It’s been decades of grooming and conditioning. Think about all the moves the GOP has made since the 1970s, and it’s been a progression of the same principles this current regime is pushing.
Churches are the fastest way to recruit and indoctrinate. People at their most vulnerable, spiritually.
This continues to baffle me even as I was raised to believe that! I rejected it and still became a (NOT evangelical) pastor later in life because of the real message of JC: liberation, loving our neighbors and the last shall be first!
The roots of evangelical authoritarianism lie in the deep anti-intellectualism of American evangelicals. The best analysis of this is Mark Noll’s book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. The scandal, he says, is “that there is not much of an evangelical mind.”
Sexual abuse of children is a hallmark of Evangelical churches. The parents of these children are so brainwashed to believe that everything the pastors or elders do (including abusing children) is sanctioned by god. If they speak out about it, they are ‘speaking against God.
Yep, and incest is highly correlated with them, too. In that system, women and children are the property of men to do whatever they please with. It's part of the reason why it persists; many men find it personally gratifying.
So have a lot of racists. They seem to believe it’s worth being restrained/losing rights, as long as others they don’t like are treated worse. It is the only thing that’s important to them. They want to feel superior to those they hate, no matter the cost to them personally. Hate runs deep.
I think they feel safe in the belief that they are not responsible for their own actions. Jesus has the wheel, & everything is in god’s hands. They don’t have to think or be in charge. Why wouldn’t they eat that up? The rest of us feel the weight of our actions and a have a sense of duty to others.
There are other reasons why people need religion. Important reasons to need guidance in this tumultuous world. Casting a net over all only works to make them more powerful.
Learning the limitations of their interpretation of the Bible is how they can change. Ostracizing is counterproductive.
and it's why they start with children. The younger the better. They won't question and will obediently do as told, plus they see all these adults around them that are being so serious.... so they just adopt it without a second thought. Doesn't mean any of it is right, it's just mind control.
Childhood indoctrination is a mandate of their religion: "Train up a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
It also relieves them of ever feeling indebted to anyone. If they survive a life-threatening situation, it was never medicine or first responders, but God, or my favorite, "god working through people.". They are incapable of actual gratitude, but they are always obsessed with others giving it.
When you're not really encouraged to read the Bible and accept the pastor's interpretation without reading surrounding text, it promotes that uncritical relationship. Add in the passages they emphasize and boom.
The men are blameless. There is a video of a young lady calling out her pastor (who sexually abused her) while he was giving a sermon. The pastor and the entire congregation blamed her for being abused and she was a child. These people take bootlicking to a whole new level.
You're right in your assessment of how most of "us" (I'm probably an evangelical) have behaved for a long time. But, strictly speaking, evangelicals are supposed to behave as if only Jesus is worthy of allegiance. If rightly directed, faith can support goodness. Still, your point is all too true.
The fact is that evangelicals have been doing their level best to destroy the country since Billy Graham and Jerry Falwell cozied up to Reagan. It’s always been about power and money, and the gospel has never entered into it. Graham and Falwell were racists and you can’t be that and believers.
Jesus said to render to Caesar that which is Caesar’s. He was about separating church and state too. But evangelicals can’t accept loving others as they’re commanded to do. They are cruel and selfish people who are just trying to make everyone else as miserable as they are.
Yes. And Paul was the first one to say unloving things about others. He was a misogynist. He hated women. And he was a liar who never had any real connection to Jesus.
Authoritarianism
Social dominance
Prejudice
Isolation
Deprivation (the experience of being deprived of something to which one believes they are entitled)
RC Church as well. Has a habit of supporting fascism. Part of the inspiration for Vatican II was the realization that WWI, WWII, and the Holocaust happened in Catholic countries. Something was wrong. Vat II pushed openness, acceptance, less rigidity. Traditionalists have been fighting it since.
Ive been sayin this forever. Religion breaks your bullshit detector. Particularly if you are born into it and get indoctrinated since childhood. It’s hard to extricate oneself. King Ding Dong is attractive to religious folks because he resembles a televangelist: loud, in a wig and make up, grifting
They're taught that God ordained all governments, I doubt several governments have God's seal of approval, including this one.
They're also told that we're "commanded" to obey Gov's laws. I think it's just a recommendation, definitely not a command.
This, and the belief in the end-times coming soon, 2050 to be exact. They don't care about the present and future because, relatively soon, they'll all be whisked up to heaven. Yes, I know people who believe this.
Having been around awhile, they used to say Armageddon would be in 2000. These people will cause a self-fulfilling prophecy by bringing about war, and I think they may have succeeded in putting such delusional people in the positions that will make it happen. They are a danger to everyone.
You are absolutely right. From the time the story books were written until the present time instead of mighty Rome replace it with “might Roman church” and add in a term “God”. Just a false idol to produce sheep. And of course steal from the poor under false pretences.
Yes. But remember there is a strong foundation of believing that “success” means God’s favor. This justifies individual striving, and the oppression of others whose vulnerabilities indicate that they are unfavored, un-Godly, etc.
They believe in a just world, like the Hindus and their concept of karma. Whatever happens to a person, they deserve it. We all know that just isn't true, but it's why they're so dismissive of everyone else's suffering, but their own. It also absolves them of responsibility.
Yes. Please follow back. Also, since you have so many followers, please post this link: https://www.project2025.observer/
We can't just keep talking about the horror de jour. We have a very well organized & oligarch funded enemy with a plan. We need to fight that plan.
Their god is a male dictator, so it makes sense. And he has human frailties like a dictator; vindictive, fits of anger and violence, vain and egotistical. Fit for an authoritarian leader.
You would think that after so many preachers have been disgraced, discredited and doing time at the "big house " their followers would get the hint! They are charlatans and prey on ignorance. Page 1 in magaman's playbook. He didn't write it, but he's following it, word for word.
Serious understatement. The mental gymnastics and complete abandonment of supposed teaching are only part of the hypocrisy. #evangelicals #degenerates #disgusting #perversion
My father started out as a “live like Jesus” Christian and then became an evangelical pastor. I wish he was alive so I could ask him what made him switch his faith from empathy to profit. If we could figure that out, we could counter its effects.
My brother isn’t very religious, but he does attend an evangelical church. He tried to convince me that we need narcissists in charge- “that type of person is needed to make the tough decisions.” Where does that come from?
🫤 it’s definitely indoctrination.
Those on the cluster B personality disorder spectrum really gravitate towards Evangelicalism. Those who weren't indoctrinated as children, and gravitate towards it, are often personality disordered.
Let’s be honest shall we? Christians have been taught for over two thousand years to be unquestionably following a “lord” that they cannot hear, see or touch but are required to obey edicts from. And that the only way to know what it wants is to pay tithes to a representative who tells them.
Since 1619 because of what RACISM always been told only God wanted them to be in control of things that simply is NOT true God Created EVERYONE to look exactly like they're supposed to otherwise he would have made everyone look the same.
( can't wait till THEY stand before Him
Bad things mean you sinned; good comes from God. No self—just the group. Criticizing it feels personal.
They’re terrified of being wrong—if their beliefs fall, so does their world. So they lash out, cling to absurd ideas, and avoid anything uncomfortable.
It's the whole basis of their religion. An eternal dictator constantly watching your every move, knows your thoughts. Can convict you of thought crimes. And punish you for it. It's the ultimate abusive relationship.
Didn't the 1930s FCC kick a bunch off the radio for taking advantage of poor and elderly by always asking for money while making promises that couldn't be kept.
I just saw some statistics on Amish love story novels and the biggest buyer of those are Evangelical women. They are totally effed up. Can you imagine Amish romance stories being anywhere near interesting?
Organized religion is kind of like having your balls squeezed. Sometimes it hurts but sometimes it’s not so bad maybe even kind of good and you stay with it because you’re made to believe that if you don’t, the man in the sky is gonna squeeze harder. I got out-unsqueezed.
The phrase "those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities" is often attributed to Voltaire, though its origins are debated, and it's a powerful warning about the dangers of unchecked belief and its potential to lead to harmful actions.
Indeed. That's why I call Religion the True Gateway Drug. The gateway to gullibility, intolerance, looking up to CONMEN, and easily accepting bullshit. Pedophilia is in there too, along with a whole list of idiocy.
Yup, most would not know the teachings of Jesus if you beat them over the head with it. So many passages about how to care for and love the immigrant, elderly, handicapped, homeless, children, to feed the hungry. What you do for the least us you do for me. Matthew 25:40 and I’m Buddhist
Evangelicals were promised by republicon politician's going back to the affable idiot Ronnie that they would end abortion. Presidents came and went and nothing. Their solution: elect a corrupt, treasonous felon to rule as dictator.
well worth reading ... "At the heart of this issue is Christianity’s reliance on vertical morality — a framework that prioritizes authority over understanding, obedience over empathy."
imo, it’s those who use the bible to support hateful ideologies. They exploit the bible to reinforce their hate & fear speech. It’s like Koresh or Jones or anyother cult leader.
The Bible is full of hate, murder, genocide, incest, slavery...it has never been a moral guide. I'm sick of hearing how certain denominations aren't Christian, just because other Christians don't want their brand tarnished. It's all nonsense, and it all is manipulative.
Around the world statistics show that about 1/3 of a population wants to be ruled. Those people are observed to be less intelligent. Why do you think they want to normalize stupid?
The Heritage Foundation is a bunch of Evangelicals, trying to share their views and values with the American people since 1973. Now, they are running those views and values straight down our throats with Project 2025. As far as I'm concerned, they along with the Federalist Society,White Supremacist
I consider them terrorists, ever since I saw their bs, Christian, horror movie, "A Thief In the Night," when I was a toddler. They paint everyone else as the boogie man, when it was always them. They are a threat to peaceable society and need to be eradicated.
The Trinity makes them all the same. The Abrahamic god is a POS, and evangelicals are in the same family. There is no separating the wheat from the chafe here, it's all chafe.
You ever see those Nigerian evangelical pastors? They have women congregants sucking their dicks for forgiveness. It's not a race problem, per se, it's a male problem.
God- Love me. Not like that! It’s no good unless everyone does it! Make them do it too! You’re not loving me hard enough! Not like that! You must be punished for not doing it right! God is love! You’re not doing it right! Burn in eternal Hell! Who signs up for this sadistic shit?
As someone who has been there, most people are born into it. It takes a special kind of psychopath to have never been indoctrinated as a child, and see that as an attractive path, as an adult.
Oh 💯. But there are those who do get sucked in regardless. Trust Me podcast is fantastic if you’re interested in cults and stories from those that survived them. There was a guy who’s dad went to make a doc about the hilsborough Baptist church (you know the ones that picket with the ‚god hates gays‘
When the revolution comes, the church’s stranglehold on the South and rural areas is going to have to be addressed. This is a big part of why we’re where we’re at today.
Very true. As someone who was raised Evangelical. It's often a "God wanted this person to be in charge, so things can be 'made right' after he allowed this other person to be in charge." Also, the canonization, so to speak, of certain issues as iron clad Biblical truths that aren't in the Bible.
I'd wager all Americans have. Look at the decline since 1970. You're given 300 variations of the same 3 things and told it's "variety" or "choice". Now, you will barely get into the streets to fight it, you just feel embarrassed and apologize saying you didn't vote for this while you watch them.
You might get the chance to see what it's like living in a country with a militarized police force, where even 300 million small arms won't protect you from tanks and bombs.
While I find them all deplorable, if you were a woman, you would definitely want nothing to do with being an evangelical. These women are literally slaves.
Throughout history, the con men tried to make it more palatable to the masses, hence, the NT, but that's just cherry picking, especially when the Trinity is always relevant.
I always kind of thought Paul would’ve been my homeboy because he spread the word to the gentiles and all that. His patriarchal, dictatorial form of preaching really isn’t to my liking though and I can see the parallels with the evangelicals.
When I was an Evangelical, I wanted to be like Paul, in his zeal and emotional pleadings. But his concept of Christianity was diametrically opposite to that of the other apostles (who I now refer to as "the real ones" 😆).
I think they've become obsessed with Revelation (which is kind of a continuation of the anticipation of a Second Coming). Ironically, that book was added to the canon as an afterthought.
Touché- I won’t get into my thoughts about the book of Revelations. I do think trump could be considered the great deceiver of our time though. Just saying.
I'm 70 years old, and participated in the rise of Second Coming Fever (no, not the Travolta movie, although I saw that, too. LOL). Many officials were under speculation of being the Antichrist, but IMNSHO Trump comes the closest to the biblical description.
People who are adverse to or threatened by independent critical thinking are much more vulnerable to authoritarianism. They are about maintaining and defending a belief system without question.
Evangelicals hate education. They often homeschool just to keep constant control over their children. When I escaped and went to university, I heard through the grapevine that education "ruined me." Their children are only extensions of them, not individuals with their own wants and needs.
It’s inherent in their religion. They engaged in an abusive relationship with a “deity” that demands their prayers and threatens them with eternal damnation if the refuse to give them. It’s very much like battered wife syndrome. They fear staying but they fear leaving even more.
Well, the New Testament is based on authoritarianism, as its primary topic is the expectation of a coming king under whom everyone and everything will be subject.
Evangelicals NEED the visual. They need someone standing in front of them telling them what to do, be, and say. They let them interpret the Bible where it becomes that game where you whisper it enuf it changes over time. NONE of it is faith based - they just want to know when to wipe their ass.
Which is why I don’t believe in any organized religion. It’s all full of child molester, rapists and greed.
Please tell me why ministers drive expensive cars and have all kinds of toys for their entertainment when half the people who attend church are dirt poor. The monster should be dirt poor too.
🎯🎯🎯
When you're indoctrinated into a vertical morality structure, it explicitly places others above oneself as "superior," (deities/religious leaders), but more to their despicable purposes, it inherently puts others below oneself as "inferior."
No acts of charity from a church will ever offset that
20% didnt vote for trump proving that 80% are NON practicing christians Anyone can say"I am a Christian"The first Christian was & still is Satan "the father of lies."After all he was here before we began (as prehistoric humans)& early neanderthals(Trumps ancestors)So Satan knew Jesus Son of God 1rst
Hey Jess, have you seen that MO is now asking us to send in a copy of our children’s birth certificates or passports when applying for health insurance through the state? I just got a letter in the mail with the request.
Yep! I grew up in it, it was always a political cult. That’s why I’m not surprised they all flocked to Trump, despite his moral ineptitude. They just want domination.
Evangelicals want the world to end.
Musk wants to move everyone to colonize Mars.
How about we support and elect people who give a damn about this planet and the people who actually want to live on it?
Science vs Religion on the afterlife.
Religion - God, something you can’t touch, taste, see, photograph and science cannot prove.
Science - Nothing. something you can’t touch, taste, see, photograph and science cannot prove.
I was DRAWN TO evangelicalism BECAUSE of its authoritarianism. (Complicated weird childhood made me crave an entity to tell me how to live. I was only only 24 and gullible af). So yes, what you say is very true.
Weekly preaching from the pulpit is itself a form of authoritarianism because there is no discussion, debate, or questioning. There is just "God said so".
Please talk to large Democrat donors to sponsor Trade jobs. The more we are connected to providing and supporting good paying jobs the better the impact is. Also look to community centers to hold classes for free for young students. High school classes to provide training for trades. Thank you
As someone who has worked in the trades for decades, it attracts the most deplorable people. Nearly every tradesperson I know is MAGA, and that's in a blue state.
Nothing is going to be easy or swiftly changing society. We need to challenge what is happening now. And change long term. Students that want a better job need to understand that Trade jobs can do that. Sounds impossible. Create the whole team. Bottom up. I agree with you completely. We can do.
I agree on that and I'm in a red state. We need to provide trade classes for schools and encourage more without saying DEI. I feel like we're back in the 70's music scene. Creating sayings for what we're really saying. We create complete crews...that can build for the climate. Think outside the box.
Under the current sociopolitical climate, the only people getting into trades will be men. It has always been a tough place for women, and this isn't making it any better.
I wasn't talking about women in particular. We create a new model. Bottom up. You can't solve an issue in a few words. You create a team. Then you create more teams based on that. Yes, women are being forced back to being property. We have seen this before. Don't count us out. This can be done. ty
Its definitely on brand- Blindly following the guy with a big house and flashy car talking about salvation while twisting the word of god to fit their meaning
Well, if you can believe the tenets of their religion with out proof or facts, it makes it a lot easier to believe conspiracy theories and what Trump says without any supporting facts.
No one is more prone to confirmation bias than those who were indoctrinated to believe the religion ruse. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen"...blah, blah, blah. If they want it to be true, it simply is.
This is probably why I ran from the church as soon as I could, religion conditions you to accept without question. I was allegedly given Free Will and a brain by some deity and damnit, I'm using these gifts I was given!
They basically promise every male adherent that they get to be king over their wife and children. It's enough to get males on board, and everyone else falls in line, or they get beat, quite literally. These people, particularly the men because they control this, are a blight to society.
Yep, they have no tolerance for ambiguity, which is why science is so anathema to them. Everything is black and white, or not at all. If it changed, it was never right. They don't understand shades or nuance. Very primitive and childish minds.
They have been conditioned to worship a “golden calf” - by being trained to #NEVER question their #DIRTY pastors!!
Now, the flip to tRump is unavoidable!
Racist, Hateful MAGA is Matt 5:13 in the flesh!!
Comments
Churches are the fastest way to recruit and indoctrinate. People at their most vulnerable, spiritually.
It’s total control.
Learning the limitations of their interpretation of the Bible is how they can change. Ostracizing is counterproductive.
The lady reports to him
The kids report to him
But what if he is a(n):
-alcoholic
-abusive bully
-bully
-loser
-drug addict
-degenerate gambler
-idiot
-philanderer
Then what?
Every faith based group has these issues, with men, as well as women
If any politician or law-enforcement authority on a large scale, should call out the culture or the institution that this is happening in
The institution is going to walk up to the politician or government body, and say the following:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthodoxy,_Autocracy,_and_Nationality
Social dominance
Prejudice
Isolation
Deprivation (the experience of being deprived of something to which one believes they are entitled)
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-in-the-machine/201712/analysis-trump-supporters-has-identified-5-key-traits
Their fetishization of suffering only seems to apply to other people, though.
Gandhi
They're also told that we're "commanded" to obey Gov's laws. I think it's just a recommendation, definitely not a command.
We can't just keep talking about the horror de jour. We have a very well organized & oligarch funded enemy with a plan. We need to fight that plan.
with complete immunity
Christianity may be your Party.........................
🫤 it’s definitely indoctrination.
( can't wait till THEY stand before Him
They’re terrified of being wrong—if their beliefs fall, so does their world. So they lash out, cling to absurd ideas, and avoid anything uncomfortable.
https://edgarrooke.substack.com/p/the-gospel-of-control-how-christianity?r=4ta62o
Supporting a felon while he kills the poor in favor of the rich is not one of them.
Your opinion is valid, as at least it’s an opinion.
And, by the way, Christianity doesn’t support Authoritarianism.
Both evangelicalism and authoritarianism have a common factor: simplification is better than complexity. Ambiguity cannot be tolerated.
I quit the religion altogether in 1980.
BOYCOTT EVERYTHING COORS!!
https://sourcenm.com/2024/07/26/if-youre-worried-about-project-2025-blame-this-coloradan/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJJWnBleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHacMDcUTJffSUFG0J7xrdY-lA5lqadzpB76QDx9x2klfV5fw1ZOypWZTXQ_aem_hVpBhwiWcd_cwojz60GbbA
Immutable word. No one above him.
A natural progression.
The fuck I will.
Please tell me why ministers drive expensive cars and have all kinds of toys for their entertainment when half the people who attend church are dirt poor. The monster should be dirt poor too.
When you're indoctrinated into a vertical morality structure, it explicitly places others above oneself as "superior," (deities/religious leaders), but more to their despicable purposes, it inherently puts others below oneself as "inferior."
No acts of charity from a church will ever offset that
Entire religions based on a man who caved to authority and was willing to do evil when told.
The ultimate class traitor.
Musk wants to move everyone to colonize Mars.
How about we support and elect people who give a damn about this planet and the people who actually want to live on it?
Science vs Religion on the afterlife.
Religion - God, something you can’t touch, taste, see, photograph and science cannot prove.
Science - Nothing. something you can’t touch, taste, see, photograph and science cannot prove.
Maybe a no score draw?
LDS, JW, Roman Catho…
Source: Evangelical preachers kid
It’s important that men & women be almost separate species for some reason. (Humor in church was always a lot of the “women be shopping” variety)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authoritarian_personality?wprov=sfti1
They have been conditioned to worship a “golden calf” - by being trained to #NEVER question their #DIRTY pastors!!
Now, the flip to tRump is unavoidable!
Racist, Hateful MAGA is Matt 5:13 in the flesh!!