Author Topic: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew  (Read 6285 times)

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Online Pandora

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"Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« on: March 06, 2011, 04:54:33 PM »
Quote
I think this is most of ya'll here....


The results from a recent poll published by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (http://www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/Tea-Party-and-Religion.aspx) reveal what social scientists have known for a long time: White Evangelical Christians are the group least likely to support politicians or policies that reflect the actual teachings of Jesus. It is perhaps one of the strangest, most dumb-founding ironies in contemporary American culture. Evangelical Christians, who most fiercely proclaim to have a personal relationship with Christ, who most confidently declare their belief that the Bible is the inerrant word of God, who go to church on a regular basis, pray daily, listen to Christian music, and place God and His Only Begotten Son at the center of their lives, are simultaneously the very people most likely to reject his teachings and despise his radical message.



Jesus unambiguously preached mercy and forgiveness. These are supposed to be cardinal virtues of the Christian faith. And yet Evangelicals are the most supportive of the death penalty, draconian sentencing, punitive punishment over rehabilitation, and the governmental use of torture. Jesus exhorted humans to be loving, peaceful, and non-violent. And yet Evangelicals are the group of Americans most supportive of easy-access weaponry, little-to-no regulation of handgun and semi-automatic gun ownership, not to mention the violent military invasion of various countries around the world. Jesus was very clear that the pursuit of wealth was inimical to the Kingdom of God, that the rich are to be condemned, and that to be a follower of Him means to give one's money to the poor. And yet Evangelicals are the most supportive of corporate greed and capitalistic excess, and they are the most opposed to institutional help for the nation's poor -- especially poor children. They hate anything that smacks of "socialism," even though that is essentially what their Savior preached. They despise food stamp programs, subsidies for schools, hospitals, job training -- anything that might dare to help out those in need. Even though helping out those in need was exactly what Jesus urged humans to do. In short, Evangelicals are that segment of America which is the most pro-militaristic, pro-gun, and pro-corporate, while simultaneously claiming to be most ardent lovers of the Prince of Peace.



What's the deal?

Before attempting an answer, allow a quick clarification. Evangelicals don't exactly hate Jesus -- as we've provocatively asserted in the title of this piece. They do love him dearly. But not because of what he tried to teach humanity. Rather, Evangelicals love Jesus for what he does for them. Through his magical grace, and by shedding his precious blood, Jesus saves Evangelicals from everlasting torture in hell, and guarantees them a premium, luxury villa in heaven. For this, and this only, they love him. They can't stop thanking him. And yet, as for Jesus himself -- his core values of peace, his core teachings of social justice, his core commandments of goodwill -- most Evangelicals seem to have nothing but disdain.

And this is nothing new. At the end of World War I, the more rabid, and often less educated Evangelicals decried the influence of the Social Gospel amongst liberal churches. According to these self-proclaimed torch-bearers of a religion born in the Middle East, progressive church-goers had been infected by foreign ideas such as German Rationalism, Soviet-style Communism, and, of course, atheistic Darwinism. In the 1950s, the anti-Social Gospel message piggybacked the rhetoric of anti-communism, which slashed and burned its way through the Old South and onward through the Sunbelt, turning liberal churches into vacant lots along the way. It was here that the spirit and the body collided, leaving us with a prototypical Christian nationalist, hell-bent on prosperity. Charity was thus rebranded as collectivism and self-denial gave way to the gospel of accumulation. Church-to-church, sermon-to-sermon, evangelical preachers grew less comfortable with the fish and loaves Jesus who lived on earth, and more committed to the angry Jesus of the future. By the 1990s, this divine Terminator gained "most-favored Jesus status" among America's mega churches; and with that, even the mention of the former "social justice" Messiah drove the socially conscious from their larger, meaner flock.

In addition to such historical developments, there may very well simply be an underlying, all-too-human social-psychological process at root, one that probably plays itself out among all religious individuals: they see in their religion what they want to see, and deny or despise the rest. That is, religion is one big Rorschach test. People look at the content of their religious tradition -- its teachings, its creeds, its prophet's proclamations -- and they basically pick and choose what suits their own secular outlook. They see in their faith what they want to see as they live their daily lives, and simultaneously ignore the rest. And as is the case for most White Evangelical Christians, what they are ignoring is actually the very heart and soul of Jesus's message -- a message that emphasizes sharing, not greed. Peace-making, not war-mongering. Love, not violence.

Of course, conservative Americans have every right to support corporate greed, militarism, gun possession, and the death penalty, and to oppose welfare, food stamps, health care for those in need, etc. -- it is just strange and contradictory when they claim these positions as somehow "Christian." They aren't.

I dragged this here from my local forum, where the poster had no problem of conscience, on Sunday, with pillorying Christians in the name of "Social Justice".
"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain

"Let us assume for the moment everything you say about me is true. That just makes your problem bigger, doesn't it?"

charlesoakwood

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #1 on: March 06, 2011, 05:12:52 PM »

This person needs an intervention.


Offline IronDioPriest

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #2 on: March 06, 2011, 05:14:39 PM »
Brilliant. Use a cartoonish, out of context, ignorant caricature of Christ's message and Christian doctrine to define Christianity, and then pillory the most devout practitioners of the faith because they don't live up to the caricature.

Thus begins dehumanization and persecution.
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."

- Thomas Jefferson

Offline Glock32

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #3 on: March 06, 2011, 05:19:21 PM »
Ah yes, they're exactly right. Jesus commanded the faithful to hire the government as a proxy for the purpose of stealing from others in the pursuit of a nebulous "social justice". /sarc

I invite the author of that screed to examine charitable contributions and volunteerism. You can summarize their argument as one big, long whine that evangelicals don't like using the government as an instrument of social engineering.

And as you hint in your last sentence, the person who wrote this is probably one of the first to wax poetic about the separation of Church and State. Yet in this instance, they seem irritated that White evangelicals don't use the state to enforce Biblical teachings.

Cognitive dissonance? Nope, because their only guiding principle is "by any means necessary". Taking contradictory positions is fine, as long as it's in service to that end.
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Online Pandora

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2011, 05:49:31 PM »
I need to clarify one thing:  he/she named the thread "Truism"; I'm responsible for pegging it as "social justice" bullcrap.
"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain

"Let us assume for the moment everything you say about me is true. That just makes your problem bigger, doesn't it?"

Offline Glock32

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2011, 05:53:23 PM »
Ahh, a truism. An axiom. I love how the Left gets to decide what is axiomatic. It's the kissing-cousin of the "the science is settled" argument for AGW.
"The Fourth Estate is less honorable than the First Profession."

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Online Pandora

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2011, 06:00:09 PM »
This is the sort of twisting of religious and Biblical principles Beck has been worrying over infecting our churches - which it has - because those firmly grounded in their Biblical knowledge and faith know falsity when they hear it.  Others, who are alone led by what the priest/pastor/preacher says, don't.

Principalities and Powers.   >:(
"Under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer." - Mark Twain

"Let us assume for the moment everything you say about me is true. That just makes your problem bigger, doesn't it?"

Offline Predator Don

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #7 on: March 06, 2011, 10:21:29 PM »
This is the sort of twisting of religious and Biblical principles Beck has been worrying over infecting our churches - which it has - because those firmly grounded in their Biblical knowledge and faith know falsity when they hear it.  Others, who are alone led by what the priest/pastor/preacher says, don't.

Principalities and Powers.   >:(

Regretablly, more and more churches are adhereing to this "message". A perversion of the word of God. Twisting strongly held teachings such as "mercy" and/or "forgivness" to equate a tolerance of any sin. The need to not flee from it.

I can always tell when I've visited one of these churches who adhere to this type of message. Apparantly, I can sin...and sin...and sin....never attempting to flee from my sin or correct my behavior. I don't have a beef toward anyone who wants to cling to this belief system, but God is capable of never ending compassion, forgivness and tolerance.....It does nor equate to receiving it if you make no effort.
I'm not always engulfed in scandals, but when I am, I make sure I blame others.


Offline Predator Don

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Offline Janny

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #10 on: March 07, 2011, 06:20:59 PM »
Brilliant. Use a cartoonish, out of context, ignorant caricature of Christ's message and Christian doctrine to define Christianity, and then pillory the most devout practitioners of the faith because they don't live up to the caricature.

Thus begins dehumanization and persecution.

Excellent summary. I concur.

Offline IronDioPriest

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #11 on: March 07, 2011, 08:46:23 PM »
Brilliant. Use a cartoonish, out of context, ignorant caricature of Christ's message and Christian doctrine to define Christianity, and then pillory the most devout practitioners of the faith because they don't live up to the caricature.

Thus begins dehumanization and persecution.

Excellent summary. I concur.

It's the Alinsky method in action.
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."

- Thomas Jefferson

Offline Libertas

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #12 on: March 10, 2011, 07:00:18 AM »
Apostates.

Just say NO!
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.

Offline LadyVirginia

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #13 on: March 25, 2011, 11:50:53 PM »


I hate that phrase "social justice".

Where's the justice for the 3,700 babies that die tomorrow by abortion?
"And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Offline Predator Don

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #14 on: March 26, 2011, 10:28:46 AM »


I hate that phrase "social justice".

Where's the justice for the 3,700 babies that die tomorrow by abortion?


To understand the liberal justice....we must first understand the liberal mind.

But I believe a liberal will tell you it is not a child but an unviable tissue mass. Go figure.
I'm not always engulfed in scandals, but when I am, I make sure I blame others.

Offline Glock32

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #15 on: March 26, 2011, 02:24:35 PM »
A serial killer on Death Row, however, is a precious life.
"The Fourth Estate is less honorable than the First Profession."

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Offline Predator Don

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #16 on: March 26, 2011, 02:29:46 PM »
A serial killer on Death Row, however, is a precious life.

Yea,,,There should be no death penalty because life is too precious....Unless you are an unviable tissue mass.
I'm not always engulfed in scandals, but when I am, I make sure I blame others.

Offline Janny

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #17 on: March 26, 2011, 03:17:38 PM »
A serial killer on Death Row, however, is a precious life.

Yea,,,There should be no death penalty because life is too precious....Unless you are an unviable tissue mass.

Oh, not just an unviable tissue mass. A PARASITE!

Liberals suck.

Online ToddF

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #18 on: April 04, 2011, 08:50:34 AM »
Remember, give credit where credit is due.

Phil Zuckerman.Professor of Sociology, Pitzer College in Claremont, CA.

This article was co-authored by Dan Cady is an assistant professor of history at California State University, Fresno.

The tards at Huffington Post lapped it right up.

The boy's got some issues

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/phil-zuckerman

Offline Libertas

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Re: "Social Justice" doctrinal spew
« Reply #19 on: April 04, 2011, 11:11:57 AM »
Sociology!

The original trash bin of leftist loons!
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.