You will never convince me that shit like this is more than just performative play-acting for the sake of their base.
They aren't actually fucking praying. They don't actually believe any of this shit. It's a tool used to keep the support of their base of white christian nationalists.
That's why we see them doing shit like this now than every before.
In a world where more liberal minded Christians are balking at how "unchristian" these idiots are turning out to be, they have to make these shows louder and more obvious...and make damn sure there's a camera around, so that they can play even harder to the more extreme supporters.
If they were to quietly go about their business with no "performative acts of faith", more people would recognize them as the monsters they are.
But with shit like this, 81 year old grandparents the country over can look at them and say "I don't understand what they're doing, but they MUST be the good guys because look how christian they are..."
If anyone thinks America is getting out of this without resorting to firing squads and hanging these fuckers upside down in town squares, they're naive as fuck.
And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
Exactly. But performative acts like this play to their base. And their base is almost exclusively people who haven't read the very book they profess to follow.
Most athielsts (myself included) have read more of the bible than any of these people ever have.
Ever see one of those photos with HitlerPig in the middle, with a group of people all with one hand on his shoulder, all with their eyes closed, praying? And there in the middle front, is HitlerPig, who we all know is an absolute Sociopath, and doesn't believe any of that crap.
So Moses went back to the Lord and said, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.”
The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.”
And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
I agree with everything else that you're saying, but I wouldn't be so sure about this. Have you ever noticed how it's much easier to start online flame wars when you actually believe in the batshit stance that you're arguing as opposed to pretending to believe it for the sake of trolling? I think it's a similar thing here. I don't think humans are that good at compartmentalising, so in order to do something performatively so often and so well you have to trick your mind into actually believing it in a sort of corrupt way. I know this makes me sound like a middleschooler, but I think George Orwell's concept of doublethink is very much real in cases like these.
Wealthy republican politicians are too smart(/?) to be religious??
Top tier engineers in all fields can be found quietly attending church. It’s incredible—religion, a helluva…
Oh DEFINITELY people like orange hitler prob think about zero about god (idk if he’s literally atheist but obviously not religious)… CERTAINLY plenty of wealthy republican politicians are atheists and will never admit it…
But ohhhhh boy isn’t it worse that some genuinely believe especially the evil parts of the Bible? (Maybe “worse” is a little unfair, I deeply respect some very ethical & intelligent people who happen to have strong faith traditions)