When I highlight the weird religious news that illustrates the truly daft things that have been “inspired” then there are two inevitable responses …

Most who believe will happily advise “They are not true Christians” It’s bloody depressing to see just how absurdly crazy and obnoxious many can be

The first is perhaps firmly rooted in the observation that belief always has been and always will be highly fragmented. The view from inside every single variation consists of a rock solid conviction that only they are the “True” believers, and all the others are wrong. I’ll come back to what this means and who the “true” Christians really are at the end of this posting.

As for the second response, it need not be universal. I’m firmly convinced that most humans, regardless of their specific belief or lack of any belief, are decent honourable people who genuinely strive to do what is right. The problem rests with those that embrace some religious ideas as literal truth. It tricks them into thinking that being an obnoxious prick who happily discriminates against others is the high moral ground.

For this elect few, we should deploy mockery and criticism. They have worked hard for it so why deprive them of it. To put that another way –

“whatever one sows, that will he also reap” – Galatians 6 v7

So what did happen during the past seven days?

Beliefs that have an actual body count popping up on prime time news …

From the folks who see the Handmaids tale as a policy guidebook …

Apparently God brings hide and seek to a whole new level …

Being a decent human being who strives for an end to discrimination … is evil …

Appointing a religious nut who believes that only his belief is the right one, to run a religious freedom commission will of course go well … right?

End times …

Meanwhile, the Trump cult devotees kept popping up …

Discrimination is not just a belief, but becomes policy when you elect religious nuts …

Any “proof” will do, even when it is clearly nonsense …

One other persistent theme week in and week out usually concerns some Pastor being involved in sexual abuse …

Yes, it’s all depressing stuff, but remember they are a tiny minority.

There is one more item. This one is an item that might perhaps cast a bit of fear into some Evangelical hearts. For the rest of us, it is potentially a very good news item …

Who is a “True” Christian?

Within a belief context what people actually mean when they use the term is that anybody who does not believe exactly the same as they do, is not a “True” Christian.

In reality, we don’t really know what Jesus actually said. Well yes, we have the bible, but that was simply the claims written down. There is no consensus on how to correctly understand even that. Remember also that the very earliest Gospel, Mark’s was written many decades after the events it describes (roughly about AD70). With no agreement on how to interpret sayings written long after they supposedly said, the term “True” Christian is in a literal sense almost meaningless.

There is however one other usage. In a social context, when somebody is told that they are a good Christian, this simply means that they have been observed to have done something decent and honourable. It is not a reference to their specific beliefs, but instead is a comment upon their behaviour. If you run with that definition, then who is “True” to that? Who will happily accept immigrants and is willing to help them, will not discriminate against people who hold different beliefs, or are gay, and generally not behave in an obnoxious manner towards others?

Potentially anybody who is a decent human being of any belief falls into this definition, and that includes those who hold no religious belief at all.

That however does exclude the vast majority of Evangelicals who have happily tossed all their values under the bus in order to elect he who must not be named. For an almost countless number of years they have been telling us that the anti-Christ was coming. It turns out that when he finally turns up, they happily voted for him and put him into the White House.

Moving on, let’s brighten things up even further with an uplifting song.

Song: A Few of My Favorite Sins

Many born into religious belief are walking away and finding a far better richer life. Here is Samantha Shelley and Tanner Gilliland, the ex-Mormons at Zelph on the Shelf, singing about their favorite sins.

Enjoy …

UPDATE

I posted this into r/atheism on Reddit because I thought it might be of interest. To my astonishment it was flagged as “Bigotry” by one of the mods.

I asked him to explain what the concern was, and he replied as follows …

You message consisted of stereotypes of Christians phrased in the most negative possible manner. Many of the characterizations did not fit the majority of Christians. If your target had been any other group it would have been deleted without any debate.

In response I pointed this out …

My article lists the actual behaviour that has been reported within the news cycle within the last 7 days.

I made it 100% clear at the start that it highlights a small minority and that the majority of those that believe are decent honourable people.

I’m genuinely struggling to grasp how listing facts with links to the evidence of this actual behaviour is “bigotry”.

Is tolerance of intolerance now Bigotry?

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