#christian fundamentalists

[lilithism1848]

[contemplatingoutlander]

THOM HARTMANN: Science Explains Why Republicans Can’t Accept Trump’s Guilt (Sept. 12, 2023)

Scientists discovered a fascinating reason why Republicans can’t accept criticism of Donald Trump. Thom explains.

In the above video, Thom Hartmann refers to a Raw Story column by cognitive neuroscientist Bobby Azarian, PhD (shown below):

Here are some excerpts from Azarian's column:

In 2009, a study published in PLOS ONE challenged our understanding of belief systems. Researchers placed participants into the confines of an fMRI scanner and presented them with a mixture of factual and abstract statements. The results were illuminating. Disbelief, it turns out, is cognitively demanding. It requires more mental effort than simply accepting a statement as true. From an evolutionary perspective, this preference for easy belief makes sense; a perpetually skeptical individual questioning every piece of information would struggle to adapt in a fast-paced world. What does all this have to do with Trump supporters? Well, it’s far less cognitively demanding for them to believe anything their leader tells them. Any challenge to what Trump tells them is true takes mental work. This means there is a psychological incentive for Trump loyalists to maintain their loyalty. (I wrote about this phenomenon in a slightly different context in the Daily Beast article "Religious Fundamentalism: A Side Effect of Lazy Brains?") Molding of belief: neuroplasticity at play Now, let's consider the unique predicament faced by individuals who staunchly support Trump and want him to again become president. From the moment Trump began his political career and his social engineering career, his supporters have been exposed to narratives — Trump doesn't lie, Democrats are communists, the media is an enemy of the people — that emphasize loyalty and trust in their political idol. These narratives often steer away from critical examination and instead encourage blind faith. When coupled with the brain's inherent tendency to accept rather than question, it creates an ideal environment for unwavering allegiance. No matter that Trump, time and again, has been revealed to be a serial liar, habitually misrepresenting matters of great consequence, from elections to economics to public health. For example, in the Psychology Today article "Why Evangelicals are Wired to Believe Trump’s Falsehoods," I explain that the children of Christian fundamentalists typically begin to suppress critical thinking at an early age. This is required if one is to accept Biblical stories as literal truth, rather than metaphors for how to live life practically and with purpose. Attributing natural occurrences to mystical causes discourages youth from seeking evidence to back their beliefs. Consequently, the brain structures that support critical thinking and logical reasoning don't fully mature. This paves the way for heightened vulnerability to deceit and manipulative narratives, especially from cunning political figures. Such increased suggestibility arises from a mix of the brain's propensity to accept unverified claims and intense indoctrination. Given the brain's neuroplastic nature, which allows it to shape according to experiences, some religious followers are more predisposed to accept improbable assertions. In other words, our brains are remarkably adaptable and continuously evolving landscapes. For ardent Trump supporters, residing in an environment that prioritizes faith over empirical evidence can reshape the neural circuits within their brains. [color emphasis added]

[edited]

[tomorrowusa]

The Republican war against women continues.

In addition to reproductive freedom, MAGA Republicans are now seeking to get rid of no-fault divorce.

Conservative US lawmakers are pushing for an end to no-fault divorce

Some prominent conservative lawmakers and commentators are advocating for ending no-fault divorce, laws that exist in all 50 US states and allow a person to end a marriage without having to prove a spouse did something wrong, like commit adultery or domestic violence. The socially conservative, and often religious, rightwing opponents of such divorce laws are arguing that the practice deprives people – mostly men – of due process and hurt families, and by extension, society. Republican lawmakers in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas have discussed eliminating or increasing restrictions on no-fault marriage laws.

Religious fundamentalist MAGA males want to be able to point the finger of blame at women in divorce cases. And by packing the courts with misogynist judges along the lines of Alito and Thomas, it will be women who will usually end up on the losing side.

Today's GOP superficially professes loyalty to the memory of Ronald Reagan. But in addition to their idolization of the Evil Empire, this is another way they are trying to nullify his legacy.

Before 1969, when the then California Republican governor, Ronald Reagan, who had been divorced, approved the country’s first no-fault divorce law, women, who are more likely to experience violence from an intimate partner, were often forced to stay in marriages. If they could not prove that their husband had been abusive or persuade him to grant a divorce, they would not be able to take any assets from the marriage or remarry, according to a study in the Quarterly Journal of Economics. States around America gradually followed suit and passed similar laws allowing unilateral divorce until 2010, when New York became the last state to approve the practice.

Getting rid of domestic violence laws could be next on the Republican fundamentalist agenda. Putin did this in Russia – another reason why the MAGA crowd loves Putin.

Between 1976 and 1985, states that passed the laws saw their domestic violence rates against men and women fall by about 30%; the number of women murdered by an intimate partner declined by 10%; and female suicide rates declined by 8 to 16%. Without such laws, “it’s hard to prove anything in court relating to a family because you don’t have any witnesses”, said Kimberly Wehle, professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law. “It’s very difficult to get evidence to show abuse of children. How do you do it? Do you put your kids on the stand?”

Republicans want to socially return the country to the 1950s when women were in the kitchen, gays were in the closet, and blacks were out of sight. They would ultimately want to turn the clock back to the 1650s when women were little better than chattel slaves.

[spurgie-cousin]

I was doing a little extra “rot time” in the shower tonight (just standing under the hot water trying to get some muscles to relax) and I started wondering have there ever been any fundies to promote just being by yourself for a little while? Thinking about the Duggars/Bates/Rods…houses with maybe 1-2 bathrooms so long showers or self care bath nights are probably out of the question, or sharing rooms with siblings so you’re not truly alone even when everyone else is asleep. I remember a long time ago there was a post about Jana was going to walk on the Duggar property and 6-8 kids suddenly tagged along with her and it made people wonder if they were sent along to chaperone her.

Like they go from being constantly surrounded by siblings to having kids ASAP and then they’re surrounded by their kids or always with their husband or visiting spouse’s family (like how Kaylee and Jon seem to constantly be with her family). So beyond your average bathroom break during the day or time to shower, is alone time even “allowed” for their flavor of fundie or is it like “if you’re alone for longer than 2 minutes for any reason, the devil has a chance to tempt you!” Or because they grow up in big families, they don’t like being alone or don’t know what to do by themselves because that wasn’t their norm - a “you don’t miss what you never had” type of situation?

Great points/question! True fundamentalists abide by traditional cult standards and discourage alone time as a whole for the most part. I've heard an ex fundie giving a talk say that its kind of like when doctors recommend exercise for your mental health, it keeps you and your mind too busy to wander or think too deeply about things (only in a negative way that leaves you with little time to develop a sense of self, compared to exercising for mental health which is good).

The only times I can really remember any of them talking about alone time are couples trips, or that one time Jill Rodrigues said she regularly took Bible breaks in that upholstered bathroom chair lol. A lot of them talk about morning alone time too but it's never for anything besides studying the Bible or doing chores which kind of defeats the purpose of just having time to relax.

Also like you mentioned, I think once you're used to just constantly being around a ton people, being alone can turn into something that's anxiety-inducing. I know that was definitely the case for a few people I knew from huge Christian families, they would talk about "hating" going anywhere on their own or being home alone and never went anywhere without at least 2 or 3 people. And a few of the fundie girls we follow have mentioned having anxiety around living with just their spouse for the first time (who was it that cried a lot bc they felt so alone??). Definitely like you said, it's hard for them to miss privacy or alone time when it's literally something most of them have never had since birth.

[bradys-01]

Tag yourself, I’m the atheist, secularist, potty mouth

[mbrainspaz]

I think I can pinpoint the exact moment I stepped off the path of religious fundamentalism. It was a seemingly inconsequential moment with a virtual stranger over a decade ago but it changed the course of my life.

I was in the back of a (christian) college friend's mini cooper. In the front passenger seat was this random girl who had the same name as me. She'd just appeared on campus in a magical puff of glitter dust a few days prior and suddenly all my friends were obsessed with her. She was one of those people who draws people in like that. She was pretty, she was fun, she had charisma for days. So naturally I low key disliked her. I've known too many charismatic people to fall for a bubbly celebrity persona. Give me grumpy people who lurk any day.

Anyway, I knew she wasn't staying long so I just hung back and ignored the way everyone was fawning over her. That day in the mini coop while we were dropping her off at the dorms we got in to a religious talk. I don't remember if she was a christian or not, but I suspect not. I know I took the fundie angle and said something about ~Absolute Truth~.

This chick (whomst bear in mind I'd pretty much avoided getting to know) looked back at me with a smile that could flash-fry a frozen turkey and sincerely said, "That's what I admire about you. Your certainty."

She walked off. I never saw her again.

Left me staggering. I think I had .002 seconds of pride at what sounded like a compliment and then I went "well shoot. Guess I have to change my whole worldview now."

TL;DR no need to tell people they're wrong when you can just hold up a mirror and let them run smack into it looney toons style until they hurt so bad they will self-destruct

[lookninjas]

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Oklahoma’s top education official ordered public schools Thursday to incorporate the Bible into lessons for grades 5 through 12, the latest effort by conservatives to incorporate religion into classrooms.

The directive drew immediate condemnation from civil rights groups and supporters of the separation of church and state, with some calling it an abuse of power and a violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The order sent to districts across the state by Republican State Superintendent Ryan Walters says adherence to the mandate is compulsory and “immediate and strict compliance is expected.”

“The Bible is an indispensable historical and cultural touchstone,” Walters said in a statement. “Without basic knowledge of it, Oklahoma students are unable to properly contextualize the foundation of our nation which is why Oklahoma educational standards provide for its instruction.”

[...]

The directive is the latest salvo in an effort by conservative-led states to target public schools: Louisiana has required them to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms, while others are under pressure to teach the Bible and ban books and lessons about race, sexual orientation and gender identity. Earlier this week the Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked an attempt by the state to have the first publicly funded religious charter school in the country.

A former public school teacher who was elected to his post in 2022, Walters ran on a platform of fighting “woke ideology,” banning books from school libraries and getting rid of “radical leftists” who he claims are indoctrinating children in classrooms.

He has clashed with leaders in both parties for his focus on culture-war issues including transgender rights and banning books, and in January he faced criticism for appointing a right-wing social media influencer from New York to a state library committee.

[feckcops]

Psychology Today’s conversion therapy problem

“In 1992, religiously-motivated conversion therapist Joseph Nicolosi founded the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality. NARTH provided a ‘clinical’ hub for the ex-gay movement, and was a melting pot of pseudoscience ...

“In 2014, after realizing they’d fundamentally (eh, get it?) failed to convince the public that they were anything other than ardent homophobes, and that science had long since moved on to realized that being gay is not only non-pathological, but a natural part of human diversity, NARTH rebranded under the Association for Therapeutic Choice and Scientific Integrity. Like so much of the anti-LGBT, pronatalist far-right, ACTSI refocused on transgender people as part of a political strategy shift to ‘separating the T from LGBT’ ...

“One of the pivotal strategies during the early days of NARTH, was to focus on the specific language of ‘same-sex attraction’ ... Conversion Therapists wanted to inculcate the public with the idea that SSA was a test of one’s moral or religious convictions, but not a part of a person’s innate sexuality ...

"A cursory search of Google’s index of the site shows an alarmingly high rate of results for SSA ... [For mentions of] ‘sexual brokenness’, a term that comes from evangelical Christianity to describe having normal sexual feelings, you get 1,300 results, the overwhelming majority of which are in the United States. Among these results includes Joseph Nicolosi’s son. David Pickup, an LMFT who deals exclusively in the empirically disproven notion that ‘same sex attraction’ is the result of trauma and sexual abuse, is also listed on Psychology Today. Pickup has the distinction of being one of the more prolific purveyors of alleged ‘expert’ testimony on behalf of states like Florida and his home state of Texas. 

“Perhaps just as disturbingly, it is host to a range of ‘Gender Exploratory Therapists’ like Lisa Marchiano, the original author of ‘Outbreak: On Transgender Teens and Psychic Epidemics’, an absolute nonsense paper which argues that the apparent rise in transgender youth is due to what Jungian psychoanalysts refer to as the ‘collective unconscious’ after too much LSD.”

[tasso1972]

[skellybonesandtrees]

Moms For Liberty should own up to it and rename themselves Moms For Mom's Liberties

[personal-blog243]

Some thoughts about the Duggar documentary:

My childhood was not NEARLY as strict as the Duggars. I was raised in a republican controlled state (Tennessee, near Arkansas where the Duggar’s live) and I am from a republican Christian family; but I was public schooled, my parents used contraception, I was a cheerleader, I was fully vaccinated, they believed in divorce, I wore pants, I watched secular movies, tv, music, etc. as long as it wasn’t rated R.

Arguably the central theme of the documentary is the prevalence of abuse. I have never been raped so I can’t speak on that issue. When these parents say they want to protect their children from sexual abuse I believe them.

However, I think the physical hitting of children is a widespread issue in EVERY society since the dawn of time. Religion does offer a very convenient systemic endorsement of hitting kids, but plenty of non religious parents do it too. Pretty much every parent I know (regardless of religion or politics) believes that hitting kids is an absolutely mandatory basic requirement if you want your children to be good people. If you don’t hit your kids, many people I know will call you a bad, lazy, careless parent. I was not hit nearly as often as many kids I know, but I don’t think I deserved the way I was treated.

I have been at so many gatherings where I knew kids were being hit in the other room and I didn’t know what to do. I am complicit.

(Also please do not make any mean jokes about “white people” or “religious people” or “rural people” being inherently backwards or stupid or abusive or liking incest. Please be respectful when discussing these topics and acknowledge these people are victims of a terrible system and do not make light of incest please.)

Side notes: I think the title is a reference to the song “stained glass masquerade” by casting crowns. If you want the Mormon equivalent of this documentary watch “Keep Sweet, Pray, and Obey” on Netflix.

[lilithism1848]

[woodsfae]

Debi and Michael Pearl's disgusting child abuse manual has been responsible for multiple children being tortured to death, and countless cases of PTSD (*raises hand* hi. my parents loved their fucking books)

Skagit, WA death. graphic & horrible.

The above death and two others reported on here.

To Train Up A Child has sold more than 670,000 copies.

[tomorrowusa]

It's Sunday. Today is the day of the week when far right Christian Fundamentalist Nationalists worship their one true Lord and Savior – Donald Trump.

[feckcops]

In a thriving Michigan county, a community goes to war with itself

washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/04/22/ottawa-county-commission

“The eight new members of the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners had run for office promising to ‘thwart tyranny’ in their lakeside Michigan community of 300,000 people. In this case the oppressive force they aimed to thwart was the county government they now ran. It was early January, their first day in charge. An American flag held down a spot at the front of the board’s windowless meeting room. Sea-foam green carpet covered the floor.

“The new commissioners, all Republicans, swore their oaths of office on family Bibles. And then the firings began. Gone was the lawyer who had represented Ottawa County for 40 years. Gone was the county administrator who oversaw a staff of 1,800. To run the health department, they voted to install a service manager from a local HVAC company who had gained prominence as a critic of mask mandates.

“As the session entered its fourth hour, Sylvia Rhodea, the board’s new vice chair, put forward a motion to change the motto that sat atop the county’s website and graced its official stationery. ‘Whereas the vision statement of ‘Where You Belong’ has been used to promote the divisive Marxist ideology of the race, equity movement,’ Rhodea said.”

[alienbycomics]

Content Warning: religion and transphobia⚠️

Happy Trans Day of Visibility 🏳️‍⚧️ I made a comic reflecting on my church upbringing as an eXvangelical trans person. The Jesus conservative Christians claim to represent looked lot more like many of the LGBTQ+ friends I know and love. Just some food for thought 💖

Here’s a link to a supplementary post: Jesus and Gender Non-Conformity in Christian Art