Christian nationalism is driving away christians?

[Anonymous]

I'm a liberal guy who felt chased away by most of the Christian churches I attended as a young adult.

Ironically (?) I had a conversation the other day with my cousin who is another lapsed Catholic. We each has left decades ago as John Paul II lurched the church in a very conservative direction. I tried some non-Catholic Christian churches before finding a home in a very liberal Episcopal Church (smells and bells!). She became an atheist and became active in that movement until her group was taken over by conservatives with a white nationalist bent.

Interesting times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think general public perception of Christians has changed significantly last 4 years.

Christians = far right republicans = crazy DT supporters = hate filled whites

I would just add the word "evangelical" i.e.,

Evangelical Christians = far right republicans = crazy DT supporters = hate filled whites

Not all Christians are like that, but because the evangelicals make the most noise, they are giving all Christians a bad name.

We are very evangelical but not far right and are very much anti DT. So while you are right that it’s a subgroup of Christians, it’s also a subgroup of evangelicals.

Yeah but something like almost 90% of evangelicals voted for Trump so their “subgroup” is w-a-y bigger than yours. The “it’s not my type of Christianity” is a problem because to the outside world, THIS is the visible, loud Christianity. I hate it because it goes against everything that Jesus taught about love, humbleness, doing the right thing quietly, living the poor and downtrodden most of all. The extremist swing of the evangelicals should worry all Christians.

—Christian who left evangelical church to go to mainline Protestant over these issues

Do you have a source for the 90%? My personal experience is that no one I know from my church voted for Trump. It was hilarious when my Trump supporting parents came to visit and thought he’d have a sympathetic ear in two active military members that attend. They wouldn’t let him get a word in they were so anti Trump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think general public perception of Christians has changed significantly last 4 years.

Christians = far right republicans = crazy DT supporters = hate filled whites

I would just add the word "evangelical" i.e.,

Evangelical Christians = far right republicans = crazy DT supporters = hate filled whites

Not all Christians are like that, but because the evangelicals make the most noise, they are giving all Christians a bad name.

We are very evangelical but not far right and are very much anti DT. So while you are right that it’s a subgroup of Christians, it’s also a subgroup of evangelicals.

Yeah but something like almost 90% of evangelicals voted for Trump so their “subgroup” is w-a-y bigger than yours. The “it’s not my type of Christianity” is a problem because to the outside world, THIS is the visible, loud Christianity. I hate it because it goes against everything that Jesus taught about love, humbleness, doing the right thing quietly, living the poor and downtrodden most of all. The extremist swing of the evangelicals should worry all Christians.

—Christian who left evangelical church to go to mainline Protestant over these issues

Do you have a source for the 90%? My personal experience is that no one I know from my church voted for Trump. It was hilarious when my Trump supporting parents came to visit and thought he’d have a sympathetic ear in two active military members that attend. They wouldn’t let him get a word in they were so anti Trump.

I'm relieved to learn that your small sample of military did not support trump and am sorry that your parents assumed that all US military would be on board with trump.. Seems to me that if any military took their oath to the US constitution seriously, they could not support a person over the country as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Christian Zionism is the far worse problem. As in, scr8w what our politicians and foreign aid should instead be doing for the American nation and people--what has the American soldier and taxpayer done for israel lately?

Not one more dollar of tribute. Not one more American soldier fallen for a foreign flag.

Watch this comment disappear because too many sensitive souls can't handle the truth.

America is paying for its own greed, religious and race politics and White entitlement. According to Brietbart - DT was led by his d1ck for his lust for DD who changed her religion after marrying the androgynous reptile. Oh well, I find it all very entertaining.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the upper Midwest (medium sized town in WI) that for decades was always the land of the Catholics and the Lutherans. There were a handful of SBC, Apostolic, etc. churches but they tended to be small, kind of insular affairs that really weren't "pervasive" or anything. But in the past 15-20 years there has been a surge of these evangelical megachurches. And they are siphoning off a TON of Catholics and Lutherans. To the unsuspecting eye they look sooo welcoming - upbeat music, sermons that are easy to understand, bright lights, high energy children's programs (as opposed to the boring read-a-textbook-in-a-smelly-Catholic-school-cafeteria style CCD I went through), sprawling campuses, coffee shops, ~hip~ young pastors...but the amount of white nationalism, homophobia, and anti-intellectualism that hides under the shadows of these "cool" churches is actually such a terrifying phenomenon. This brand of Christianity is like the opposite everything Christianity is about.

Was this a sample of 1, or like a million, or what? Not saying you have an angle or anything...

I've been in several churches (due to moves) that are like the bolded line-zero have had any of these undertones. They are also typically the most diverse churches in the area.

And good music, sermons that can be understood and kids programs that the kids LOVE and learn from, are good things!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think general public perception of Christians has changed significantly last 4 years.

Christians = far right republicans = crazy DT supporters = hate filled whites

I would just add the word "evangelical" i.e.,

Evangelical Christians = far right republicans = crazy DT supporters = hate filled whites

Not all Christians are like that, but because the evangelicals make the most noise, they are giving all Christians a bad name.

I am an Evangelical Christian, and right right Republicans scare me. A Anon, Blue lives Matter, all of it is horrible and toxic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think general public perception of Christians has changed significantly last 4 years.

Christians = far right republicans = crazy DT supporters = hate filled whites

I would just add the word "evangelical" i.e.,

Evangelical Christians = far right republicans = crazy DT supporters = hate filled whites

Not all Christians are like that, but because the evangelicals make the most noise, they are giving all Christians a bad name.

I am an Evangelical Christian, and right right Republicans scare me. A Anon, Blue lives Matter, all of it is horrible and toxic.

So many typos. Sorry, it is late.

[Anonymous]

Nicholas Kristoff in a piece 1-2 days ago celebrates for progressive and committed Christians are in power now.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/20/opinion/sunday/progressive-christians-politics.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nicholas Kristoff in a piece 1-2 days ago celebrates for progressive and committed Christians are in power now.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/20/opinion/sunday/progressive-christians-politics.html

One of the themes on the comment section is that progressive Christians need to be more vocal, explaining what Christ is about. Often they don’t speak at all because they don’t want to convert anybody, but there’s a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents, who are lifelong Republicans and genuinely try to be Christlike people, are increasingly aghast by what some of their friends believe. It’s really wild. So much of what is being espoused by evangelicals right now does not even begin to pass the “what would Jesus do?” test.

Former Catholic here.

This is how I feel watching Catholic family and friends. Their views and statements on a variety of issues are so out of line with what I was taught (K-12 Catholic school, Catholic immigrant families, took part in all sacraments . . . I was raised in a hard core Catholic environment). I find it repulsive and confusing. And I cannot talk about it with them. Though THEY (not I) have raised issues with me, those attempts have gone badly. If you even delicately point out why their position seems at odds with WWJD, they lash out (also un-Jesus-like).

Unfortunately, it has colored my views of them. It's hard to see people preaching Bible verses, Lenten sacrifices, and other on-the-surface Catholicism do a 180 when out of the church parking lot: name-calling and hostility, promoting policies that do not help the poor or needy, the victim complex, the willingness to deny other people rights b/c of the their "rights", among other things.

Has it colored your views of Catholicism? After all, it, like other religions, expects followers to believe all sort of things that don't ordinarily happen, like virgin birth, resurrection, ascension into heaven and life after death for those who believe such things.

DP: But why would the political views of one family, who happen to be Catholic, color PP's view of the religion? It should color her view of her families' politics. Catholics vote 50/50 in U.S. elections and nothing that PP describes as her family's views are Catholic doctrine, as she correctly points out. The issues isn't PP moving away from religion, but the rest of her family moving away from what her religion teaches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think general public perception of Christians has changed significantly last 4 years.

Christians = far right republicans = crazy DT supporters = hate filled whites

I would just add the word "evangelical" i.e.,

Evangelical Christians = far right republicans = crazy DT supporters = hate filled whites

Not all Christians are like that, but because the evangelicals make the most noise, they are giving all Christians a bad name.

We are very evangelical but not far right and are very much anti DT. So while you are right that it’s a subgroup of Christians, it’s also a subgroup of evangelicals.

Yeah but something like almost 90% of evangelicals voted for Trump so their “subgroup” is w-a-y bigger than yours. The “it’s not my type of Christianity” is a problem because to the outside world, THIS is the visible, loud Christianity. I hate it because it goes against everything that Jesus taught about love, humbleness, doing the right thing quietly, living the poor and downtrodden most of all. The extremist swing of the evangelicals should worry all Christians.

—Christian who left evangelical church to go to mainline Protestant over these issues

Do you have a source for the 90%? My personal experience is that no one I know from my church voted for Trump. It was hilarious when my Trump supporting parents came to visit and thought he’d have a sympathetic ear in two active military members that attend. They wouldn’t let him get a word in they were so anti Trump.

Sorry. It was 80%. For some reason I thought it was 87%. 80% is still a very overwhelming margin and was Trump’s safest demographic. He did lose some Catholics between 2016 and 2020 but lost very few Evangelicals.

https://apnews.com/article/votecast-trump-wins-white-evangelicals-d0cb249ea7eae29187a21a702dc84706

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think general public perception of Christians has changed significantly last 4 years.

Christians = far right republicans = crazy DT supporters = hate filled whites

I am loathe to admit it, but this is exactly the first thing that goes through my mind now when I hear someone is a church going, self professed "Christian". Not saying its true or right, but it is just instinctually the first thing I think until, or unless, something happens that proves me wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in the upper Midwest (medium sized town in WI) that for decades was always the land of the Catholics and the Lutherans. There were a handful of SBC, Apostolic, etc. churches but they tended to be small, kind of insular affairs that really weren't "pervasive" or anything. But in the past 15-20 years there has been a surge of these evangelical megachurches. And they are siphoning off a TON of Catholics and Lutherans. To the unsuspecting eye they look sooo welcoming - upbeat music, sermons that are easy to understand, bright lights, high energy children's programs (as opposed to the boring read-a-textbook-in-a-smelly-Catholic-school-cafeteria style CCD I went through), sprawling campuses, coffee shops, ~hip~ young pastors...but the amount of white nationalism, homophobia, and anti-intellectualism that hides under the shadows of these "cool" churches is actually such a terrifying phenomenon. This brand of Christianity is like the opposite everything Christianity is about.

I haven’t seen any real evidence of this, but this is precisely how it seems to me. Those mega church parishioners kind of ooze white supremacist, women-hating and anti-intellectualism under the blanket of the Bible.