AsburySkinsFan

If you think @Larryis an extreme Leftist then you don't have a clue what a Leftist is. Full stop To GOPers any non-GOPer is an extreme Leftist, and even some GOPers themselves who don't tow the Trumpista, Faux/Hannity line. They will throw RINO out at literally ANYONE who offers a criticism of the party. They are a ****show, and a far cry from Reagan's big-tent party.

Nail on the head. Faux News and the Rightwing nuts love pointing to Detroit and the large Muslim population there and saying that they are enacting Sharia Law. Oh, I'm sorry, are you referring to the laws that were changed to allow a long wire to be set up around an entire neighborhood on poles so that fundamentalist Muslims could move about from house to house on the Sabbath? Oh sorry...not Muslims https://nypost.com/2015/05/24/high-wire-strewn-through-city-lets-jews-keep-the-faith/ You must be talking about the Muslims who are prohibiting alcohol sales on the Sabbath? Oh wait...no not Muslims again. Oh I know, you must be talking about the Muslims who want to tell my wife and daughter what they can do with their bodies. Or the Muslims who want laws against the relationship that my friends have with one another. Or the Muslims who want to post quotes from the Quran in county courthouses across the country. Truly the Evangelical Christians have become (and arguably always were) exactly what they feared the most.

Some choose to do so. It's not a blanket thing that all of them get, it's a stipulation in their 501c3 non-profit status. Any pastor who is not covered by an IRS 501c3 legal status can advocate for any candidate they choose. Most don't because they want the benefit. However, there are ways around it because you'd have to be pretty stupid to not figure out which issues each candidate supports and which issues your pastor says you're going to hell if you support. Oh they don't even have to be so indirect, they can just preach on the issues directly, and no, you're not being obtuse, it literally happens all the time and is a regular topic of discussion with clergy.

I think your regional experience is swaying your impression regarding the whole. While my pastoral experience was in the midwest, I did have a denominational perspective and many conversations with clergy and laity across the country. I'll also remind the readers that a clergy voice is RARELY as effective on counter cultural issues than they'd ever like to admit. As such I think you're giving too much weight to the few voices that are speaking out. You're not sure what churches need to do in the other areas such as: National origin, Religious beliefs, Gender, or Pregnancy in terms of discrimination? Have you even turned on Faux News lately? Have you even seen the numbers of Evangelicals who directly oppose one or more of these not to mention sexual orientation and identity? All because what someone 2000 years ago some guy in a gown transcribed the words of his god, which later kinda got changed, and are now completely reinterpreted and or ignored? Oh yeah, I know God said we can eat shrimp now because of Peter's vision but that kinda goes against the idea that God's commandments are unchanging and eternal. I'm curious about your denominational experience though, seriously, no judgments. I'd just like to see if I'm correct in your background.

You mean to tell me that you don't think that there is large scale preaching in American pulpits to defend their right to discriminate on religious grounds?

I have not, and I do not believe I have spoken as if I do. If you have an issue with what I wrote I'd be happy to address it. Low hanging fruit man.

Jesus Christ these ****s have no shame.

I spent most of my adult life (20 years) actively working in and being trained in predominantly white churches/denominations (Baptist and United Methodist) and in that time I can say that there are many pastors who decry discrimination in most of its forms. Those voices are however disproportionately found within the more liberal mainstream denominations, and while there are voices that show up in Conservative denominations around MLK Day they are typically silent on the issue the rest of the time. That goes for many mainline pastors in Conservative areas too. Even when we do hear these clerical voices on the issue of discrimination it is almost always limited to racial discrimination, and rarely if ever addresses the six other Federally protected classes. And almost never, except in the most liberal churches on the issues of homosexuality, and other religions. And that is from the clergy. If you want a more stark understanding of the church and discrimination then look at the always present divide between the laity and the clergy who on average tend to be FAR more extreme on these issues than their clergy. This is one of the main issues in the UMC today where the divide between the laity and clergy is so wide on the issue of same sex relationships that it will most likely divide the church in the same way slavery did in the 1800's. When you look at most white Evangelical laity they look VERY much like Trump's Conservative Nationalistic base who are actively working to maintain their ability to actively discriminate by simply saying that whoever is standing in front of them is against their religion.

How in the holy **** does that ****bag manage to turn a church fire into a rallying call for racists?! And Right-wingers think people like that deserve open access to our schools and forums.

Ohohoh ask me! Ask me! Asssk meeeeeee!!!!!!!

Not my job to train the boobjob demographic. I end up saying that a lot about other agents. I used to try and be helpful, but a mentor looked at me and said, "why are you trying to improve your competition? They aren't your's to train."

On that we agree. I'm in a profession dominated by females, many of whom flash boobs and dye jobs in their leased Mercedes. No one is lining up to look at my tits, ass or any other part, it just means that I have to work harder and be the true expert in the room. I don't get listings because of my fraternity or sorority, I get them because I do my job better than they do. And once clients see past the boobjobs and slick suits they start looking for the one who is going to work for them. THAT's when my phone rings. Am I annoyed that other agents get listings because of superficiality? Sure, but do I love picking up those clients when their listing expires and then showing them why they should have chose me tge first time? You bet.

I absolutely do think that white male GOPers think that losing SOME of the privilege that their race and gender has afforded them historically would be seen as discrimination. To the guy born into a race 10 steps ahead being moved to back to the starting line feels unfair. To everyone else at the starting line or behind it sure looks a lot like fairness. One thing my race and specifically men of my race in America need to figure out is that loss of privilege is NOT discrimination. So **** you that you didn't get into your Ivy League school, ya'll screaming about how college is for liberals and how a trade is so much better. Stop your whining and get off your ass.

No, you don't participate in Tailgate political discussions because you bring up stupid points line Sharia Law...name one place in the ENTIRE United States where Sharia Law is the operational government law...we'll wait. Meanwhile lets take a moment to point out all the places where Xians are routinely discriminating against other religions and people who don'r abide by their theologically based legal heterosexual patriarchy. You guys slit your wrists over making a ****ing cake and act like you are being discriminated against meanwhile friends of mine in a 20 year relationship are only on their 4th wedding anniversary because of the Christian law you all forced on everyone. Next we'll talk about all the other religious laws you've burdened us with because your narrow assed religion was too damned insecure to stand on its own without forcing everyone else to act like they were members. Boom! ****in' mic drop!!!

It's the white Christians swinging the average there. They believe that if they aren't free to discriminate against people then they are being discriminated against.

Oh you’re arguing for a “first mover” as god. What good is a god that sets things in motion and then walks away? The net result of that god is that god is unnecessary. With that I’ll quit. Want to respect @Renegade7wishes, but it’s hard for me to talk about what I believe as it is so antithetical to what I used to believe.

Which is all stupid. Please refer back to my post about getting pushed into a pool. You want to play rhetorical games and stack the fictional deck about an all powerful god who created the universe and then went into hiding, except that he didn’t really (re Bible) he only goes into hiding when we go looking. So we have a god in hiding who damns people who can’t find him. Meanwhile what we have is nearly an entire religion that is ripped off from contemporary religions, and in the words of one of my seminary professors amounts to a religious competition where people’s strutted “my god is bigger than your god.”

I mean if you can read the following and with a straight face claim that this isn’t EXACTLY what the church did with Jesus then.... for more reading https://nickcady.org/2019/01/09/the-gospel-of-caesar-augustus-what-it-tells-us-about-the-gospel-of-jesus-christ/

1) I'm fine with a self reliant functioning world. But I'm talking about source with not evidence that points to god, and no, sunsets are not evidence of god. 2) I'm all about being reasonable about what really happened. Especially with the natural phenomenon that was attributed to divine sources. Not to mention blatantly ripped off holidays and myth stories. Oh and did ya'll know that a gospel was a tradition where an author would write fantastical stories about the new king/Caesar to demonstrate their greatness and "proof" of their divine appointment. As such Matthew/Mark/Luke/John are not texts that exist in isolation but rather within a genre of royal propaganda. Think in terms of King Jung Il's unicorns, and 18 holes in one on his first golf trip.

The reality is that if God exists then it created a universe that can be explained without it. So god either doesn't exist or god created a world in which the ONLY way you can know god is through a religion from the days of Pharaoh that has multiple splits that vary massively and have evolved drastically with thousands of different sects over the last two millennia. And that god has seen fit to allow thousands of years to go by without directly revealing himself which is a vast divergence from his previous history.

I've really been actively grinding on this lately and one point I keep coming back to is that god gets credit for things that can and are explained by other means. And yet, I get the "isn't it amazing how god works?" My frustration comes because if god's work is explainable by other mechanisms then god's not necessary. And the rhetorical moves that Christians make around it just come off like a clever ploy, and what they don't realize is that in doing so they are disingenuously inserting god behind everything but it's ONLY a matter of faith, yet they don't accept that.

I've really been actively grinding on this lately and one point I keep coming back to is that god gets credit for things that can and are explained by other means. And yet, I get the "isn't it amazing how god works?" My frustration comes because if god's work is explainable by other mechanisms then god's not necessary. And the rhetorical moves that Christians make around it just come off like a clever ploy, and what they don't realize is that in doing so they are disingenuously inserting god behind everything but it's ONLY a matter of faith, yet they don't accept that.

This serious commitment to the long game of endearing himself to the public again. J don't know anyone else so shameless that would have kept up the ruse through so much.

Sure, he had multiple back surgeries to garner sympathy. STHU