Hello. And Bye.

In the USA the fastest growing "religion" is Witchcraft.
Now what does that say I wonder?

Mark Twain reminded us that “the universal brotherhood of man is our most precious possession”. True Christians believe that God created man to be his children and that the brotherhood of man, under God, is the basis of all social morality, and the divine source of authority for it. Modern Christian pilgrims, such as Catholic priests in Latin America, have witnessed poverty, persecution and oppression and been spurred on from Christianity to social action and democratic socialism, based on their Christian faith. "If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." (1 John 3:17-18)

The Levellers of the seventeenth century represented a population liberation movement which can be traced right back to the teachings of the Bible. They represented the aspirations of working people who suffered under the persecution of kings and landowners, as they will suffer again if the Tories have their way for long enough. The English reformers of the early nineteenth century drew many of their ideas from a mixture of Christian teaching, religious and political dissent, social equality and democracy. This fired the imagination of generations of Congregationalists, trade union pioneers, early Co-operators, Socialists and the Chartists, who also used language which the Levellers themselves might have spoken.

The Labour Party began its life in a Methodist chapel. Methodism was founded by John Wesley, and he saw his parish as the whole world. The urban industrial working classes at that time were generally neglected by the Church of England - "the Tory Party at prayer” - but Wesley’s passionate evangelism provided the emotionally satisfying faith that met their needs. Wesley wrote a pamphlet condemning the slave trade and taught that Christians must wholeheartedly oppose slavery, and he had no time for the rich, saying "to speak the rough truth, I do not desire intercourse with any person of quality”. Methodism had all the appearance of a poor man's religion.

The aristocracy and other assorted Tories resented any philosophy that spoke of equality, even in the sight of God. The Duchess of Bedford found Methodist doctrines "most repulsive and strongly tinctured with impertinence and disrespect". It is, she wrote, "monstrous to be told that you have a heart as sinful as the common wretches who crowd the earth". It was comments like that which made Wesley preach his sermon on wealth, concluding that "it would not be strange if rich men were, in general, void of all good disposition and easy prey to evil”.

Ask yourself who Jesus would have sided with over that issue, the Duchess of Bedford or John Wesley? Jesus was a carpenter, a member of the working class. He associated with fellow workers, such as fishermen. He wasn’t born with a platinum spoon in his mouth, he didn’t go to the first century equivalent of Eton, and he didn’t join the Bullingdon Club and smash up restaurants. He didn’t accumulate great wealth and associate with the rich and powerful. He wouldn’t have made it his priority to want to cut taxation for millionaires. The Bible tells us “do not store up riches for yourself here on earth” (Matthew 6:19), and “it is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.” (Luke 18:25).

In the twentieth century, the Church of England has become more progressive, and therefore more Christian. In 1985, it produced a report entitled ‘Faith in the City’, which criticised the Tory government's neglect of British inner-city areas. Many in the Church of England realised that the Thatcher antichrist’s support for the ethos of individualism and wealth creation, and her 1987 claim that "there is no such thing as society, there are individual men and women, and there are families” was uncaring and anti-Christian. Anyone who thinks that they can come to Christ’s fraternal table while supporting the Conservative Party, an outfit committed to furthering the interests of the rich and powerful whilst neglecting the poor, is both a sinner and a hypocrite.

i) Christianity has nothing much to do with denominations. It never really was, but the perceives apostasy of denominations in recent decades has made the divide more obvious. In the UK there are now probably more Christians outside denominations than there are in them.

2) The term 'evangelicalism' has a meaning in the USA that is neither historic nor similar to the same term elsewhere. It refers to a movement that seeks to impose morality on society in a medieval manner. This is entirely at odds with the evangelisation of evangelicals that seeks to offer the gospel to effect personal motivation towards moral improvement.

3) The expression 'born-again fundamentalism' has no theological meaning, though it may have a hate-laden pejorative quality. Any claimant to Christian belief must agree to the necessity of being born again- and there was recently a widepread vogue among churchy people of all sorts to claim 'born again' status. It is a manstream tenet of every mainstream Protestant denomination, fwiw. So there is no 'fundamentalism' about it. Whatever that word may mean.

4) Atheism is proved farcical every day, for those who have eyes to see.

Hello everybody, welcome to our website - which has a lot more relevance to the subject under discussion than "johnshop". We're discussing the topic of whether religion and politics can or should mix:-
http://cuttingedgeuk.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=displa...

Thanks Sebastian - very good to know of such spirit in your calling!

Little quarrel with St John (of the Gospel rather than of the 'Revelation'),

Greek influence clear, and moral horizons rediscovered in Renaissance.

Democracy came neither from Zeus, nor from Jesus, but from need…

An emergent and re-emergent political phenomenon / concept of necessity.

Failing to recognise each other as political equals, we leave rule to Mammon.

Thanks indeed due to the Greeks, to the Levellers, to those opposed to Hitler.

On Radio-4 recently, a church historian spoke of Jesus' teaching as 'rhetoric',

A modern day echo of Duchess of Bedford on 'impertinence and disrespect'!

We must help each other - deferential Labour, uncritical Scripturalists, Tories,

Only one thing worse than dismissing God, that is 'knowing God' in bigotry.

Even the holiest democrat surely in some sense a sinner, to beware hypocrisy;

And even the most strident atheist probably reacting to folly and/or hypocrisy.

Moving on from the past, after 2,500 years Greece may revive democratic hope.

Emergency income-rationing, at first a shock, will afford in it together experience.

Let us hope / pray / communicate / support / think of our own example.

Great piece.
I hadn't thought of it that way, but yeah you often hear of the Christian Right but rarely (never?) hear of the Christian Left. I hadn't expected the lefties like Dawkins and Grayling to lead the way into an Ivy-league style university.

You've spelt Satoshi Kanazawa's name wrong, which is a shame because anybody searching based on your article would miss this recent story:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/19/lse-academic-triggers-race-row

I do like that here in the USA we are still able to vote our conscience, and at least at this point, no one can take that away from anyone. http://atheistlegitimacy.blogspot.com/

Might bright colours 'make' a firework? I remember wondering about red berries.

Might an unusual flower or animal 'make' a medicine? Hope at least harmless.

Might a teacher of greed be successful? If the greedy wish faith to be shared.

Might it be wiser to say Lord! Lord! than not? Unless in your heart, or forever.

Might all be thought in a sense true? Unless in a cowardly sense, and forever.

Might faith be transformed rather than ditched? If comfort can be risked for truth.

Might we live as well as vote with conscience? If we vote equal freedom for all.

Might injustice be best answered by charity? Unless giving silences conscience.

Might progressive tax and benefits bring justice? To willing slaves of Mammon.

Might our children forgive our surrender of democratic direction? If they survive it.

Might we all forgive each other in Heaven? More than a small presumption here.

Might divine dictatorship be safer than democracy? Wiser to make you own luck.

Might there be any other way than the eye of the needle? No. not really.