Lifelong member President Jimmy Carter left that self-righteous ship of fools about 4 years ago over Church teachings about the subservient role of women and I'm waiting to see who tumbles into the lifeboats over the latest decision to dump the Boy Scouts because they decided on May 24th that they no longer are going to excommunicate gay Scouts.
It's a "Moral" thing you see and it's not really bigotry because they justify
Of course the SBC was a supporter of Slavery and Segregation because it was a moral thing and a Biblical one - not because they're a bunch of bigots and moral cowards. It's what God wants and who can question the absolute truth of anything someone put into God's mouth for his own purposes?
Yes, yes, they decided to stop beating that dead horse and renounced all that back in 1995 -- decades after the horse died but perhaps that's only because they had gays and women to turn to while blathering about God's word. One wonders what they will choose as the next life raft when the world of decency, respect and morality, in due course rejects once again that rotting prison hulk of the Southern Baptist Convention.
4 comments:
I really thought you were exaggerating so I went over to Wikipedia and read the article. Wow. It's interesting that as long as the church was small, they opposed slavery. But when it meant money and elite members, well, slavery wasn't so bad.
It's strange. All of the books of both testaments of the Bible are Iron Age documents. Where else do we look to this period for our ideas about how to live now? The Bible was a reasonable document for its time. Both testaments were cutting edge when they came out. But they have relatively little to say to modern people.
Other than the Unitarians and the New Age folks (who are really kind of the same), I don't see much in the way of spiritual searching going on today. What passes for religion today is little more than Iron Age dogma. No wonder America is so screwed up.
Religion usually serves power and even in cases where it opposes, it either is crushed or becomes the new power with similar propensities.
I find more wisdom in the Sutras, but the minute something becomes sacred, it becomes a powerful tool. To me, the "word of God" business is a total scam that enables churches and princes thereof to oppress and control. I think the Bible is all about secular power and has been all along -- a pastiche of ancient political diatribes reinterpreted and misinterpreted as needed to justify the unjustifiable -- and to the point of ridiculousness and self-contradiction. 613 commandments, mostly silly, some downright evil
What it's not about is freedom or democracy or morality. It's about "do as we say or God will punish you." The "as we say" is usually about not tolerating other religions, other ideas or intermarriage.
Absolutely. In general, religion is a part of the class structure. Throughout most time the people couldn't understand the services and they certainly didn't have access to the books. I think you can see it in the clothes. Royalty and priests wear costumes to indicate that they are different--usually "God approved."
That hierarchy goes all the way down. The priests may be at the top but at least I am a believer so I'm above those, take you pick: blacks, gays, women, Muslims, whatever.
Indeed, without the robes, it can be damned hard to tell some of them from common criminals. The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the costume, to borrow from Sam Spade.
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