My understanding of my faith is that you come to Christianity striving to live up to Gods expectations, but ultimately failing. I think many Christians realize they’ll never live up to that standard, but most seem to fail to realize that tbey are supposed to make the effort. Love your neighbor and loving God are the two most important commandments but those can be really tough.
Also, being Christian should be about challenging the status que when it comes to the needs of others. Christ was pretty much a rebel with a cause, and people forget that, happy with their life and congregation and not wanting to leave their comfort zone.
Can any of you recommend some twitter feeds for this election cycle? Preferably left leaning that follow even the Republican debates? Thanks
I like @MattBruenig. He loves him some trolling, though, so if you’re looking for more of a straight news/analysis he’s not a great choice.
The pope, someone who is loved pretty much entirely because he did not actively support the cover up of child rape like his predecessor, not supporting a presidential candidate is a positive for me. There is way too much religion in USA politics. The president of the USA should not look to the leader of any religion for orders.
CraigM
5366
@jbouie does debate breakdowns well, and in fact has been at several in person (both R and D).
Thanks, both suggestions added, and both look better than what I had previously.
I haven’t found audio of the Pope’s comment about Trump, and even if I found it, I’m not sure I would understand it, but I have to wonder if the said that “Trump is not A Christian” or “Trump is not christian.” Two very different meanings there, and I would suspect one is much more accurate than the other.
HumanTon
5369
As usual the media is intentionally missing the forest for the trees that make better headlines. The comment was a universal statement about a mindset:
Speaking aboard his papal plane after visiting Mexico, the pope was asked specifically about Trump’s proposal. “A person who only thinks about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian,” he said, according to reporters who were on the plane with the pontiff.
The pope stressed that he was not suggesting whom American voters should support in the election: “I am not going to get involved in that. I would only say that this man is not Christian if he has said things like that.”
POPE SAYS PREJUDICE IS NOT CHRISTIAN doesn’t get clicks, so we get POPE SLAMS TRUMP instead.
Perhaps the full quote is “Trump is not Christian Bale” and that last part was cut off. Or some other Christian that we all admire.
CraigM
5371
HumanTon, thanks for putting that up. I was about to come do it too.
They actually had the full audio clip (translated) on the radio this morning, but naturally the reason the story took hold is that Trump fired back at the (perceived) attack.
The Pope is certainly accurate, as far as theology goes at least. Christianity is the faith of the poor, and the oppressed. It’s a faith that centered around pacifism, and charity. The idea that you would build a wall to stop the downtrodden, it isn’t particularly Christian.
I suppose that’s one of my quibbles with Christianity. It’s not a very muscular faith.
ShivaX
5373
Which is a fair quibble in many regards.
The idea that if someone is trying to rob you, you should give them more doesn’t exactly resonate with many people.
You’re just hanging with the wrong Christians.
Which is ok. Last I heard nobody is forced to be Christian…
The most religious person I’ve ever met (and some others, but this guy gets is something special. A very, very close friend) basically says that it’s impossible to be conservative and Catholic (or more specifically, to support establishment and/or be well off). Obviously he also thinks some prominent Church leadership memebers are not exactly real Catholics… This is the most giving person I’ve ever met, somebody who truly lives to give others as much as he can. I would actually consider that much, much more muscular than actually fighting for you won stuff (which it’s easier to do, given human nature and all that)…
The idea that being truthful to a faith (any faith) should be easy is really not something I understand. You have new-age spiritualism for that.
So yeah, basically I think the Poipe has every righ to comment on stuff like this :P.
I think that’s true. Conservatives generally favor something that looks like Nietzsche’s noble morality.
I read a Latin text that derided Christianity as the faith of women, children, and slaves. The author was an aristocrat and he found Christian values eyebrow raising. It was the faith of the weak, and he saw little value in celebrating that weakness. His description stuck with me because I think it still captures the central appeal of Christianity. At its core, the faith speaks to the dispossessed.
You and Nietzsche both. He took the “women, children, and slaves” line and ran with it.
I’m not keen on a faith that asks people to suffer and turn the other cheek. And I would agree with his concerns about ressentiment.
There are things I like about Christianity though.
Miramon
5379
This may be true (well, more like they favor Ayn Rand’s depraved morality), but you won’t get one conservative in a hundred to admit it. Not in America, anyway. Of course the majority of conservatives identify strongly as Christian and a substantial percentage claim to be evangelical. Well maybe they are evangelical, it’s just that the religion they evangelize doesn’t have the love, charity and scourging the moneylenders bits you’d expect.
Christianity has always struggled to reconcile traditional (pre-Christian) values with Christian theology. You see the same problem with Islam, where Islam is often just a veneer over otherwise pagan norms. This is especially true in places like Afghanistan.
In both cases, the faithful often have a dim sense of their own heresy.
Well maybe they are evangelical, it’s just that the religion they evangelize doesn’t have the love, charity and scourging the moneylenders bits you’d expect.
Bernie Sanders is probably a better Christian (I know) than most Christians.
Alstein
5381
I remember my conservative high school teachers trying to get me heavily into Nietzsche and Malthusian theory. The fact I associated that with mainstream Christianity were I was at fueled much of my anti-religious sentiment.
