A conservative Christian quietly battles against right-wing hysteria

[Kenny]

Disney was taking care of its house that brings in a huge amount of business and tax revenue for the community. So your analogy is highly flawed, and sgain, simplistic and inaccurate.

Do you really not understand any of this or trying yo dupe us?

I think it is just hypocritical how people rail on how businesses are too rich but then have no problem with special favors for the same.

Do you think someone wouldn't come to Disney because Disney is paying more taxes?

 

[Colt]

Sure, let's pretend that the right hasn't shifted toward any wacky extremes the last few years.

They haven't, the Left dominated media has put a lot of effort into making it look as if they have. In essence the Left accuses others of doing what they do themselves. If anything, the right is finally just getting pissed off and pushing back.

 

[sun rise]

Bro. I read, and read your OP. But I cant understand your point yet. I apologise but I really don't know why I cannot understand your ultimate point.

Err. Would you care to give a very very small explanation of your ultimate point? You don't have to. It's a personal request only. When ever you have time. I ask because this topic intrigued me.

In the US at least there are a lot of news stories about conservative Christians feeling under attack for their beliefs and in some cases lashing out with fear and anger because of this feeling.

The author of this piece is a conservative Christian who disagrees with this response and believes that traditional religious ideas are doing just fine in our current culture in spite of appearances.

The media features the most extreme beliefs and expressions of those beliefs because it's what people are attracted to and thus the media can use popularity to sell advertising.

I think it's useful to occasionally have threads from those who have not had their viewpoint captured by the media narrative even if I disagree with them theologically or politically.

I find it personally useful to occasionally take a step back and consider the ideas of those I disagree with if they are presented calmly and are fact-based. I found the author of this piece one such person.

 

[sun rise]

Long before CRT, there was and is the speech restriction of faith and conservatism. Bring a conservative on campus and you have a riot.

Personally I find that objectionable as well. I don't care if it's emotional outbursts of intolerance from the right (CRT/BLM) or the left. There are much better ways of expressing deeply held opinions than having a riot.

I don't think Disney should have the special privileges. They should pay taxes the way everybody does and get permits like everyone else.

I agree with that but deliberately trying to punish them because of their speech is objectionable because government should not punish speech.

 

[firedragon]

In the US at least there are a lot of news stories about conservative Christians feeling under attack for their beliefs and in some cases lashing out with fear and anger because of this feeling.

The author of this piece is a conservative Christian who disagrees with this response and believes that traditional religious ideas are doing just fine in our current culture in spite of appearances.

The media features the most extreme beliefs and expressions of those beliefs because it's what people are attracted to and thus the media can use popularity to sell advertising.

I think it's useful to occasionally have threads from those who have not had their viewpoint captured by the media narrative even if I disagree with them theologically or politically.

I find it personally useful to occasionally take a step back and consider the ideas of those I disagree with if they are presented calmly and are fact-based. I found the author of this piece one such person.

Oh. I understand now. Hey, thanks a lot. You didnt have to take such effort to explain to one person.

Really appreciate it. And I tend to agree with you, but I have no such knowledge to make a clear comment.

Thanks again.

 

[Father Heathen]

They haven't, the Left dominated media has put a lot of effort into making it look as if they have. In essence the Left accuses others of doing what they do themselves. If anything, the right is finally just getting pissed off and pushing back.

So the kooky conspiracy theories, white nationalism, christian nationalism, cult of personality, etc. have always been prominent part of the party?

 

[Kenny]

Personally I find that objectionable as well. I don't care if it's emotional outbursts of intolerance from the right (CRT/BLM) or the left. There are much better ways of expressing deeply held opinions than having a riot.



I agree with that but deliberately trying to punish them because of their speech is objectionable because government should not punish speech.

I would have to agree. The outcome IMV is correct (I didn't know that had so big of a loophole) but the reason for doing it isn't.

Really... heart-felt thanks for calm, respectful and great dialogue!

 

[sun rise]

Regardless, my personal view is that culture has and is going downward but my faith says "there is a turnaround" about to happen if it hasn't already started.

From my belief, it's well under way. To me, the energies coming to Earth to turn everything right side up are so strong that we see both physical and psychological trauma in full flower. And I see people unconsciously as well as consciously reflecting this new energy.

So much of it was based on a promotion of fear, even irrational fear. (don't want to derail this into vaccinations but rather just making the statement about fear).

Speaking about fear, there's a difference between the lower nature which embodies fear and the higher nature which embodies concern for others along with the wish to be as healthy as possible to be of service to others.

 

[Colt]

So the kooky conspiracy theories, white nationalism, christian nationalism, cult of personality, etc. have always been prominent part of the party?

White nationalism is a tiny fringe, but BLM is a much larger, violent faction of the left that incites riots, shakes down companies and supports looting and burning down businesses. The media "normalized" BLM's behavior.

The Left only calls it "cult of personality" when a politician on the Right is popular.

 

[Clara Tea]

This is behind the WaPo paywall but hopefully a few excerpts are sufficient. I specifically wonder what some of the dedicated Christians on RF such as @KenS have to say about the points in this piece.

Personally while I might not agree with David French on any number of topics, I find his approach refreshing and positive.

A conservative Christian quietly battles against right-wing hysteria

The latest iteration of the right-wing culture war is fueled by a messianic, seemingly unshakable terror that the all-powerful cultural left is laying waste to all our institutions...
...
One exception to this is David French, the conservative Christian writer and First Amendment lawyer. He has quietly carved out a niche as a leading foe of these new right-wing crusades, arguing that they betray classically liberal principles and liberal democratic constitutionalism.
...
David French: Look back at the last 20 years of the conservative legal movement, and you’ll see a host of lawsuits brought against speech codes on campuses. You’ll see a long-term effort to vindicate the free speech rights of private corporations. You had a long-running effort to protect the free speech and free exercise rights of public school teachers.
...
In about a 12-month span, you’ve seen a dramatic reversal. You see an increasing effort on the part of red-state legislators to adopt speech codes, most applying to K-through-12 schools. You have seen an effort to regulate the speech of private corporations.
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The root of it is a kind of cultural panic, a thought that conservative political views, religious views and cultural views are in retreat everywhere. That the culture wars are irretrievably lost. That all that’s left to the right is the exercise of raw political power.
...
On every one of those fronts, I say, “Good news!” Divorce has been decreasing. The percentage of kids being raised with their parents is increasing. The abortion rate is lower. If you look at these markers of cultural health, time and again you’ll see they’re actually improving.
...
In more culturally conservative areas of the country, the percentage who identify themselves as very religious far outstrips the percentage even in countries that the most panicked far-right-wingers embrace, like Hungary. Even the least religious American state is more religious than Hungary.
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I’ve encountered people who get actively angry at the mere recitation of statistics indicating that catastrophe is not imminent.
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What makes the state of Total War even worse is that it’s motivated by a sense of perpetual persecution and victimization. What is the injury that Disney has inflicted? The injury for which Disney must be punished is opposition. It’s just speech.

Disney’s speech is not victimizing Florida.

If you believe without proof, you make the perfect sucker for Rush Limbaugh.

Limbaugh was once sued for defamation of character, and his defense was that his radio show wasn't supposed to be about the truth, Limbaugh said, rather, it was supposed to titilate his listeners. He was supporting Republicans no matter what they did, and was against Democrats, even if they were great.

So, such things as the Iran Contra scandal were condoned by Rush Limbaugh. The Iran Contras scandal supported a Contra dictator against Sandinista rebels seeking higher wages and educations for their kids, and supported the Iranian dictatorship with weaponry. In order to fool the world, and tell lies to Congress, Reagan and Bush (senior) had to have those weapons made abroad by a private arms manufacturer, and had to have them made to look like Soviet arms. In the mean time, they bought narcotics from the Medellin Drug Cartel of Colombia, South America, and sold them on the streets of the United States to raise funds for their illegal war. Democratic politician, Maxine Waters objected to getting Blacks and Hispanics heavily addicted to hard narcotics (she really loved her constituents and looked after them). The Iran Contra scandal also involved counterfeiting US currency to raise money for their illegal wars and arms shipments for dictators. Notice that Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North took the fall (and was not punished at all, and prospered later), while the real masterminds (Reagan and Bush) got away scot free with plausible deniability.

All that illegal activity was glossed over and forgotten, and Reagan came out of it with a stellar reputation.

We should have known better about Reagan, after all, before he became president, according to his key aides, he negotiated with terrorists of the Iran Hostage kidnapping to hold the victims hostage just long enough for him to become president, then they were released by one commanding order from Ronald Reagan to make Reagan look powerful.

The Federal Reserve Board (Chairman, Paul Volcker) is/was charged with helping the economy. They do so by selling US bonds on the steps of the capital building every week, and by lending money to member banks (members of the Federal Reserve Board, which, believe it or not, is not a governmental agency, but is, rather, a privately owned entity, just as the FDIC is and was and FSLIC was (before Reagan bankrupted it and it was dissolved)). That interest is low, financed by taxpayers, and is designed to lower unemployment by stimulating the housing market (more buy houses at cheap interest rates), and that stimulates the building industry, which ostensibly trickles down to the rest of the people.

The shenanigans, that I speak of were that during double digit inflation, during the Jimmy Carter administration, the Fed didn't drop interest rates. This kept unemployment high (near double digit). Then they blamed Carter, though the Fed Chairman had been appointed by Nixon (a Republican).

The Republican majority Congress also defunded Carter, making it impossible for him to buy any new military equipment, so the clever Georgia politician (Carter) retrofitted older weaponry to make it acceptable for modern warfare. This is not the same as Reagan outfitting the USS Missouri and hiring octogenarian (80 year old) seamen to sail her. Though the new engine was fast, the heavy old armored hulk was a dinosaur, too large and cumbersome to get up to modern warfare speeds....it was all a political stunt....a photo shoot...publicity commercial, designed to bolster Reagan the actor president. Another photo-op political stunt was to tell Germans to tear down the wall (after they had already agreed to do so). This made Reagan look commanding and powerful. It was all Hollywood.

CURRENT RIGHT WING HYSTERIA:

Big businesses are funding Republican radio several times more than Democrat radio. This means that they are campaigning every single day, even when the candidates are not running for office.

Making matters worse, almost everyone is using the Google search engine, which has a special feature to remember your searches, and find information pertinent to you. That means that when a Republican looks up information, they get different information than a Democrat does. Essentially Google gives you the information that you are looking for, not information that is truthful or accurate. That makes bubble boys of everyone who uses Google who does not turn off that feature. That is why I turned off that feature long ago, because I want balanced news and the truth. I want to look at both sides and honestly evaluate them.

RELIGIOUS RIGHT SHOULD BE FOR GOD:

Wars, guns, National Rifle Association, torture camps, illegally spying on average citizen's internets and phones without permission and without warrants, and catering to the rich while hoards of homeless are created (middle class became poor), and Global Warming could kill us all (Trump calls it a hoax, but he isn't a scientist, and he listens to non-scientists rather than taking the time to learn the truth. These are just some of the issues. Clearly God said "thou shalt not kill."