what eye thynk: Ms. Tannehill manages to be spot-on while infusing a sense of humor into her article. I have shortened it a bit (to save time re-typing it).
I believe the article is completely accurate. As a woman who was raised in a Christian family, I find myself being more and more turned off by the Christian "organization" as a whole--mostly because so many churches (and yes, they seem to be the loudest ones) have given up on the lesson that God/Jesus/the Holy Spirit loves everyone.
I was brought nearly to tears by a recent photo I saw of a rainbow sign outside a United Church of Christ building that read "All are welcome;" but I couldn't help wondering if there was some hidden clause.
I can't bring myself to embrace any group that excludes many of the people I hold near and dear; and until "Christians" accept all my family members and all my friends, as God made them, I'll continue to identify as an agnostic. The "spirit" I believe in may not have a church of her own, and that's fine. She doesn't need one.
Off my soap-box....on to Ms. Tannehill's excellent article:...Conservative faiths are becoming increasingly insular and preaching to an echo chamber. This is creating a downward spiral of church membership overall as less and less millennials want to be a part of a brand that is increasingly unpalatable. And make no mistake, it is millennials who are leaving conservative denominations the fastest.
1. Fight battles you've already lost.
(The) marriage equality (battle) is basically over... Nothing says: "We're not relevant," like the culture war equivalent of giving CPR to a hamburger.
2. Deciding who's Christian based on how much they hate gays.
...If rejecting LGBT people socially, religiously and legally is your litmus test for who gets into heaven, most Americans will be glad they're not spending eternity with you, either.
3. Treating women like cattle.
Scott Walker answered a question...confirming his belief that women should not have access to abortion, even if continuing the pregnancy will kill them. Beyond that, we have pregnancies due to rape are 'a gift from God, 'legitimate rape,'...rape can't happen inside...marriage...'women's bodies have a way of shutting these things down.'
I think most women will breathe a sigh of relief when the possibility of becoming the Republic of Gilead grows a bit dimmer.
4. Rejecting science.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson once said that the great thing about science is it's true whether you believe it or not. Religious conservatives...reject the overwhelming consensus of the entire scientific community...
...The rest of (us) are left to look at then and wonder how humanity ever evolved past squatting in a ditch and poking berries of our noses.
5. Condemning everyone else's sex lives but their own.
The religious right takes controlling the sex lives of others to ridiculous extremes. Whether it is advocating we outlaw homosexuality again, keeping oral sex illegal, abstinence only sex education, making it easier to buy a gun than a dildo in Texas, trying to enforce unconstitutional laws on sodomy...or banning birth control, they're all for making sure that the only sex other people have is married, heterosexual, with the express intent of procreation...
...The problem is, they suck at following their own rules...
...Cheating on their spouses and blaming it on gays. Sex with minors as a high school coach. Letting their kids molest their other kids then announcing God has forgiven the molester for everything... Having multiple children with multiple fathers out of wedlock is ok too, because God understands people make mistakes when your mother is named Sarah Palin.
6. Telling people freedom of religion is only for Christians.
...While making the argument that religious freedom is the ultimate right we enjoy as Americans, it's only for the right sort of Americans.
7. Telling us all the awful things they'd do if they didn't believe in God.
For some reason, every time a conservative Christian like Phil Robertson or Mike Huckabee imagines what it would be like if they were...an atheist, what comes out sounds like a PCP induced crime spree. Voyeurism, rape, bestiality, murder...
...The thought that all that stands between you...going Charles Manson on us is the threat of punishment from a supernatural deity is beyond terrifying.
8. Taking out their phobias on children.
Nothing says more about a person's character than how they...treat innocent children. So when doctors refuse to treat children with lesbian parents... when adults are showing up to stage hate-fueled rallies and screaming at transgender children trying to go to school, there's pretty much no way to make your actions look warm and fuzzy.
9. Equating religious freedom with a special right to discriminate.
Christian conservatives are working hard to create the narrative that (the) most important religious freedom they possess is the right to discriminate against LGBT people. It doesn't matter if it was 60 years ago or today: "We don't serve your kind here," is ugly.
10. Showing how much you love people by harassing them.
The idea of "witnessing" to LGBT people and their allies is basically a form of pestering LGBT people about how much they are going to hell if they don't stop being gay.
As if LGBT people haven't been told this their entire lives, and forgot the first thousand times...
...Evangelicals and even Mormons have complained that they're not allowed to do this sort of thing at work, to co-workers, employees, and kids at school. When they are prevented from doing this, it rapidly devolves into a Monty Python sketch about being repressed.
Imagine for a second though, if a coworker decided a woman in the office was too heavy. Every day he would remind her that fat people are ugly and disliked... He proceeds to leave weight watchers coupons and books on dieting all over her work area. When told that his behavior is unacceptable, he responds that he only...wants what's best for her...
...This is clearly horrendous behavior, but when they sprinkle some religious pixie dust on it, we are suddenly expected to see it as a noble expression of First Amendment rights.
Yeah.
Well, I'm not buying it, and neither are millenials.
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