| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Enkidu the Atheist" |
| Date: |
26 Jun 2005 09:17:42 PM |
| Object: |
Leftward Christian Soldiers |
Leftward Christian Soldiers
A new, well-organized religious group has emerged. And guess what: It
actually supports Christian values.
[snip]
“I understand that the truth can be spoken by Muslims, and the truth can
be spoken by Jews. The truth can be spoken by atheists,” said Simpson.
“And listen: An atheist who stands for the interests of the neighbor, an
atheist who stands for the interests of poor people at the margins, for
the oppressed, is worth more than a hundred Christians who have made
their bed with the fat cats, because that atheist is actually
articulating the ends of the kingdom of God.”
[snip]
http://tinyurl.com/dluxk
--
Enkidu AA#2165
EAC Chaplain and ordained minister,
ULC, Modesto, CA
PGP ID: 0xC4CE8CF0
It is the most unpopular ideas that deserve to be protected because the
popular ideas can take care of themselves. It is the minority views that
the majority might not agree with that are the heart of democracy.
-- Hugh Hefner
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| User: "Clayton Doesnt Believe In Sex Before Rigor-Mortis" |
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| Title: Re: Leftward Christian Soldiers |
26 Jun 2005 11:42:35 PM |
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"Enkidu the Atheist" <Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns96819170EEA86255229@130.133.1.4...
Leftward Christian Soldiers
A new, well-organized religious group has emerged. And guess what: It
actually supports Christian values.
[snip]
"I understand that the truth can be spoken by Muslims, and the truth can
be spoken by Jews. The truth can be spoken by atheists," said Simpson.
"And listen: An atheist who stands for the interests of the neighbor, an
atheist who stands for the interests of poor people at the margins, for
the oppressed, is worth more than a hundred Christians who have made
their bed with the fat cats, because that atheist is actually
articulating the ends of the kingdom of God."
[snip]
I think you can register my jaw as officially dropped!
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| User: "Katt" |
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| Title: Re: Leftward Christian Soldiers |
27 Jun 2005 12:00:23 AM |
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"Clayton Doesn't Believe In Sex Before Rigor-Mortis"
<cjfat@SPAMBLOCKphonymails.com> wrote in message
news:42bf3d91$0$26758$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
"Enkidu the Atheist" <Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns96819170EEA86255229@130.133.1.4...
Leftward Christian Soldiers
A new, well-organized religious group has emerged. And guess what: It
actually supports Christian values.
[snip]
"I understand that the truth can be spoken by Muslims, and the truth can
be spoken by Jews. The truth can be spoken by atheists," said Simpson.
"And listen: An atheist who stands for the interests of the neighbor, an
atheist who stands for the interests of poor people at the margins, for
the oppressed, is worth more than a hundred Christians who have made
their bed with the fat cats, because that atheist is actually
articulating the ends of the kingdom of God."
[snip]
I think you can register my jaw as officially dropped!
Mine too!
But take note: this group, nice and sincere people though they may be, will
*never get anywhere* -- for the simple psycho-dynamic reason that their
position *does not legitimate hatred widely or sufficiently enough for most
people to get any value out of it*.
Katt.
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| User: "Fred Stone" |
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| Title: Re: Leftward Christian Soldiers |
27 Jun 2005 03:16:43 AM |
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"Katt" <workcomputer@dfhu.net> wrote in
news:rkHve.7643$%O1.2882@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net:
"Clayton Doesn't Believe In Sex Before Rigor-Mortis"
<cjfat@SPAMBLOCKphonymails.com> wrote in message
news:42bf3d91$0$26758$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
"Enkidu the Atheist" <Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns96819170EEA86255229@130.133.1.4...
Leftward Christian Soldiers
A new, well-organized religious group has emerged. And guess what:
It actually supports Christian values.
[snip]
"I understand that the truth can be spoken by Muslims, and the truth
can be spoken by Jews. The truth can be spoken by atheists," said
Simpson. "And listen: An atheist who stands for the interests of the
neighbor, an atheist who stands for the interests of poor people at
the margins, for the oppressed, is worth more than a hundred
Christians who have made their bed with the fat cats, because that
atheist is actually articulating the ends of the kingdom of God."
[snip]
I think you can register my jaw as officially dropped!
Mine too!
But take note: this group, nice and sincere people though they may be,
will *never get anywhere* -- for the simple psycho-dynamic reason that
their position *does not legitimate hatred widely or sufficiently
enough for most people to get any value out of it*.
If legitimizing hatred was enough to ensure popularity the Democratic
Party wouldn't be in such a slump.
--
Fred Stone
aa# 1369
"Metaphysics is almost always an attempt to prove
the incredible by an appeal to the unintelligible."
[H.L. Mencken, "Prejudices"]
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: Leftward Christian Soldiers |
03 Jul 2005 02:08:27 AM |
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On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 03:16:43 GMT, Fred Stone <fstone69@earthling.com>
wrote:
"Katt" <workcomputer@dfhu.net> wrote in
news:rkHve.7643$%O1.2882@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net:
"Clayton Doesn't Believe In Sex Before Rigor-Mortis"
<cjfat@SPAMBLOCKphonymails.com> wrote in message
news:42bf3d91$0$26758$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
"Enkidu the Atheist" <Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns96819170EEA86255229@130.133.1.4...
Leftward Christian Soldiers
A new, well-organized religious group has emerged. And guess what:
It actually supports Christian values.
[snip]
"I understand that the truth can be spoken by Muslims, and the truth
can be spoken by Jews. The truth can be spoken by atheists," said
Simpson. "And listen: An atheist who stands for the interests of the
neighbor, an atheist who stands for the interests of poor people at
the margins, for the oppressed, is worth more than a hundred
Christians who have made their bed with the fat cats, because that
atheist is actually articulating the ends of the kingdom of God."
[snip]
I think you can register my jaw as officially dropped!
Mine too!
But take note: this group, nice and sincere people though they may be,
will *never get anywhere* -- for the simple psycho-dynamic reason that
their position *does not legitimate hatred widely or sufficiently
enough for most people to get any value out of it*.
If legitimizing hatred was enough to ensure popularity the Democratic
Party wouldn't be in such a slump.
Legitimizing hatred and terminal dishonesty and a lack of
responsibility is all the Rethugnicans, like you, have.
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: Leftward Christian Soldiers |
03 Jul 2005 02:07:14 AM |
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On Mon, 27 Jun 2005 09:42:35 +1000, "Clayton Doesn't Believe In Sex
Before Rigor-Mortis" <cjfat@SPAMBLOCKphonymails.com> wrote:
"Enkidu the Atheist" <Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns96819170EEA86255229@130.133.1.4...
Leftward Christian Soldiers
A new, well-organized religious group has emerged. And guess what: It
actually supports Christian values.
[snip]
"I understand that the truth can be spoken by Muslims, and the truth can
be spoken by Jews. The truth can be spoken by atheists," said Simpson.
"And listen: An atheist who stands for the interests of the neighbor, an
atheist who stands for the interests of poor people at the margins, for
the oppressed, is worth more than a hundred Christians who have made
their bed with the fat cats, because that atheist is actually
articulating the ends of the kingdom of God."
[snip]
I think you can register my jaw as officially dropped!
Ditto. Sadly, its all too much easier to hate and destroy than it is
to encourage and build. I suspect these folks are 'trying to tilt
windmills,' though.
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
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| User: "Ike" |
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| Title: Re: Leftward Christian Soldiers |
27 Jun 2005 03:04:13 AM |
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"Enkidu the Atheist" <Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns96819170EEA86255229@130.133.1.4...
Leftward Christian Soldiers
A new, well-organized religious group has emerged. And guess what: It
actually supports Christian values.
Oxymoron.
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| User: "Katt" |
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| Title: Re: Leftward Christian Soldiers |
27 Jun 2005 03:36:47 AM |
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"Ike" <accordiondoc@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:N0Kve.9990$hK3.5319@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
"Enkidu the Atheist" <Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns96819170EEA86255229@130.133.1.4...
Leftward Christian Soldiers
A new, well-organized religious group has emerged. And guess what: It
actually supports Christian values.
Oxymoron.
See what I mean, people? There's one guy who's not gonna let *anyone* take
his hates away from him...!
Katt.
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| User: "Ike" |
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| Title: Re: Leftward Christian Soldiers |
29 Jun 2005 03:55:59 AM |
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"Katt" <workcomputer@dfhu.net> wrote in message
news:jvKve.8231$%O1.250@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net...
"Ike" <accordiondoc@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:N0Kve.9990$hK3.5319@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
"Enkidu the Atheist" <Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:Xns96819170EEA86255229@130.133.1.4...
Leftward Christian Soldiers
A new, well-organized religious group has emerged. And guess what: It
actually supports Christian values.
Oxymoron.
See what I mean, people? There's one guy who's not gonna let *anyone* take
his hates away from him...!
Katt.
If I were an animal I would be motivated by fear and hate. Has nothing to do
with it. Christian liberals are preservig the status quo slavery by the
ultra-wealthy. Christianity is a religion and has nothing to do with values.
The irrationality of religion ultimately trumps any common-sense humanity. I
don't want to sound like a commie but you pulled my chain. Opiate of the
masses, etc.
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| User: "Katt" |
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| Title: Re: Leftward Christian Soldiers |
29 Jun 2005 04:09:21 AM |
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"Ike" <accordiondoc@mindspring.com> wrote in message news:
If I were an animal I would be motivated by fear and hate.
'If you were an animal'...?!? Ummm, I'm afraid Daddy has some *rather bad
news for you* on that one...
Katt.
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| User: "Ike" |
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| Title: Re: Leftward Christian Soldiers |
30 Jun 2005 04:05:09 AM |
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"Katt" <workcomputer@dfhu.net> wrote in message
news:R9pwe.12220$%O1.454@newsfe3-gui.ntli.net...
"Ike" <accordiondoc@mindspring.com> wrote in message news:
If I were an animal I would be motivated by fear and hate.
'If you were an animal'...?!? Ummm, I'm afraid Daddy has some *rather bad
news for you* on that one...
Katt.
Then why doesn't the animal kingdom have an embassy where I could apply for
political asylum?
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| User: "Gregory Gadow" |
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| Title: Re: Leftward Christian Soldiers |
27 Jun 2005 01:31:57 PM |
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Enkidu the Atheist wrote:
Leftward Christian Soldiers
A new, well-organized religious group has emerged. And guess what: It
actually supports Christian values.
[snip]
“I understand that the truth can be spoken by Muslims, and the truth can
be spoken by Jews. The truth can be spoken by atheists,” said Simpson.
“And listen: An atheist who stands for the interests of the neighbor, an
atheist who stands for the interests of poor people at the margins, for
the oppressed, is worth more than a hundred Christians who have made
their bed with the fat cats, because that atheist is actually
articulating the ends of the kingdom of God.”
[snip]
http://tinyurl.com/dluxk
/cheer
--
Gregory Gadow
techbear@serv.net
http://www.serv.net/~techbear
"It is necessary to the happiness of man that he be mentally faithful
to himself. Infidelity does not consist in believing, or in disbelieving;
it consists in professing to believe what one does not believe. It is
impossible to calculate the moral mischief, if I may so express it, that
mental lying has produced in society. When man has so far corrupted and
prostituted the chastity of his mind, as to subscribe his professional
belief to things he does not believe, he has prepared himself for the
commission of every other crime." - Thomas Paine, "The Age of Reason"
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| User: "stoney" |
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| Title: Re: Leftward Christian Soldiers |
03 Jul 2005 01:54:42 AM |
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On 26 Jun 2005 21:17:42 GMT, Enkidu the Atheist
<Enkidu.the.Atheist@gmail.com> wrote:
Leftward Christian Soldiers
A new, well-organized religious group has emerged. And guess what: It
actually supports Christian values.
[snip]
“I understand that the truth can be spoken by Muslims, and the truth can
be spoken by Jews. The truth can be spoken by atheists,” said Simpson.
“And listen: An atheist who stands for the interests of the neighbor, an
atheist who stands for the interests of poor people at the margins, for
the oppressed, is worth more than a hundred Christians who have made
their bed with the fat cats, because that atheist is actually
articulating the ends of the kingdom of God.”
[snip]
http://tinyurl.com/dluxk
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=9905
A new, well-organized religious group has emerged. And guess what: It
actually supports Christian values.
By Rob Garver
Web Exclusive: 06.24.05
Print Friendly | Email Article
Deep in the heart of the reddest county in a red state, a new
grass-roots movement is taking shape that means to break the religious
right’s hold on the rhetoric of Christianity by developing a network
of activists on the “Christian left” that can be mobilized to support
progressive causes.
Founded by Jacksonville, Florida, businessman Patrick Mrotek, the
Christian Alliance for Progress (CAP) says its purpose is the
“reclaim” the Christian faith from the extreme religious right.
The Reverend Timothy F. Simpson, a Presbyterian minister and the
group’s director of religious affairs, said in an interview Wednesday
that the Christian left has for too long allowed the Christian right
to be the public face of his religion in America. “The language of our
faith has been placed in the service of policy ends that don’t reflect
the Gospel, and we have become deeply troubled over that,” he said.
The Christian right, he says, in the persons of Pat Robertson, Jerry
Falwell, and James Dobson, has come to stand for bigotry, intolerance,
and division. Simpson says that his organization will try to repair
the damage done by the right’s insistence that the United States is a
“Christian nation” that ought to be governed according to their narrow
interpretation of Scripture.
“I understand that the truth can be spoken by Muslims, and the truth
can be spoken by Jews. The truth can be spoken by atheists,” said
Simpson. “And listen: An atheist who stands for the interests of the
neighbor, an atheist who stands for the interests of poor people at
the margins, for the oppressed, is worth more than a hundred
Christians who have made their bed with the fat cats, because that
atheist is actually articulating the ends of the kingdom of God.”
CAP was officially launched Wednesday, at a press conference in
Washington, D.C., and on Thursday, its leaders returned to
Jacksonville to hold a second launch event, this one in front of
Jacksonville’s First Baptist Church.
The choice of the location is significant because the pastor of First
Baptist is Jerry Vines, former president of the Southern Baptist
Convention, who made headlines at the group’s annual meeting in 2002
by denigrating Islam and referring to its founder, Mohammed, as “a
demon-possessed pedophile.”
“We will hold a press conference outside of the First Baptist Church
to say while we recognize you as brothers and sisters in Christ, we
see things very differently in terms of what the Bible is calling us
to do in the public sphere, and we believe that you all -- through
your affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention, which has
become almost a wholly owned subsidiary of the Republican Party --
have abandoned the values of our founder, Jesus Christ,” Simpson said.
CAP launched its Web site last month, and, with no advertising, has
already attracted thousands of signatories to its “Jacksonville
Declaration,” a statement of principles that, among other things,
explicitly disavows the politics of the religious right:
“We must tell you now that you do not speak for us, or for our
politics. We say ‘No’ to the ways you are using the name and language
of Christianity to advance what we see as extremist political goals.
We do not support your agenda to erode the separation of church and
state, to blur the vital distinction between your interpretation of
Christianity and our shared democratic institutions. Moreover, we do
not accept what seems to be your understanding of Christian values. We
reject a Christianity co-opted by any government and used as a tool to
ostracize, to subjugate, or to condone bigotry, greed and injustice.”
Simpson says that the group has also recruited community organizers in
20 cities across the country -- people who, like the groups founders,
don’t recognize their religion in the rhetoric of the Christian right.
“I’m a minister,” he said. “We go to church. We are fully plugged into
the life of our community. We are the Sunday-school teachers. We take
up the offering. We watch the nursery. We fix the church suppers. That
is our life, too, but we understand that the Gospel is calling us to
do very different things than just hobnob with the wealthy and lay
down moral cover fire for the invasion of Iraq.”
But Simpson said the group would attempt to emulate the religious
right in at least one respect: organization.
“What we would like to do is to have the capacity to do, in many ways,
what folks on the right have so masterfully done for the last
quarter-century. That is to mobilize a field force -- boots on the
ground -- of people that will respond to issues, that will make their
voice heard from the perspective of the Christian left,” he said.
CAP’s core principles include commitments to economic justice,
environmental stewardship, equality for homosexuals, effective
prevention -- but not criminalization -- of abortion, peaceful
solutions to international disputes, and universal health care for all
Americans.
Simpson also railed against what he characterized as a small minority
in the Democratic Party who believe that religious rhetoric has no
place in the politics of a secular government.
“One of the great problems of the Democratic Party,” he said, “is that
the 5 percent or so [of its members] who don’t want any religious
rhetoric at all, and who do not represent the mainstream of American
political or religious life, have been allowed to call the cadence in
the [party]. And when that happens, Democrats get their butts kicked.
Because people in this country are believers.”
For Republicans and Democrats, he said, openness to religion “is
clearly the winning strategy in this, the most religious of the
Western industrial democracies. You just cannot ask people to check
their faith at the door of the public-policy arena and expect to
resonate with any significant segment of the electorate, because
that’s not where people are. And folks on the left have just got to
deal with that.”
Simpson characterized Democrats who are opposed to the injection of
religion into politics as “extremists,” saying that he can call for
more religion to influence politics while still advocating a clear
separation between church and state.
“What we think the extremists in the Democratic Party fear, and
rightly so, is a Christian takeover,” he said. “We’re trying to
emulate the style of [the Reverend Martin Luther] King, which is more
to speak to the government than to become the government -- which is
what the folks on the right are doing.
“What we want to do is tell that fringe movement that you can talk
about your faith without wanting your faith to become the exclusive
faith of the nation.”
Rob Garver is a freelance journalist living in Springfield, Virginia.
Copyright © 2005 by The American Prospect, Inc. Preferred Citation:
Rob Garver, "Leftward Christian Soldiers", The American Prospect
Online, Jun 24, 2005.
--
Contempt of Congress meter reading-offscale.
Hello, theocracy with a fundamentalist US Supreme
Court who will ensure church and state are joined
at the hip like clergy and altar boys.
America 1776-Jan 2001 RIP
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)
Religion is the original war crime.
-Michelle Malkin (Feb 26, 2005)
.
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