ThefuzzyFurryComradeColorado Pastor: Sign These Anti-Trans Ballot Petitions or “You’re a Traitor” to Jesus
FoolishSageI’m not overly familiar with US laws or anything, but isn’t a church that messes with politics at risk of losing their tax exemption?
MirsheNot really, in practice. Thanks to Scientology, the IRS is extremely gun shy at doing anything to churches that violate their tax exempt status, or anything vaguely church-shaped for that matter.
How does one start a religion?
Like. Do you get followers and then write the holy book, or does the holy book come first or what?
Most of Christian history has been just using cherry-picked verses to create whole denominations. The Gospel of John is a good spot to start.
Joseph Smith took an alternate route - claims of visions to get followers then wrote the holy books.
it’s wild out here in bumfuckastan america. there’'ll be a town of <1000 people but they have like 200 different churches, one for each cluster of families…and only 1 or 2 people in each church could even tell you what denomination they are.
like…godamn…kind of understand why the catholic church used to just execute people for starting schisms.
I lived in rural western Missouri and that’s exactly how it was. One Walmart, one traffic light, and more flavors of apostolic Christianity than Baskin-Robbins has of ice cream in a town of less than 5k. Tiny churches everywhere.
I liked the variety of films they’d show: “Joseph Smith and the Temple of Doom,” “Mohammed: Satan’s Messenger,” and “Buddha and the Path of Damnation.”
QuasitReminds me of my uncle for some reason. He belonged to a tiny little church and dragged his wife into it as well. I used to say that he believed that he and the minister and possibly his wife were the only people who would be allowed into Heaven - and he wasn't too sure about his wife and the minister.
At his funeral his minister got up and gave quite a speech. In his southern drawl he invited us all to rush up to him, get on our knees, and accept Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.
I grabbed my father and my son fiercely to make sure they didn't go up in a spirit of comedy (my family has a strange sense of humor). Luckily I didn't have to struggle too hard. But everyone just sat there looking at the guy. My people are polite, but they aren't going to give up their own beliefs for ANYONE. Not when an entire nation tried to exterminate us for our religion!
(Although I should note that I'm a long-time atheist. But that was MY decision, no one else's.)
most of em arent even all that predatory, they’re just…for lack of a better term…dumb as fuck.
the 1-2 people who can even tell you what denomination their church is probably hasn’t even read their whole bible let alone studied the scriptures at all. and the brand of jesus they’re selling doesn’t work to calm people’s fears about death most of the time either, all they do is scare people into thinking (insert family member with above room-temp IQ who gtfo of that place asap) is going to burn in hell if they can’t convert them before they die.