Someone has to just say it. "Evangelists" are assholes.

[mike1963]

It really is just that simple. And I have moved from disagreement to outright warfare against these goddamn bastards.
:grr:

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. My husband calls them

"Hypochristians", as they say they are Christian but often act in a very non-Christian manner.

[Sparkly]

3. Mine calls them

"horizontal pray-ers" -- people who pray for the sake of how it looks to others around them, rather than "vertical pray-ers" who keep it between themselves and God (or Whoever).

[unblock]

5. i call them "proclaimers"

because they're mostly interested in making sure everybody around them knows that they're christians, and specifically by proclaiming christianity, rather than by exhibiting christianity.

[camero]

9. I call them Pharisees

for all the reasons stated in the aformentioned posts.

[Beware the Beast Man]

21. Awesome call!

Time to start flipping over tables!

[camero]

24. It's been way past time for that

Those suckers have hi-jacked all three of the Abrahamic Religions.

[meow2u3]

6. My motto for fundie pseudo-Christians

Let us prey!

[Bluebear]

14. I like "Talibornagains" (n/t)

[SouthernDaisy]

17. They're 'Taliban-Christians.' nt

~

[unblock]

2. huey lewis, of all people, said it best:

I met a fan dancer down in southside Birmingham

She was running from a fat man

Selling salvation in his hand.
Now he's trying to save me

Well
I'm doing all right the best that I can.
Just another falling angel trying to get through the night.

Step by step
one by one
higher and higher

Step by step
rung by rung
climbing Jacob's ladder.

Coming over the airwaves the man says
I'm overdue

Sing along
send some money
join the chosen few.
Well
mister
I'm not in a hurry
And I don't want to be like you

And all I want from tomorrow is to get it better than today.

Step by step
one by one
higher and higher
. . .

All I want from tomorrow is to get it better than today.
Step by step
one by one
higher and higher

Step by step
rung by rung
climbing and climbing

Step by step
one by one
step by step
rung by rung

Step by step
step by step
step by step.

[Cyrano]

4. Yeah, but...

I have days like that. But, do we really want another civil war?

Back off just a bit. Yes, they're infuriating. But no matter how much noise they make, and no matter how much backing they get from the retard in the White House, they're still not the majority in America. They just have a bigger megaphone at this time.

If Kerry wins, they will be relegated to being just another pain in the fringe. If Bush wins, well, maybe there will be another civil war.

ANYBODY BUT BUSH 2004 -- TO SAVE THE COUNTRY!

[mike1963]

7. I don't imagine anybody wants a civil war, but if it comes to that,

I'm well equipped & locked and loaded.

And I realize how provocative that is, but it's the truth. I will shoot to kill anyone coming around here to eliminate my Constitutional rights.

[NJCher]

8. and remember....

MoveOn.org now has more members than did the Christian Coalition at its height.


Cher

[leesa]

12. No. They are too powerful. Real Christians and those of us who

care about things like freedom, justice and morality need to push them back into their snake pits.

[Arianrhod]

33. I disagree.

Their megaphone is not a recent acquisition; they bought it in the 19th Century, and have been broadcasting through it ever since, in greater and greater volume. It is due to them that we have "one nation, under God" in the Pledge; that we have "In God We Trust" on our money; that we have Creationism in the schools; that we had Jim Jones and David Koresh as martyrs; that we had the impeachment of Clinton; that we have * in the WH.

The attitude that "they are just a minority" is doubly wrong: They are not "just" anything, but rather have an enormous amount of power and money, and are dictating terms to the Republican Party. And they are not a minority, but actually make up the greatest portion of Christian sects in the country. In terms of overall world population, yes, they are a small group; but in America, they are running the show.

Make no mistake about that.

[Classical_Liberal]

35. They are not the majority of christians in this country

by any stretch. Just more polically organized than other christians.

[Arianrhod]

45. Sorry, but I disagree.

I don’t know where you’re getting your statistics from, but here are a few to consider:

An interesting study from the 1980s on what percentage of various denominations could be said to adhere to the Fundamentalist agenda:
http://www.adherents.com/largecom/prot_classify.html

Assemblies of God: 2.5 million. Largest Pentecostal denomination in the world, with 32 million adherents.
http://www.ag.org/top/about/statistics.cfm
http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_aog.html

Several million Mormons:
http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_lds.html

About a million Seventh-Day Adventists:
http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_sda.html

Approximately 10 million Southern Baptists:
http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_bap.html

These are just the big ones, the well-known ones. There are many others that could be included, if one goes strictly by political agenda--such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and Calvary Chapel.

In 1994, the Christian Coalition handed out 33 million “voter guides” to congregations across the country. As a result, the Republicans took Congress. (The CC was later investigated by the IRS, and forced to pay a measly fine for violation of election laws.)

IMO, to state categorically that evangelicals/fundamentalists do not “by any stretch” constitute a majority is, quite simply, to exaggerate.

[Classical_Liberal]

48. none of that says anything about percentages

If you live in the South most likely most church going christians are fundamentalist. If you live in the north most aren't. Overall they are about 1/3 the population, at least according to my cultural geography class.

[LeahMira]

49. Defiitely regional differences...

If you live in the South most likely most church going christians are fundamentalist. If you live in the north most aren't. Overall they are about 1/3 the population, at least according to my cultural geography class.

The fundamentalism extends to many rural areas in the midwest as well.

Your cultural geography class may be about right as to their percent of the population, but ask your instructor... I think a Pentecostal, for instance, in the south probably has somewhat different opinions and attitudes on various subjects than a Pentecostal in the north, or in the west, and the ranking of importance they give to issues is probably different also.

The Pew Foundation has collected information about this and so has a group in Akron.

[Pepperbelly]

10. Larry Flynt was DECADES ahead of you: Jerry Falwell, Asshole of month ...

permanently.

Go, Larry, go!

[mike1963]

11. Heh, well, with all due respect, I'm as old as jerry Foulball and been

watching that sumbitch for a -very- long time........
:evilgrin:

[maggrwaggr]

13. It's really a form of fascism.

And its followers aren't even aware that they're fascists, that's what's so weird.

But they are the most fascistic Americans I know. Here's what I wrote last night in another post (sorry if it's a re-run for anybody):


They believe in an idealized past that never really existed, of racial purity (in her case, a small-town disneyland-like America) where there were no blacks, no gays, and the like.

They believe in authority figures who tell them what to do and how to live their lives and give them what are literally marching orders (Bush, James Dobson, Ralph Reed, Jerry Falwell, and of course .... the Bible (the passages they want anyway)).

They even have their own music that they love playing and that they buy.

They blame all the troubles of the world on groups that they hate. In Nazi Germany it was Jews of course, and for these American fascists it's "liberals", homosexuals, the "liberal media" etc.
If you argue with them about any of their beliefs, they shrink and hide behind the bible, and they say "this is the only law that I know".

oh, and right now they really really hate Muslims and they think Islam is an evil religion and they think Islam tells all muslims to kill everybody.

Oh, and of course they think they're truly good people. In fact, they believe they're the ONLY truly good people.

Given any power, they are dangerous motherfuckers.

[Hubert Flottz]

15. Amen!

By Gawd!

[Snoggera]

16. Addendum

Evangelists are assholes that search for only other assholes. They have no interest in any other body parts. Only assholes.

[leftistagitator]

18. The Fundamentalists bug me

But the evangelicals can be OK sometimes. Jimmy Carter was an Evangelist, I believe. They're just trying to spread what they think is the word of God, but they aren't hateful about it like their fundamentalists brethren. I try to spread the word of liberalism, so I can't get too angry about it.

[LoZoccolo]

19. 39% of evangelical Christians are Democrats...

:boring:

(I don't think we'll ever have a shortage of these "two minutes hate" threads.)

[bigbillhaywood]

28. And I'd be willing to bet that 95% of those are Black or Latino

evangelicals. Maybe the author of the post should just be more specific: "WHITE Evangelicals are total assholes, there are also non-White evangelicals who may or may not be assholes of varying degrees"

[LoZoccolo]

37. I don't get how any of this...

...has to do with the color of anyone's skin, why you'd make that assumption that it has anything to do with people being assholes or not.

( 22% of white evangelicals are Democrats: http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0101-03.htm )

[foreigncorrespondent]

29. So?

Just because they are dems doesn't make them immune to being assholes.

Any person that will use a book written by man to justify the discrimination of countless numbers of people are in my book, assholes, no matter what their political belief is.

[bigbillhaywood]

31. Excellent point. n/t

[foreigncorrespondent]

32. Thanks! (n/t)

[LoZoccolo]

34. And here I am thinking this message board is about political beliefs.

My bizzag.

[foreigncorrespondent]

40. Yes it is a political board...

...and guess what? The discrimination against many minorities in the world is political.

[LoZoccolo]

39. Psssst...12% of evangelicals...

...favor gay marraige: http://people-press.org/reports/display.php3?PageID=725

I think it's time people here are a little more precise in who they lower the boom on, and which groups they single out as the cause of numerous problems. It may be convenient to be sloppy in these matters, but it's still prejudice (hey, weren't we just talking about...).

[foreigncorrespondent]

41. Again So?

That is only 12%, really big numbers, huh?

On edit: Not much sleep and going through a really stressful time, so I had to fix a typo.

[NuttyFluffers]

47. he's trying to help you open your mind.

i understand where you are coming from, and i really do feel your concern, but must say there's a severe misapplication of terminology here.

not all evangelists are christian. evangelist is a category of how a religious tradition spreads itself. it just means they must share the news with people.

often in america we use the capitalized version of the word, Evangelist, to refer to a group of protestant denomination christians who choose to place evangelism/prostelization as the cornerstone of how they choose to live their faith. just like baptists choose to fixate on the sacrament of baptism.

now, there are Fundamentalist Evangelists, which is the one i think everyone is freaking out about. Fundamentalists are pretty scary people in the first people, but some are more insular than others. Evangelising Fundamentalist is the worst of both worlds. The scary people feel compeled to go forth into the world and convert it, forceably if necessary, to their ideals.

another interesting adjunct to this story is the Charismatic movement, another major subcategory of the Protestant movement (as if it'll ever end, factionalizing forever it seems). They are starting to show real rifts with the Protestants and are starting to become their own major denominational division. Charismatics (within which are 7th Day adventists, Pentecostals, Jehovah Witnesses, etc) are just trouble all over, and i *think* this might be what most people here are talking about. They believe in revivals, the power of the spoken word to bring forth reality, and group dynamics for control(hence charisma). They are fervently evangelical (prostelitizers) and fervently fundamentalist. they are also fervently insane. they invoke not the constructive forces of faith, but the destructive against any and all perceived foes. and since this will happen they *must* save as many from the coming destruction they so desire. atop this they must have fanatical levels of loyalty to the faith, for to do otherwise is to expose oneself to the evils that are ever surrounding ready to fling you into destruction. it is a frightening loop of madness. imagine the rapturously criminally insane broiling with a caustic feedback loops of conflicting emotion bathed in such selfishness and fear, mixed with self-righteousness and control issues. now imagine them preaching to create more. now imagine them getting active into politics and working like a Borg gestault of depravity to command as much control as possible. there you go. and that's who our president is in league with. whee! scared yet?!

[progressivebydesign]

20. Except for that "farting evangelist" someone found on the internet..

.. now HE was funny. Of course he was real, and someone made him a farting evangelist. I am suspicious of people who are so convinced that we all have demons inside of us... they should speak for themselves.. those twisted, tormented, greedy jerks.

[wuushew]

23. Robert Tilton

http://www.farts.com/discussions/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=000014

[LibertyorDeath]

22. That's a given where I live.....

[MikeH]

25. I Agree As Far As Fundamentalists Are Concerned

In particular I have trouble with the kind of people who push their Hitler-like God who is going to condemn people to hell for all eternity if they for whatever reason miss out on accepting Christ in this lifetime.

[QC]

26. Jimmy Carter is an asshole?

That's a new one on me.

[bigbillhaywood]

30. Kinda. But not a TOTAL asshole. Most politicians tend to be assholes,

especially those who rise to the Presidency. But compared with the others, he's probably in the bottom 10% of the asshole President scale.

[Classical_Liberal]

36. He said evangelist, which in my eyes translates to televangelist

IF you can name a televangelist that isn't a member of the religious right maybe you would have a point.

[bigbillhaywood]

27. Well, there is a difference between evangelicals and strict

fundamentalists, and I think it's unfair to generalize...ah, fuck it, they are assholes.

[dutchdemocrat]

38. Gene Scott

He's my hero.

Master brainwasher and made zillions taking the piss out of the rest of them.

The guy actually really used to crack me up... and his forays in to pyramid power broken up with screams for more money (GET ON THE PHONE) and how fucked up his staff was, was the ultimate parody of the rest of the whole lot.

Anyone ever hear his 'girlfriend' sing? Or him brag about his wine and cigar collection?

NOW GET ON THE PHONE.

LOL.

[Hekate]

42. Talibaptists is what Molly Ivins calls the far-right-fundies

I think Talibaptist or Tali-bornagain is very descriptive, kind of amusing, and gets the point across.

Calling all Evangelicals (not all of whom are far-right-fundies) a foul name is inaccurate, inflammatory, and bigoted.

However, calling all BUSHES a foul name is simply perceptive. :evilgrin:

Hekate

[DaveSZ]

43. "The Christian Taliban"

;)

I think we're mostly talking about the Jerry Falwell/Pat Robertson kind of Fundies.

[mopaul]

44. you nailed it, jesus thinks their all jerks

my brother is one of the worst, my mother second. my father is a real christian, who lives and lets live, but the other two just can't help from being assholes.

they'd get a lot more converts if they just weren't such assholes

[not systems]

46. I listened to a play based on the Stokes Monkey trial with...

William Jennings Bryant being depicted.

It was amazing how little has changed in 70 years it
did seem that the defenders of science were more outspoken then.

Now tolerance of "difference" overtakes good sense of pointing
out the rising tide of political fundamentalist authoritarianism
in this country.

http://www.kpfa.org/cgi-bin/gen-mpegurl.m3u?server=209.81.10.18&port=80&file=dummy.m3u&mount=/data/20040425-Sun1900.mp3

[Stuckinthebush]

50. Terminology

Fundamentalist Christians are likely the ones you are speaking about. These are the intolerant Christians that have no more sense than to both believe everything in the Bible is from the hand of God, and that everyone else must believe the same. These are the politically active wacko religionists.

Evangelicals can be fundamentalists, but are not necessarily fundamentalists. Evangelicals believe that it is their duty to spread the word of God. I think of this guy in Birmingham, AL who sets up at least 30 or 40 massive placards on the road near one of the local Walmarts declaring that Jesus died for you. He has a microphone and screams Hallelujah and Praise Jesus through the mic at passing motorists. He is harmless and I doubt would ever damn people to hell like the fundys do. He simply feels that he needs to spread the word.

Subtle distinction, but distinction nonetheless.

[Waverley_Hills_Hiker]

51. ...an amen to that, brother Mike1963

way too agressive for my tastes, these evangelists...

[mmonk]

52. But how could the only "saved" people in the world

be assholes? They pray for all us lessor beings everyday that we'll see the light the way they do and adopt their superior being mentality. The rest of the world just insists on being "wrong" and damned (for those evangelicals that aren't part of the more fundamentalist leaning type, I'm not including you in this critique).