Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Distributed Thoughtware: Y'all Thought I was Kidding

There's nothing more fun than being both right and wrong. Here's a story I came across whilst browsing Vox Popoli:

Andy Crouch, the executive editor of Christianity Today, criticized both candidates, writing that enthusiasm for Mr. Trump “gives our neighbors ample reason to doubt that we believe Jesus is Lord.” He added, “They see that some of us are so self-interested, and so self-protective, that we will ally ourselves with someone who violates all that is sacred to us.”
As white male evangelists, we have no problem admitting that the future does not lie with us. It lies with groups like the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, led by Gabriel Salguero, or the Moral Monday movement, led by William Barber II, who has challenged the news media on its narrow portrayal of evangelicals. For decades, we have worked within evangelicalism to lift up the voices of these “other evangelicals.”
[Omitted]
But Jesus-centered faith needs a new name. Christians have retired outdated labels before. During the late 19th century, when scientific rationalism fueled the questioning of Scripture, “fundamentalism” arose as an intelligent defense of Christianity. By the 1930s, however, fundamentalism was seen as anti-intellectual and judgmental. It was then that the term “evangelicalism” was put forward by Christianity Today’s first editor, Carl F. H. Henry, as a new banner under which a broad coalition of Jesus followers could unite.
But beginning with the culture wars of the 1980s, the religious right made a concerted effort to align evangelicalism with the Republican Party. By the mid-’90s, the word had lost its positive connotations with many Americans. They came to see Christians — and evangelicals in particular — as anti-women, anti-gay, anti-environment and anti-immigrant and as the champions of guns and war.
Mr. Trump did not create these contradictions, but his victory has pulled the roof off the building we once called home. It’s time to build a new home.
We dissect this after the jump.


It's after the jump, so let's dissect this.

Back on these two posts (80% of White Evangelicals and The Coming Church Split), I theorized that there was a strong divide between Evangelical leadership and Evangelical followers.

The gut feeling was that the majority 80% of White Evangelicals who voted for Trump were in the pews and the majority of the 20% that refused to vote for him were in the pulpits (or other leadership positions). I further theorized that a split was coming, as the leaders became repulsed with the followers and the followers would see the leadership as corrupt.

And now, this.

To be frank, I expected the followers to be the ones to declare Evangelicalism dead and corrupt. I did not expect this level of foolishness from anyone in a position of leadership. How the fuck does this idiot not get that 80% of his customers voted for Trump? He's going to chop the head off of Evangelicalism and then complain when no one follows him into New Egypt. 

This assclown thinks Evangelicals, particularly White Evangelicals, particularly White Male Evangelicals need to die off. This isn't coming from Professor Starflower-Aphrodite at Berkeley (PhD in Organic Scissoring Studies), that's coming from the executive editor of Christianity Today. While  he wonders why Americans are less religious than ever. How much you want to bet this smegma smear also bitches about men who don't attend church with their families?

I feel like I'm back watching the first anti-Trump riots. You can see this guy shooting himself in the foot in real time.

I don't know how many more virtue-signaling Evangelical cultural leaders it will take to end Evangelicalism. But I do know the virtue-signalers are on track to recreate the success of mainstream Protestantism: Wiccan Lesbian Priestesses, Dog Blessings, and empty pews.

So Andy Crouchondicks is right: it's time for something new. Let's start by purging idiots like him from Evangelical churches.

3 comments:

  1. Wow. I have not seen you this openly angry before. I can only guess that you think this guy (and others like him) may do (or have done) real harm to Christianity in America. Is that the cause of your anger?

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    1. I hate him because he's a preening idiot who wants to save Christianity from the Christians. Same bad, faithless thinking that destroyed the Mainline Protestant churches, most of the Anglicans, and threatens to strangle out the Catholics.

      Heretics never start their own churches if they have the option of destroying a healthy one from the inside. If it's not coordinated consciously by men, they're getting their ideas from Below.

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  2. In defense of my thesis on the previous related post, Crouch is a northeast Churchian who's popular with the Ivy League.

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