[Disclaimer] - I am not an American and I consider myself atheist, I am Caucasian and born in a pre-dominantly Christian country.

Based on my limited knowledge of Christianity, it is all about social justice, compassion and peace.

And I was always wondering how come Republicans are perceiving themselves as devout Christians while the political party they support is openly opposing those virtues and if this doesn’t make them hypocrites?

For them the mortal enemy are the lefties who are all about social justice, helping the vulnerable and the not so fortunate and peace.

Christianity sounds to me a lot more like socialist utopia.

  • LesserAbe@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    To be clear, I’m an atheist now, and don’t endorse Christianity.

    You’re right that Jesus was not calling for violent resistance. Neither was Gandhi or MLK, but that wasn’t an endorsement of those in power.

    Christian teachings were radical in their time because they rejected eye for an eye and taught that it wasn’t enough to love someone who loves you, but to love your enemies.

    "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

    “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

    “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’"

    Of course then he goes on to talk about people who didn’t help those in need being punished in the afterlife.

    As I commented and you’re well aware, Christianity does not result in an overall sustainable world view. And if you want someone who says “we should forcefully overthrow those in power” then no, Jesus didn’t say that. But his ideas (or whoever they really came from) are transformational, and the OP is justified in asking, “hey why is Christianity like this now?” My argument is that it’s because the set of ideas was flawed from the start, rather than that it’s a set of ideas made with the intention to dominate and exploit from the beginning.