Evangelical Protestants and the GOP

[Al B. Sure!]

You seem to think that you have to be smart to be a christian. I thought you knew about these things.

Of course you don't have to be much of anything to be a Christian. You just need faith in God and accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior.

[Hauldren Collider]

Why sell them toaster ovens when you can give them a guided missile?

When America gives Christmas gifts, we don't screw around

[Imran Siddiqui]

Which for the past fifty years or so has been fed to various third-world countries like an hors d'oeuvre, skewered delicately on the end of a bayonet and seasoned with a mix of platitudes and cultural superiority.

Re: fundamentalists and evangelicals, the distinction does indeed go back a while; IIUC an evangelical is a fundamentalist who stresses the need to engage the world, rather than retreat from it.

In some regards, the right wing evangelicals can embody this. The main thing is that evangelicals believe very strongly in a "born again" experience, in the form of a personal conversion. They put a lot of emphasis on the Bible being authoritative (a lot of them believe in fundamentalist literalism) and on the death & resurrection of Jesus (to the detriment of Jesus's teachings). Evangelicals also stress the whole sharing the Gospel (well, how they define the Gospel anyways).

[Boris Godunov]

So apparently the other day Santorum essentially said that the Protestants were no longer true Christians:

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/02/18/427529/santorum-excommunicates-45-million-christians-mainline-protestants-are-gone-from-the-world-of-christianity/

We all know that this country was founded on a Judeo-Christian ethic but the Judeo-Christian ethic was a Protestant Judeo-Christian ethic, sure the Catholics had some influence, but this was a Protestant country and the Protestant ethic, mainstream, mainline Protestantism, and of course we look at the shape of mainline Protestantism in this country and it is in shambles, it is gone from the world of Christianity as I see it.

If the Romney campaign wants to prove it is competent, they should jump on this and blast Santorum to smithereens with it.

[Kidlicious]

Jesus himself put emphasis on his death and resurection and the need to surrender everything to him. Look at John 2 and 3. For example the Sadduccees asked him what authority he had and he pointed to his crucifixion.

[Barnabas]

Mainline protestants are those who were created in the XVI century, Anglicans, Lutheran, methodists etc, many of whom now accept gay marriage, female bishops etc, evangelical fundies are not mainline protestants.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Jesus put more emphasis on the "kingdom" (there is not any other word he mentions more, IIRC), which doesn't mean some in-the-clouds-after-you-die heaven, but bringing the Kingdom of God to Earth with Jesus as the only King.

[Kidlicious]

Jesus put more emphasis on the "kingdom" (there is not any other word he mentions more, IIRC), which
doesn't mean some in-the-
clouds-after-you-die heaven, but
bringing the Kingdom of God to
Earth with Jesus as the only
King.

"No one can enter the kingdom of heaven unless he be born again"
That is, unless he surrender all to Christ.

[Kidlicious]

Imran, it.'s important to know that the phaisees believed in bringing the kingdom of heaven by being righteous. What they didn't believe was that Jesus is the Christ. The pharisees were wrong. Human beings can not bring in the kingdom of heaven without believing in Jesjus Christ.

[Imran Siddiqui]

"No one can enter the kingdom of heaven unless he be born again"
That is, unless he surrender all to Christ.

Imran, it.'s important to know that the phaisees believed in bringing the kingdom of heaven by being righteous. What they didn't believe was that Jesus is the Christ. The pharisees were wrong. Human beings can not bring in the kingdom of heaven without believing in Jesjus Christ.

Yes?

[Elok]

If the Romney campaign wants to prove it is competent, they should jump on this and blast Santorum to smithereens with it.

As Barnabas said, "Mainline Protestant" tends to refer to Anglicans and such, who

A. Aren't all that lively in terms of membership and
B. Tend to lean left anyway, i.e. aren't a concern during the primaries.

Santorum just said what I would imagine the majority of Evangelicals are privately thinking anyway. Also, Romney, as a Mormon, is incapable of old-school GOP Jesus-fu. Jumping on it will only remind the base that he's not one of them.

[Kidlicious]

Yes?

It makes a big difference when you say that they believe in the same god. How can they believe in the same god and reject christ. They believe in being righteous and we believe in Christ.

[Elok]

Seriously, Boris, I can't fathom how that quote could hurt Santorum in the primary. A "Mainline Protestant" is somebody with a lesbian bishop.

EDIT: Also, Santorum's Catholic. By praising the Protestant foundations of the country (real or imagined) he was actually pandering to Evangelicals, not bashing them. The message was "I know I'm not one of you, technically, but I totally dig what you did there."

[Kidlicious]

II should add that though they believe in being righteous, they are not. No one is righteous but god.

[giblets]

II should add that though they believe in being righteous, they are not. No one is righteous but god.

Assuming there's a god, where is your proof that it is righteous?