I have never understood conservative Christianity or its obsession with sex and private morality. Jesus to be me was a gentle anarchist who was crucified for preaching a new way of looking at life based on what today we would call socialist principles or public morality. He taught us to care for the whole of creation which is hardly compatible with the conservative record or ideology. It's not surprising when the ruling class gets upset with Anglican bishops who occasionally raised the issue of social justice rather than rant on about abortion and gay marriages.

I used to work in Parliament House and attend the Christian prayer breakfasts but they were horrified if you suggested a guest speaker who had a progressive message - they wanted to keep politics out of it. Not surprisingly they were nearly all conservative Christians.

This doesn't mean you have to run as a Christian political party in secular Australia but it does involve you in working with NGOs for social justice, stewardship of resources, peace and human rights which no government in Australia will like. You expect that. Look what happened to those old prophets who preached justice and righteousness. No-one wants to be disturbed by that sort of stuff if you've got it made.

There is nothing remotely resembling Christianity in prosperity theology though it might make you feel good. I guess it's like the old days when Christianity was part of the social fabric to keep the revolting masses in their place only today it seems to have become positively reactionary and bears no resemblance to the Gospel message.

Jesus would arrive from the Middle East today in a leaky boat with no passport and both Kevin and John Howard would lock him up on Christmas Island, calling him a potential terrorist to boot.

Secularist are totally hypocritical when it comes to moral policy. I noticed Ms Gillard showing some sort of moral outrage about Lara's nude shot being shared around. If that was Mr Abbott the press would be hyperventilating in an effort to demonize his 'outdated' views. Without the Christian influence we would be all living like barbarians in this country (look at pre European settlement). This is clearly seen by the dwindling influence of Christianity now and the increase in violence, abortion, deceit, child abuse etc.

Yeah, runner, unlike those fundies that use quotes to "refute" evolution without having read the source, let alone the ones that take the quote out of context *for* them. When the ignorant are lied to by the hypocritical, the views you form are *so* much more admirable.

The incidence of all these terrible things was *so much* lower when the church had a stranglehold on our society. Yup *none at all* had abortions to avoid the immediate tirade from intolerant priests and stuffed shirts. Priests *never* abused their effective immunity from suspicion. Citizens *never* covered up rather than expose themselves to pillory for "scandal". Violence too has always been with us, arguably less now than ever. Get a helmet.

Dream on runner

Rusty

Where the hell are you coming from,runner?
Havent you studied anything of world history and the "golden" age of imperialism? All those wars were caused by religion.Christianity was the cause of millions of deaths.Christian culture made slavery an indispensible institution that promoted its fragile economies.More than half the globe was owned and abused by the British Empire on which the sun never set, it was so extensive.
Take a look at American intrusions in South America.
Want some more. Read the history of Palestine to see what religions have done to the victims there. The British were the principal villains. Please read, "God, Guns and Israel " by Jill Hamilton. There are hundreds of such modern works that reveal the Christian nexus and exploitation. It makes for sickening reading.
But before acquiring any modicum of the requisite knowledge there you are sooting your silly mouth off.
Stop running, runner. Slow down and look around.
I suppose there's none so blind who will not see.

Please. No more stupid comments.

socratease

Socrotease

I suggest don't dress your ignorance in such arrogance. Slavery was commonplace well before Christ came to earth in case you missed that fact. Take away your blinkers and you might be able to divert from your dogma. Have you heard of communism Socrotease? You are obviously oblivious to Stalin and Mao and Nth Korea. You obviously ignore that in this century more unborn babies have been murdered than people killed in WW1 and 2. If you are unable to see the fruit of secularism today it is obvious who is blind. Teen pregnancy, abortion, drug taking, suicide, pornography, child sex abuse are all a result of God forsaken philosophy known as secularism. Keep closing your eyes to the obvious Socrotease and just ease your conscience by believing the god deniers view of history which to a very large extent is fabricated.

And how would you know runner? More books and articles you haven't read for yourself? Since you just believe what you're told, 'n all.

Rusty.