The religious right reads the bible, they just pick and choose the parts they want to believe. It has become clear to me that the religious right is just a cover for corporations (who are now apparently people too). Corporations and the uber rich do not care about Jesus or the bible, but they've found that preaching hate and intolerance in the name of Jesus makes it more palatable for the average American who goes to church every week. It's brilliant really, in it's simplicity and power! Take your agenda....say homosexuality....pick and choose bible verses and use them out of context, or even change them a little to suit your purposes (surely God won't mind....He probably MEANT to say that anyway)...make donations to mega churches and Christian leaders to promote your agenda....confirm that any person not obeying the word of God (your words and agenda) is a sinner and will certainly burn in hell...make headlines...now local pastors jump on the bandwagon using the headlines to make their sermons more relevant....surely God is speaking to the world, but the world has chosen sin; as they point to biblical prophecy about the end times to bolster their sermon with fear. Now the average church goer who looks to the church for guidance in their opinions and their lives receive this message with a fervent delivery and accept it as the word of God. No debate. And voila: church people are suddenly tied into the rabid right's agenda...they are so busy being holier than thou and prideful that God has spoken to THEM, they don't see anything else that is going on in the world. Now they can explain away our dying earth, dissatisfied young people, wars, famines, plagues, pollution, tsunamis, and a plethora of man made disasters with a biblical prophecy...nothing we can do about it...it's been written...(how's your soul brother, do you know where you'll be spending eternity?)! Following this same vein of thought, the churches can evangelize without affecting change in the community...because Jesus said there would be poor always...and they have obviously disappointed God or they would be affluent... Next thing you know we have allowed corporations to become our god; now they can preach politics, womens rights, homosexual sin, the evil of other religions, the blasphemy of the Christian Left.... That's why I no longer go to church or associate with any organized religion...I'm no longer a sheep to be led around and molded in their image! I AM a follower of THE WAY, which Jesus taught and lived while he was here on earth. Peace, love, kindness, communication, humility, generosity, concern with one another and future generations, being good stewards of our planet... And just for the record, Jesus loved everyone and God created us each to be exactly who we are (gay, bi, trans, and everything in between); He's also unconcerned with other social issues like abortion, the war on womens reproductive rights, welfare, food stamps, and Obamacare! He doesn't want this country run on the bible, but on the constitution that He inspired the founding fathers to write as groundwork for our new nation. People do a lot of terrible things In the name of God and believe they're right....but in the end, ya just gotta ask this one question to know what's right: WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?
= new reply since forum marked as read