10 reasons young losers are abanding God... According to Fox News

[anunitu]

Re: 10 reasons young losers are abanding God... According to Fox News

I think I said it here before,it is not so much the religion as it is individuals. Bad can be from any belief if the person harbors the badness within themselves.

Like B. De. mentioned,general belief in bad in any system,does not allow for those who are truly good.

[Corvus]

Re: 10 reasons young losers are abanding God... According to Fox News

Having lived in both, [urban] US and [rural] Germany, I can say there's very little difference between the worship/word of christ in both places. The German town I grew up in was predominantly Catholic, with a few other minor denominations interspersed, yet their attitude toward people outside of their circles was not much different than that of the American Christians I've encountered since I've lived in the US, in multiple states on both coasts. I feel that you perhaps used too broad of a blanket statement when trying to make your point. Could you embellish a bit more on what you mean by Americanized Christianity and how you came to that conclusion?

In my experience, the hyper-conservative mentality is often paired with a specific kind of religiousness that uses only the parts which support their agenda. Now this is obviously not exclusive to any religion, group, or institution, however it's the inclusion of this in secular power structures which sits wrong with me. It's not just that church and state should be separated, it's the idea some people believe church and state should remain together, not because of a true and full belief in the institution of the church, but as a method of upholding traditionalism and often exploitative power structures.

It's this idea that the good hardworking man pulls himself by his bootstraps and represents "wholesome american values". It's this specific image that conservative media in my country seems to love which seems to be impossible to remove from christianity. Not an issue with Christianity per say but, this very narrow version to which the empowered prescribe. It's not to say that Christianity is regressive or traditionalist, but to say that traditionalism (and often conservatism) in America are Christian, or influenced by this narrow modern Christianity. It's using the trappings of the faith as a way to appeal to others, many with genuine faith, while also instituting policy which is inherently harmful to the majority of the population.

Christianity is a tool, it could be any religion, used by these people to justify obviously harmful or deluded views. I believe that in many ways the far right are a danger to freedom in my country, and often their actions seem to be under the intention of creating a society based on this fictionalized idea of American morality, a morality which in many cases includes traditionalist thought that has been shaped by American culture and American Christianity. It's difficult to really say that Christianity has not been a major influence to formation of culture and politics in modern America.

For example, McCarthy would reference the morality, the Christian-ness, of America as a factor (among other reasons) as to why they were superior to the atheistic communists, using morality as a tool to spur xenophobia and patriotism. By no means was this the only method used, but this is a component which seems to show up again and again. It's a means of establishing an in-group for the purposes of perceived personal security. A drive for conformity is more likely to create group think and allow for easier manipulation. By creating an "us vs them" mentality those in power could justify (or at the very least distract from) the use of immoral and exploitative tactics. However, this tactic only functions when the wealthy can create an in-group which represents a majority. As demographics change and more people rebel against this homogeny, these groups are threatened because it's a blow to their ever shrinking "in-group". Creating an Us vs Them mentality is not conductive when one believes that "them" is beginning to outnumber and outpower the in-group.

I'm not sure if this is really coming across right. I've written both of these responses while in class so I'm a bit disheveled, and short of composing an actual essay I'm not sure how to really organize this. In short I believe that the far right has chosen to use Christianity because of it's ties to American culture and morality in order to develop power structures which serve to benefit them politically and financially, but this system fails as people reject the system upon which the premise is based.

[Denarius]

Re: 10 reasons young losers are abanding God... According to Fox News

I consider myself to be a reactionary, rather than a conservative. I see both the (at least what most people consider) traditional and modern as being degenerate.

I see Christianity as a foreign ideology that is fundamentally globalist and deleterious to real western culture. "I'm a Christian first, American second" - Ted Cruz

The driving force of the cancer that is slave morality, or as Oswald Spengler put it “Christian theology is the grandmother of Bolshevism.”

[Chessa]

Re: 10 reasons young losers are abanding God... According to Fox News

They always make this out like secularism is being forced upon people who secretly want to be spiritual. Like, if it weren't for that time your kid joined the scouts instead of Awana, they'd be a Christian. But then they never stop to ask why secularism is rising in the first place (unless controlled by an invisible puppeteer).

If they really wanted to find the answer, the proper question is "Why are people going to public schools instead of $30,000 Christian schools", or "Why are we threatened by the idea of evolution, when Christian biologists are a thing?", or, "What about being told that everyone is scum just for being born js just so darn off-putting that they don't want us to tell them so every week?"

I've also noticed that the churches with shrinking and aging congregations want to save their church and bring in new blood, but don't want to do anything differently than it was done in the 70's, or pander to the youth they're trying to recruit.

[B. de Corbin]

Re: 10 reasons young losers are abanding God... According to Fox News

They always make this out like secularism is being forced upon people who secretly want to be spiritual. Like, if it weren't for that time your kid joined the scouts instead of Awana, they'd be a Christian. But then they never stop to ask why secularism is rising in the first place (unless controlled by an invisible puppeteer).

If they really wanted to find the answer, the proper question is "Why are people going to public schools instead of $30,000 Christian schools", or "Why are we threatened by the idea of evolution, when Christian biologists are a thing?", or, "What about being told that everyone is scum just for being born js just so darn off-putting that they don't want us to tell them so every week?"

I've also noticed that the churches with shrinking and aging congregations want to save their church and bring in new blood, but don't want to do anything differently than it was done in the 70's, or pander to the youth they're trying to recruit.

As per the original article, doing something new, instead of toughening up the rules is a part of the problem. And, yes - I absolutely agree that those who fit this model are NOT asking the right questions. What I wonder is whether this is intentional - asking the right questions might give them answers they don't want to hear, or are they just so one sided that they can't see that there are questions that will give them the answer?

Corvus - outstanding analysis of a certain type of conservative-Christian. The way I see it, for certain types, this is spot on.

P.S. Interesting historical note: Isn't this what the original break between Christianity a Judeism was about? Following the "laws" vs. the joy of spirituality?

[callmeclemens]

Re: 10 reasons young losers are abanding God... According to Fox News

In regards to the state of Christianity in the United States, I think The Vatican plans to unite Christianity under the Holy See is working. I am being to lazy to pull up the pew survey, but since the election of Francis for the first time in years the largest denomination of "Christians" in the USA are self declared "Catholic" .

I think if you look at the History of the NRA in the US you'll see a lot of large congregation denominations taking the same route as them, become political action organizations.

[ThePaganMafia]

Re: 10 reasons young losers are abanding God... According to Fox News

I consider myself to be a reactionary, rather than a conservative. I see both the (at least what most people consider) traditional and

Bolshevism is a largely atheist movement that shares some vague parallels with Christian theology such as workers liberation and the elimination of the upper class. Almost of all which is based off the works of Marx, Engels, and later Lenin. It's a pretty large stretch.

[anunitu]

[Denarius]

Re: 10 reasons young losers are abanding God... According to Fox News

I see the fundamental connection being one of underlying values, in both cases being inverted from natural values. As Nietzsche put it, slave morality, the product of ressentiment.

[anunitu]

Re: 10 reasons young losers are abanding God... According to Fox News

So,just one question. How does this effect the belief in religious "Gods"?,I am not sure where you are going with this.

[Medusa]

Re: 10 reasons young losers are abanding God... According to Fox News

Maybe millennials can just effing read.