The GOP has been perfectly okay with sending out self-contradicting messaging for quite some time now. It's not a new playbook for them. The reason they do it is simple: it works. If you can make people feel in-group love and out-group fear simultaneously, you've got them at your fingertips my dude. That's just how tribalism works. Anyth…
The GOP has been perfectly okay with sending out self-contradicting messaging for quite some time now. It's not a new playbook for them. The reason they do it is simple: it works. If you can make people feel in-group love and out-group fear simultaneously, you've got them at your fingertips my dude. That's just how tribalism works. Anything that is bad blame on the opposition and make it sound as terrifying and existential as possible, anything that is good claim credit for personally.
Think of it in the way you think about man's relationship with supposed higher beings from various holy books. Anything good that happens in your life is a "blessing from god" while whenever something bad happens, it's either "the devil" or "god working in mysterious ways." It's a self-reinforcing belief system for attribution. Bad things that happen are either from the devil, or they are from god--but that's okay because it's all part of his bigger plan for good things. Good things that happen can only come from god. It's now the same dynamic with political parties for the Chrisitian nationalists that fill MAGA ranks at Trump rallies.
Conservatives have internalized Christian nationalism and the religious way of viewing good/evil in the world to such a degree that it is now expressed through their politics emotionally by default. Anytime their side loses an election it must have been a trick by the devil (democrats), and anytime their side wins an election it was part of god's plan all along. Now "Real Americans" can "strap on the armor of god" and join Mike Flynn in his fight against secular government and radical liberals who are destroying the country in the name of Satan.
Same with media btw: "If our media says it that means it's real, if the liberal MSM says it then it's obviously a globalist (read: Jewish) lie." Same model the bible preaches where your god can do no wrong, and bad things only come from the devil working through the tribal out-group you demonize and fight against.
In the end, many churches are only as moral as the person in the pews who supports them the most. There's a financial interest that can't be ignored. So it becomes, well, yes, infidelity is bad, but you're really a good person so you're forgiven, and here's the collection plate. Not to belabor the point, but almost every Christian denomination in the South before the Civil War was just fine with slavery, actually, no big deal, maybe it's even good. You can't get over your skis and get much more moral than your congregation, or you'll be left without a congregation. And once you've established that it's fine and dandy if good people (defined by members of the church) do bad things, it's a hop and a skip to believing that good people must be inherently good, and therefore bad people must be inherently bad.
Southern churches were able to justify slavery so easily because it is not only justified but condoned in the bible. There are whole systems of rules around slavery recorded in the bible.
But yes, to your last few sentences that's exactly how it works. Go figure that religions that can forgive a deity for killing all of the babies on the planet earth with a flood could give Joe from down the block a pass on whatever the hell he did. If you worship a mass-murderer then of course you're going to have a massive forgiveness system--though it may be based around which god the sinner believes in. Muslims cannot seek eternal forgiveness from Christians and the Christian god unless they first convert. Thems the rules, set down by the guy who supposedly killed the whole world, recorded and spoken through the handful of men who he supposedly spoke to directly who later became prophets or whatever the fork.
The GOP has been perfectly okay with sending out self-contradicting messaging for quite some time now. It's not a new playbook for them. The reason they do it is simple: it works. If you can make people feel in-group love and out-group fear simultaneously, you've got them at your fingertips my dude. That's just how tribalism works. Anything that is bad blame on the opposition and make it sound as terrifying and existential as possible, anything that is good claim credit for personally.
Think of it in the way you think about man's relationship with supposed higher beings from various holy books. Anything good that happens in your life is a "blessing from god" while whenever something bad happens, it's either "the devil" or "god working in mysterious ways." It's a self-reinforcing belief system for attribution. Bad things that happen are either from the devil, or they are from god--but that's okay because it's all part of his bigger plan for good things. Good things that happen can only come from god. It's now the same dynamic with political parties for the Chrisitian nationalists that fill MAGA ranks at Trump rallies.
Conservatives have internalized Christian nationalism and the religious way of viewing good/evil in the world to such a degree that it is now expressed through their politics emotionally by default. Anytime their side loses an election it must have been a trick by the devil (democrats), and anytime their side wins an election it was part of god's plan all along. Now "Real Americans" can "strap on the armor of god" and join Mike Flynn in his fight against secular government and radical liberals who are destroying the country in the name of Satan.
I wonder if it ever backfires and at which point does it.
Same with media btw: "If our media says it that means it's real, if the liberal MSM says it then it's obviously a globalist (read: Jewish) lie." Same model the bible preaches where your god can do no wrong, and bad things only come from the devil working through the tribal out-group you demonize and fight against.
In the end, many churches are only as moral as the person in the pews who supports them the most. There's a financial interest that can't be ignored. So it becomes, well, yes, infidelity is bad, but you're really a good person so you're forgiven, and here's the collection plate. Not to belabor the point, but almost every Christian denomination in the South before the Civil War was just fine with slavery, actually, no big deal, maybe it's even good. You can't get over your skis and get much more moral than your congregation, or you'll be left without a congregation. And once you've established that it's fine and dandy if good people (defined by members of the church) do bad things, it's a hop and a skip to believing that good people must be inherently good, and therefore bad people must be inherently bad.
Southern churches were able to justify slavery so easily because it is not only justified but condoned in the bible. There are whole systems of rules around slavery recorded in the bible.
But yes, to your last few sentences that's exactly how it works. Go figure that religions that can forgive a deity for killing all of the babies on the planet earth with a flood could give Joe from down the block a pass on whatever the hell he did. If you worship a mass-murderer then of course you're going to have a massive forgiveness system--though it may be based around which god the sinner believes in. Muslims cannot seek eternal forgiveness from Christians and the Christian god unless they first convert. Thems the rules, set down by the guy who supposedly killed the whole world, recorded and spoken through the handful of men who he supposedly spoke to directly who later became prophets or whatever the fork.