Mastodawn

Barry Schwartz 🫖Dec 25, 2022

@wdlindsy Have we heard anything about excommunicating Greg Abbott?

I think not.

The BEST Words Dec 26, 2022

@chemoelectric @wdlindsy No, excommunication is for those who won’t inflict these doctrines on non-believers.

@Language1230 @chemoelectric I'm not keen on the idea of excommunication, but would like to see a clear, strong statement by the US Catholic bishops that actions like the ones Abbott and DeSantis are taking with migrants contradict core Catholic values.

@wdlindsy @chemoelectric Well, I don’t care either way, but am mindful of those who went after Kerry, Biden, Pelosi, and kept their tax exempt status. Clergy should lose tax exempt status if they wade into politics. It’s the Grand Bargain (also, that they help the poor, but good luck with that). I’m not anti-religion, I am anti most favored status for grabbing money, but not providing for the poor. #OldSchoolDemocrat #Progressive #FairTaxation. Am I getting better?

@Language1230 @chemoelectric I think that tax exemptions for churches harm churches.

@wdlindsy @chemoelectric Why?

@Language1230 @chemoelectric

Why what? I'm sorry, but don't know what you're asking.

@wdlindsy @chemoelectric Why do the exemptions hurt the churches? I know how they hurt the communities. Lack of property or income taxes, regardless of the income/charity index. In my view, tax-free churches historically was based on faith-based charity. Reference Osteen’s behavior during a hurricane….

@Language1230 @chemoelectric Giving tax exemptions to churches aligns them with secular government in a way that hampers their ministry. In the case of some nations – Germany comes to mind — where churches receive public tax support, they become very wealthy, and that compromises their religious witness.

@wdlindsy @chemoelectric Although, in today’s Christo-fascist America, Catholicism aligns beautifully with Catholic wishes. I’d like religion out of my civic life. That was promised in the Constitution.

@Language1230 @chemoelectric I strongly believe in the separation of church and state. Unfortunately, we live in a nation that has been accurately described as a nation with the soul of a church — in that, for a significant proportion of Americans, religion spills over into politics. Pretending that's not the case and keeping silent about this political misuse of religion plays right into their hands.

@wdlindsy @chemoelectric True, but the result is that the blurring of the line enabled this SCOTUS to impose it’s narrow interpretation of Catholicism on 350 million people.

Barry Schwartz 🫖Dec 27, 2022

@wdlindsy @Language1230
You know something? I'm experiencing some of that touchiness I mentioned before right now.

I see someone trying to bully others into making the subject Christianity, when the subject is actually that Abbott is a monster.

And all I did was say if he weren't a Christian he'd be just as vile to me.

I am a Jew, unbelieving but a Jew.I DO NOT start with the presumption that what is truly Christian is good. So I don't really care about the fake Christianity that much.

I'm sorry you feel bullied, though if you're calling me a bully, you're barking up the wrong tree. I suspect I'm every bit as touchy as you are at the fact that one of our political parties has identified itself with white Christian nationalism and seeks to impose that ideology on a a whole nation in a pluralistic secular democracy.

(1 of 3)

I don't see, however, that recognizing that evident fact, talking openly about it, and pushing back against it is an attempt to bully anyone at all. It's an attempt to STOP a certain set of US citizens with a lot of clout now, who are using religious warrants to try to bully the rest of us, from their bullying — including their anti-semitic bullying.

(2 of 3)

You may think that it's inappropriate to discuss the topic of religion in connection with pollitics, but the fact is, that topic is out there: it has been put out there by a political party with a white Christian nationalist agenda.

If people of any faith and no faith want to push back against that, I intend to stand with them, because I share their goal of combating the attempt to turn this democracy into a theocracy.

(3 of 3)

Barry Schwartz 🫖Dec 27, 2022

@wdlindsy @Language1230
To put it another way: as an atheist Jew, I do not have it as a goal to rescue the reputation of Christianity.

If you are recruiting Jews for this purpose, that is proselytizing the Jews.

Since I see my handle on this comment, I assume it's addressed to me. If so, can you please tell me where I have written anything at all indicating I am "recruiting Jews"?

The BEST Words Dec 28, 2022

@wdlindsy @chemoelectric On the former site, this is where the funny memes would be posted, Mel Brooks, Monty Python, etc.

@chemoelectric @wdlindsy This is not how I read it. Why do you think he’s recruiting Jews. For the record, I am Jewish, and don’t feel recruited. Yikes.