“As a Christian, I don’t think you can be both MAGA and Christian,” one person wrote in the comments of the video.

Two weeks ago, Jen Hamilton, a nurse with a sizable following on TikTok and Instagram, picked up her Bible and made a video that would quickly go viral.

“Basically, I sat down at my kitchen table and began to read from Matthew 25 while overlaying MAGA policies that directly oppose the character and nature of Jesus’ teachings,” she told HuffPost.

In the comments of the video ― which currently has more than 8.6 million views on TikTok ― many (Christians and atheists alike) applauded Hamilton for using straight Scripture as a way of offering commentary. Others picked a bone with Christians who uncritically support Trump.

  • Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works
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    They (Christian MAGA) don’t care. I have a family member I shared this verse, and many others with, and they only got angry at me. This was months ago.

    They simply don’t care. Not about what Jesus said, and not about any of us.

    • Cracks_InTheWalls@sh.itjust.works
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      It’s always best to address stuff like this with a very wide grin and say “Ah, it’s good to know that for all your self-righteousness and false piety, you will burn in hell, and Jesus will weep knowing his sacrifice meant nothing to you. Ta!”

      You don’t even need to believe it, it just really gets under people’s skin. Fuck 'em.

    • CH3DD4R_G0B-L1N@sh.itjust.works
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      My brain is still as broken as my relationship with my father when he looked me straight in the eyes and told me that yes, Jesus would be ok putting kids in cages.

    • Demdaru@lemmy.world
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      They got…angry? What, typical “don’t sass me” or what? What did they saaaay?

      I know it’s not my place to ask but just soooo curious ;-;

  • Prehensile_cloaca @lemm.ee
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    The broader truth is that you can’t be Christian and be pro-Capitalist.

    Once you remove Capitalism as the base, the entire “prosperity gospel” falls apart.

  • Doom@ttrpg.network
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    Jesus is definitely an amalgamation of a variety of stories and characters. I believe a real Jesus existed and was really killed by the state for what he did on what they celebrate as Palm Sunday, he mocked the emperor and was killed. He likely also mocked the Jewish leaders of his time and the Mystery Cults/public perception of Jews in his time.

    Example; the Eucharist was an act of mockery towards Mystery Cult rituals and the negative stereotypes of Jews.

    The Bible Jesus and much of his teachings are a culmination of thought put upon one character to tell a story like Gilgamesh (who was also a carpenter), any Roman-Greco hero, King Arthur. The story of the three wise men is, in my opinion, the idea that Eastern/foreign thought is introduced somehow namely Zoroastrianism. The dude lived in Palestine and likely alongside heavy trade routes into Rome, probably got exposed to interesting folk. He’s born in both Nazareth and Bethlehem? Sounds to me like he’s all these different folks smooshed into one story.

    In my opinion, Jesus is anti-authoritarian first and foremost, likely some form of socialist. And likely a punk.

    Kurt Cobain is probably closer to Jesus than any Republican.

    • kromem@lemmy.world
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      the Eucharist was an act of mockery towards Mystery Cult rituals

      More likely the version we ended up with was intentionally obfuscated from what it originally was.

      Notice how in John, which lacks any Eucharist ritual, that at the last supper bread is being dipped much as there’s ambiguous dipping in Mark? But it’s characterized as a bad thing because it’s given to Judas? And then Matthew goes even further changing it to a ‘hand’ being dipped?

      Does it make sense for the body of an anointed one to not be anointed before being eaten?

      Look at how in Ignatius’s letter to the Philadelphians he tells them to “avoid evil herbs” not planted by god and “have only one Eucharist.” Herbs? Hmmm. (A number of those in that anointing oil.)

      There’s a parallel statement in Matthew 15 about “every plant” not planted by god being rooted up.

      But in gThomas 40 it’s a grapevine that’s not planted and is to be rooted up. Much as in saying 28 it suggests people should be shaking off their wine.

      Now, again kind of curious that the Eucharist ritual of wine would have excluded John the Baptist who didn’t drink wine and James the brother of Jesus who was also traditionally considered to have not drunk wine, or honestly any Nazarite who had taken a vow not to drink wine.

      I’m sure everyone is familiar with the idea Jesus was born from a virgin. This results from Matthew’s use of the Greek version of Isaiah 7:14 instead of the Hebrew where it’s simply “young woman.” But almost no one considers that line in its original context with the line immediately after:

      Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son and shall name him Immanuel. He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good.

      You know, like the curds and honey ritual referenced by the Naassenes who were following gThomas. (Early on there was also a ritual like this for someone’s first Eucharist or after a baptism even in canonical traditions but it eventually died out.)

      Oh and strange that Pope Julius I in 340 CE was banning a Eucharist with milk instead of wine…

      Now, the much more interesting question is why there were efforts to change this, but that’s a long comment for another time.

    • zbyte64@awful.systems
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      The Roman empire was putting to death many prophets and god incarnates. The innovation of the Jesus story was that he didn’t say dead, but he also conveniently didn’t stick around.

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        Curiously in all those stories in Josephus Rome killed the messianic upstarts immediately without trial and killed the followers they could get their hands on.

        Yet the canonical story has multiple trials and doesn’t have any followers being killed.

        Also, I’m surprised more people don’t pick up on how strange it is that the canonical stories all have Peter ‘denying’ him three times while also having roughly three trials (Herod, High Priest, Pilate). Peter is even admitted back into the guarded area where a trial is taking place to ‘deny’ him. But oh no, it was totally that Judas guy who betrayed him. It was okay Peter was going into a guarded trial area to deny him because…of a rooster. Yeah, that makes sense.

        It’s extremely clear to even a slightly critical eye that the story canonized is not the actual story, even with the magical thinking stuff set aside.

        Literally the earliest primary records of the tradition is a guy known for persecuting Jesus’s followers writing to areas he doesn’t have authority to persecute and telling them to ignore any versions of Jesus other than the one he tells them about (and interestingly both times he did this spontaneously suggesting in the same chapter that he swears he doesn’t lie and only tells the truth).

  • Yerbouti@sh.itjust.works
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    I think most atheists I know are much closer to the christian values that the church and people who consider themselves christians are. Almost funny how a religion that’s supposed to be built on sharing, tolerance and love have produce to most selfish intolerent people filled with hatred.

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      This pissess me off so much. I was raised in christian family. And I mean motherfucking christian. I was taught from young age to show compassion, to help other, to help others up even if I don’t personally like them. This is what it means to me to be christian. Compassion, love, and charity. Help others without asking for anything back.

      Which is also core of fucking theoretical communism, so no wonder that also fell.

      But it pissess me off when I meet people who are soooooo fucking hardcore believers, each sunday in church, always praising god and then they start the goddamn gossip of the day. Because Annie has a man of a slightly darker carnation, it’s obvious Annie is abused, poor Annie but in the end Annie knew what she was doing, oh that poor hoe hope she finds god in her life. FFS these gossipin pseudo-christians should find god in their life -.-’

      There’s epigram in polish, fun little thing by Jan Kochanowski. Translation would be

      “If you’re not sinning, as you’re telling me, why are you, dear, confessing so often?”.

  • the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world
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    I always laugh when I hear shit like this, there is an old german saying my father taught me. “When there are 9 Nazis at a table, and you go sit with them, there are 10 Nazis at the same table”.

    If you are sharing the same church with them then you are sharing the same ideology. Start kicking these maga fucks out of your churches and I might start believing you.

    • Basic Glitch@lemm.ee
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      Red-Letter Christians

      Red-Letter Christians is a non-denominational movement within Evangelical Christianity. “Red-Letter” refers to New Testament verses and parts of verses printed in red ink, to indicate the words attributed to Jesus without the use of quotation marks.

      The organization was founded by Tony Campolo and Shane Claiborne in 2007 with the aim of bringing together evangelicals who believe in the importance of insisting on issues of social justice mentioned by Jesus (in red in some translations of the Bible). They believe Christians should be paying attention to Jesus’s words and example by promoting biblical values such as social justice issues. These issues include the fight against poverty, the defense of peace, building strong families, respecting human rights and welcoming foreigners.

    • henfredemars@infosec.pub
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      It’s a crying shame that I’ve had to do the same with some of my extended family. They’ve gone ultra MAGA and I’m sorry I cannot support you when you want to harm others.

      • the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world
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        I lost a childhood friend to the MAGA cult. It sucks, I knew him since elementary school. He slowly became angrier, then he one day was just all out hateful saying the most vile hateful crap he could and I just cut ties completely.

        The stupidest part is I heard through someone else that “he has no idea why I wont talk to him”. I didn’t ghost him, I told him to his face on my way out his door for the last time that “I will not tolerate hatred, never speak to me again.”

        I suspect most of maga are the same way, they know full well what a massive piece of shit they are, the problem is that they are proud of it.

          • Itdidnttrickledown@lemmy.world
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            I haven’t seen that page before but its the way things are. My parents died last year and I didn’t go to their funerals. They of course had a opportunity to reach out but doing so would have been an admission that they had done something wrong. I had a couple of their flying monkeys come at me from time to time. I just call them fools and move on with my life. That is what you have to do. You will never get resolution from narcs. They can never see any wrong they do as wrong. They will never seek help because they fear it.

            Edit: I will say one of the things I miss about reddit is the raisedbynarcissists sub. It is where I discovered I wasn’t alone. That in itself was validation for me. Reading about others in similar situations to mine really helped me end a life long cycle of depression, anxiety and anger.

          • Zink@programming.dev
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            Damn, that is incredible. I am somebody who comes from a conservative white religious family. I am not estranged from them and we actually have a good relationship, but I do keep them at a certain distance because of it.

            But while the estrangement context is unfamiliar to me, all of the issues discussed absolutely ring true.

            The whole “emotion creates reality” versus “reality creates emotion” thing is a fantastic was to phrase it. I think that simple description might hit the nail on the head for what the hell is going on with conservatives/religious constantly trying to fuck up the world and having ridiculous beliefs.

            It also speaks a lot to narcissism, which does admittedly go hand in hand with the whole conservative need for social hierarchy and the expectation that oneself is obviously at the top.

          • Sam, The Man@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            This is an absolutely fascinating read; as someone with parents that tread a very thin line this is an incredible validation of what I’ve observed. And with multiple examples.

        • Zombie@feddit.uk
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          Are you me?

          I had a very similar experience, except it involved them running after me and trying to punch me in the face, after I’d walked 5 minutes down the street.

          Then a few weeks later they messaged an “apology” saying we’re both to blame that things got out of hand.

          Fuck Trump, fuck Farage, fuck Republicans, fuck Reform, fuck racists, fuck hatred, fuck intolerance. I just want my dumb, funny, stoner friend back, but that’s not possible now that he’s a hate filled arsehole.

          • the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world
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            I was genuinely sad when it happened. I miss my friend he was a fun goofy guy, I just deal with it as if he died because it hurts less than knowing hes become everything he hated.

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      30But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners? 31And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. 32I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

      Luke 5

        • zloubida@sh.itjust.works
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          But it was a generalization all the same. Who says there are MAGAists in the church of the person who commented that one can’t be Christian and MAGA?

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              Sorry, English, as you probably understood, is not my first language. But I think my idea is quite simple: asking all Christians to eject the MAGA from their churches is like asking all Muslims to eject terrorists from their mosques, or all Jews to stop supporting the Gaza genocide. A lot already do, so that demand makes no sense, and is just bigotry.

              So, when someone posts: “As a Christian, I don’t think you can be both MAGA and Christian,” answering saying that all people eating with Nazis are Nazis makes no sense and is bigotry, as the author of the comment doesn’t necessarily prays with people supporting Trump. They even probably doesn’t.

              • SreudianFlip@sh.itjust.works
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                This is a terrible statement on ethics, or an excellent condemnation of organized faith under authority.

                You can choose a mosque or church or temple, or choose not to associate at all where the common practice is to include unrepentant authoritarians. This does not require you to abandon your core beliefs.

                The basic lesson of the 20th century, for all humanity, is to tolerate all behaviour except the oppressive and, ironically, the intolerant.

        • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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          And what I’m saying is that Christians will accept hateful people because they believe God’s love will change them.

          So… yes, acceptance is kind of the point.

          Edit: we’re saying the same thing, I’m saying that expecting any kind of worthwhile change from Christians is unrealistic.

            • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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              No, former Christian disillusioned with Christians. Easy misunderstanding to have, though — in these troubling times. I understand you.

        • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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          What I’m saying is that Christians will accept MAGA because that is the point of Christianity.

          Sinners are sinners waiting to be saved.

          Edit: I’m not Christian.

  • Fandangalo@lemmy.world
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    Yes! Matthew 25:32 is one of the best examples of how warped MAGA & Christianity has become.

    34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

    37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

    40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

    I quote this passage a lot because it’s very explicit about going to heaven or not. It’s based on good acts, outlined briefly here. I don’t get how any MAGA person can read that and agree with our current policy. It’s anti-Christian.

    • lmmarsano@lemmynsfw.com
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      The rest of the passage hit harder. First, the setup

      31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
      32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
      33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

      Then your section about “the right”. Then the rest

      41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
      42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
      43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
      44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
      45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
      46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

      • Fandangalo@lemmy.world
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        As you correctly put, all sacred texts are better informed by their context & message as a whole. As a Unitarian Universalist, I’m not particularly happy with the ending of that passage, because it goes against my beliefs (I don’t think hell is real). But it does set the tone.

    • jjjalljs@ttrpg.network
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      There was a news article a while ago about maga hats saying their church was repeating “liberal talking points”, when the pastor was simply quoting Jesus.

      https://www.newsweek.com/evangelicals-rejecting-jesus-teachings-liberal-talking-points-pastor-1818706

      Most of the maga hats don’t care. They found their tribe and that’s all that matters to them now.

      Facts and quotes don’t change people’s minds. In-group belonging does. So long as they see you as an enemy, they won’t listen to anything you say. We’re all vulnerable to that, but maga hats seem especially vulnerable.

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    And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free - John 8:32

    Also Trump wears diapers and smells horrible. Probably because he’s the anti-christ or a reasonable facsimile.

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      Beautifully stated and thank you for the morning laugh!

      I hope you don’t mind if I quote you from time to time. Have a great day.

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    The Bible is also abundantly clear about being misogynist and homophobic (even in the New Testament). Skipping over those parts gives an evil book/religion a pass. Fuck Christianity.

    • xyzzy@lemm.ee
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      In the New Testament, that stuff all comes from Paul. Paul was a conservative asshole. He was the first evangelical Christian, in both the historical and modern sense.

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          Yep. It’s also kinda curious how many boxes Paul ticks of the comments about a false deceiver in 2 Thess 2.

          • Lawless? (1 Cor 9:20 - “though not myself under the law”)
          • Used signs and wonders to convert? (2 Cor 12:12 - “I did many signs and wonders among you”)
          • Used wickedness? (Romans 3:8 - "And why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), “Let us do evil so that good may come”?)
          • Proclaimed himself in God’s place? (1 Cor 4:15 - “I am your spiritual father”)
          • Set himself up at the center of the church? Well, the fact we’re talking about this is kinda proof in the pudding for his influence.

          Sounds like they were projecting a bit with that passage.

    • GingaNinga@lemmy.world
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      its always been about power and control. A population in fear of eternal damnation is easier to manipulate.

    • redsand@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      The homophobia was likely a mistranslation. The misogyny isn’t though. It’s not evil in and of it’s self. It’s stupid and useful for controlling the stupid. Still fuck it but fuck the Baptists extra deep

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        “Likely” is a pretty strong statement when scholars aren’t in agreement (based on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romans_1, I did not read a bunch of articles myself). Saying it’s not evil when it advocates for evil things doesn’t track for me, but it seems we’re on the same page about Christianity in general.

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          From my understanding of the argument the Leviticus line is probably wrong in the King James versions and the opposition are mostly against mistranslations existing conceptually. Haven’t read in a long while though. It’s a tool mostly bad people pick up. Those who seek power, etc, etc…

    • Laser@feddit.org
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      I don’t think this thread is about whether the Bible is a valid moral/ ethical guideline nowadays, but rather if the actions of those who pretend to follow it match it. Which it doesn’t.

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        You seem to have missed my point. The Bible is the holy book for Christianity, and because it’s clear on things like homophobia and misogyny we can state that Christianity is pro those things. When people say that MAGA Christians are not behaving like real Christians, they are being dishonest and putting a pretty face on an evil thing. Their actions help keep the bronze age bullshit bad people use to justify their behavior around.

        I’m very tired of the general societal belief that Christianity is actually good and some people are just doing it wrong. Christianity is bad. Its effects on our society are bad. We would be better off if it (and religion in general) went away.

        • Laser@feddit.org
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          Maybe they do behave like real Christians in that regard, but not in others, which for a religion is enough to not be in line with it, it’s not a choose your own adventure

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    In the United States, evangelical Christianity is the dominant religion, and MAGA is part of their doctrine.

  • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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    the problem with religion, and the reason it should be completely eradicated, is that you can spend your entire life trying to explain how one interpretation of the stone age holy book is “wrong,” while the other person does exactly the same thing with you, and there is no valid proof that either side is “right.” meanwhile people are killing each other over the whole thing. it’s all such fucking bullshit.

    it’s time for the human species to grow up and stop wasting time (not to mention lives) with religion

    • redsand@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 hours ago

      You can do the same thing with philosophy or ethics. Check out The Good Place on Netflix or torrent. Chidi isn’t much different from some religious scholars

      • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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        “I think, therefore I am…” “…gonna eradicate large portions of humanity through violence”

        -Descartes, full quote without omissions-

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      Meh. If social media served a purpose, to me, it was to show just how many dimwits are out there who will beg for someone to tell them what to do and how to act and what to think.

      You can take religion from them, but they won’t stop being gullible and lost, and they’ll just fall prey to the next scumbag with no scruples that comes along, be it a politician or some other con artist.

      The problem isn’t religion - it’s an excuse, a cover.

      • nieminen@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        I agree in part. But most of these people are as gullible as they are BECAUSE of religion. They’re taught from birth to follow unquestioningly, and to trust their feelings over evidence. (I know, I was one) Without religion, then indoctrinating children wouldn’t be as easy or widespread.

        • ByteJunk@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          They’re getting indoctrinated by the fox news and qanon groups or sovcits or whoever gets to them first. It’s not a question of if they get indoctrinated, but by whom.

          Some will actually be capable of realising it and break free, but then you have the one actively opting into it.

          At least the churches have discernable objectives, unlike many other groups operating in the cesspits of the internet.

      • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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        6 hours ago

        Unfortunately, I think you are right.

        Even as we see adherence to xtianity slowly dying off, I’m not sure I am seeing evidence that people are getting any better at spotting logical fallacies and not falling under the spell of cults like donvict/qanon (and conservatism/Republicanism in general), Randroidism or being duped by ridiculous conspiracy theories. Which is weird, because even as it’s become nearly frictionless to do a quick check on something whether it’s by your favorite search engine or an LLM, it’s like people refuse to do exactly that, and instead wait for whatever their modern version of a guru (lying liars on Faux, Youtube feeds, IG, podcasts, etc…) tells them to think about the matter.

        As much as I hated the hot take from the bothsiderist types about the “new atheists” and claiming any atheism was just another religion ( 🙄 demonstrating they don’t really understand definitions ) I do think the South Park episode where they lampoon all of that was probably not too far from the mark…meaning the future part where there is a war between different factions of atheism…I mean, given the way the typical person approaches these things. It’s like some people really desperately want someone else to do all of their thinking for them.

      • solsangraal@lemmy.zip
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        10 hours ago

        i see your point, but what “excuse” or cover is better, or even as effective, at hoodwinking people en masse into throwing away critical thinking and denying reality the way religion does? forcing people into a perpetual state of desire while also proclaiming those desires to be “evil” means your flock is saturated with guilt, fear, and shame, willing to do “gods will” in order to win infinite reward in the afterlife. after they die of course

        and of course “god’s will” is different for every person you ask, even within the same church

  • But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    It’s all Christianity. Whenever Christians act horribly, a different group of christians always come out saying “they’re not REAL Christians “ how convenient. The thing is they ARE Christians, because you don’t need an official membership card to get in.

    It’s a cop out to brush away these people as not one of you, but they are. These are the dregs of your religion, this is the end game to certain branches of your religion. You don’t get to brush them under the carpet and pretend they don’t represent you , cause they do. Own these people and fix your religion which often leads to this. Don’t just keep pretending that this isn’t part of Christianity

    • SnarkoPolo@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      It’s the No True Scotsman fallacy. Sorry, a plurality of Americans are megachurch evangelicals. Their leadership is in bed with MAGA, which makes them complicit.