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Perhaps this belongs on the evangelicals thread. But since it's a response to this comment, I'll leave it here.

I grew up religious (Presbyterian), and although I don't practice now, my parents are very committed to their church and I go with them when we're home for holidays and such. The preacher that was there for 30+ years recently retired, and they have had a new preacher for the last 6 months or so. The Sunday before Christmas was the first time I heard him preach.

No joke, this is at least the 6th time I've talked about his sermon since I heard it, and I literally don't think I've ever discussed a sermon after the fact before. As one of my friends said, it was the most "woke" sermon he'd ever heard.

It was titled "Mary and Joe: Refugees" and talked about their trek to Bethlehem, and then subsequent journey to live in Egypt to avoid Herod, and then coming back to Nazareth when Jesus was a little older. He talked about the difficulties of being a refugee then and now. He differentiated between immigrants and refugees (as a subset) and defined what a refugee was. But did not differentiate between the two when he quoted Jesus and other portions of the Bible imploring us to treat foreigners in our land as we would our own people.

I was kind of blown away and impressed. And I still wonder what some of the blue hairs in the back were thinking.

IMO, Mainline Protestant churches like the Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Quakers, Methodists, etc. tend to be very different from Evangelical/Fundamentalist sects, like the Southern Baptists. While there's definitely still some Republicans in these groups, overall I've found over the years that members of these churches tend to be more liberal, or at least moderate, in their politics, even in small towns. The fact that all of these denominations, except for some Methodists, are usually more openly accepting of gay rights (and even Methodists are generally more tolerant of gay rights and marriage, at least in my experience, than Baptists), is evidence of this. The Social Gospel was a great product of Mainline Protestant churches. Until the 1960s Mainline Protestants actually outnumbered Evangelicals, and they were the dominant strain of Christianity in this country until they began a sharp decline in the 1960s, which has continued to this day. That allowed Evangelicals (like the Moral Majority in the 1970s) to replace them as the dominant voice in American Christianity, with some very negative consequences.
 
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IMO, Mainline Protestant churches like the Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Quakers, Methodists, etc. tend to be very different from Evangelical/Fundamentalist sects, like the Southern Baptists. While there's definitely still some Republicans in these groups, overall I've found over the years that members of these churches tend to be more liberal, or at least moderate, in their politics, even in small towns. The fact that all of these denominations, except for some Methodists, are usually more openly accepting of gay rights (and even Methodists are generally more tolerant of gay rights and marriage, at least in my experience, than Baptists), is evidence of this. The Social Gospel was a great result of Mainline Protestant churches. Until the 1960s Mainline Protestants actually outnumbered Evangelicals, and they were the dominant strain of Christianity in this country until they began a sharp decline in the 1960s, which has continued to this day. That allowed Evangelicals (like the Moral Majority in the 1970s) to replace them as the dominant voice in American Christianity, with some very negative consequences.

I think that’s a fair assessment. At least as it refers to white churches. There were certainly influential evangelicals throughout the history of progressivism in the US, but that voice is all but lost at this point. I do think if evangelical movements survive trump (I don’t think they will), younger evangelicals tend to be more progressive on most things. I’m fascinated at the future of The Church in America, but I think trump is probably the beginning of the end.
 
I think that’s a fair assessment. At least as it refers to white churches. There were certainly influential evangelicals throughout the history of progressivism in the US, but that voice is all but lost at this point. I do think if evangelical movements survive trump (I don’t think they will), younger evangelicals tend to be more progressive on most things. I’m fascinated at the future of The Church in America, but I think trump is probably the beginning of the end.

Yeah, I should have added that what I said mainly applied to white churches. I think white Evangelicals started going off the rails in the 1920s with the Scopes Monkey Trial, KKK revival, etc., and then it really accelerated in the 1970s with Falwell, Sr. and the rise of the Moral Majority, followed by 80s televangelists like Jim and Tammy Faye, Pat Robertson, Swaggart, and all the rest. Unfortunately they've become the voice and "face" of American Christianity for most younger people, and as you said, it's killing the church's long-term prospects. Within a half-century or less America may look much like Europe or Australia, with only a small percentage of the population being active Christians. The current charlatans like little Falwell and Franklin Graham are making out like bandits, though.
 
And then they’ll complain that the liberals killed Christianity while staring at their painting of Trump beside their painting of white Jesus.
 
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There’s no smoking gun.
 
They’ve always been the base. The party used to not cater to their every whim though.
 
Please tell me you don’t actually know someone who posted this.

I do. And he claims to be a veteran, although I haven't kept in touch enough since high school to confirm. He's 34 years old. There are plenty like him in ENC.
 
Grabbing balls and putting up middle fingers is pretty damn American.
 
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