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My horrible right-wing past: Confessions of a one-time religious right icon (barfalert needed?)
Salon ^ | Wednesday, Dec 24, 2014 06:58 AM EST | Frank Schaeffer

Posted on 12/29/2014 9:25:13 AM PST by Olog-hai

I am a white, privileged, well-off, 61-year-old former Republican religious right-wing activist who changed his mind about religion and politics long ago. The New York Times profiled my change of heart saying that to my former friends I’m considered a “traitorous prince” since my religious-right family was once thought of as “evangelical royalty.”

You see, only in the Mafia, the British Royal family and big time American religion is a nepotistic rise to power seen as normal. And I was good at it. And I hated it while hypocritically profiting from it—until, that is, in the mid-1980s, I quit. These days I describe myself as an atheist who believes in God. […]

The leaders of the new religious right were gleefully betting on American failure. If secular, democratic, diverse and pluralistic America survived, then wouldn’t that prove that we were wrong about God only wanting to bless “Christian America?” If, for instance, crime went down dramatically in New York City, for any other reason than a reformation and revival, wouldn’t that make the prophets of doom look silly? And if the economy was booming without anyone repenting, what did that mean?

What began to bother me was that so many of our new “friends” on the religious right seemed to be rooting for one form of apocalypse or another. …

(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...


TOPICS: Religion; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: antichrist; atheism; barkingmoonbat; burninhell; demagogicparty; frankschaeffer; godgap; gopestablishment; liberallies; lyingliar; memebuilding; partisanmediashill; partisanmediashills; religiousleft; salon
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To: Olog-hai

You are not your daddy. You were never one of us.


41 posted on 12/29/2014 10:20:52 AM PST by The Ghost of FReepers Past (Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light..... Isaiah 5:20)
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To: Olog-hai

Yet another “Mommy Dearest” from an attention-hungry failure jealous of his parent.


42 posted on 12/29/2014 10:26:03 AM PST by ozzymandus
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To: BlackAdderess

Grievances against the hard left, for the average voter, are kind of like Forrest Gumps mythical box of chocolates, there is something for everyone.


43 posted on 12/29/2014 10:27:37 AM PST by BlackAdderess
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To: Dr. Sivana

Totally agree with your point about the dicotamy of materialism vs moral health of a nation.

I was reminded that in ancient Israel, some of the kings of Judah (Omri for example) there was an expansion of their borders, economic prosperity, etc., yet the prophets at the time were warning Irsrael of God’s impending judgement to come - though Israel was enjoying prosperity, morally and theologically they were bankrupt and decadent beyond repair.

People laughed at and mocked the prophets at the time, yet judgement came a few years later and the nation was nearly destroyed never to recover its former glory, eventually being totally destroyed by the Romans.


44 posted on 12/29/2014 10:34:26 AM PST by rusty schucklefurd
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To: BlackAdderess

If you are calling Muggeridge rabid...?


45 posted on 12/29/2014 10:40:36 AM PST by JmyBryan
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To: Olog-hai

Intellectual laziness is lumping people of differing beliefs into the “fiend file” - which this numbskull has done.

I know many decent, moral agnostics and atheists. They do live by the 10 commandments as a result of their Christian parents’ upbringing. Somewhere they were influenced by school teachers and peers and lost their way (which is far more wrenching than having God and Jesus living with you in your heart and soul).

We, as the faithful, are not superior to those who are lost....we are blessed. We should be thankful for the gift of grace, live in faith and set a spiritual example.

just a humble opinion.


46 posted on 12/29/2014 10:41:48 AM PST by sodpoodle (Life is prickly - carry tweezers.)
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To: JmyBryan

Googled him, looks like interesting reading. Just looks like he backs up what I was saying about left and right having some factions that wish for the worst.


47 posted on 12/29/2014 10:46:44 AM PST by BlackAdderess
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To: Olog-hai
Personal issues, obviously.
48 posted on 12/29/2014 11:03:16 AM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: BlackAdderess

I’m not Catholic though and I do think the Bushies are off the rails.


49 posted on 12/29/2014 11:08:10 AM PST by BlackAdderess
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To: BlackAdderess

Again, not a fan of open borders.


50 posted on 12/29/2014 11:09:44 AM PST by BlackAdderess
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To: BlackAdderess

The Bush family, or at least its politicians, are on the left.


51 posted on 12/29/2014 11:13:53 AM PST by Olog-hai
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To: Olog-hai

So this Prince is critical of nepotism is he? He must really despise Pinch, , Punch and their pack of rodents.


52 posted on 12/29/2014 11:14:09 AM PST by Rockpile
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To: lurk

Just another liberal drama queen in the mold of David (”when I turned gay I saw the light!”) Brock.

So go hang out with your new liberal gay friends, Frankie.


53 posted on 12/29/2014 11:34:01 AM PST by elcid1970 ("I am a radicalized infidel.")
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To: Olog-hai

Liberals who think they used to be conservative always feel they have to explain their immaturity thusly. The GOP is full of them. Many of them called themselves libertarian. Some people never grow up.


54 posted on 12/29/2014 12:01:26 PM PST by Blue Collar Christian (quod est Latine morositate)
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To: Steve_Seattle

“Only a lazy mind speaking to an uncritical audience would attempt such sloppy rubbish. Nepotism is very much alive in all walks of life. To cite just one example, my local newspaper - The Seattle Times - has been handed down within the Blethen family for about 5 generations. “

Heck, the American nobility is trying hard to make the successor to the crown to a Bush or a Clinton.


55 posted on 12/29/2014 12:06:15 PM PST by ModelBreaker
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To: Olog-hai

Holy cr*p. I remember listing to this turncoat on the radio. He was angry then; he’s angrier and more bitter now...

“This is ISIS minus the beheadings, but the vibe is the same.”

He didn’t just drink the Kool-Aid, though; he snorted it from the packet full-on. Sheesh.


56 posted on 12/29/2014 12:06:34 PM PST by Dad x 3
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To: LeoMcNeil

Francis Schaeffer did NOT espouse Pre-Millenial Dispensationalism..rather, he embraced HISTORIC Pre-Millenialism. Schaeffer attended Westminster Theological Seminary,(This excellent Reformed Seminary does NOT embrace any form of Pre-Millenialism.) where he was influenced by Cornelius Van Till in his Pre Suppositional Apologetic methodology, but he transferred to Faith Theological Seminary in 1937, under the influence of Carl McIntyre.

Faith Seminary was NOT Dispensational in any way, the Seminary embraced HISTORICAL pre-millennialism, which is quite different from the fairy tale of Dispensationalism.


57 posted on 12/29/2014 12:26:38 PM PST by Biblical Calvinist (Soli Deo Gloria !)
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To: Dad x 3
“This is ISIS minus the beheadings, but the vibe is the same.”

If the vibe were the same, there would be beheadings. But the vibe is different, so there are no beheadings.
58 posted on 12/29/2014 1:02:20 PM PST by Steve_Seattle
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To: Olog-hai

Frank Schaeffer: In so many ways, the Ron Reagan of Reformed Protestantism. Except I’m not sure if Skipper ever was conservative in the first place.


59 posted on 12/29/2014 1:22:18 PM PST by RichInOC (The Stupid. It Burns.)
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To: Olog-hai

Never heard of him.


60 posted on 12/29/2014 3:49:19 PM PST by Oztrich Boy (Television: Teacher, Mother, Secret Lover)
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