Let's help Talarico in every way we can to win.

Never know anymore. But hey, at least Talerico has made it to the Jesus parts of the Bible. Not so much for GOP MAGAt's.

Talarico is a progressive Christian, not one of those bigotted fundies.
You can't reason with the bigotted fundies and bigotted fundies rule Texas.

They can’t beat him on this issue. So they are going to try to silence him.

are currently under the sway of the of their antichrist and his false prophets!

On the other hand the gop etc must be terrified of Talarico. Good.

Even though we had an agreement to not talk politics or religion, he always seems to bring up one or the other. According to him, Jesus had it all wrong about immigrants. That was a twofer. A bit of history for context. In early 2015 he asked me what I thought of Trump. I said he is a con man and a crook. He replied that Trump is a successful businessman. Since then, he's fallen for every conspiracy. He won't turn the dial away from FOX etc. Back when Trump Tower was newly built, my late wife and I decided to check it out while on a day trip to NYC. Up the escalator we went. We couldn't wait get back down and out. I can see how weak minded are attracted to shiny objects.

They make up their own beliefs. The idea of a Jesus in their own image is better than the kind one in the Bible.

There are many reasons why I'm an atheist. Zero faith in a god is the main reason. But the other is the way so many people just make up what they want to believe and call it a religious belief. I think people should have to support their religious beliefs but that's too sciency.

He's certainly NOT "The quintessential Christian"..There are many denominations of Christianity, so until you educate yourself on their significant differences, stop broadbashing the entire religion.

Yes, some are seemingly more "tolerant" than others. Some have higher standards of education for the people that can lead the churches. And some of those allow massive amounts of abuse. So I lump them together for reasons.

James Talarico is just playing a textual game with other christians. It is all bullshit.

And unless you, Whatthehell, can prove the existence of a god, don't tell me to educate myself. I'd tell you to pull you head out of your...we'll you know. I'm trying not to get this post blocked.

My main hesitancy was his making no bones about being christian. I still have some reservations, but more and more I am beginning to think he is the right person to turn our senate delegation purple, if more than enough texas Dems get out and vote in November.

has tried to kill the person saying it“ is not true at all. The reason we have so many Christians now is because the Holy Roman Empire was led by Constantine, who converted himself and required everyone under his rule to convert, also. Constantine didn’t embrace Jesus’ message, per se, but it’s intellectually lazy to claim that all empires seek to kill Christianity when Christianity itself was embraced and spread by empire.

And we're all much worse for it. That whole premise is incredibly stupid. Did Phillip II's Spanish Empire, the sole super power of its time, try to kill Christianity? Oh, hell no. They tried to kill every Christian who wasn't the "right" kind of Christian. Sounds just like the US Christian reich if they could get away with it.

The two, especially in the modern white Evangelical church, bear little resemblance to each other.

And as I recall from reading the works of religious historians, Constantine’s “conversion” was more about political expedience than faith. And while he “legalized” christian belief, he was politically predisposed to disfavor those who insisted on the “as taught by Jesus” version of Christianity versus the adherents of the nascent organized (i.e. Catholic) religion of Christianity.

"...the religion about Jesus versus the religion of Jesus." Hit the nail on the head. MAGAts/RWers preach the former, Talarico preaches the latter. And it interferes with their power.

"I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."

-- Mahatma Gandhi, who may have been the most Christ-like person of the last 100 years.

But I admit, it's been a minute since I've read the Bible.

I agree with the quote whole-heartedly, but Gandhi was . . . an entire thing.

Like Mother Theresa, the more you learn the worse it gets.

Many actually try to feed, help, serve, and so forth.

But Christian MAGA and Christian Nationalists are in the process of writing their own Bible because they don't like what Jesus says. They're rewriting it to cast their political enemies as demonic.

Their version of religion fits the very definition of Christopretensism – using the language and symbols of Christianity for power and wealth.

That was his main interest in Christianity. I think the worst thing to happen to Christianity was being officially declared the one true religion. Orthodoxy has almost killed Christianity. The religion was a lot more diverse in the early days, but then you had bishops like Irenaeus constantly raising hell about what other Christians were doing. Those assholes were the spiritual fathers of all the evils in Christian churches. A lot of Christians talk about martyrdom and persecution of Christians. I wonder what is the bigger number, the total of Christians killed by Romans, or the total of people killed in the Inquisition and witch hunts?

Instead of standing up to the empire and enforcing jubilee etc., he twisted it to be part of the empire.

It happened so long ago it is almost impossible to imagine that Christianity was not part of the status quo of power.

It was one of the great lies of the Ronan Catholic church...that and that the bishop of rome was some special dude. But that is a different rant

His version was significantly distorted, bastardized even. But unfortunately it tempted many.

Jesus renounced power when Satan offered him the chance to rule over all the kingdoms of the earth. He challenged power and lifted up the powerless. Mary's Magnificat was all about God doing a new thing through this child, lifting up the lowly and casting down the high and mighty.

Since when has it not been?! Maybe before Constantine I went all Akhenaten. That being the Egyptian Pharaoh who imposed a type of monotheism on Egyptians who'd never known such. Of course Akhenaten was trashed after his death, his monuments and statues torn down, and he was nearly written out of history by later Pharaohs. Not so much for Constantine unfortunately. The thinking being that monotheistic Christianity was a great way to ingratiate some much needed supporters (Roman Christians), and to rally and control the masses. It stuck and it's been little more than a religious shit show ever since in the West.

The US Christian reich is but the latest installment in that shit show. While the rest of the industrialized world has moved on from myth and fiction, or at least embraced it's softer side, we're arguing about someone being "demonic?" Really? That's just barbarous. No wonder the rest of the advanced world looks at us and snickers.

projection much?

But Jesus said he was preaching a New Testament; a testament of love, caring, and respect for all people.
And yet the right wing christians see that as demonic?
The answer is: yes, they do.
All this Jesus "stuff" interferes with their hate.
How can you be a white supremacist and follow the teachings of Jesus?
The answer is: you can't.
When Talarico talks about the "politics of love", it freaks them out, and they call him exactly what they are...demonic.

They're also afraid of him, since he speaks truth to power.
I think he's a winner, and they fear that the most.

If you actually read the older Torah texts, and older versions of the Vulgate, the God who destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, who "destroyed the world by flood", who tore down the Tower of Babel, would not hold most modern Prosperity Gospel followers or "Christian Conservatives" as godly or favored people.

They're tribal bullies who worship earthy riches and positions instead of a God.
The Religion they follow is based off a mortal heirarchy taking the place of a God.

Their whole rapture-crapture is the same
old, same old. GOD HAS A PLAN

for your money...

according to White Christian Nationalists

I emphatically told my crazed, apocalyptic fan, fundamentalist BIL that his ilk have made irrelevant and useless what he preached. The stunned look from him was tinged more from contempt than realization of what I stated.

So they have a meltdown and blame someone else, name-calling to avoid their psychological discomfort. This is clearly a pathology.

His messaging is resonating and they don’t like it, so they turn to outlandish claims, like questioning his manhood, now calling him satanic/demonic.

130 years ago. They were usually the authors of progressive legislation, and founded the YMCA, for example.

They're Christian in the same sense that Trump is Christian.
It's prosperity, PT Barnum gospel with them.

It's like the abortion issue. OK for me, but not for thee. Christianity is a wedge issue.

explain that your belief system isn't supported by anything and demons and talking snakes are unsupported. Stop listening to it.

FUCK THEM

Republican Jesus, not the Jesus of the Bible

Republican Jesus;

is White
is Rich AF
Hates Immigrants/the poor/LGBTQ+ people/anyone not white
is Pro-predatory capitalism
Created the United States for Christian Nationalists
wants his followers to treat their neighbor as their enemy (if not followers of Republican Jesus)

Who's the exact opposite of everything Christ preached. As are THEY.

So what the fk would THEY know?

They are terrified of white progressive Christian leaders because they can point out the hypocrisy.

With Warnock, they know that their followers (dupes) will never listen to him because he is a black man. Never, ever forget that Christian nationalism is a political movement built on racism and sexism that masquerading in white society as a religion. When articulate white Christian males speak out against the hypocrisy it. They fear that the dupes who have been trained to only to listen to white males might realize that they have been lied to.

But since she was black, I knew the shit they would pull would be obvious racism. Also, I liked her messaging and fighting spirit. But with regards to RW shit, I pretty much knew there wouldn't be any surprises. It would have been the same old tired trope.

With Talarico, I knew they would come up with stuff like this. It won't end.

Thanks for the thread marmar

The hate of the Christian right is nowhere to be found. The great book "The Separation of Church and Hate" by Jon Fuglsang documents this fact using the King James bible itself to make the case.

He wasn't holding the Bible upside down while misquoting from it.

It's an open membership, anyone can join for free... They're all "christians" if they consider themselves to be.

The demonic, if there are such things, are those accusing Talarico. They worship wealth, power, greed and break multiple commandments.

And when he finally shows up, they vote for him.

The goal is to take out Talarico, because that's what your religion tells you to do.