Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Sirus]

I was about to ask "what kind?", but then I realised that pretty much anything other than straight White Protestant could fall under "kind".

[RedKing]

I was about to ask "what kind?", but then I realised that pretty much anything other than straight White Protestant could fall under "kind".

Actually, it'd be broader than that (Santorum himself is Roman Catholic). But yeah, I fear non-Christian/non-Jews would rapidly become second-class citizens.

[Sirus]

My bad, straight white Roman Catholics.

Wait a second...why would the far right fringe vote for Santorum? According to a number of ultra-fundamentalist Baptists and Protestants, Catholics are not Christians.

[G-Flex]

Wait a second...why would the far right fringe vote for Santorum? According to a number of ultra-fundamentalist Baptists and Protestants, Catholics are not Christians.

There is a lot of historical anti-Catholic sentiment from fundamentalist Christians in the US, and the Church doesn't look kindly upon protestantism either. However, Santorum is still Christian, and still has very similar policies that they would have, so in this case, they get along just fine.

[Sirus]

Wait a second...why would the far right fringe vote for Santorum? According to a number of ultra-fundamentalist Baptists and Protestants, Catholics are not Christians.

There is a lot of historical anti-Catholic sentiment from fundamentalist Christians in the US, and the Church doesn't look kindly upon protestantism either. However, Santorum is still Christian, and still has very similar policies that they would have, so in this case, they get along just fine.

In other words, Catholics are only Christians when it comes to the polls 
(and right there, I managed to turn a potential derail right back towards election discussion!)

[Montague]

That depends on what you specifically call "Christianity" really.  The teachings of Jesus don't exactly advocate nationalism or seizing political control (although he didn't exactly advocate non-intervention either, all that "And I will come with a sword" business).  The Old Testament though, for all Judeo-Christian-Islamic societies, does have quite a few politically motivated passages and notes on laws.  Deuteronomy especially is full of weirdly explicit rules on how an Abrahamic society is supposed to govern itself, along with the goofy grab bag from Leviticus and Exodus.  Essentially none of which, it should be noted, are reflected in the standing laws of any ostensibly "Christian" nation.

Jesus never taught pacifism, but never really advocated war either.

It's not Christian per se, no.  It's hard to say that it explicitly violates it, more than any political power that claims to be guided by Christianity ever has.  Logical is a different matter.  It all makes perfect sense if you believe that a storybook interpretation of American history gives it a manifest right to impose whatever we're calling American Values this week on all people of the world.  It's all about definitions.

Well, this last point is illustrated by US-Israeli relations. It actually really boils down to Biblical prophecy nonsense about Israel and the end of the world. All the allies of Israel in the End Times get free tickets into heaven or whatnot. So as a result of Evangelist voters and their influence, the US government is now completely in bed with the Israelis in a totally lopsided alliance that really doesn't help either country, least of all the interests of Americans. I'm also pretty sure this US policy on Israel is the drive behind much of US foriegn policy these days. The term 'US foriegn policy' is pretty much just a dog-whistle euphemism for for this relation with Israel anymore.

The Bible might not really advocate theocracy, but I'm pretty sure the fundies are consistant with their beliefs in this case here, the Bible spells it out pretty clearly that they need to do this, as deletrious to the United States (and anybody else) as this relationship might be. In this case, the fanatics have won. They drive US foriegn policy. I only wonder what other fronts they might win in the future.

[palsch]

The Bible might not really advocate theocracy, but I'm pretty sure the fundies are consistant with their beliefs in this case here, the Bible spells it out pretty clearly that they need to do this...

Yeah, the bible is extremely clear about how the USA must ensure that Israel commands the entire holy land so that it may be attacked by the full force of Gog and Magog (often identified as Russia (although more commonly in earlier PMD books the Soviet Union) and Ethiopia and Libya) and see them destroyed (preferably without anyone actually caring; that would get in the way of the next few steps by removing all those doubters to be cast into fire) before they make a discovery that makes their land the most fertile in the world bringing them enormous riches (because, as we all know, China's current prosperity is due to their peasant farmers). This discovery leads to widespread and universally accepted peace, which is one of the cues for the rapture to happen and a One World Government to form under the anti-Christ (singular of course, because when the bible only talks about anti-Christs in plural it's obviously in the context of a very literal figure only described in opaque metaphor), who promises peace and disarms the world while signing a peace treaty with Israel (which is the capital of the OWG they just made peace with).

OK, so that isn't the only 'literal' reading of Revelation (mixed with other biblical verses that are obviously end times prophecies if you completely ignore their historical context) but it is the most popular.

[mainiac]

I think that the prodies accept Sanatorum because they don't have one of their own available.  Romney is a Mormon and Gingrich is a space creature inhabiting the body of a man who died 40 years ago.

Jesus never taught pacifism

Lolwhat?

[PTTG??]

Isn't it wonderful that the strongest nation on the planet, armed with far more than enough firepower to glassify the entire surface, is politically dominated by people who believe that an ancient book of terribly mistranslated parables is not only literally true, but morally perfect?

[mainiac]

The belief that some text or leader is morally perfect is hardly unusual in human history.  What is unusual is that lately a large minority of the population of the planet bucks this trend.

[Nadaka]

The us can only glassify less than 1% of the earth, the worlds total combined arms can glassify about 2%. The area that can be rendered temporarilly lethal to human life is somewhere between 5% and 8% even if you include conventional arms.

[Zangi]

Upcoming Election Issue:
Israel chomping on the bits to make war with Iran? 
*Insert pictures with Obama trying to hold on to the leash of a rabid Prime Minister of Israel, Netanyahu, as he tries to get at Iran's President, Ahmadinejad, who is taunting the rabid dog with a nuke shaped steak.*

Well, Obama's response to Israel's attack on Iran will be a hot topic...  Damned if we get dragged into war.  Damned if we don't give our unconditional love to Israel.

[Jackrabbit]

The us can only glassify less than 1% of the earth, the worlds total combined arms can glassify about 2%. The area that can be rendered temporarilly lethal to human life is somewhere between 5% and 8% even if you include conventional arms.

Where'd you get those stats? That doesn't sound right at all.

[Nadaka]

The us can only glassify less than 1% of the earth, the worlds total combined arms can glassify about 2%. The area that can be rendered temporarily lethal to human life is somewhere between 5% and 8% even if you include conventional arms.

Where'd you get those stats? That doesn't sound right at all.

I don't remember exactly where I got them, but they are in the general ballpark. Might check out Global Defense Monitor, or google around a bit.

[Sheb]

When you consider how concentrated human are (Half of the world's population lives within 100 km of the coasts, which is something like 10% of the world's surface), you can kill a lot of people with that.