313 The White Elephant-in-Cheif
By Dustin
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This week we are joined by Jason and Liz. In the news we have Trump finally going to far for some Christians, Amazon pulling conversion therapy books, Australian missionaries forgetting to give unto Caesar, and more. At the end we discuss harm reduction.
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NEWS
Christians finally condemn Trump’s racist rally — because he said ‘Goddamn’
Trump finally went too goddamn far for some Christians, by saying Goddamn at a rally. In fact, he took the Lord’s name in vain not once, but twice.
Peter Wehner is a Republican political adviser who served in both the Regan and George W Bush administrations. He’s been critical of Trump for some time, but he went on CNN this weekend to criticize his fellow evangelicals for their support of Trump. Saying:
“The bottom line is that he will fight for them,. Not that he himself is of Christian faith. Not even he himself is a manifestation of Christian virtues, but they feel like they’re involved in an existential struggle against a malicious enemy that they consider to be the American Left. And Trump will try and vanquish that enemy.”
“They feel like he’ll bring a gun to a cultural knife fight…that he hates the same people that they hate. And that he’ll employ means that’ll get it done.”
“I think a lot of these white evangelical leaders are doing more to hurt Christianity than the so-called New Atheists ever could.”
Conservatives are furious that Amazon pulled conversion therapy books from sale
Amazon pulled books by Dr. Joseph Nicolosi from the store and conservatives are pissed. Nicolosi was a psychologist, Catholic, and the founder of reparative therapy, more commonly known as gay conversion therapy.
Christian family who argued taxes ‘against God’s will’ ordered to pay $2.3m bill
Fanny and Rembertus Beerepoot are siblings and missionaries in Tasmania. No one is sure what kind of Christian they are, but they run their family’s honey farm and store and have religious materials on the farm’s website. Fanny told the court that her sole occupation is to serve the lord and they identified themselves as missionaries, not farmers or merchants. What they told the Tasmania Supreme Court is that Australian tax laws are against the will of God, which is why they stopped paying taxes in 2011.
Included in the judgement against them, the judge pointed out that they failed to provide any Biblical justification for their stance and since there was not even a starting point for their defense he had no problem ordering to pay the $2.3 million in back taxes, administrative costs, and interest.
‘In No God We Trust’ signs were vandalized in Fort Worth
The Metroplex atheists hung 66 signs reading “In No God We Trust” from lamp posts around Fort Worth, TX leading up to a July 14 event they hosted. Within a few days four of the banners had been sliced. Since the group was expecting vandalism, they had extra made that were ready to go.
In response Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price tweeted:
“I was appalled when I saw the banners currently being displayed downtown, as I do not support or agree with the message. We must respect freedom of speech. As we approach the Fourth of July, we must remember that many Americans have fought and died for the freedoms we cherish today.”
Paige Schuppan is complaining about a Spiderman statue in front of the Lincoln Children’s Zoo in Lincoln, NE. She says that it resembles devil horns and quote: ““You understand that Devil worshiping is anti-Christian, and not a religion of its own. You have to be against the church in order to hold these evil beliefs. It is a Hate Crime against the church.”
In response, the city informed her that they would not be asking Campus Life and Youth for Christ Lincoln to remove the statue that is on display on private property with the permission of the property’s owners, and will be auctioned as part of a fundraiser for the ministry.
DISCUSSION – Harm Reduction
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