Humans inherit religious beliefs from the culture around them without giving it too much thought. They go along with the traditions because they operate as a social glue that helps bind communities together. People generally behave in a decent manner, not because they are religious, nor even because they fear a day of judgement, but because that is part of the human experience, it is how we are regardless of any specific religious belief or a complete lack of any.
Unfortunately, some take belief to a completely different level, and end up embracing it as a literal “truth” that trumps reason, logic, evidence, and basic human decency and tolerance. This weekly posting is not about the vast majority who wish no harm to anybody, but instead is for this self-selected few. It highlights what can happen when bad ideas take root and begin to flourish. The idea is not to criticise people for having a religious inheritance, but to instead criticise the promotion of bad ideas in the public square.
No matter how you slice it or dice it, the stuff below is just weird. It should be highlighted as that, laughed at and mocked, and also never accepted as part of a new normal.
What happened during the past seven days?
Weird claims within the political arena continued to dominate once again. These are perhaps the folks who are part of the Trump cult, and view him as a new messiah …
- God and Prayer Elected Trump, According to Film by Liberty University Students
- John Hagee says that every Christian “owes it to [Trump] to pray for him that God will bless him, that God will protect him, and that God will expose his enemies so that those enemies are driven out of the swamp so he can delegate and administrate the good things in this country that he truly wants to do.”
- Christian Evangelist: California Sanctuary Cities Are a “Little Picture of Hell”
- Paul McGuire Says That Mockery Of Him Is ‘Exactly What Adolf Hitler Did’ To The Jews
- Lance Wallnau: God Is Using ‘The Wrecking Ball Of Heaven’ To Take Down Trump’s Critics
- Lance Wallnau: ‘I Fear More Liberals In America Than I Fear Putin In Russia’ (yes, two items from this guy, he popped up twice)
- Mark Taylor: Trump Is ‘Being Used By God’ To Put Obama And Clinton In Prison
- Mark Taylor: Trump Is ‘A Political Prophet’ And ‘An Anointed Spiritual Machine’ (yes, this guy also popped up several times)
… there clearly is a bit of competition going on here between them…
- Lance Wallnau can’t believe that a movie is being made about “prophet” Mark Taylor and not about him.
The Vote in Ireland apparently inspired a few weird and also some very dishonest claims …
- Brian Brown Blames Soros For Overwhelming Pro-Choice Vote In Ireland
- Weighing in on Ireland’s vote to repeal its abortion ban, Kevin Swanson warns that “it could be that Christ has been waiting for Ireland to tip over to bring His judgment upon the entire Western world.”
- Christian Leader Lies About the Likely Consequences of Abortion in Ireland
The con artists are of course continuing to ply their claims to drum up donations from the gullible …
- Jim Bakker was sent to jail for fraud in the 1980s. He attempts to justify that jail sentence by claiming it was a conspiracy against him – ‘Jim Bakker Elects Presidents, We Must Destroy Him’
- Perry Stone: Secret Emails Will Prove The Democrats ‘Planned To Use Russia To Bring Trump Down’
We also learned where all those donations to the Catholic church will be going …
- Minnesota Archdiocese Agrees to $210 Million Settlement With Sex Abuse Victims
Religiously inspired tolerance continues …
- Angry Young Preacher: The Bible Says Gay People Should Be Executed (Humanely)
- Trump to Pardon Anti-Gay Christian Apologist and Felon Dinesh D’Souza
- American Bible Society Will Fire Employees Who Reject New Sex and Marriage Rules
Spotlight Item
Beyond the US border (outside the Republic of Gilead), religious fanaticism is not so stark.
Pew has published the results of a new survey that reveals that many religious people in Western Europe are not really religious at all…
Being Christian in Western Europe
The majority of Europe’s Christians are non-practicing, but they differ from religiously unaffiliated people in their views on God, attitudes toward Muslims and immigrants, and opinions about religion’s role in society
The revelation is that the largest “domination” amongst Christians is “non-practising”. In other words they simply inherited it, and while they retain the identity, they do not take it too seriously.
Side note: The word “Pew” in the context of “Pew Research” sounds odd to some ears and has a religious feel to it. The word “Pew” in the name is not a reference to a church pew, but instead is a reference to it being principally funded by The Pew Charitable Trust, an NGO founded in 1948 by J. Howard Pew to serve the public interest by “improving public policy, informing the public, and stimulating civic life“. Mr Pew made rather a lot of money in Oil, hence he became a philanthropist.