Conservative evangelicals aren't hypocrites -- they're sadists

[pangaia]

Conservative evangelicals aren’t hypocrites — they’re sadists
ALTERNET
Written by John Stoehr, The Editorial Board

I understand why it’s hard for normal people to believe that white evangelical Christians are sadists. Normal people have never been, as I was a long time ago, on the inside of that shadowy religious world. But the sooner they understand this, the sooner normal people will see that white evangelical Christian support for Donald Trump isn’t rooted in hypocrisy, contradiction or merely straying from the straight and narrow. The reason they support a fascist president is simple: They’re sadists.

The pleasure white evangelical Christians derive from the suffering of human beings deemed less human than they are is not about sex. It’s about the pain, humiliation or even violence out-groups deserve by dint of being out-groups. Gay men, for instance, deserve their punishment because they are gay. Punishment for being gay is “divine justice.” From such “justice” comes pleasure—which is sadism.

But normal people must understand the animating force behind that cruelty. Sadists are sadistic not because they are cruel. It’s much simpler than that. They are cruel because being cruel to people deserving cruelty feels good.

https://www.alternet.org/2019/09/conservative-evangelicals-arent-hypocrites-theyre-sadists/

[Zorro]

1. Yep. They want people to suffer.

Just like Jesus suffered.

[Coventina]

2. I remember, back when I was forced to attend an evangelical church by my parents

a guy practically salivating over the idea of people being tormented forever in hell.

I was seriously creeped out by it.

[Initech]

3. They don't worship Jesus. They worship the old testament God.

And that god is a raging narcissistic egomaniacal asshole. Much like Trump.

[erronis]

6. They worship the guy standing in the pulpit saying they should worship that god.

They are but sheeple. It could be Baal or the FSM. The poor people in the pews just want to be told what to do.

[stopbush]

14. Oh, they worship Jesus. He was no bargain, either.

[Newest Reality]

4. The Shadow Knows!

Bwahahaha.

It's Yin-Yang. Suppressing the negatives in order to reinforce a positive facade would have that kind of a dynamic and I have seen it over and over.

They either get to suppress or indulge those traits rather than be aware of that and resolve them. They are "being thought" rather than thinking them, and I don't think they understand that or how to observe and balance their minds. The momentum of identifying with a facade while disavowing the "compulsion to sin" is a product of both a lack of humility and a great poverty in insight.

[pangaia]

8. They are "being thought" rather than thinking them, and I don't think they understand that or how to

observe and balance their minds."
"Being thought" is perfect.

That is really it.

Everything 'happens TO them.' They do not "DO" anything.
"IT" thinks. "IT" feels. "IT" goes to the store." "IT" cooks dinner.
Never does "I" do anything. They have no attention, no being. They are asleep.

We all do this, of course. But sometimes, hopefully, something wakes us up... not with that type, however.

[Newest Reality]

12. Yes!

I am more process oriented, so that is why I look at the "how" more than just the why, what, where, when of things.

Yes, we are all functioning in our own reality tunnels, or bubbles, and much of that has to do with our unconscious processes, which are both a blessing and a curse. One can easily observe this in action and it can be so transparent that we may not even notice it, e.g., our many biases and capacity to project and even be hypocritical in certain circumstances.

A simple illustration would be anything we learn to do by rote. How much do we have to think about driving a car, riding a bike, tying a shoe, etc.? It is a learned, habitual pattern and it is great that we don't have to think about every step of the PROCESS. In fact, doing so can trip one up, as with playing a song on a musical instrument that one is adept and and knows well. The same applies to many of our values, beliefs and behaviors. It is great not to have to constantly think about and reinforce who you are, where you stand and your various proclivities, but obviously this can be problematic for anyone when it comes to being flexible and adapting to new information and situations.

I am just going over that briefly because I think it is more insightful and helpful and it can be a power tool. The how is the process and the other four W's are more about the contents. When we focus on the contents, we can get lost in the details and miss the how of it. That's when we resort to mere judgements and generalizations and then, we are often just getting our own biases thrown back at us.

So, you get it. Considering that early modeling and influences play a role by inculcating basic patterns in children, it becomes easier to understand evangelicals and other groups, even if we are generalizing. You could put this in the same category as addiction only it is more subtle, yet pervasive, with the pros and cons I mentioned. The processes and patterns are difficult to change, but they can be with understanding.


Thanks for your comment on that. I think it is important to consider this in order to be able to respond rather than merely react, and there is a difference.

[GulfCoast66]

5. Ok. Not wanting to piss off the Liberal Christians, which most Democratic voters are.

Because there are many types of Christians and Christian beliefs.

But I grew up evangelical. And evangelicals are sadist because god as they see him is also a sadist.

They believe that he knew when he created humans he knew that most would never be Christians and accept the whole Jesus thing and he would send them to eternal suffering. But he created them anyway. Yeah, nice guy.

And it was reading the works of Hume, the greatest English speaking philosopher that began me on my road to being a Freethinker. He said, and I paraphrase badly because it has been years since I have read his works and I have had a few bourbons and don’t feel like looking it up:

Supposedly God hates evil and if he is unable to prevent it the he is impotent. If he is able to prevent evil but not willing he is malevolent. If both able but unwilling the what is evil?

Like I said. Evangelicals are sadist because the god the belief in is.

[erronis]

7. Huh? I don't think most Democratic voters are liberal Christians.

I'll go along with the liberal part.

But as far as religious preferences, I'd guess most are sorta one way or sorta another.

Christian implies actively following the teachings of Christ. (That's why the repuglicons aren't.)

[pangaia]

9. I'm guessing Gulfcoast66 mean most DUers who are Christians are liberal Christians.

Something like that... I could be wrong..

[GulfCoast66]

13. Thanks for chiming in and defended me. But that not quite my meaning.

Well, pretty much agree that there are liberal Christians. But they actually make up the majority of our party.

And since my last post I looked it up. 75% of Americans identify as Christians. So running against Christians is a bad idea!

But obviously many of those Christians vote Democratic. If not we would be a minor party.

We dare not be seen as anti-Christian.

But keeping religion out of government. We win big time. Even some of the evangelicals agree with that.

When you see a candidate say they would not have an abortion but do not want government deciding it, that is the majority opinion.

Don’t agree with Abortion, don’t have one.

Don’t agree with gay marriage, don’t marry a person of your sex.

But leave others alone. This is a winning message.

[pangaia]

15. I was just guessing.. thanks for the explanation..

[GulfCoast66]

11. Well. You are wrong. DU. Yeah, maybe. But there are plenty of believers here.

But US voters? And Democratic voters? Over 70% of Americans identify as Christian. And African Americans at an even higher rate. In other words our voters.

We dare not be seen as attacking Christianity. We will lose. But not all Christians identity as the religious right. A majority in fact. Less than 20% of Americans call themselves nonbelievers and I am not sure I place myself in that group. I am a rationalist. I can’t prove there is no supreme being but can prove the Bible is not factual. So don’t worry about it.

But a large majority of Democratic voters considered themselves Christians. I’m surprised you don’t know that.

But most Americans don’t want government being an arm of any religion.

Few self proclaimed Christians will vote for an Atheist candidate. Democratic or not.

[Girard442]

10. I wrote this a while back about Christianity, Hell, and Trump. It seems relevant.

Imagine that some years after the end of World War II, you had had an encounter with a still-living Hitler. (This couldn't happen now. Hitler would have been 100 years old in 1989.) You decide that the man had been insufficiently punished for his crimes and so you decide to kidnap him and torture him for the rest of his life. Let's assume that you somehow have the expertise to inflict continuous excruciating pain on him without actually shortening his life.

It would seem to me that most people, even if they started to do such a horrible thing, would soon be overcome by the screams of agony and the constant pleas for mercy and would say to themselves, enough, even if it is Hitler.

Now think about the Christian doctrine of Hell. What the most hard-edged Christian beliefs say about Hell is that it is unending eternal agony inflicted on those who do not accept Christ as their personal saviour. Not just for evil dictators who inflict gruesome torments and death on millions of innocent people, but for all those are unbelievers or who aren't "born again". And not just for a day or a month, or a lifetime, but forever.

A lot of people have problems with this and the more liberal denominations have managed to rationalize or de-emphasize the idea of Hell in one way or another whereas the sects most closely associated with the religious right tend to embrace it. If you Google the various denomination's writings on Hell, you can see exactly what I mean. I'll avoid linking to specific examples lest someone think I'm cherry-picking.

Anyway, the upshot of this is that the theology of the religious right directly appeals to people who want and need to see cruel vengeance wreaked on anyone who they think has done them wrong. In other words, haters. It's not hard to see how someone like Donald Trump would appeal to people like that. Trump is basically a grudge in a man suit.

[ashredux]

16. You nailed it....Mike Drop

[dlk]

17. They are Certainly a Twisted Lot