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Republicans increasingly find these government ombudsmans as rogue. Companies should get to accost their customers, and if the customers don't like it, take bus
by cmurf 10y ago
Republicans increasingly find these government ombudsmans as rogue. Companies should get to accost their customers, and if the customers don't like it, take business elsewhere. If a contract is violated, hire a lawyer and sue. Good people have money and can hire good lawyers. If you don't have money, get in line for a pro bono lawyer. It's completely reasonable and fair to have to wait years for this; afterall rich people are better, and therefore they shouldn't have to wait their turn for justice, they can simply buy it. Justice is a product.
That's basically where Republican ideology is at right now. It's openly hostile to anti-trust and anti-fraud law. Without those things, trust burns down. And that leads to dark places. But pretty much I think Republicans are that short sighted and stupid. They're totally consumed by the pursuit of money and exploitation, and are drunk on it.
- Arizhel 10y agoIt's not just Republicans, it's all the Christians they're in league with, and who vote for them. The philosophy you describe is modern Christian theology. It's called "Prosperity Doctrine", and basically boils down to "God rewards those he loves the most", so rich people are better people than the rest of us because obviously God loves them more and has bestowed gifts of wealth upon them. Go into any American megachurch these days and this is what they're preaching. It dovetails very nicely with Republican trickle-down economics.
- rrauenza 10y agoThat's a pretty wide brush you're painting with, there. There isn't just "one" modern Christian theology.
- thebooktocome 10y agoName a modern American denomination that rejects prosperity theology.
- vkou 10y agoCatholics.
- Cacti 10y agoAlmost all? Catholicism, Evangelical in general, Pentecostal, Lutheran, Baptist, etc. It's most assuredly not remotely mainstream. Note that the megachurches you're referring to are in most cases not part of a branch of Christianity but stand alone.
- maxerickson 10y agoAre you all using the same definition of "modern denomination"?
- rrauenza 10y ago...and the same definition of "prosperity gospel"?
- thebooktocome 10y agoOkay, Catholicism. Fair enough. But I think you're wrong about every other denomination on your list. I've been to enough Baptist and Lutheran churches to feel justified in disagreement. The Presbyterians (including our president) feel much the same way. The simple fact is that God's blessing = economic prosperity is practically biblical. "May his tribe increase" and all that. Also I'm not OP and did not refer to megachurches.
- dragonwriter 10y ago> I've been to enough Baptist and Lutheran churches to feel justified in disagreement. The largest Baptist (Southern Baptist Convention) and Lutheran (both ELCA and Missouri Synod) denominations absolutely reject it. Baptist and Lutheran are broad traditions, not unitary denominations, and there are certainly minor groups that identify with those traditions that preach either the particular beliefs of the modern "prosperity gospel" or other things that fit within the broader ambit of prosperity theology. > The Presbyterians (including our president) feel much the same way. Presbyterianism is a branch of Calvinism, and it's unsurprising that the Calvinist doctrine of the visible elect would be more influential there than in other branches of Protestantism (or non-Protestant Christianity.)
- metaphorm 10y agoyou should edit your post to more specifically say "certain popular sects of Evangelical Southern Baptist Protestant Christians" instead of just "Christians".
- Arizhel 10y agoIt's the majority of Christians in America these days. It's not like all those mega-churches are mostly-empty on Sundays: they have thousands of people attending every week and pouring money into the coffers. And it's not like the tiny, little non-megachurches have somehow stuffed thousands of people into those little buildings.
- metaphorm 10y agoplurality probably, not majority. you're right though that they tend to be far more engaged with their religious community than other nominal Christians are.
- wl 10y agoThat would still be wrong. Prosperity theology is not particular to Southern Baptists and my experience is that most SBC churches oppose it. The most prominent manifestation would be the Word of Faith movement in charismatic circles.
- cmurf 10y agoSad to break the news to them, they will always and forever be underclass to the aristocracy. They will never join their ranks. Even these rich ministers don't qualify. Their aspiration is totally delusional, aside from the religious component. But Republican elected officials have to keep trying to grow their market though. There simply aren't enough plutocrats to win elections. So they're going to continue their enhancements to the Nixon southern strategy until the party blows itself up (or the country, whichever happens first). You can pretty much see it's only the old GOP who have some sense of social moderation, that not all cooperation is collectivism, and not every government office or program is socialism, and sometimes those things have consequences society likes and wants. The Paul Ryan Republicans are basically a huge FU party, sometimes though they do say please GFY. So I guess they do have some standard of manners. But even Paul Ryan is poor in the eyes of a proper plutocrat. He's a tool of power, not power itself.
- jackhack 10y agoBigotry is a clear violation of HN rules.
- pasquinelli 10y agoYou are painting Christianity, even just modern American christianity, with a very very broad brush, but there is a connection between prosperity theology and predatory capitalism. But I think it's mostly that prosperity theology is the expression of predatory capitalism in the domain of religion.
- dragonwriter 10y ago> But I think it's mostly that prosperity theology is the expression of predatory capitalism in the domain of religion. Prosperity theology (in its original form of the Calvinist visible elect) is older than capitalism, so if anything I'd reverse those: capitalism (which is inherently predatory, as noted in the initial critiques in which the system was named) is an expression of prosperity theology in the domain of economics.
- Arizhel 10y agoYeah, I wish I could edit that post to specify American Christianity, and exclude Catholicism.