I dont understand the Christian Right. HRC is a Christian.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

She goes to church regularly. For all intents and purposes, while she doesn't wear her faith on her sleeve, she is religious and devout.

Meanwhile Trump has shown no religious influence in his life. He got married and divorced several time. Openly brags about the number of women he's slept with. Seems to really not be familiar with the Bible etc.

Yet, they line up behind him. I don't get it. Isn't the Christian Right supposed to endorse someone who is devout?

http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/25/hillary-clinton-gets-personal-on-christ-and-her-faith/

http://www.salon.com/2016/06/27/not_keeping_the_faith_donald_trump_and_the_conning_of_evangelical_voters/

[stopbush]

1. The Xian "Right" is exactly that: a RW POLITICAL movement.

They are never going to support a Dem/liberal.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

5. agreed, I would think though that they at least would stay away from Trump

so that this doesn't look as tawdry as it is.

[stopbush]

25. Xianity is based entirely on make believe and magical thinking.

It's not much of a stretch to pretend that a person like Trump shares your beliefs.

[DonViejo]

2. Clinton is pro-choice, pro LGBT rights (including marriage equality)...

the Christian Right would never touch her just on those beliefs alone. Then again, the Christian Right is neither

[PJMcK]

13. Good line

Great comment, DonViejo: "...the Christian Right is neither."

Remember the precedent for your line?

"The Moral Majority is neither."

Enjoy your weekend.

[leftofcool]

3. She's a Democrat and a female.

Those two things of course disqualifies her from being so called "devout."

[Electric Monk]

19. I have an aunt who would disagree with you about those all being mutually exclusive. nt

[Laffy Kat]

4. Because it isn't really about Christianity.

It's about oppression, misogyny and racism.

[immoderate]

28. ... and winning!

--imm

[liberal N proud]

6. The Christain Right has nothing to do with faith or Christianity

It has everything to do with politics and making the Christians think that they should follow the advice of the Christian Right.

[whatthehey]

15. Of course it does

Nothing is more correlated to Conservatism than religiosity and church attendance. It's even more overwhelming for whites.

http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/political-ideology/

[leftofcool]

27. As though going to church makes one a Christian.

[OriginalGeek]

32. I used to have a Preacher that often said

going to church no more makes you a christian than go to the garage makes you a car.

And therein lies the rub. His version of a christian is a far right-wing, racist (told many racist jokes from the pulpit even) and conservative.

So if everyone gets to define christian any way they want how does anyone know who's right? Who gets to decide who isn't really one?

One of the many reasons I'm a liberal atheist today.

[guillaumeb]

7. Redemption is a key factor, and selective forgiveness.

I say selective a bit sarcastically because some on the religious right can forgive a Republican anything while condemning any Democrats in similar situations.

Contrast the treatment of David Vitter and William Clinton.
Or Newt Gingrich and William Clinton.

[geek tragedy]

8. the Christian right has one purpose--to protect the privilege of straight white men nt

[La Lioness Priyanka]

11. amen. nt

[AllTooEasy]

24. Black Christian (like myself) vote Dem. The Christian Right is about White Supremecy

They used Christianity to justify slavery.

They used Christianity to justify segregation.

Jerry Farwell, Bob Jones, they all voted against the Civil Rights Act.

Christianity made me a liberal. The Beatitudes and John 15:12 are my politics. The selfish, power hungry, money worshiping, moral perverts of the "Christian Right" are truly Devil Worshipers in Jesus drag.

[Lance Bass esquire]

9. I noticed this trait in the "sheeple" years ago.

It doesn't matter what you do. It only matters what you SAY to win over this particular faction of the man in the sky religions.

[Her Sister]

10. I think Dems respect more the divide b/w State and Church!

The Religious right doesn't feel the same way! They'd like a Christian Saudia Arabia of the West if they could get away with it!

[Lars39]

12. Planned Parenthood endorsed Hillary.

That's all it took for my fundy inlaws to vote for Bernie.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

14. But Bernie is pro-choice too. how weird.

also

[Lars39]

16. Yep

I think the preacher's rants against PP held the ultimate power.

[Orsino]

17. Religion is a coat candidates wear to get elected and to stay in office.

I don't trust candidates' professions of faith because so often their actions in office contradict their alleged tenets.

It's identity politics, and in practice "faith" amounts to little more than a slogan. The Right is correct in distrusting Clinton's, but they are wrong when they fall for the cruel, hateful stances professed by their right-wing heroes. The nebulosity of religion is what blinds us to glaring contradictions.

People believe what they want to believe, and this is even more true concerning what we believe about what others believe,

[MineralMan]

18. The so-called "Christian Right" is neither

Christian nor Correct. No way.

[whatthehey]

21. Bullshit.

I have no idea why people insist on pretending vicious nasty people cannot be Christians. Can they not see that insults every non-Chrsitian by default; since vicious nasty people exist in huge numbers, if they are not Christians then they must by definition be the 27% of us who are not Christians. Since that percentage is smaller than right wing nutjobs in the US, by pretending RWNJs cannot bew Christian, you just called every single non-Christian a RWNJ. Of course the Christian right is Christian. By every measure from attendance to prayer to importance of faith in their life to religious basis for morality, as Christianity increases in intensity so do right wing beliefs and political opinion. Why do you claim they are not Christians?

[leftofcool]

26. Sorry, vicious nasty people can not be Christians

If they truly followed the teachings of Christ, they would not be vicious or nasty. Therefore, they can not be called nor should they be called Christians. They are fake Christians at best.

[whatthehey]

31. Absurd No True Scotsman fallacy. Utter tosh.

For every namby pamby "ooh let's be nice to people" verse in that syncretic hodgepodge of Levantine folkmyths, there is one that is truly horrific and evil, yes even in the NT. So the source material does not determine goodness. The history of believers has contained far more who commit horrible acts than commit wondrous ones (in which, it must be admitted, Christians are merely like humanity in general), so historical Christian belief does not determine goodness. Currently Christians are slightly overrepresented in prison (atheists hugely underrepresented) so it does not determine licit behavior. Christianity is hugely coirrelated with right wing belief so it does not deterrmine political enlightenment. By what measure other than your own subjective cherrypicking, which not coincidentally is the exact same tactic used by correligionists like Robertson and the Phelps clan, do you dertermine that Christianity is by necessity normative towards positive ethical behavior?

[AntiBank]

35. woooot +100000

[dawg]

33. I go back and forth on this.

They certainly consider themselves to be Christians. But on the other hand, they also seem to think that "turning the other cheek" is for losers.

FWIW, I don't think it is the religion that has made these people the way that they are. I think they gravitated to the dominant religion of their society (Christianity here, Islam and Hinduism elsewhere) because they were already authoritarian followers to begin with.

Meanwhile, lots of other people are inspired to greater kindness and tolerance through the teachings of the same religions. And many other people live kind and moral lives without the influence of any religion at all.

As for me, I can't see any consistency at all between the teachings of Christ as recorded in the New Testament and the principles of the American conservative movement. They seem much more inspired by Ayn Rand and her ilk.

[whatthehey]

34. And if "turning the other cheek" were the total of the religion you'd have a point.

But it's not just the nice bits that characterize scripture or current doctrine. There's the red-letter, Catechism 1035, pulpit-reinforced and unspeakably vile concept of Hell as exhibit A for a start. That a perfect, all-powerful and loving being would irrevocably burn in eternal agony its own creation for not picking the right bit of mythology among hundreds, none with any evidence provided, in a few short years on earth. Even if everything else terrible in the NT were not there; no tribalism, no acceptance for slavery, no excoriation of gays, no demeaning of women, no abandonment of family, the very idea of eternal infinite punishment for brief finite error would outweigh all the calls for peace and brotherhood and charity and still make it the disgustingly, monstrously depraved propaganda that it is. Until Christianity rejects completely and without equivocation the notion of any possibility of eternal damnation, it will remain a loathsome philosophy, and defending it as long as Hell remains in it is like saying Pol Pot was a nice guy except for the genocide.

[dawg]

36. But that's kind of my point. Religions are kind of like a Rorschach test.

Some people choose to focus on the kinder aspects. Others choose to focus on ways that they can judge others.

[whatthehey]

42. Typically however, only when challenged

Sure the kinder gentler kumbaya "liberal" believers will respond in Casablanca style surprise that anybody could possibly think they believe in fire and brimstone stuff, but have you ever come across any who will categorically deny the possibility of Hell, and the certainty of universal salvation (which is the only alternative) instead? Rare indeed, because even though that is the only possible option for a benevolent omnipotent deity such as they all espouse, it would render their smug Sunday klatches and their sententious attempts to make the Bible more meaningful than the Enuma Elish etc. utterly pointless and irrelevant.

[okasha]

37. Undistributed middle.

[whatthehey]

41. Is there a game to spout random responses I'm unaware of?

Since, as I used or even implied no syllogism, your response can't coherently apply to my post.

[thelordofhell]

20. Mitt Romney is a Mormon.....and they still voted for him

They just care about the R

[La Lioness Priyanka]

23. but mitt was devout at least.

[Lucinda]

22. I see little that I would call "Christian" in their policies or actions, so while hypocritical as

hell, backing the Trumpster seems about right.

[kimbutgar]

29. I find the right wing " born again" Christians I have met

Are still the same a$$holes they were before.

It's sad they vote republican and really don't act as disciplines of Christ who believed in loving thy neighbor as thyself.

[muntrv]

30. They are neither.

[JSup]

38. The Right tends to follow...

...the 'Christianity' that was before Christ. The teachings of the hippy were just too mushy for them.

[Kablooie]

39. Trump says everything they want to hear. Hillary doesn't

Of course he doesn't plan to follow through on any of it but it's easy as pie for him to say he will.

Simply parrot all the talking point and badabingbadabam a new Christian hero appears.

It's that simple.
And they are that gullible.

[treestar]

40. Shows how sincere they really are

IMO "Christian" can be dog whistle for "white" with that crowd. A lot of them do not regularly go to church and are not devout.

Amen, it is sheer hypocrisy if they support Trump and proof it is racism and not piety.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

45. Say it!!

[CBHagman]

43. There's actually been a lot written on this, including the support for Ronald Reagan...

...over Jimmy Carter, the former being a divorced man who'd spent a career in show business and the latter a Sunday school teacher and, to use the biblical phrase, "a husband of one wife."

There are multiple books, articles, and films that would take up their own thread, but here's a link for a start.

[url]http://www.salon.com/2014/05/18/the_evangelical_presidency_reagans_dangerous_love_affair_with_the_christian_right/[/url]

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

44. Indeed, she was a member of The Family organization for awhile. I consider her a religious Christian