• @confluence
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    1192 years ago

    I worked as a pastor and professor for a global, evangelical television ministry/college. They knowingly conceal scholarship on the Bible and punish their pastors for asking any questions that undermine their most closely held traditions (including anti-evolution, mental illness is supernatural, etc.). They tell their US viewers that they can’t call themselves Christians if they don’t vote Republican, while still enjoying tax-exempt status. They use pseudohistorians to inspire Christian Nationalism over their network, and are one of the largest propaganda networks for the Religious Right. A U.S. Capitol police commander told me his men were fighting people who were wearing the network’s brand.

    • @_ak
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      132 years ago

      Sounds like you escaped a violent theocratic cult.

      • @confluence
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        142 years ago

        If some of the pastors there had their way, that’s exactly what power would control this country.

      • @HardlightCereal
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        42 years ago

        No, cults are small religions, this is a big religion

        • @[email protected]
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          32 years ago

          I feel like there are minimum two definitions of cult, that being a high controll group like say jones town and to a lesser but still damaging extent seventh day adventists for example and just a smaller religious grouping.

          • @confluence
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            2 years ago

            This place would 100% meet the BITE standard of cult classification.

            • @[email protected]
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              12 years ago

              Thats what I was thinking of but couldnt remember the name, maybe I need to watch more telltale content again.

            • @HardlightCereal
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              -32 years ago

              The BITE classification was invented in order to justify hatred of small religions, by taking a word that already had a meaning (cult) and attaching a second, pejorative meaning to it. It’s like if I write a fantasy novel with a species of evil creatures called jews. Jew is already a word, and it’s a horrific act of religious persecution to take a pre-existing word for marginalised religions and spin it into an unrelated negative.

              • @confluence
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                22 years ago

                Yes, because controlling a group’s behavior, information access, thoughts, and emotions is completely acceptable. Autonomy be damned.

                • @HardlightCereal
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                  02 years ago

                  I didn’t justify the abusive behaviours described by the BITE model. In fact I was very clear that I disliked those behaviours, and their association with an important religious term. You should work on your reading comprehension so you can stop seeing enemies everywhere.

                  • @confluence
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                    12 years ago

                    I apologize for misunderstanding. Can you provide a source or reasoning why you think the BITE classification itself was intended to make “cult” a bad word?

    • @Doodoocaca
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      32 years ago

      Mental illness is supernatural? What does that mean?

      • @confluence
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        2 years ago

        To them, it means if you’re depressed, schizophrenic, or otherwise incapable of controlling your emotions or perceptions, you’re being either possessed or “oppressed” by demon spirits.

    • @30mag
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      1 year ago

      deleted by creator

      • @confluence
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        42 years ago

        They were wearing tshirts with the ministry’s logo, because Jan 6 was for American Jesus.

    • Flax
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      24 months ago

      Name the network? As a Christian I find this disgusting

      • @confluence
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        14 months ago

        Jimmy Swaggart Ministries