Brent Leatherwood's resignation reveals how the Southern Baptist Convention prefers reflexive loyalty to Trump over even the mildest forms of human decency
There is no idea so absurd there will not be people who believe it, and there is no leader so corrupt and incompetent there will not be people who will willingly follow. The Southern Baptists appear to have found Nirvana in Donald Trump. Christians warned of the anti-Christ for centuries, then when he showed up, they voted for him. Your rights and freedoms wouldn't last fifteen minutes in the hands of these people.
Rights? Freedoms? Those are only for white cis-het Christian men who agree 100% with their interpretation of the handful of Bible verses they want to use to maintain their power. Everyone else isn't considered fully human. The SBC is looking more like the NIFB every day.
Don't forget the women who claim to be christian but rabidly support Trump and his republican thugs - in congress, billionaires, violent convicted felons Trump has pardoned, christian nationalists and other racist groups...
To be fair, in that picture of Trump in front of St. John's Episcopal church, he was holding the book front forward and right-side up. This observation is based on the position of the bookmark ribbons. If it were upside-down, the ribbons would be sticking up, not down, and if it were backwards, the spine would be on the right side of the photo (Trump's left). Unfortunately for those of us who think Trump is a complete asshole, he was holding the book in the correct orientation.
As to what Trump was thinking, it was probably something like, "How long to I have to stand here holding this stupid thing?", and it's reasonable to assume he's never seen the inside of it.
Check https://tinyurl.com/2a434jrf. Of course the cover is blank, so there's no proof that the book he is holding is actually a bible and not just a bunchof blank pages (come to think of it, "a bunch of blank pages" is a pretty good description of that tome).
To make it clear: Mr Leatherwood, a far right MAGA Republican, has been forced out of his position in the SBC because he wasn't extreme 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩. The positions that are not far enough right are 1) maybe we shouldn't imprison women for having had an abortion, 2) maybe some people are temporarily mentally unfit to have a firearm, and 3) some brown people aren't criminals and are actually people. I would bet the biggest sticking point for the SBC is number 3. The mass deportations and the concentration camps are targeting brown people, including citizens. The SBC is returning to its (openly) racist roots and wants to encourage that. Number 1? Women aren't people either, so the SBC has no problem with jailing them for unapproved sex. Number 2? Most of the SBC doesn't think mental illness is real, and they're also 2nd amendment absolutists.
"This isn’t a denomination grappling with political tensions. This is a denomination rotting from the inside, one that punishes even the most modest dissent from extremist orthodoxy." Yup.
I'm willing to bet they're only 2nd Amendment absolutists until PoC and trans folks 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺 arm themselves. Watch 'em trip 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 their own hypocritical asses to enact stricter gun control, the instant they think it'll help them keep the uppity minorities in their place- it's not as if they haven't done exactly that same thing before.
There was a possibility that the Sydney Sweeney jeans advert was not racist. Then Trump weighed in. That erased that possibility.
But, typical narcissistic, said because she is a registered Republican that he liked the advert.
And partly I guess because somebody had to tell him not to say the real reason. He has shown before not to be intelligent enough to avoid saying his 'truth'.
It has also been discovered that the “left wing offense” to the commercial was right wing manufactured, as in, the folks complaining online to make it go viral were actually right wing bots and not actual people on the left. Honestly, if it hadn’t gone viral, I never would have seen the commercial at all. Same goes for the Arby’s and whatever the third one was with the guy. (I still haven’t seen those other two commercials, even with the buzz going on surrounding them, hell I even forgot who the kid was advertising for). Just like the vandalism and violence during protests are all manufactured and escalated by the right wing, this is an intentional play by the right to paint the left as hysterical. They still can’t pretend the political violence is practically entirely coming from their side. They try to claim every mass shooter lately is trans, but they can’t get past the ideological stances of all of them being conservative racists. The so called assassination attempts were both done by unequivocal conservatives. Even Luigi, who the left has embraced, wasn’t necessarily left wing, he was pretty wealthy so some folks believe he had some conservative ideals, he was just hurt by the insurance company.
They call us Left Wingers snowflakes who cannot take the slightest criticism. Then they have to get bots in the internet to get upset for us because we never even noticed the criticism. Olympic levels of projection as always.
We are just being manipulated by the company and the people who produced the advert. They know they are close to crossing a line.
I would not be surprised if the bots putting up the complaint are connected to the company. And if a payment was made to the Orange One to make a comment.
Yes it is racist, but we are so used to seeing these things that we hardly notice them any more. Most people do not even think about it. It's just one of hundreds of adverts we see every day. All of them trying to manipulate us. Car adverts trying to sell a lifestyle because all cars are pretty similar really. Phone adverts that show you cannot live without the latest model. Home adverts in spotless studios. And so on.
Chris, I’ve reached a point where I can no longer abide commercials on my boob tube. Yes, I’m old as dirt and twice as dusty, a miserable boomer who is out of touch with the mainstream. However, if I ever see another freaking Ozempic commercial my head will explode.
If I cannot tape a show and fast forward through the idiotic pharmaceutical ads of the day, I ain’t watching.
All sporting events? Likewise. Ever try to watch the last 2 minutes of ANY sporting event without screaming from the unbearable and constant commercial interruptions?
If it is a show on a streaming service, I have to pay the extra $10 a month to get it ad free.
We need to keep the noise out of our heads these days.
I watch almost everything after it is broadcast, just so I can forward the adverts. I am in the UK but big NFL fan. So most matches are very late or in the middle of the night here. I have not got 3+ hours to watch every game. And I have not seen a Superbowl halftime show in probably 20 years.
I certainly would never have heard of this particular advert except the BBC did an article about it.
I don't even watch TV any more, and I ignore every ad I cannot block outright. I'm so sick of being constantly harassed by companies trying to manipulate me into buying shit I don't need, and even less so given that I'm extremely, EXTREMELY broke. Yet Facebook keeps bombarding me with luxury cruises and designer clothes, when it isn't pestering me to donate to the poor and starving. It's disgusting.
Re: the ad, that makes sense. I couldn't see any liberal reason to get riled up about it.
You're probably wrong about riot vandalism though. I've seen a bunch of them first hand. Always, always, some people show up expressly to loot and cause trouble, and no political side has to manufacture that to have it happen, it just happens. Any time there's an anticipated riot, you've got some folks out there thinking "break a window, take free stuff." I'm sure there are plenty of political libs amongst the looters, they tend to be young and poor. But it's not an expression of their politics, they are just behaving criminal while lib, not behaving criminal because lib.
In some ways, yes there are those who are there for non political reasons, however there were many who were prosecuted that were right wingers that intentionally committed acts of vandalism and violence, the umbrella guy being the most famous. Then there’s the documented examples of police staging fencing, fencing it seems they don’t intend to actually use for directing people, but as a temptation for a mob to use. There were even pallets of bricks set out in some places preceding expected protests and even some backpacks with questionable contents. We’ve seen the police escalate on video, we know the Marines and the national guard didn’t need to be deployed to LA and they were hoping to escalate. The current regime is counting on us to just assume your scenario when they’re actively looking to escalate.
As a veteran of the “Portland Riots,” that was exactly how it went here. Daily protests, peaceful protests by FAMILIES, including young children. No issues whatsoever. The Portland Police Department had nothing to do.
When night descends, the anarchists come out. Mindless assholes interested only in destruction and violence to…make a point? No, there is no point. They are just anarchist assholes. These are the dick-cheese eaters that the Republicons call “Antifa.” There is no Antifa. It is a construction of the MAGAT “mind.” Their boogeymen.
I'd never heard of Sweeney until seeing those body wash commercials, and even then I thought she was just a fictional mascot like Betty Crocker or the Trix Rabbit.
The political tensions are caused by religious tensions (from indoctrination, of course). I remember hearing quite often how the world is out to get christians. The end times are nigh (and always will be). Paranoia is baked right into foundation of christianity.
Loyalty is a strong motivator. It will override all other principles if allowed. Most people don't understand that it can be abused (in the typical "I know, but it won't happen to me" way), and often will be when the power dynamic gap is large and the subordinate's beliefs don't align (abuse of power for sex is a tangential topic). Allowing that misalignment to get in the way will ultimately be viewed as dissent and backlash will ensue is not quickly corrected. Those in power will not tolerate it.
Ultimately, Leatherwood didn't represent the SBC and wasn't strong enough to resist the MAGAt's collective hive mind.
Now, I'm going to drift a bit.
It's easy to fall back on "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." But we can look back and see a lot of leaders who didn't declare themselves dictator on day one. They all respected the peaceful transition of power. I think it's less about absolute power than individuals that choose self-interest over self-control, and view those "below" them as lesser servants instead of focusing on broader social good. All while declaring that's what they are standing up for.
What a fun article this is, even on my 1st cup of coffee.
First, Brent Leatherwood. Well there’s a name that was made for a certain genre of video involving at least five men, a great deal of hair, a lot of tattoos, and the making of much moan. Not that I would ever watch such a movie, let alone be the star of one. Verily, I tell you truly, I wouldn’t.
Second, Megan Basham. She does indeed bash ‘em— big time. They sure do have a penchant— pronounce it Frenchly: pahn-SHAN— for funny or apt names. She talks about DC elites, oblivious to the fact that she’s including billionaires that she supports, and the president of the United States, also at least a putative billionaire. Silence, woman! The men folk are talking about God
Continuing the tradition, then there is Dusty Deevers, who opposes any kind of deeversity whatsoever. He wants drag criminalized. He wants watching porn criminalized. He thinks that anybody who would vote for a Democrat must be demon possessed—literally.
All of this represents the very full melding of hyper-conservative religion and hyper-conservative politics, despite what that guy who is no longer important to modern Christianity said about his kingdom not being of this world. To the absolute surprise of absolutely no one who has been watching this for any length of time, it’s all about power, money, religious dominion, and in the age of evangelicals overwhelming support for the most immoral and corrupt dimestore antichrist ever to disgrace the office of the president, revenge on anyone who dares to tell them that the fornication of church and state rarely produces anything but a bastard.
I mean, really, ethics and religious liberty! All irony has moved and left no forwarding address. It’s almost as if they support the most immoral and corrupt dimestore antichrist ever to disgrace the office of the president while making sure that the only liberty that counts is their own.
AND he just ordered nuclear submarines repositioned in the Arctic Ocean, in response to Putin's failure to reach a peace agreement with Ukraine. This is the same guy who once asked, "Why not use nukes?"
Not that it's news, but we have a madman in the White House. Several of them, in fact.
I think he knows that he's dismantling the government and with it the status quo, and I think he doesn't care. He may not drink, but he continues to be drunk ... with power, and no form of sobriety will ever be considered.
For the good not only of this nation but of the world and its citizens, he MUST be removed and SOON.
Vance belongs to Thiel. So the dismantling of democracy would continue under Faux Hillbilly. But Mike Johnson will have to switch which anus he's attached to like a remora.
Considering who the next few people in the line of succession are- and I do use the word "people" with uncommon generosity, here- I doubt things would get much better for us here in the Benighted States.
It's not about the Russians. They'd know of a reposition on their own. The news announcement is purely by Trump, for Trump, because he wants his audience to think he's tough.
Though I will optimistically hope that cooler heads in DOD were behind this (no, not Hesgeth), that it serves a real, valid, deterrent purpose, and that this is just Trump taking credit for other peoples' work the way he does.
The device since the early fifties use that original fission bomb to trigger the main device. Their yields are around two orders of magnitude higher than Little Boy and Fat Man.
I highly recommend anyone who wants more coverage of this go read Captain Cassidy's articles on it over at Roll to Disbelieve. She covers the history of the ERLC and SBC factionalization in detail.
One issue that doesn't come out in public and which Hemant didn't mention is that there are two warring factions in SBC leadership who have split over how to handle all the sexual abuse scandals and lawsuits baptist churches have been facing over the past decade or so. One faction (named 'pretend progressives' by Captain Cassidy) which includes Leatherwood and the ERLC, wants to grapple with the issue to prevent or reduce future lawsuits. They don't care about women or minors per se, but they do want to stop the financial bleed by, for example, not keeping pedophile priests on the payroll in the future. The other faction ('old guard') doesn't want to do that - they just want to ignore the issue altogether. (Some old guard members are so absurdly opposed to doing anything that they want the SBC to reduce the money it spends defending itself in these court cases. Because not showing up in court always works in someone's favor, right? But I digress...) Anyway, the old guard has been trying for years to get pretend progressives out of leadership positions and kill the ERLC. Looks like they won this round.
Our Captain could quite easily write the history of the SBC.
But that is spot on, they are not progressives. It is just a legal box ticking exercise. They are still extremist, ignorant a**holes. Just not stupid extremists, ignorant a**holes.
So much of what we call diversity and inclusion is still this box ticking. People do not care, they just know they are legally required to act like they do.
Looks like the SBC has morphed into the AUCF - The American Union of Christianist Fanatics. The fanatic trusts no one because nobody can ever be as pure as 'they' are. We may no longer be fighting to get our Country back. We may have to fight to get out.
A lot of MAGA supporters actually believe the Democrats are the essence of evil. And that they are Left Wing extremists.
A lot of the problem seems to be that Trump has attracted a lot of people to vote for him who know next to nothing about politics and the constitution. The Dunning Kruger effect kicks in and they think they are experts in both things. They certainly do not know the difference from a soundbite and an actual policy. And they don't know when they are being manipulated. Trump, Putin, the mega rich and church leaders are all doing it.
Then you have the binary attitude of you are either with us or against us. Even if, as in this case, you are 90% aligned with the ideals of the group.
Trump himself is a walking Dunning Kruger effect. Dumbest president ever. Bush Jr. was so happy when Trump got elected because he now looks like a genius.
Like Ken Ham, who can only see the first two chapters of Genesis as a true and scientific set of facts. I think even the Jews that wrote the stuff knew it was myth.
And pro-lifers that think the moment a sperm meets an egg that the result is instantly alive. A beetle is obviously far more alive and aware than a microscopic bundle of cells, yet they would not hesitate in crushing one under their shoe.
But the irony is that they are voting in droves for somebody who is only paying lip service to their unattainable ideals. Not to say Trump does not share some of their values, like xenophobic levels of racism to name just one.
And in C S Lewis, the trilemma. Which assumed that the source document was true.
Once you realise it might not be there are a multitude of explanations of Jesus other than mad, bad, or god. And nobody is ever just one thing. I have done many good things, bad things, sane things, insane things etc..
A fundamental part of being a Christian is helping those less fortunate than themselves. One of the first things I did after converting was volunteer at my Student Union. It felt like the right thing to do.
These people are not Christians, they are Pharisees. They believe in the Old Testament fire and brimstone god. For someone they claim to know intimately, they know nothing at all about Jesus and what he said and did.
I can understand Christians who believe because they hope heaven is real, but not these people. And when I was a believer I felt exactly the same.
And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. ~~Ephesians 6:9
I realized the other day we're living the plot line of 𝐴𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝐹𝑎𝑟𝑚, and honestly, I expect this will end about the same if not worse.
With that thought in mind, I wish I could be surprised that the SBC has started chewing itself over the behavior of its leadership. Ever since I was a kid, these people have been pushing for more and more conservative 'values' and political agenda points, and honestly, probably it started long before I came along. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝐵𝐶 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑛𝑜 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑖𝑥𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙, 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚. There is no reason to think this leopard would even want to change its spots, because they see said spots as virtuous and upright. Leatherwood is just now being bitten by his own people for not showing enough religious-right cred, but he won't be the last by a very long ways; expect many more to follow.
I have no sympathy left to offer. Maybe I should, but at this point, that well is bone-dry.
Do they not hear themselves? Preborn children is a nonsense concept. Children has a definition that precludes the idea of being preborn. Preborn isn’t even a thing. Technically, yeah it tracks, but it could mean lots of things they don’t really care about, sperm are preborn , eggs, fertilized or not, are preborn, the absorbed twin is preborn, cancer is preborn. An acorn is preborn for that matter, fish roe, and reptilian, bird and platypus eggs are preborn. Okay, those last several aren’t really preborn because they never get born, the grow or hatch. You get the idea. Child is a specific developmental stage that can’t exist preborn. Baby is also a developmental stage that cannot exist preborn. The preborn has their own developmental stages and we should use them when discussing this matter.
It'd be nice if they could be bothered to recognize the subtleties of the issue, but they can't and indeed, won't. It's far easier to be reductive and simplistic and have a convenient dead horse to beat.
I don’t expect the MAGAS to know science, history (local or world), geography, classical literature, art and architecture, etc., if fact I expect the MAGAS not to know or understand the complexity and nuance of the real world!
And likely hundreds of thousands if not more fertilized eggs are flushed out of women's uteri each day because they failed to implant. An inconvenient fact that the Pro-Forced-Birth crowd continue to refuse to acknowledge.
They don't acknowledge it yet because they can't do anything about it. But when they have the detection ability and power, those slutty sluts who clearly Opposed God and did Terrible Sinful Deeds as clearly demonstrated by their miscarriage will be punished. The good breeders will be handed over to men for safekeeping from further sin, while the bad ones will be executed.
Offhand, I'd say that Leatherwood was forced out because he wasn't as big an asshole as the members of the SBC thought he should be. Or as much of a Trump kiss-ass, either. Seems like the angry ones are just getting angrier, and they expect EVERYONE around them to be as angry as they are.
“In essence, "Mercy is the greatest law" reflects the belief that compassion and forgiveness are essential principles for a moral and just society, transcending strict adherence to rules and emphasizing the importance of treating others with kindness and understanding.“ The S. Baptist religion is dying and money and power will not save it. Their rejection of mercy and compassion toward the stranger and the poor is but the smell of rot from the religion’s corpse.
There is no idea so absurd there will not be people who believe it, and there is no leader so corrupt and incompetent there will not be people who will willingly follow. The Southern Baptists appear to have found Nirvana in Donald Trump. Christians warned of the anti-Christ for centuries, then when he showed up, they voted for him. Your rights and freedoms wouldn't last fifteen minutes in the hands of these people.
Rights? Freedoms? Those are only for white cis-het Christian men who agree 100% with their interpretation of the handful of Bible verses they want to use to maintain their power. Everyone else isn't considered fully human. The SBC is looking more like the NIFB every day.
"white cis-het Christian men who agree 100% with their interpretation of the handful of Bible verses they want to use to maintain their power."
Including creationists.
Don't forget the women who claim to be christian but rabidly support Trump and his republican thugs - in congress, billionaires, violent convicted felons Trump has pardoned, christian nationalists and other racist groups...
I think you understand the situation very well. ;)
And even then.
Zero empathy for Brent Leatherwood.
“You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
Chisel that shit on his headstone.
Can’t disagree. He wouldn’t have been president of his hateful glee club if he’d been a decent person to begin with.
Where are the “decent” people of the club hiding, Kay-El? How can they remain silent?
There aren’t any. Any decent person blew this pop-stand years ago.
None, what so ever. These deluded fools float though life assuming the whole world agrees with them.
And if it doesn't they have a hissy-fit.
That is one bit where the Bible hit the nail on the head. It describes those who would support the Antichrist, and Trump voters are that to a T.
This is a man who held up a Bible for a photo op back to front and upside down. Like he never even looked at it when he picked it up.
And Shitler tear gassed the crowd of peaceful demonstrators present so he could get his “King of Hypocrisy” photo op near the church.
What a fucking shitbag.
As soon as I posted, I thought of ths
Holding a bible upside down and backwards in front of a church he's never been in.
To be fair, in that picture of Trump in front of St. John's Episcopal church, he was holding the book front forward and right-side up. This observation is based on the position of the bookmark ribbons. If it were upside-down, the ribbons would be sticking up, not down, and if it were backwards, the spine would be on the right side of the photo (Trump's left). Unfortunately for those of us who think Trump is a complete asshole, he was holding the book in the correct orientation.
As to what Trump was thinking, it was probably something like, "How long to I have to stand here holding this stupid thing?", and it's reasonable to assume he's never seen the inside of it.
Check https://tinyurl.com/2a434jrf. Of course the cover is blank, so there's no proof that the book he is holding is actually a bible and not just a bunchof blank pages (come to think of it, "a bunch of blank pages" is a pretty good description of that tome).
SBC vs. ethics. Aren’t those two opposing things?
They are, but because these people tend to see themselves as operating under divine sanction, they can easily rationalize around that paradox.
Seems to be mutually exclusive ideas, for sure.
"Rights and freedoms WOULDN'T last"? You mean they DIDN'T last. You're like me-it's hard to believe that our freedoms are GONE!
And to get our freedoms back is going to take a revolution. These fascists will not stop until they have stolen everything and left us all to die.
To make it clear: Mr Leatherwood, a far right MAGA Republican, has been forced out of his position in the SBC because he wasn't extreme 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩. The positions that are not far enough right are 1) maybe we shouldn't imprison women for having had an abortion, 2) maybe some people are temporarily mentally unfit to have a firearm, and 3) some brown people aren't criminals and are actually people. I would bet the biggest sticking point for the SBC is number 3. The mass deportations and the concentration camps are targeting brown people, including citizens. The SBC is returning to its (openly) racist roots and wants to encourage that. Number 1? Women aren't people either, so the SBC has no problem with jailing them for unapproved sex. Number 2? Most of the SBC doesn't think mental illness is real, and they're also 2nd amendment absolutists.
"This isn’t a denomination grappling with political tensions. This is a denomination rotting from the inside, one that punishes even the most modest dissent from extremist orthodoxy." Yup.
I'm willing to bet they're only 2nd Amendment absolutists until PoC and trans folks 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺 arm themselves. Watch 'em trip 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 their own hypocritical asses to enact stricter gun control, the instant they think it'll help them keep the uppity minorities in their place- it's not as if they haven't done exactly that same thing before.
That's why California prohibits open carry. Reagan wanted to stop the Black Panthers.
Self serving assholes
There was a possibility that the Sydney Sweeney jeans advert was not racist. Then Trump weighed in. That erased that possibility.
But, typical narcissistic, said because she is a registered Republican that he liked the advert.
And partly I guess because somebody had to tell him not to say the real reason. He has shown before not to be intelligent enough to avoid saying his 'truth'.
It has also been discovered that the “left wing offense” to the commercial was right wing manufactured, as in, the folks complaining online to make it go viral were actually right wing bots and not actual people on the left. Honestly, if it hadn’t gone viral, I never would have seen the commercial at all. Same goes for the Arby’s and whatever the third one was with the guy. (I still haven’t seen those other two commercials, even with the buzz going on surrounding them, hell I even forgot who the kid was advertising for). Just like the vandalism and violence during protests are all manufactured and escalated by the right wing, this is an intentional play by the right to paint the left as hysterical. They still can’t pretend the political violence is practically entirely coming from their side. They try to claim every mass shooter lately is trans, but they can’t get past the ideological stances of all of them being conservative racists. The so called assassination attempts were both done by unequivocal conservatives. Even Luigi, who the left has embraced, wasn’t necessarily left wing, he was pretty wealthy so some folks believe he had some conservative ideals, he was just hurt by the insurance company.
Thanks. Yes they are always looking for their Reichstag fires.
They call us Left Wingers snowflakes who cannot take the slightest criticism. Then they have to get bots in the internet to get upset for us because we never even noticed the criticism. Olympic levels of projection as always.
Every accusation they make is an admission of their real ideas.
Q: Where do right-wing snowflakes come from?
A: From snowmen's farts.
We are just being manipulated by the company and the people who produced the advert. They know they are close to crossing a line.
I would not be surprised if the bots putting up the complaint are connected to the company. And if a payment was made to the Orange One to make a comment.
Yes it is racist, but we are so used to seeing these things that we hardly notice them any more. Most people do not even think about it. It's just one of hundreds of adverts we see every day. All of them trying to manipulate us. Car adverts trying to sell a lifestyle because all cars are pretty similar really. Phone adverts that show you cannot live without the latest model. Home adverts in spotless studios. And so on.
Chris, I’ve reached a point where I can no longer abide commercials on my boob tube. Yes, I’m old as dirt and twice as dusty, a miserable boomer who is out of touch with the mainstream. However, if I ever see another freaking Ozempic commercial my head will explode.
If I cannot tape a show and fast forward through the idiotic pharmaceutical ads of the day, I ain’t watching.
All sporting events? Likewise. Ever try to watch the last 2 minutes of ANY sporting event without screaming from the unbearable and constant commercial interruptions?
If it is a show on a streaming service, I have to pay the extra $10 a month to get it ad free.
We need to keep the noise out of our heads these days.
I watch almost everything after it is broadcast, just so I can forward the adverts. I am in the UK but big NFL fan. So most matches are very late or in the middle of the night here. I have not got 3+ hours to watch every game. And I have not seen a Superbowl halftime show in probably 20 years.
I certainly would never have heard of this particular advert except the BBC did an article about it.
Likewise
Is it? I didn't think about race at all until someone pointed it out.
"Good jeans/genes" I took just to mean pretty. They coulda used Tyra Banks or Naomi Campbell and the double entendre would've worked just as well.
Agree, Eric. Haven’t heard this kind of uproar since L’il Brooke Shields was being exploited.
I remember that one. At least I understood the context there.
I don't even watch TV any more, and I ignore every ad I cannot block outright. I'm so sick of being constantly harassed by companies trying to manipulate me into buying shit I don't need, and even less so given that I'm extremely, EXTREMELY broke. Yet Facebook keeps bombarding me with luxury cruises and designer clothes, when it isn't pestering me to donate to the poor and starving. It's disgusting.
Re: the ad, that makes sense. I couldn't see any liberal reason to get riled up about it.
You're probably wrong about riot vandalism though. I've seen a bunch of them first hand. Always, always, some people show up expressly to loot and cause trouble, and no political side has to manufacture that to have it happen, it just happens. Any time there's an anticipated riot, you've got some folks out there thinking "break a window, take free stuff." I'm sure there are plenty of political libs amongst the looters, they tend to be young and poor. But it's not an expression of their politics, they are just behaving criminal while lib, not behaving criminal because lib.
In some ways, yes there are those who are there for non political reasons, however there were many who were prosecuted that were right wingers that intentionally committed acts of vandalism and violence, the umbrella guy being the most famous. Then there’s the documented examples of police staging fencing, fencing it seems they don’t intend to actually use for directing people, but as a temptation for a mob to use. There were even pallets of bricks set out in some places preceding expected protests and even some backpacks with questionable contents. We’ve seen the police escalate on video, we know the Marines and the national guard didn’t need to be deployed to LA and they were hoping to escalate. The current regime is counting on us to just assume your scenario when they’re actively looking to escalate.
As a veteran of the “Portland Riots,” that was exactly how it went here. Daily protests, peaceful protests by FAMILIES, including young children. No issues whatsoever. The Portland Police Department had nothing to do.
When night descends, the anarchists come out. Mindless assholes interested only in destruction and violence to…make a point? No, there is no point. They are just anarchist assholes. These are the dick-cheese eaters that the Republicons call “Antifa.” There is no Antifa. It is a construction of the MAGAT “mind.” Their boogeymen.
I really don't get the brouhaha over that advert. There's nothing even remotely racy about it. Okay, she's a registered Repug...but...what?
I'd never heard of Sweeney until seeing those body wash commercials, and even then I thought she was just a fictional mascot like Betty Crocker or the Trix Rabbit.
"Most of the SBC doesn't think mental illness is real, and they're also 2nd amendment absolutists."
Many sermons I heard as a child stated unequivocally that "so-called" mental illness was the result of "sin in the world."
The SBC is a sin.
Burn. It. All. Down.
Yesterday.
The political tensions are caused by religious tensions (from indoctrination, of course). I remember hearing quite often how the world is out to get christians. The end times are nigh (and always will be). Paranoia is baked right into foundation of christianity.
Loyalty is a strong motivator. It will override all other principles if allowed. Most people don't understand that it can be abused (in the typical "I know, but it won't happen to me" way), and often will be when the power dynamic gap is large and the subordinate's beliefs don't align (abuse of power for sex is a tangential topic). Allowing that misalignment to get in the way will ultimately be viewed as dissent and backlash will ensue is not quickly corrected. Those in power will not tolerate it.
Ultimately, Leatherwood didn't represent the SBC and wasn't strong enough to resist the MAGAt's collective hive mind.
Now, I'm going to drift a bit.
It's easy to fall back on "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." But we can look back and see a lot of leaders who didn't declare themselves dictator on day one. They all respected the peaceful transition of power. I think it's less about absolute power than individuals that choose self-interest over self-control, and view those "below" them as lesser servants instead of focusing on broader social good. All while declaring that's what they are standing up for.
The solution for mental illness is to jesus harder.
What a fun article this is, even on my 1st cup of coffee.
First, Brent Leatherwood. Well there’s a name that was made for a certain genre of video involving at least five men, a great deal of hair, a lot of tattoos, and the making of much moan. Not that I would ever watch such a movie, let alone be the star of one. Verily, I tell you truly, I wouldn’t.
Second, Megan Basham. She does indeed bash ‘em— big time. They sure do have a penchant— pronounce it Frenchly: pahn-SHAN— for funny or apt names. She talks about DC elites, oblivious to the fact that she’s including billionaires that she supports, and the president of the United States, also at least a putative billionaire. Silence, woman! The men folk are talking about God
Continuing the tradition, then there is Dusty Deevers, who opposes any kind of deeversity whatsoever. He wants drag criminalized. He wants watching porn criminalized. He thinks that anybody who would vote for a Democrat must be demon possessed—literally.
All of this represents the very full melding of hyper-conservative religion and hyper-conservative politics, despite what that guy who is no longer important to modern Christianity said about his kingdom not being of this world. To the absolute surprise of absolutely no one who has been watching this for any length of time, it’s all about power, money, religious dominion, and in the age of evangelicals overwhelming support for the most immoral and corrupt dimestore antichrist ever to disgrace the office of the president, revenge on anyone who dares to tell them that the fornication of church and state rarely produces anything but a bastard.
I mean, really, ethics and religious liberty! All irony has moved and left no forwarding address. It’s almost as if they support the most immoral and corrupt dimestore antichrist ever to disgrace the office of the president while making sure that the only liberty that counts is their own.
Oh, well.
*Sip her last mug of tea while reading*
Tea drinkers! I bet you have your pinky extended while you sip your tea!
Speaking of your elites! TEA DRINKERS!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2IJdfxWtPM
Oh the sarcasm. Oh the humanity!
I am the black sheep of my family 😁
Why are you giving up tea? 🫖
To have you asking why.
I like tea, especially Earl Grey while reading a good book too.
English Breakfast, Earl Grey and Double Red Rooibos.
It seems I should probably skip the double red rooibos since I'm already taxing my liver with medications.
"the fornication of church and state rarely produces anything but a bastard."
Now that is beautiful writing.
Thank you for the nice compliment. I try hard to be clever and entertaining. I’m glad that somebody notices it. *sniff*
OT
Correcting an error I made 4 days ago, today marks the 80th anniversary of the US dropping the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
A sobering thought: Today's thermonuclear devices make "Little Boy" look like a firecracker. And Trump has access to the nuclear codes.
AND he just ordered nuclear submarines repositioned in the Arctic Ocean, in response to Putin's failure to reach a peace agreement with Ukraine. This is the same guy who once asked, "Why not use nukes?"
Not that it's news, but we have a madman in the White House. Several of them, in fact.
And even if Trump weren't demented, the man is still inept. He has NO idea of what he's doing. Total incompetence. Just like the rest of his regime.
I think he knows that he's dismantling the government and with it the status quo, and I think he doesn't care. He may not drink, but he continues to be drunk ... with power, and no form of sobriety will ever be considered.
For the good not only of this nation but of the world and its citizens, he MUST be removed and SOON.
I don’t think he is aware enough to be drunk.
I’m not looking forward to Vance, but we will be able to manage him, Trump is off the rails in all ways.
Vance belongs to Thiel. So the dismantling of democracy would continue under Faux Hillbilly. But Mike Johnson will have to switch which anus he's attached to like a remora.
He's the US' own Maduro; doesn't matter what happens to the country, so long as he and his cronies are personally enriched.
It’s unfortunate that he kept his balance on the roof while he was raving on the White House. Coulda spared the country some suffering.
Considering who the next few people in the line of succession are- and I do use the word "people" with uncommon generosity, here- I doubt things would get much better for us here in the Benighted States.
𝘘𝘶𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘳, maybe. But not better.
A THOUSAND TIMES HELL YEAH!!!!
The US always has subs in the Arctic. The exact locations are classified. Not that I expect that bloated bag of shit to know that.
Now they're only classified until Cheetolini needs something to brag about.
Not new. He already revealed publicly the position of two subs during his first fiasco.
More reason than ever to keep him in the dark...about EVERYTHING...if his minions want to see another birthday.
It's not about the Russians. They'd know of a reposition on their own. The news announcement is purely by Trump, for Trump, because he wants his audience to think he's tough.
Though I will optimistically hope that cooler heads in DOD were behind this (no, not Hesgeth), that it serves a real, valid, deterrent purpose, and that this is just Trump taking credit for other peoples' work the way he does.
"Why not use nukes?" Not just for war mind you. Remember that they can also be used to deal with hurricanes.
The device since the early fifties use that original fission bomb to trigger the main device. Their yields are around two orders of magnitude higher than Little Boy and Fat Man.
I know. I try daily not to think of that.
I highly recommend anyone who wants more coverage of this go read Captain Cassidy's articles on it over at Roll to Disbelieve. She covers the history of the ERLC and SBC factionalization in detail.
One issue that doesn't come out in public and which Hemant didn't mention is that there are two warring factions in SBC leadership who have split over how to handle all the sexual abuse scandals and lawsuits baptist churches have been facing over the past decade or so. One faction (named 'pretend progressives' by Captain Cassidy) which includes Leatherwood and the ERLC, wants to grapple with the issue to prevent or reduce future lawsuits. They don't care about women or minors per se, but they do want to stop the financial bleed by, for example, not keeping pedophile priests on the payroll in the future. The other faction ('old guard') doesn't want to do that - they just want to ignore the issue altogether. (Some old guard members are so absurdly opposed to doing anything that they want the SBC to reduce the money it spends defending itself in these court cases. Because not showing up in court always works in someone's favor, right? But I digress...) Anyway, the old guard has been trying for years to get pretend progressives out of leadership positions and kill the ERLC. Looks like they won this round.
Our Captain could quite easily write the history of the SBC.
But that is spot on, they are not progressives. It is just a legal box ticking exercise. They are still extremist, ignorant a**holes. Just not stupid extremists, ignorant a**holes.
So much of what we call diversity and inclusion is still this box ticking. People do not care, they just know they are legally required to act like they do.
Looks like the SBC has morphed into the AUCF - The American Union of Christianist Fanatics. The fanatic trusts no one because nobody can ever be as pure as 'they' are. We may no longer be fighting to get our Country back. We may have to fight to get out.
You sure that the "F" stands for "Fanatics" and not "Fascists?"
Fanacists.
Fanatiscists.
Fantasfanatafascists.
"be as sure as"
Did you mean "pure?'
A lot of MAGA supporters actually believe the Democrats are the essence of evil. And that they are Left Wing extremists.
A lot of the problem seems to be that Trump has attracted a lot of people to vote for him who know next to nothing about politics and the constitution. The Dunning Kruger effect kicks in and they think they are experts in both things. They certainly do not know the difference from a soundbite and an actual policy. And they don't know when they are being manipulated. Trump, Putin, the mega rich and church leaders are all doing it.
Then you have the binary attitude of you are either with us or against us. Even if, as in this case, you are 90% aligned with the ideals of the group.
Trump himself is a walking Dunning Kruger effect. Dumbest president ever. Bush Jr. was so happy when Trump got elected because he now looks like a genius.
Ninety percent doesn't cut it with absolutists. Either you're with them up PAST your brow-line or you're a heretic.
Like Ken Ham, who can only see the first two chapters of Genesis as a true and scientific set of facts. I think even the Jews that wrote the stuff knew it was myth.
And pro-lifers that think the moment a sperm meets an egg that the result is instantly alive. A beetle is obviously far more alive and aware than a microscopic bundle of cells, yet they would not hesitate in crushing one under their shoe.
But the irony is that they are voting in droves for somebody who is only paying lip service to their unattainable ideals. Not to say Trump does not share some of their values, like xenophobic levels of racism to name just one.
Binary thinking is one of the neurological defects of the conservative brain.
And in C S Lewis, the trilemma. Which assumed that the source document was true.
Once you realise it might not be there are a multitude of explanations of Jesus other than mad, bad, or god. And nobody is ever just one thing. I have done many good things, bad things, sane things, insane things etc..
The SBC, who wouldn't shut up about the so-called "Antichrist," now swear fealty to the Antichrist in the Oval Office.
They weren't warning about the Antichrist. They were hoping for him.
𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑡𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑤 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠; 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡, 𝑖𝑓 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡.
-- Matthew 24:24
Delivered to their doorsteps, courtesy of their own ignorance.
Replace "great" with "bigly" and Matt's ghost-writer pretty much nailed it.
Jesus wept.
They are just following what Jesus said. it's right there in Matthew 25, 35-40:
𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 ℎ𝑢𝑛𝑔𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑓**𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑓**𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑖𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝐼 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑑 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑗𝑎𝑖𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜 𝑑𝑖𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑎 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑑𝑔𝑒, 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡𝑜𝑜 𝑏𝑎𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛'𝑡 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑥 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝐸𝑐𝑢𝑎𝑑𝑜𝑟.’
...'𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑙𝑦 𝐼 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑑𝑖𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒, 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒.’
A fundamental part of being a Christian is helping those less fortunate than themselves. One of the first things I did after converting was volunteer at my Student Union. It felt like the right thing to do.
These people are not Christians, they are Pharisees. They believe in the Old Testament fire and brimstone god. For someone they claim to know intimately, they know nothing at all about Jesus and what he said and did.
I can understand Christians who believe because they hope heaven is real, but not these people. And when I was a believer I felt exactly the same.
Nice job, Eric.
So... how're those leopards workin' out for you there, Brent?
What's that? Something about your face? Oh well. Can't make it out over the screaming. Guess I'll have to check back later.
LEOPARD (to other leopards): "Can you believe it? This guy stuck his head right in my mouth. Didn't have to chase him down or anything."
It is already a miracle that the pro-slavery branch of the baptist church has an ethics commission.
And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and there is no favoritism with him. ~~Ephesians 6:9
I realized the other day we're living the plot line of 𝐴𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑙 𝐹𝑎𝑟𝑚, and honestly, I expect this will end about the same if not worse.
With that thought in mind, I wish I could be surprised that the SBC has started chewing itself over the behavior of its leadership. Ever since I was a kid, these people have been pushing for more and more conservative 'values' and political agenda points, and honestly, probably it started long before I came along. 𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝐵𝐶 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑛𝑜 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑓𝑖𝑥𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙, 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑚. There is no reason to think this leopard would even want to change its spots, because they see said spots as virtuous and upright. Leatherwood is just now being bitten by his own people for not showing enough religious-right cred, but he won't be the last by a very long ways; expect many more to follow.
I have no sympathy left to offer. Maybe I should, but at this point, that well is bone-dry.
First let's clarify that the SBC has no ethics so this was a PR position.
Second, It's no surprise that the organization founded to preserve slavery, supports a racist/rapist treason weasel like donvict drumpf.
> "PR position."
They appoint the guy to make them look better and when he tries to do even the minimum they oust him.
The leopards not only eat faces, they eat the other leopards. Leave me out of it.
"1 million preborn children are being held in IVF clinics around the country.”
How many pre born chicken* this moron eat every month ?
* I know the eggs sold for consumption are not fertilized.
Do they not hear themselves? Preborn children is a nonsense concept. Children has a definition that precludes the idea of being preborn. Preborn isn’t even a thing. Technically, yeah it tracks, but it could mean lots of things they don’t really care about, sperm are preborn , eggs, fertilized or not, are preborn, the absorbed twin is preborn, cancer is preborn. An acorn is preborn for that matter, fish roe, and reptilian, bird and platypus eggs are preborn. Okay, those last several aren’t really preborn because they never get born, the grow or hatch. You get the idea. Child is a specific developmental stage that can’t exist preborn. Baby is also a developmental stage that cannot exist preborn. The preborn has their own developmental stages and we should use them when discussing this matter.
It'd be nice if they could be bothered to recognize the subtleties of the issue, but they can't and indeed, won't. It's far easier to be reductive and simplistic and have a convenient dead horse to beat.
Do you really expect for them to know basic biology ?
I wouldn't even expect them to know how to spell it.
I don’t expect the MAGAS to know science, history (local or world), geography, classical literature, art and architecture, etc., if fact I expect the MAGAS not to know or understand the complexity and nuance of the real world!
Too much for their feeble creationist-addled intellect.
Why don't the sperm in sperm banks count? Every sperm is sacred.
Because then they would have to inconvenience men instead of women.
BINGO!
https://youtu.be/fUspLVStPbk
And likely hundreds of thousands if not more fertilized eggs are flushed out of women's uteri each day because they failed to implant. An inconvenient fact that the Pro-Forced-Birth crowd continue to refuse to acknowledge.
They don't acknowledge it yet because they can't do anything about it. But when they have the detection ability and power, those slutty sluts who clearly Opposed God and did Terrible Sinful Deeds as clearly demonstrated by their miscarriage will be punished. The good breeders will be handed over to men for safekeeping from further sin, while the bad ones will be executed.
Offhand, I'd say that Leatherwood was forced out because he wasn't as big an asshole as the members of the SBC thought he should be. Or as much of a Trump kiss-ass, either. Seems like the angry ones are just getting angrier, and they expect EVERYONE around them to be as angry as they are.
And if you're not, you're OUT.
“In essence, "Mercy is the greatest law" reflects the belief that compassion and forgiveness are essential principles for a moral and just society, transcending strict adherence to rules and emphasizing the importance of treating others with kindness and understanding.“ The S. Baptist religion is dying and money and power will not save it. Their rejection of mercy and compassion toward the stranger and the poor is but the smell of rot from the religion’s corpse.