cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/3377375

I read an essay by a christian a while ago that pointed out that the separation of church and state wasn’t about protecting the state from religion - it was about protecting religion from the state.

The gist of the argument was that religion should be concentrating on the eternal, and politics, by necessity, concentrates on the immediate. The author was concerned that welding religion and politics together would make religion itself political, meaning it would have to conform to the secular moment rather than looking to saving souls or whatever.

The mind meld of evangelical christianity and right wing politics happened in the mid to late 70s when the US was trying to racially integrate christian universities, which had been severely limiting or excluding black students. Since then, republicans and christians have been in bed together. The southern baptist convention, in fact, originally endorsed the Roe decision because it helped the cause of women. It was only after they decided to go all in on social conservatism that it became a sin.

Christians today are growing concerned about a falloff in attendance and membership. This article concentrates on how conservatism has become a call for people to publicly identify as evangelical while not actually being religious, because it’s an our team thing.

Evangelicals made an ironically Faustian bargain and are starting to realize it.

  • randon31415@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    God compared his relationship to humanity to that of a master and a slave. It was also compared to a husband and a wife, so the nature of both human institutions have changed a bunch over the years. Back then it seems like both were ‘strong protect weak’ institutions and not ‘I own you so you mater not’ institutions.

    • madcaesar@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      🤣 Are we defending slavery now? Jesus Christ… How hard would it be for God to simply say thou shall not own another human being as property? Is that really so hard? Was he pressed for time? Because he spends shit loads of time talking about cattle and graven images, yet slavery he just can’t get right…

      Almost like all this shit was written by humans 🤔…

      • randon31415@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Yugoslavia didn’t even exist during the time of Jesus, and that is the origin of the word ‘Slav(e)’. Human institutions change over time, see all the Christians freaking out over gay marriage. Condeming whatever people called slavery back then would be like condemning marriage, as they were considered similar institutions.

        • Bigmouse@lemmynsfw.com
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          1 year ago

          Correct me if im wrong here, but im pretty sure Yugoslavia has nothing to do with the etymology of ‘slave’. I thought it derives from the ethnonym of slavic people that were spread around south/east of europe

          • randon31415@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Oh, I knew it came from the Slavic people. I just thought it had something to do with Yugoslavia, as that was the only county I knew that had Slav in it name. I guess the Slavs as people might have been around 2000 years ago, so you are probably right.