It’s gotten so absurd that a reporter spoke with a woman at a Trump rally sporting a crucifix & tee-shirt that said “Hang Joe Biden For Treason.” She essentially said Jesus would watch the execution…
I saw a self-confident looking young blond woman being interviewed about why she supports Trump. She said because she isn't looking for a friend or a husband. What? Does she mean Trump doesn't have the qualities she would want in a friend or a husband which I assume would be honesty, trust, kindness, intelligence, etc., but she doesn't want the President of the U.S. to have those qualities? To me this is irrational, and she didn't answer why she does support Trump.
This is one of the indicators of a cult. It is faith without rationale. You can't argue against it because there is no argument for it.
Really interesting, Thom. The fact that you note Reagan and Bush flip-flopped on abortion issue was very interesting. I will bet my bottom dollar that Trump cares nothing about pro or anti abortion causes. He is only widening his snare of the religious right. Another lie, another grift.
I’m sure it comes as no surprise that the exploitation of religion has been used forever by grifters to manipulate their authoritarian followers, and with contemporary technology and knowledge, their big con has never been easier.
This generation’s incarnation of an uber Christian grifter is a malignant narcissist that uses great propaganda and Baby Goebbels’ scripts to make their chumps toe the line and proclaim their loyalty to their cult leader. And all in an effort to serve Putin. Seems kind of treasonous when you think about it.
Christianity as a positive force in the country is dead. It died some time ago, probably in the time of Reagan. So-called liberal Christians still use a deeply misogynist and racist Book as their guiding light. You can't fix that simply by saying "but OUR CHURCH supports women and gay people." If you use that Book as a rulebook, you do not support women and gay people. Full stop. There is some interesting history in the Book - the social constructs of 2000+ year old desert nomads and the record of a conquering and genocidal people. It presents us with Yahweh, a one-time Jewish war god that gradually assumed ascendency over all other gods. If one wishes to find the roots of Christian dysfunction (and USA violence), look to the OT, which the Evangelicals love, spurning the NT as "too woke and socialist."
The Republicans vast conspiracy of hate is their Religion .
This under Donald Trump who is by no means a “ man of God”.
The Republicans have attached themselves to this alleged “Christian” group which is very much anti Christ in every way.
Their intolerance for all but the whites wealthiest men is actually against everything that Jesus taught when he shared his views on earth.
So they’ve made up stories about who Christ was and have entangled their wrath in his lectures on kindness and care for follow men and created the lie that Jesus would cheer on the hanging of Joe Biden .
Unbelievable , but not anymore.
Their paltry story of Trump being chosen by God to lead is about the most pathetic stretch of the many pathetic stretches this group have sponsored.
American, for good reason was constructed with separation of Church and State as a leading principal of U S Government.
This situation now is the most profound reason for having made that decision by the founders of our Constitution and our Country.
The Supreme Court violates this premise regularly as does Trump and his cacophony of chaos.
I inform those capable of accepting reality that the United States is not a democracy, and it never has been one. Hypocrisy is the form of government in the United States; and it always has been. The so-called religious white-wing is a perfect example of this unfortunate scourge. How can you believe in "The Bible, "Jesus" and winged white folks in the sky and simultaneously believe you need an AR-15?
Did Jesus have an AR-15?
I've read the bible but maybe I missed that part. If this garbage weren't so tragic it would be funnier than HELL.
What we are seeing in the US (from other countries) is the daily activities of School children running amok. Separation of Church and State is of PRIMARY importance but it seems the Govt. is incapable of following this rule. What is the point of the Constitution?
Just look at all the theocracies around the world to see what America would look like. Their people have been moving away from them in order to eat and moving to America and other non-religious governments.
The right wing Christians are trying to rearrange the chairs on the deck of the Titanic. In their new organization of the chairs, they will get all the perks and everyone else will get robbed and abused while being made to suffer for not being a lying lunatic like them. Fascism goes well with phony religions. Fascism and phony religion lovers, want to steal all of our stuff and turn us into slaves, to be abused by them, the superior ones who can't even connect the dots! And they also have no desire to connect the dots. If they ever connected the dots and actually started to seek the truth, they would be horrified.
We deplore the religious fanatics who deny women their basic rights in the Middle East but accept the same regressive individuals in the United States. There was ample reason for the founding fathers to include the separation of church and state in the constitution.
Christianity has a 2000 year history of oppressing women and people of color and using war to acquire more land and more wealth and to serve as an excuse for the domination by small groups of white men. It was the Catholic pope whose backing insured the election of Adolph Hitler to the chancellorship by German Catholics in the parliament. It was the U.S. evangelicals that enabled Reagan to become president and that were key to the election of Trump in 2016. The result is a radical right controlling the Federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, to strip hard won human rights from working class people that took a century to achieve and only a few decades to lose.
I remember the attitude toward the Thousand Points of Light program George H.W. Bush set in motion. He was trying very hard to sell the public that government money should be "granted" to church charities. Back once more is his Republican idea that the private sector is so much smarter and more efficient with OUR money. I call BS on that.
The Bible is a hot-mess---written by men for men. The Constitution was man-made too, but we have had the sense to amend it. We have sought remedy for the "man thing", and hopefully we'll keep working on that.
Churchs get to apply for grants for their charity work, and we all know the GOP is chomping at the bit to hand them billions in school vouchers. They will only use it for general education, not to teach religion. Ya, right! Jesus doesn't want them to lie, but it seems that is the path they have chosen to walk with Trump and the cult.
As you so clearly pointed out, Christ left a set of instructions for them as individuals. If only they would stop the rhetoric and the lying so they can accomplish the goals of THEIR religion on a personal level in conjunction with the First Amendment. It all comes back to the money trail, tax avoidance, and the single-minded rule of one Orange Jesus. We know what he thinks of charity as well as what he did with the fake one he established and got busted for. When real Jesus comes back, he'll likely call them out too.
Strong churches are always the few outnumbered by the weak links in religion. Fundamentalist are always favoring their own interests over all others. The damage done by these unwoke actors is societies nightmare. No matter how obvious how Jesus would act they rationalize their doctrine of hate. Liberal Churches have a hard time separating themselves as entities of inclusion from their unwoke non member branches. Pretending is our great strength to believe what we cannot see. It is also our greatest weakness as a tool of the insane. Fundamentalist want to be taken care of in an infantile manner which the insane are more than willing to pretend to do. Outcome is mass insanity and death.
Truly a blasphemous use of the term "Christianity." Runs firmly against Dan Berrigan, S.J.'s warning, "If you want to follow Jesus you'd better look good on wood!"
The "Christian America" visualized by Johnson would be very different from trump's. The former would be mostly sincere and a theocracy much in the mould of an updated Massachusetts Bay Colony, the latter a bazaar of merchandise (and political favor) for sale with all accruing to the greater glory and wealth of trump the messiah.
We have believed that education is the antidote to “tyranny imposed upon the mind of man”, in that it is neutral, objective, and based on rational study, independent thought, science, and facts. That is indeed true of education. But why was education not ever addressed in the Constitution? If education and “the mind of man” is so obviously crucial to preventing tyranny and so essential to a good life, liberty, and happiness, why did the founders fail to mention it?
The answer, I believe, is that it had never occurred to them that education, like freedom of the press and freedom of (or from) religion would be an issue. It had never occurred to them that education would be something imposed as religion and false information or suppression of the press had been imposed. They are turning over in their graves still today because of the attempts to force education through school attendance laws.
Education is neutral, objective, and based on rational study, independent thought, science, and facts. Schooling, when required by law and part of a bureaucratic structure based on legal authority can never claim to be significantly any of those things. Someone with power and authority decides what will be “taught” and what will be studied and learned. Somebody has the ability to whitewash history as has been done for generations since the Civil War ended and the ability to portray the eradication of indigenous peoples as just so much necessary progress of civilization. It’s political and social and it is human engineering through behavioral modification. Children need order, structure, discipline, and lots and lots of instruction, especially moral instruction (modelled after religious training), do they not?
Controlling the inculcation of children into society and their curriculum is tyranny imposed upon the mind of man. It is time to connect the dots and take off the rose colored glasses about schooling forced upon the people. It is not education, nor will it ever be education. And, if Thom Hartmann and liberal/progressives cannot figure that out, we truly are up that proverbial creek without a paddle or any hope.
As those familiar with me know I am critical of Marches and demonstrations as they accomplish nothing and the establishment welcomes them as pressure relief valves.
But the civil rights movement was NOT passive non violence,like marches, but aggressive non violence like sit ins and the Freedom Bus ride ins.
I saw a self-confident looking young blond woman being interviewed about why she supports Trump. She said because she isn't looking for a friend or a husband. What? Does she mean Trump doesn't have the qualities she would want in a friend or a husband which I assume would be honesty, trust, kindness, intelligence, etc., but she doesn't want the President of the U.S. to have those qualities? To me this is irrational, and she didn't answer why she does support Trump.
This is one of the indicators of a cult. It is faith without rationale. You can't argue against it because there is no argument for it.
Really interesting, Thom. The fact that you note Reagan and Bush flip-flopped on abortion issue was very interesting. I will bet my bottom dollar that Trump cares nothing about pro or anti abortion causes. He is only widening his snare of the religious right. Another lie, another grift.
I’m sure it comes as no surprise that the exploitation of religion has been used forever by grifters to manipulate their authoritarian followers, and with contemporary technology and knowledge, their big con has never been easier.
This generation’s incarnation of an uber Christian grifter is a malignant narcissist that uses great propaganda and Baby Goebbels’ scripts to make their chumps toe the line and proclaim their loyalty to their cult leader. And all in an effort to serve Putin. Seems kind of treasonous when you think about it.
Christianity as a positive force in the country is dead. It died some time ago, probably in the time of Reagan. So-called liberal Christians still use a deeply misogynist and racist Book as their guiding light. You can't fix that simply by saying "but OUR CHURCH supports women and gay people." If you use that Book as a rulebook, you do not support women and gay people. Full stop. There is some interesting history in the Book - the social constructs of 2000+ year old desert nomads and the record of a conquering and genocidal people. It presents us with Yahweh, a one-time Jewish war god that gradually assumed ascendency over all other gods. If one wishes to find the roots of Christian dysfunction (and USA violence), look to the OT, which the Evangelicals love, spurning the NT as "too woke and socialist."
The Republicans vast conspiracy of hate is their Religion .
This under Donald Trump who is by no means a “ man of God”.
The Republicans have attached themselves to this alleged “Christian” group which is very much anti Christ in every way.
Their intolerance for all but the whites wealthiest men is actually against everything that Jesus taught when he shared his views on earth.
So they’ve made up stories about who Christ was and have entangled their wrath in his lectures on kindness and care for follow men and created the lie that Jesus would cheer on the hanging of Joe Biden .
Unbelievable , but not anymore.
Their paltry story of Trump being chosen by God to lead is about the most pathetic stretch of the many pathetic stretches this group have sponsored.
American, for good reason was constructed with separation of Church and State as a leading principal of U S Government.
This situation now is the most profound reason for having made that decision by the founders of our Constitution and our Country.
The Supreme Court violates this premise regularly as does Trump and his cacophony of chaos.
I inform those capable of accepting reality that the United States is not a democracy, and it never has been one. Hypocrisy is the form of government in the United States; and it always has been. The so-called religious white-wing is a perfect example of this unfortunate scourge. How can you believe in "The Bible, "Jesus" and winged white folks in the sky and simultaneously believe you need an AR-15?
Did Jesus have an AR-15?
I've read the bible but maybe I missed that part. If this garbage weren't so tragic it would be funnier than HELL.
I have no idea how the US is going to stop this.
What we are seeing in the US (from other countries) is the daily activities of School children running amok. Separation of Church and State is of PRIMARY importance but it seems the Govt. is incapable of following this rule. What is the point of the Constitution?
There seems to be NO way to turn this tide.
Just look at all the theocracies around the world to see what America would look like. Their people have been moving away from them in order to eat and moving to America and other non-religious governments.
The right wing Christians are trying to rearrange the chairs on the deck of the Titanic. In their new organization of the chairs, they will get all the perks and everyone else will get robbed and abused while being made to suffer for not being a lying lunatic like them. Fascism goes well with phony religions. Fascism and phony religion lovers, want to steal all of our stuff and turn us into slaves, to be abused by them, the superior ones who can't even connect the dots! And they also have no desire to connect the dots. If they ever connected the dots and actually started to seek the truth, they would be horrified.
We deplore the religious fanatics who deny women their basic rights in the Middle East but accept the same regressive individuals in the United States. There was ample reason for the founding fathers to include the separation of church and state in the constitution.
Christianity has a 2000 year history of oppressing women and people of color and using war to acquire more land and more wealth and to serve as an excuse for the domination by small groups of white men. It was the Catholic pope whose backing insured the election of Adolph Hitler to the chancellorship by German Catholics in the parliament. It was the U.S. evangelicals that enabled Reagan to become president and that were key to the election of Trump in 2016. The result is a radical right controlling the Federal courts and the U.S. Supreme Court, to strip hard won human rights from working class people that took a century to achieve and only a few decades to lose.
I remember the attitude toward the Thousand Points of Light program George H.W. Bush set in motion. He was trying very hard to sell the public that government money should be "granted" to church charities. Back once more is his Republican idea that the private sector is so much smarter and more efficient with OUR money. I call BS on that.
The Bible is a hot-mess---written by men for men. The Constitution was man-made too, but we have had the sense to amend it. We have sought remedy for the "man thing", and hopefully we'll keep working on that.
Churchs get to apply for grants for their charity work, and we all know the GOP is chomping at the bit to hand them billions in school vouchers. They will only use it for general education, not to teach religion. Ya, right! Jesus doesn't want them to lie, but it seems that is the path they have chosen to walk with Trump and the cult.
As you so clearly pointed out, Christ left a set of instructions for them as individuals. If only they would stop the rhetoric and the lying so they can accomplish the goals of THEIR religion on a personal level in conjunction with the First Amendment. It all comes back to the money trail, tax avoidance, and the single-minded rule of one Orange Jesus. We know what he thinks of charity as well as what he did with the fake one he established and got busted for. When real Jesus comes back, he'll likely call them out too.
Strong churches are always the few outnumbered by the weak links in religion. Fundamentalist are always favoring their own interests over all others. The damage done by these unwoke actors is societies nightmare. No matter how obvious how Jesus would act they rationalize their doctrine of hate. Liberal Churches have a hard time separating themselves as entities of inclusion from their unwoke non member branches. Pretending is our great strength to believe what we cannot see. It is also our greatest weakness as a tool of the insane. Fundamentalist want to be taken care of in an infantile manner which the insane are more than willing to pretend to do. Outcome is mass insanity and death.
I would say a lot like the Jewish Israel.
Truly a blasphemous use of the term "Christianity." Runs firmly against Dan Berrigan, S.J.'s warning, "If you want to follow Jesus you'd better look good on wood!"
The "Christian America" visualized by Johnson would be very different from trump's. The former would be mostly sincere and a theocracy much in the mould of an updated Massachusetts Bay Colony, the latter a bazaar of merchandise (and political favor) for sale with all accruing to the greater glory and wealth of trump the messiah.
We have believed that education is the antidote to “tyranny imposed upon the mind of man”, in that it is neutral, objective, and based on rational study, independent thought, science, and facts. That is indeed true of education. But why was education not ever addressed in the Constitution? If education and “the mind of man” is so obviously crucial to preventing tyranny and so essential to a good life, liberty, and happiness, why did the founders fail to mention it?
The answer, I believe, is that it had never occurred to them that education, like freedom of the press and freedom of (or from) religion would be an issue. It had never occurred to them that education would be something imposed as religion and false information or suppression of the press had been imposed. They are turning over in their graves still today because of the attempts to force education through school attendance laws.
Education is neutral, objective, and based on rational study, independent thought, science, and facts. Schooling, when required by law and part of a bureaucratic structure based on legal authority can never claim to be significantly any of those things. Someone with power and authority decides what will be “taught” and what will be studied and learned. Somebody has the ability to whitewash history as has been done for generations since the Civil War ended and the ability to portray the eradication of indigenous peoples as just so much necessary progress of civilization. It’s political and social and it is human engineering through behavioral modification. Children need order, structure, discipline, and lots and lots of instruction, especially moral instruction (modelled after religious training), do they not?
Controlling the inculcation of children into society and their curriculum is tyranny imposed upon the mind of man. It is time to connect the dots and take off the rose colored glasses about schooling forced upon the people. It is not education, nor will it ever be education. And, if Thom Hartmann and liberal/progressives cannot figure that out, we truly are up that proverbial creek without a paddle or any hope.
Just in time. There is this great article from Salon The Suppressed History of the Civil Rights Movement https://www.salon.com/2024/01/18/the-suppressed-history-of-the-civil-rights-movement-that-could-help-defeat-donald/?lh_aid=3594738&lh_cid=cbo38owi9q&lh_em=myocicats%40gmail.com&di=d52eeb2d3d2591b796e984375c5999a4
As those familiar with me know I am critical of Marches and demonstrations as they accomplish nothing and the establishment welcomes them as pressure relief valves.
But the civil rights movement was NOT passive non violence,like marches, but aggressive non violence like sit ins and the Freedom Bus ride ins.
https://www.salon.com/2024/01/18/the-suppressed-history-of-the-civil-rights-movement-that-could-help-defeat-donald/?lh_aid=3594738&lh_cid=cbo38owi9q&lh_em=myocicats%40gmail.com&di=d52eeb2d3d2591b796e984375c5999a4