Why Fundamentalist Christianity Hates Democracy

[appalachiablue]

- Daily Kos, Feb. 20, 2022. Ed.

The reasons go all the way back to theology. In the theology of fundamentalist Christianity, God is a person who sits in heaven. Not necessarily an old, white man with a beard, but close enough. And just as God rules heaven, nations should be ruled by a monarch to whom God has given authority. Thus, bishops & cardinals coronated European kings in the Middle Ages, symbolizing kings received their authority from God. Thus, the “Divine Right of Kings” dogma. And just as there is no disagreement in heaven about right & wrong, on Earth right & wrong should be clearly spelled out by the dominate religion & enforced by the State. And if the king’s authority comes from God, then there’s little need to worry about what the common folk think or want, as long as the king satisfies them enough to prevent rebellion.

There’s no need for elections. Maybe the rich and powerful lords are given a say in government. But certainly not the common people.

About the time of the Quakers and the Unitarian/Universalist, a new idea of God appeared. The fundamentalist’s idea of God who transcends the universe, who sits above in heaven, began to compete with the idea of God as immanent, i.e., within, (not imminent - soon). Thus, we have the basic Quaker teaching of “That of God in Every Man,” where “Man” is taken as humanity, not just men. The new vision of God has political consequences. First, different people will experience the immanent, the God within, in their own way. So, State should support freedom of religion; there should be a separation of Church & State. Thus, rigid, fundamentalist’s black & white morality is replaced with a more empirical idea of morality. Something is immoral if it injures; what 2 consenting adults do in the privacy of their home is not the State’s business.

Fundamentalists, of course, hate the idea of the separation of Church and State, and insist (in spite of contrary evidence) that the U.S. is a Christian nation.

Well, if a “Christian” nation can enslave Blacks and, in many instances, exterminate Native Americans, then what does that say about Christianity? Nothing, as long as public schools are forbidden to teach that history.

The two visions of God lead to two very different sexuality moralities. The fundamentalist believes a God who is an actual person living in heaven can see all. Thus, we can do “this” because, well, God wants humanity to continue, but we mustn’t do “that” or “that” or “that” because God is watching us. If there’s something we would be embarrassed to do in front of our parents (aside from “this” which allows humanity to continue), then we certainly shouldn’t do it before God. And, we should do “this” in an approved way (missionary position) &, ideally, only for procreation. Of course, God may wink at us doing “this” for other reasons, but we should take too much pleasure in the act. Conception frustrates the purpose of “this,” so it should be banned. God may wink at a “this” done for mere pleasure as long as we do it at our own risk; if conception occurs, we pay the consequences of our pleasure-seeking.

The immanent view of God leads to a different sexuality morality. If the God within says it’s OK, then it’s OK, as long as it doesn’t hurt another person. If it hurts someone, then it’s not God, but our own lust saying it’s OK when it really isn’t because it disrespects the God within the injured person. The immanent view of sexuality morality pisses off fundamentalists to no end. - H.L. Mencken, "Puritanism as “the haunting fear that someone, somewhere is having a good time.” Much the same may be said of fundamentalists today. They say some writings are the very Word of God. “In the beginning, God created the Heavens & the Earth” means exactly what is says. But science says the Earth came into existence a few billion years after the Big Bang. So, science must be wrong. Well-financed fundamentalists groups (ex., The Creation Institute) try time & time again to “prove” that the Earth is only about 10,000 years old. They are popular and rake in loads of money from believers.

And science teaches evolution, which contradicts the Bible’s story with the talking serpent. So, science must be belittled and ignored. ..

- More + 408 Comments,
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/2/20/2081292/-Why-Fundamentalist-Christianity-Hates-Democracy
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- Select Comments, Ed.:

-- Since the fundies don’t believe in evolution, it’s quite easy for them to believe that the virus was created in a bio-weapons lab in China. Likewise, the rejection of evolution means they can’t understand the concept of variants.
-- But don’t bio-weapons labs practice SCIENCE? I’m confused. Part of the problem with the under-educated may be semantics. My ex-husband (a dairy farmer) was an artificial-insemination tech, & helped our neighbors breed their cattle. He said you could explain to them why you should use one bull over another; you could talk about natural selection until the cows came home & they wouldn’t bat an eyelash. But use the word “evolution,” & they’d shut right down. They form opinions according to buzzwords, not really understanding the concepts behind them.
-- www.rawstory.com/… - titled: Here's the strange truth about the pro-slavery origins of Christian nationalism in the United States.
-- Scientists are free to do all of the science they want as long as it produces results useful to the God-anointed ruler. And as long as the theory behind that science is kept secret or lied about...

[SWBTATTReg]

1. These so-called fundies (I like this word/adjective) aren't Christian nor even stand for the

concept of what most people in the real world consider the behavior of a 'Christian'.

They endlessly prance on conversation-wise to try and justify their behavior in supporting someone like tRump, like a lot of like-minded tRump supporters in the GOP do.

And these same people wonder why their congregations are dropping in numbers? Ha ha heh. They read the same newspapers and written opinions that we all do, but the critical difference between them and us normal people is that one group actually does open their minds, listen to the facts presented in one argument, etc. (kind of like a legal system, listening to both sides of the evidence) and actually base their decisions on a factual basis whereas the other side (the fundies) don't.

And what's even more pathetic about these so called 'Christians', in order to make themselves relevant in any conversation will claim that so called issue 1 (they randomly picked this issue, no one else did) and will claim 'oh, evil doers are doing this (issue 1) to attack us, etc.', when nothing of the sort is happening. So, they act like tRump in a way, in picking their own topics, and lying as usual, will hype up crap literally for the hell of hyping up crap, in order to be in the conversation. Won't work. People see immediately through these lies, hyped up crap, numbers are still dropping like dead flies in both the number of church attendees and tRump supporters.

Now I don't mock them, or anything like that. They absolutely do have the right to believe in what they want to believe in.

BUT when they try to make rules for the vast MAJORITY of us to follow, they absolutely do NOT have that right. As a matter of fact, they are intruding into our sacred constitutional right to free speech, and all that comes forth from those sacred words of the Constitution. Fortunately, we have far more numbers on our side, far more legal opinions on our side (and really, justice pertains to all sides), so in essence, what f**king planet do these people and tRump come from, the planet of misfit lies or the planet of misplaced truth?