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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Reading this thread, a relatively narrow version of Christianity (American evangelical) is mostly what’s being represented. Probably because so many of the questions don’t apply to most mainline or progressive Christian theology and Biblical interpretation. Also because non-evangelicals tend to be less concerned with having a single correct answer.

And so much of evangelical Biblical interpretation involves twisting oneself into knot to justify really awful things (“Yes, God said to kill all of those women and children in the Old Testament and here’s why it was right and holy for him to do it”) because it’s built on a house of cards. I was often told, “if one verse isn’t true, then none of it’s true.” So you’re operating from a place of seeming certainty that’s masking existential fear that if you consider literary or historical context, or just a different understanding, your entire faith will crumble.

The #exvangelical tag on Twitter is an interesting read and includes former evangelicals who are now part of other branches of Christianity or who are now atheist or agnostic.

The Bible for Normal People podcast is a has a varied sampling of non-American fundamentalist biblical interpretation. They often have Jewish scholars on, which has really broadened my understanding of the Hebrew Bible and how differest schools of thought in Judaism have dealt with many of these questions for millennia. (Christians often forget that we share the majority of our scripture with a rigorous intellectual faith tradition from which we could learn a great deal.)

(-former conservative evangelical, now Episcopalian)

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You are correct and I am guilty of propagating the narrow view of Christianity on this board. I grew up in it and it’s hard to shake...especially as evangelicals have made some significant political wins and are contributing to some objectively bad outcomes.

I appreciate the recommendations as I love a podcast and am interested more about the Bible in a more historical perspective. I often wonder if the Bible/Christianity’s popularity is because of the message, or because it was a tool. I think it’s a bit of both. [/quote]

So my viewpoint is undoubtedly biased (I am a cultural Jew whose spiritual beliefs are closest to Buddhism/Hinduism than anything Western), but my thought has always been that Jesus's message of love and tolerance has been substantially overtaken by the Church's (historically the Catholic Church's) exploitation of his legacy as a tool for political control.

I went to a Jesuit college and learned from the Jesuit priests some of the historical context for major Christian ideas, and that only solidified my viewpoint. I learned that Jesus didn't discuss original sin at all -- an idea that I think is darkly perfect as a tool for control. It forces people into a cycle of dependence on the church, wherein we are constantly asking priests for forgiveness, only to inevitably sin again, because we are inherently sinful people, for whom full redemption is pretty elusive. It forces people into a subservient position. When you combine that with the idea of an infallible Pope, you really have something akin to a dictatorship.

Now this is specific to the Catholic Church -- I can't speak for Protestant churches. But to answer your question (from my viewpoint), the success of Catholicism has been largely because of Church's ingenious use of Jesus's message and story as a tool for political control. To some extent, all major religions have attempted to exert political control in some form, but to my mind, the Catholic Church has done it to an unprecedented extent. [/quote]

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