Glancing through the Christian Terrorist Thread I think people are missing the point of what happened. I was watching the Rachel Maddow show last night, she had a guest, Frank Schaeffer who was one of the people in the seventies who helped start the religious right movement and the anti abortion movement. here's his wiki page, you can read about his life and his father who he was led by in the seventies. Basically, they were talking about the anti abortion sites that fuel this behavior, and they are hoping for something like this, but they know how to stradle the line without a) being responsible and b) maintain their right to even call for murder and be protected by free speech. (this was an interesting sidebar to the discussion, you can call for someone's murder and this is protected.) This guy was in the middle of the movement in the beginning, and he knows exactly how it works. Then he went off on another interesting tangent, he says the same thing is happening with Obama. Now obviously, no one is stupid enough to call for the murder of the president on the internet. But he said that these people calling him dangerous, or a communist, or linking him to Hitler (the same rhetoric about abortion doctors) is fueling hatred in the same way. He went on to say they do it purposely. I felt this way during the tea party spectacles but I avoided the topic in this forum. I don't think there is a conicidence that the tea parties were associated with some white supremacists groups and I think they know they are trying to tap into an underlying hatred of Obama. I didn't want to get into that coversation because these people have the right to organize but I definitely think that element is there because of some of the rhetoric. Its over the top.
Christians have one command from Jesus on all these issues: "Love your enemies" Love- like pray for them, bless them and forgive.
So many people like to throw around the term "Christian Nation" as a reference to the U.S. If we are a Christian nation, we definitely don't follow that code.
C'mon, we love people around the world so much that we regularly send megatons and megatons of presents to them.
The right and especially religious right are extremely dangerous. If your not with every word they preach they'll cut your throat. As soon as I run into one of these nut jobs I have no choice but to walk away, never to talk to them again. The are so blinded that they become unreasonable and you can't even hold a simple conversation with them. Just look at some of the post around here, you know who they are. They start to preach the bible, slander others and condone killing in the name of god. It burns deep down in their soul that we elected a Black man as President and I fear want another nut job will do given the opportunity. It's sad but it's true.
First a correction, the tea parties were not put together by supremacist groups. The people I met at the tea party in Houston were hard working Americans who are concerned with the direction the country has gone and blatant disregard for the constituion since the FDR "raw deal". Second a redirection, most of the rhetoric I hear comes from the liberal statists on the left. News sources like CNN and MSNBC constantly like to throw out hate speech and try to charactorize anyone who opposes their views.
Right wing conservatives, and folks like the christian coalition, and even some of the folks here have had a major impact in pushing me away from the right. These groups...I feel like they are more than tolerated by too many republicans...i feel that they are embraced by some - and this really disturbs me. That you don't see Basso, TJ, and Big-texx - the three most vocal conservatives on this forum denounce them says a lot to me.
first a correction, i never said that, I said some of these groups associated with the tea parites. this is fact secondly, i dare you to find a liberal group calling for the death of doctors?
I don't think there is a group, of any religious or political basis that called for the death of Dr. Tiller. from everything I have read on the interwebz, Mr. Groeder was a mentally unstable individual, acting on his own.
i never said he wasn't acting on his own. I said there was dangerous rhetoric put on Tiller. Maddow covered this pretty well, i don't think you're searching the webz hard enough
You are being hypocritical here. Racism and religious conservatives are not necessarily the same people. This kind of rhetoric creates a body of people who you may not agree with against whom hatred is justified. Kind of defeating the purpose of the thread.
That's right they are Not Necessarily the same people. But more often than not the guys that bomb Planned Parenthood centers, picket women that are visiting these centers are not from the center-Left. They are from the Extreme-Right. Racism happens in every group black, white, Hispanic and many nations of the world, but killing in the name of "God" has killed more people in this world than any other kind of deaths. In America, this again comes not from the center-left, or the non believing, but from the Religious Extreme-right. Again, the idea of a Black President burns the gut of these people and I do fear what they would do given the opportunity. This is not a result of bad people as I feel people as a whole are good. This comes from a lack of education and ignorance. Poor guys I truly feel sorry for them.
Thank you. The tea party participants ranged across the spectrum. There were anti-drug law advocates, business owners, the married with children set, rich, poor, minorities (but not nearly enough) -- so many types of people you can't catalog them except normal Americans. There very little overt Obama hate, but there was extensive displeasure with his policies -- particularly in regard to spending. The tea party network with whom I am in contact are rational people with a wide range of viewpoints. Sadly, it's more diversified, more cordial and more receptive to differing views than this board, which is why I have not been here as much. I know, I know. Good riddance to bad rubbish. BTW, and this is off topic, but can we stop saying right wing conservatives or left wing liberals? Are there any right wing liberals or left wing conservatives? Those terms ignore the fact that the American norm is center right or center left.
Certainly not. If your no-doubt idealized view of the participants is accurate, in any way, shape, or form - these "teabaggers" are enormous hypocrites.
Sit back and take a breath. There is no hypocrisy in disagreeing with a president over policy. I believe you had some disagreements with Bush in this regard, and in other thread you express displeasure with Obama over his wiretapping policy.
The problem with the religious right is that they tend to blast people, or criticize people for not living to the moral standard they are living in, and the Bible states that Jesus is no fan of the self righteousness.
Bravo. Anytime one takes a "holier than thou" attitude, especially in religion but even in politics, that person is running headlong toward a steep cliff.
