The politicization of Christianity

iluvatar5150 said:

On what basis do you believe the reduction was necessary? I've yet to see a well-reasoned argument for this.

The religious aspect is our Christian command to help to poor and the victimized. I focused on the refugee resettlements because Christians are very clearly commanded to help these populations and it's clearly a policy in which the Trump administration catered to certain nativist elements of the right while other elements of the right essentially turned a blind eye.



I expect you to look inward and perform some self-examination to see if the allegations are accurate. If they're accurate, I expect you to repent and change course. If they're not accurate, then I expect a well-reasoned response, articulating why you think it's prudent to accept fewer refugees (or zero, as seemed to be the ultimate goal), and whatever data you have to support your argument.



I haven't accused you of being "too involved in politics." That's a strawman driven by what I have to assume is your failure to accurately understand my argument.



I think you meant "hypocritical."



If you want to talk about credibility, try understanding my position first, instead of tearing down this simple-minded straw man you've constructed.

I don't accuse you of being a crappy Christian because you support the Republican platform. I accuse people of being crappy Christians for wrapping up their identities in the Republican party, for conflating Republican policy positions with Christian doctrine, for fear mongering and lying about their political opponents, for propagating myriad conspiracy theories, for describing their political opponents as demonic, and for whitewashing and presenting as appropriate obviously sinful or unChristian behavior from their political allies.

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Thomas White said:

May I qoute parts of this on other sites?

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RDKirk said:

I'm not making that argument.

In fact, all my remarks in this thread have been that Democrats are not trying to be "better Christians."

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Hazelelponi said:

Yet oddly, that's the claim of so many democrats.

When I voted for Trump it wasn't because of my faith, it was about having someone in office that would potentially forward positive conservative policies, not specifically Christian policies. Though my faith does serve to inform my politics, for example, the fact that I'm amillenial and not someone holding to a theonomic postmillenial eschatological position, which serves to make dominiomism/reconstructionism more than a little unpalatable to me... so on and so forth... but that's all my faith does; inform.

And while the GOP talks a good game, they don't, in my estimation walk the walk I believe to be actually conservative lately, although they are the best conservative game in town. However, in conservatism we share many of the same values.

Likewise, I think social justice theories as upheld by the purveyors of said theories has nothing to do with God's justice, and indeed are antithetical to the justice of God, so I can't as a Christian support said policies in governance, which democratic policies now do. (I do however, uphold God's justice, and policies which more closely align with this type of justice in our society.)

So does my faith have a tendency to inform my politics? Yes... to the best of my ability I try to vote as closely as I am able within my beliefs... but is my politics 100% about my faith? No... in the end I would be apolitical if my voting patterns had to perfectly align with all my beliefs - because my true citizenship is not here.

I can understand that dems aren't voting with some belief that the party is the perfect expression of their faith, but most claim that they are, in fact, the "better" Christians, all while attacking conservatives for their political positions.

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rjs330 said:

Yet they claim to be.

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RDKirk said:

I do not find that mentioned on the Democratic platform, or any Democratic statement of agenda, or by any Democratic political candidate...unlike the case with Republicans.

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rjs330 said:

Yes you make my point. You are hypocritical for doing the exact things you accuse others of. I believe there is a scripture for that.

And leftist Christians have been doing that for sometime. And you are a willing participant in the hypocrisy.

The OP was about conservative Christians being too involved in politics. Cause our conservative ideas are not Christian enough. And you just admitted you believe your superior because your political ideas are more Christian.

I believe the Bible cause that being pharisaical. Jesus called them hypocrites.

I think the self examination begins with you.

You see I have no problem with having a discussion about things like helping refugees and how much we should be doing.


Only if you agree with hypocritical thoughts.

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Hazelelponi said:

I was formerly married to a "potential" terrorist (only potential because he was removed from this country and barred from reentry), I actually know what's in this world more than most. That's not fear, that's knowledge of what exists in actually and have realistic expectations... I trust God. But I love my neighbor enough to make sure they are safe and get to live in ignorance of the things I've had to face head on.

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Hazelelponi said:

[please note the sarcastic tone here, since recently I've found out from talking heads that I'm supposedly as terrifying as Al-Qaeda, and should be treated as such, and people have zero idea how offensive that is, or they do, and just don't care]

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Hazelelponi said:

Slamming borders open does no one any favors, and your looking at infuxes the sizes of countries, not just a few random people coming in

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9Rock9 said:

Many pro-life voters are single issue voters, and will throw their support behind any pro-life candidate they think has a chance of overturning Roe v. Wade.

Yes, Trump is not Christian and amoral, but the party is opposed to abortion, and has done things pro-lifers like such as nominating pro-life justices onto the Supreme Court and many state level Republican parties have introduced pro-life legislation that would go into affect if Roe v. Wade is overturned.

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Andrewn said:

It seems that Fundamentalists are not pro-life but rather pro-birth. After babies are born, they don't seem to care about them (posts #69 & 70).

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9Rock9 said:

It depends. Conservatives would maintain that they do care and that liberal policies actually make things worse, as it encourages women in poverty to pop out more kids so she can get more benefits, and thus more kids born into poverty.

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Andrewn said:

In posts #69 & 70, I had in mind the issues of foreign aid and illegal immigrants. You raise another important and complicated issue (all these issues are complicated).

I see that many young mothers may choose to stay on welfare rather than get legally married. My opinion is that those mothers should be in some sort of programs, which help them find employment and observe their behavior and spending patterns. IMO, they should lose the freedom to continue their pattern of behavior (I hope this statement will not be misunderstood). Circles programs are excellent examples;

Home - Circles Canada

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9Rock9 said:

Paleocons and the Trump movement are more likely to be opposed to those things. Most conservatives accept that immigration is good, they just think it should be done legally, and it's important we know who we let into our country.

The opposition to foreign aid is probably due to the pushback to the Iraq War, and many Americans are tired of the country being involved in foreign affairs.

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