Reaching Out to Conservative Christians

Operation Hope
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I do NOT think Conservative Christians are unreachable. I have had numerous conversations with my mom (who considers herself a very conservative Christian) and they have been really productive. She agrees with a lot of what the progressive movement stands for but is misinformed and her lens has been skewed.

As a Progressive Christian, I think we can reach out in a way that uses Christian ideas and rhetoric to inform and present progressive ideas. One idea I’ve had is an ad campaign on YouTube and Facebook that would run videos on the following topics:

Climate Change: use words like “stewardship” The Lord gave us stewardship over the earth and asked us to take care of it Genesis 2:15. Show B roll from Flint River Michigan and pollution from oil drilling Jeremiah 2:7. Ask them, even if they disagree with the science to become stewards with us to help stop pollution and enact policies that will take care of what God has given us. Give examples of policies that will do that. Just ad spam them.

Paid Family Leave: Use rhetoric around a strong nuclear family. Relate with them that it is hard to raise a family on a single income. Psalm 127:3-5 Children are a blessing. Let’s equally bless the lives of all families by requiring 12 weeks of paid leave for Mothers to bless and be with their children. Let’s help strengthen traditional family values by giving moms more time to bond with their babies. Giving families fewer reasons to not have a “quiver is full of them”.

Medicare for all: a plumber who owns his own business had to go to work at a — office, grocery store etc… because his daughter has cancer and they couldn’t make it without work-sponsored health care. Wish there was another option another way for me to keep being a business owner. Now it’s hard to get the time off to make it to my daughter’s appointments to hold her hand while she has Chemo.

Maybe a survey at the end that asks them how much they agree or disagree with the topic: for example: the idea of taking care of the earth and what that means to them. It’s important that we also understand and evaluate what drives conservative Christians in these areas. Like what the Right did with abortion, we can do something similar if we can tap into these strongly held beliefs of Christians for the betterment of our society.

These are just ideas I’ve had in my head since watching TYT a year ago. Now there’s a place where maybe something can come of them and help gather more support for progressive issues and draw more people into the tent!

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Totally agree: They are NOT unreachable.

Indeed, Most Americans spouse to progressive ideas (they are after all for human’s wellbeing), but they just don’t know that they are progressive ideas and Mainstream Media has done their due diligence of misinforming people to the point that they can vote against their own interests.

With the correct framing, we can bring all those, no matter how they label themselves, but how they can agree with us in the granular (policies) scheme of things. Please refer to Professor George Lakoff

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I am wishing to do this in my own way. I believe that if we go back into the history of the followers of Christ, before we were even called the Romanized name that is “Christian”. Back when we were simply Hagios. We can show that it is actually more ancient, and thus more “conservative” to be more objectivist rather than mystical. My method is a bit more of a directly confrontational approach.

I am attempting to spread the word of what many bible scholars who often have lost their faith already know. There has been a vast conspiracy to twist following the wisdom of Christ to fit the Roman “Might Makes Right” culture.

They used the likeness of Christ, the Risen God to create what I believe to be the true Beast as foretold in Revelations: the canonized bible itself. Before Rome twisted us to blindly obey the holy books they deemed would make us most docile and obedient, there were many others. The way we determined which was good was by testing them. Just as scientists do today to find truths.

It was corrupt men who wanted power that decided to make one doctrine that must be followed blindly. Not starting as true followers of Christ, their corruption of the Hagios was so blatant that they even used the Roman slur for our faith in Love and in Truth. The term that in the English is called “Christian” is that same slur.

The conservative christians of modern day are looking for conspiracy theories and I believe it is because in their heart of hearts they know that something is not right.

Despite knowing that historically those who have pointed out this conspiracy have been slaughtered, I shall stand and have faith in the Truth as Gallileo did for the globe, the Anabaptists did against the crusades, and the Hagios of old did against the Roman infiltrators of their faith.

The Truth wins out in the end. Love wins out in the end. It is time to finally slay the Beast and return to objectivist knowledge based comprehension of good and true and love instead of cowing to “Might Makes Right” as implanted into Paul’s canonized fan fictions of our holy books.

EDIT: Bear in mind that while I do believe some truths are more objective than others, I don’t believe that while we live in this limited universe we can ever fully separate them. If you don’t find my views salient as always live your own truth. I got passionate there but that doesn’t mean I am not also compassionate for those that don’t believe as I do.

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I think this is right. Modern world must expose believers to more evidence against the existence of a god as the one described on the bible.

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I agree with portions of what you are saying here. What do you think of the following approach? we (the movement) do need to get in agreement on how to better approach the other side.

  1. Use common ground and build from there out.

  2. Some of the Peter Boghossian’s guidelines of Street Epistemology (the ones that suit better our purpose, I don’t remember many of them, I am going to have to re-read his book), like giving examples of other religions (political affiliations in this case). Since both religion and politics are part of people’s identity, it is better NOT to be direct and find common ground a work from there out. There are some more but this is the one that I remember now.

  3. George Lakoff’s guidelines as portrayed on this interview:

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Hagios need not believe in a god to be Hagios, though I believe in many gods, all of them that have any following at all in fact. To me, the effect of their worship grants them, at a the very least, an effective realness to them through the living cultures of those that worship them.

Atheists and agnostics are some of the staunchest advocates for measuring morality by objective truths and so I have a great respect for those who do not believe in gods.

Edit: Also I lean towards the early Zoro-Christ focused Hagios viewpoint that later got picked up by Manachiaism. That is to say I believe that Yahweh was not the god that Christ referred to as his father, but Ahura Mazda, Truth Embodied, was. Yahweh had a major influence on Christ, this is true, but this was mostly due to the Risen God tending to take major issue with the corruption, greed, and exploitation that was rampant in the Judaism of his time. That the very same corruption, greed, and exploitation now bears Christ’s name instead is a tragedy, but serves as a proof to some of the things that Christ pointed out about it being of men to exploit those seeking truth, not of god. It also shows that it does not matter the god, whichever is popular in a community is target for people to exploit for their financial gain. Only Truth and Love can combat them.

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My dad is as conservative christian as they come. I think I’ve got him 90% convinced about medicare for all. The heart of the conservative ideology is everyone should “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”. That was my way in.

Undoubtedly the crowning achievement of the founding fathers, other than independence and the constitution, was the bill of rights. It was seen as necessary that in order to secure our rights for the long term they they had to be carved in as the supreme law of the land, the Constitution, rendering it essentially impossible to curtail them.

Well guess what? We also believe people should be able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. In fact we believe it so much we think it should be almost impossible to deprive anyone of their ability to to pull themselves up. Healthcare, education, clothing, shelter, food, and mental health are required for any person to pull themselves up. Therefore, they must be carved into the supreme law of the land, our constitution, as rights! This guarantees systematic economic freedom to all citizens.

That argument worked because its the truth. He, like all of us, knows someone who has been harmed by the lack of access to healthcare. The conclusion becomes self evident.
I just found a way to package it so he could understand it.

He actually told me “I think you’re right on healthcare”. That is a W! We need to frame this entire conversation from the point of view of wanting every citizen to be able to “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”.

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I can respect that a lot.:revolving_hearts::hugs::revolving_hearts:

No matter what any of us do, we do it out of love. We’re the observer and more.

When we’re observing others in life, it’s important to have your own principles but judge not and neither condemn for in truth, it only impoverish’s you :thinking:
When you’re approaching a point of contact, keeping these thoughts preeminent will help you get the results you need by showing you the common ground.

The creator is always with us because there isn’t anything else​:sunglasses::+1:
Our job is to desire, imagine, design and implement the world of our choosing for the betterment of all💖

If you believe that your religion or relationship will God will bring you to heaven, you’re right.

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@fourthwall_dragon

Lankoff videos - These were fascinating videos! I tend to work more in the practical rather than the theoretical. One thing that I take away is that we can be more effective in reaching out to different groups in the US by using their metaphors and framing to communicate ideas with them.

Also, I think we need a more business-like approach. Not the here take the points and talk to your neighbor, which might work and we should still do that, but I don’t think it thus far has been effective.

I would love to get enough support for a very strategically targeted ad campaign where groups with similar framing and metaphors can be targeted and ads presented to them in their own framing for progressive causes. I think this is a move towards the cognitive policy approach that George Lakoff talks about in the video.

Thank you for sharing these videos! They have a lot of good stuff in them… a lot of good stuff that is still not being done well by Democrats and progressives. Hopefully, we can head in a direction that speaks to people in their framing rather than the old-school idea of rational think and presenting facts.

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@sciguy24

I’m so glad for the progress you’ve made with your dad! I had something similar a couple of times with my mom. One was about immigrants and how Jesus would treat them. Another was social security and explaining to her that social security is a socialist concept and we need a mixed economy, we can’t be all one or the other. I celebrate with you because I know how great those W’s can feel =)

A couple of follow-up questions. Do you think it is the bootstraps framing that pushed your dad over? Were there any Christian ideals that you incorporated? Are there any other issues that you’ve had productive conversations around, that you think are worth pursuing for a conservative Christian audience?

Sorry to bombard you with questions. I love that you had this experience and want to pick your brain for other issues and ways we can reach out to conservative Christians.

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I like the point you made in 1 and 2. Definitely have to use common ground. I also agree that it is better not to be direct first.

#3 I think he makes some great points and I’d like to have a more business-like approach to this as well. What do you think are some policy topics and approaches where we can use their framing and common ground to reach conservative Christians?

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I like your idea, cupcake. My family has many right wing Christians, and those I interact with often have of course largely agreed with some progressive policies. But most have said they would simple never vote blue. Maybe you could check out my topic thread, run progressive republicans. If progressives run as republicans, then such voters would have an option we can strategically collaborate politics with.
Thanks, and take care <3

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Hey Cupcake! Your analytical approach towards keeping politics, and progressive ideals, separate from one another during conversation’s a brilliant one. Having Progressive’s familiar enough with scripture who can think quick on their feet, without getting tongue tied while finding biblical metaphors/analogies would be wonderful.

Tying the loop together so a CC realizes they’ve been manipulated, blinded from truth’s light, and see clearly what’s been causing so much pain and suffering - that we the people are facing. Breaking through a CC’s mental barrier would be difficult; but they’re not all fanatical, and I believe some would choose to follow the progressive path.

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I think he might have trouble reaching Christians on the progressive side as well as the right. I’m not trying to be insulting I like Cenk and most of his ideas. But language and how you come across is important. It maybe hard for an atheist to understand that no matter what point your making as soon as you use “gx dxxx” you immediately turn them off and they stop listening or are distracted from your point. And saying things like some mythical god won’t help either. He may not care to reach out to Christians at all and of course that’s his prerogative but if he does want to you have to take their feelings into account. As a Christian and environmental scientist-data analyst I don’t believe true science contradicts. Just as most of the progressive ideas and proposed policies don’t contradict Jesus teaching of love and care everyone and their quality of life without judgement I’m a horrible debator so I rarely am brave enough to speak out on topics I think might get push back but I just felt this was an important point for the topic.

Maybe it would be a good idea to have a panal of people made up of all different major religions in the u.s. as well as different ethnicities etc. Not necessarily to advise on platform positions just language and messaging.

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I think the best way to frame the Progressive movement to Christians is through the lens of The Good Samaritan. The good Samaritan is a story where a man is attacked by thieves while traveling in his own country, and left to die on the side of the road. While lying there suffering, the man is passed by a priest, who leaves him there fearing that he might be dead, and leaves him to help his own community. The man is then passed by a Levite, which is from the same community as the priest but not limited by the same rules, but still the Levite leaves the man for dead. It is only the Samaritan, who comes from well outside the community and would commonly be looked down upon by those of the community that stops to care for the victimized man, going so far as to bring him to someone who can help this victim heal from their attack and pay in advance to get the man the medical attention he needs.

Now, use this story as a reflection of our nation’s politics as they stand today. Frame Capitalism as the thieves on the road, who victimize the traveler physically (best identified in the video game industry where excessive hours of work are expected, and “crunch” before game release is an expected way of life) mentally (burnout, and such) and financially (raises are not keeping up with inflation) for their own benefit.

The religious leaders see the American people struggling, condemn the actions of those who has victimized us, will say a prayer over us, but fail to actually step up and provide the means to help us recover from the position we’ve been put in, saying that our suffering will guarantee us a place in heaven.

Our political leaders see us suffering, and send us their thoughts and prayers. Unfortunately, political theater on behalf of corporate donors prevents them from getting any meaningful aid to those who truly suffer the most, and at worst all these people get is the narrative to “pick yourself up by your bootstraps”.

The Progressive movement is truly a movement that is attempting to take our government and make it more like the good Samaritan’s actions. We are prepared to put in the investment to help heal the American people in the same way The Greatest Generation was willing to put in the investment to build out our nation’s infrastructure. We want to help make sure that no man is left on the side of the road, forced to wait on someone else’s good will to save them. No man (and use those words, because think about the target audience of this story) should have to suffer such indignity. The Progressive movement aligns with the teachings of Jesus in more ways than it doesn’t, and in more ways than either the Democratic or Republican parties do, hands down. We want a government that cares more for our neighbors in the same way Jesus taught, and those that say otherwise are trying to pull the wool over the voter’s eyes to get them to vote against what is best for all people. The way Jesus would have wanted.

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I really appreciate your post and your sensitivity to how others feel. It is very empathetic and what we need to bring more people in. I tend to agree. Use G** D*** or J***** Ch****** is really off-putting as a Christian. and I have stopped watching or muted when there was an anti-religious rant, but just as I am tolerant of atheists in the Progressive movement I would hope they would be tolerant as well. I think the goal should be to bring more people, as they are, into the fold. Especially those who could be easier to reach. You won’t win them over on every idea but you can win them over on some, and maybe just enough to make a difference.

I really like your idea of a panel! It would be good to nail down some of that language and messaging so it strikes home. I think leaders would be great for the panel and then a group of everyday Christians to go over the verbiage and all that to make sure it isn’t too theoretical.

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I think this is exactly in the spirit of what we want to do. Use framing and metaphors to help Conservative Christians see the Progressive movement as more Christ-like and in line with their own values, unlike what politicians and corporate media have led them to believe.

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@steppenwolf Thank you! I do think the Christians in America have been brainwashed into voting against their own values. I think a target social media campaign to right their misconceptions of the progressive (and even their own “conservative” politicians) is what they need to wake up and start demanding their politicians vote with truly Christian values.

Matthew 15:8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."

“Conservative” politicians and “conservative” media actors play lip service to Christian ideals, but their hearts are greedy and egotistical. Perhaps some in the progressive movement condemn religion like @blustery_breeze talked about, but their hearts are exactly what we talk about with true Christian values: helping people, taking care of the earth, taking responsibility for our actions, public service (instead of greed), and of course justice! I truly believe if we could get our message out there with the right framing like (@fourthwall_dragon talked about with Dr. Lakoff’s videos) Christians would see this.

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“Cenk is doing this for money and fame”

:rofl::joy::rofl::joy::rofl::joy::joy::joy:

Like Marianne Williamson :rofl::joy:
Chasing the big money :rofl::joy::rofl::joy:
By directly attacking the people who can make him rich​:rofl::joy::rofl::joy:

Then why now?:thinking:

I’m f’n lazy and if Cenk was looking for :money_mouth_face:…

…he was already there😳

CNBC wasn’t paying Cenk “chump change”$$$$$

All he had to do was go with the flo and he would be wealthy. :money_mouth_face::money_mouth_face::money_mouth_face::money_mouth_face::money_mouth_face:

He aint making more now.

Cenk didn’t just “burn his bridges” to a life chosen by an ivy league education and networking that fast tracks people who can “pay the admittance fee”, regardless of their intellect or aptitudes, more bank accounts and lineage :man_facepalming:t2::man_facepalming:t6:
Cenk burned entire villages, metaphorically speaking :rofl::joy::rofl::joy:

Step back and ask:

Why does this group identify as Christians?

What makes a Christian, a Christian?

Which group is historically recognized in the bible as causing Jesus to " lose his cool" and go medieval on their asses?
…it wasn’t “leftists”
…it wasn’t “LGBTQ”
…it wasn’t “people looking for handouts”

The perversion of the message of the historical Jesus of Nazareth, forget religion, was just for the benefit of the only group clearly identified in the new testament and even these weren’t slaughtered or even really harmed.

So the story goes, he evicted some people from his dad’s place because he had the most central location with lots of foot traffic and many visitors had a need for financial services
These guys were “skimming” people visiting his dad who just wanted to pick up something nice but had the wrong cash with them many times or really jacked up gift ware and Jesus just lost it and said “Get out, NOW!!!”

What about then pissed him off so badly that someone with such a chill attitude toward life, helped those who asked, not judging anyone by what they did or who they are but rather, offering unconditional love.

What about that group made historical Jesus completely flip out on them and bodily evict them?

The right wing fundamentalist “Christians” have a hard time with that dilemma because they are “essential” to being a Right Wing Fundamentalist and completely contrary to the historical message from someone who said:
“love one another as I have love you”
“I was a stranger, and you welcomed me”
“I was a prisoner, and you visited me”
“I was in sorrow, and you comforted me”
“I was hungry, and you fed me”

Whatever you do for others, your brothers and sisters, that was done for me

All he had to offer was love.

How did the message get so perverted :man_facepalming:t6::man_facepalming:t2:

The only reason people do anything is love, period.

When you understand that, then people can be reached to remember who they are and what they truly represent.

Remind them who they believe they are😏

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