, too. Our country was founded on the belief that the church should not be involved in government. It’s okay for an elected official to use his belief system to help him make decisions. But that belief system isn’t supposed to be used to craft laws that force us to follow those beliefs at the expense of ours. These Christian hypocrites aren’t going to stop unless we stop them, and that’s at the ballot box. They’re a legitimate threat to our country and should be treated as such. It’s been written here before that’s there’s a difference between faith and organized religion. Faith is your personal relationship with God. Organized religion consists of groups that get together and operate under a bunch of rules – always written by men – derived from a book written more than 2,000 years ago that they claim to have properly interpreted. You see, the problem isn’t God, It’s the people who claim to be doing his bidding. *** Thank you for reading my post. You can see my other writings on my blog: Musings of a Nobody. Please share and subscribe for free via email on its home page. 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