Happy Atheist Forum

Religion => Religion => Topic started by: Sandra Craft on May 11, 2020, 01:05:44 AM

Title: "The Culture Wars Have Jumped the Shark"
Post by: Sandra Craft on May 11, 2020, 01:05:44 AM
I found this interesting.  The author, Neil Carter, is a former evangelical and (if I'm remembering right) lay preacher, who found belief finally impossible to sustain about 4 or 5 years ago.  Since then he's been making a name for himself on Patheos with his blog, Godless in Dixie.

The Culture Wars Have Jumped the Shark (https://www.patheos.com/blogs/godlessindixie/2020/05/10/the-culture-wars-have-jumped-the-shark/)

QuoteIn the good old days, the culture wars were fought over things like feminism, teaching evolution, homosexuality, birth control, and school prayer. The church declared itself Protector of the Unborn, and they were on a mission to rid the world of pornography, rap music, and rock-and-roll. Today, however, evangelical Christians fight the good fight by refusing to trust public health officials and by calling on civic leaders to let our more vulnerable citizens die off so that we can get haircuts and can get back to having regular church meetings again. What happened?
Title: Re: "The Culture Wars Have Jumped the Shark"
Post by: Icarus on May 11, 2020, 02:21:28 AM
Interesting article Sandy. Will we ever achieve a society who is less brainwashed by snake oil salesmen?  Not likely in the foreseeable future.   To be fair, some of the SN salesmen really and truly believe what they are so enthusiastically selling. 


Puzzle: How can the righteous be so committed to the vigorous defense of the devils spawn such as ; D.J. Trump?   

Title: Re: "The Culture Wars Have Jumped the Shark"
Post by: Recusant on May 11, 2020, 03:29:30 AM
Lo, for he hath pleased them mightily.

There is an extensive list of things that he's done that have been very cheering to right-wing Christian evangelicals. I've tried to chronicle some of it in the Dominionists thread, but I've covered probably less than five percent of it.

The chances that the US slouches toward a Christian theocracy are greater than they were before his administration. Just install another rabid right wing Christer like Kavanaugh on the US Supreme Court and things could get even more interesting.
Title: Re: "The Culture Wars Have Jumped the Shark"
Post by: Asmodean on May 11, 2020, 08:03:44 AM
Quote from: Sandra Craft on May 11, 2020, 01:05:44 AM
I found this interesting.  The author, Neil Carter, is a former evangelical and (if I'm remembering right) lay preacher, who found belief finally impossible to sustain about 4 or 5 years ago.  Since then he's been making a name for himself on Patheos with his blog, Godless in Dixie.
I don't think his takes are particularly good, but it's interesting.

QuoteIn the good old days, the culture wars were fought over things like feminism, teaching evolution, homosexuality, birth control, and school prayer.
They still are, although feminism and Creationism have been defeated to a degree (They mostly failed to spread and take hold outside the United States and parts, or rather, certain social classes, of the United Kingdom) Evolution, the alphabet-people and what people do with their naughty bits emerged mostly-victorious, but again, it's a matter of degrees.

QuoteThe church declared itself Protector of the Unborn, and they were on a mission to rid the world of pornography, rap music, and rock-and-roll. Today, however, evangelical Christians fight the good fight by refusing to trust public health officials and by calling on civic leaders to let our more vulnerable citizens die off so that we can get haircuts and can get back to having regular church meetings again. What happened?
In the US, they fight a better fight defending free speech, opposing globalism and standing up to the victim culture of middle class intersectionalists. Not everyone religious does that, of course, but I must say, having been on the front lines of Atheism vs. Gods "wars," I was surprised at how many Christians share the road with me today - and how many Ahteists don't. Remember that Atheism+ disaster? My hypothesis is that some people do indeed try to fill a God-shaped hole in their ass with faith of a different kind - many of them are far too sensible for anything else I can think of.