American Christianity

Although he is credited with the modern phrase, a version of Marx's "from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" can be found in the New Testament.

³² And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common. ³³ And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all. ³⁴ Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, ³⁵ And laid them down at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need.

-- Book of Acts

Oh, that's a nice tidbit to remember whenever someone asks for more faith in the govt.

"Yes sounds great, let's start by making Jubilee a national holiday where we forgive student debts and delinquent loans. Just like in the scriptures"

While we're at it, he wasn't a fan of public displays if faith either

And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen.

Not as baffling as this- https://newrepublic.com/post/174950/christianity-today-editor-evangelicals-call-jesus-liberal-weak

Think of the moral hazard! If we feed the children they will grow up to expect society to be set up for their benefit! The horror!

Honestly, I was down with Christianity until college. I'm not Catholic, but I attended a Catholic University. I was raised Lutheran.

College was a really good experience for me. I got a good education, made friends, and had fun. I still have good feelings about the school.

However, the hypocrisy of the conservative Catholic leaders of the university, and their cowardice in the face of a calm discussion of issues, led me to see that the Christianity I was taught to believe, while overwhelmingly positive, was not lived by most people who claimed to be Christian.

Edit: that was about 33 years ago.

As I became an adult, it became clear to me that it was just an excuse for my narcissistic parents to not have to take responsibility for their actions.

"I'll have to answer to God when I die."

How convenient. So you'll never answer to those of us you wronged.

I'm not sure you've paid attention to such parts of its history as pornocracy, trade in indulgence papers, reformation wars, slave bibles with parts about slavery not being Christian censored out, church support for Hitler and Stalin, today's Vatican having best relationships with genocidal dictatorships (ones destroying Christian heritage at that), need I go on?

EDIT: That was about "today's".

Having said all that, being resilient to rotten authority and fighting against that is too part of Christianity as a religion.

I heard this kind of started happening in the 1940’s or so, but then there was a big resurgence of religion for some reason in the 50’s. I can only imagine where we’d be if that didn’t happen.

The attack on education has a lot of benefits for them, but high on the list: they dont want critical thinkers. They want people who can be manipulated into "voting 3rd party", or who can be lulled into apathy, so that they can enact Project 2025.

Also faith-based charities and services like to step into the void created by defunding social services. I'm seeing it on a daily basis.

This has been true of Christianity for centuries upon centuries. Not that it's unique in that...