One suspects Mizery didn't love their company
Neal reports some fundies showed up at Revere Pride on Revere Beach today. Mizery, one of the drag performers there, went up and mingled with them for a bit.
As far as I could tell she was just talking to them then walked away rolling her eyes as she walked off.
They were a bit obnoxious. They were having their demonstration at the pavilion on the beach, and then moved to the plaza near Wonderland, where the Pride events were after the drag show ended. They were trying to engage passers by, but most of the people passing through and in the patio bars next to where they were were just making fun of them. Revere and State Police were encouraging them to leave, they eventually did.
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I like the use
of the word "encouraging".
Jesus wore robes
And mingled with the outcasts and undesirables.
Just saying ...
Being outsiders...
Real Christians know to expect social disapproval as part of their righteous lot for disapproving of the non-Christian mainstream. And a positive negativity towards certain behaviors. As far as the placards go, they don't seem very tolerant of other belief systems, including rational thought, sometimes.
If they can dish it out, they'll get it back.
Honestly it seems like terribly misguided evangelism and outreach. I suppose it's really mostly a team-building exercise.
I wonder if Jesus gave them a sign?
AFAIK his sign just said INRI and he didn't even get to choose it for himself.
"non-Christian mainstream"
Actually lol'ed at that phrase.
Per a 2023 Wall Street Journal/NORC poll, a nice 69% of the country self-identifies as some flavor of Christian (26% Protestant, 21% Catholic, 20% generic Christian, 1% Mormon, 1% Unitarian). Christianity IS the "mainstream" and to claim otherwise is pretty absurd.
Unitarians
while certainly coming from a long Christian tradition, no longer identify themselves (as least institutionally) as Christian.
Yeah, I thought about that...
But 68% Christian wouldn't made for as Nice a post. :)
Great Emo Philips joke
"Once I saw this guy on a bridge about to jump. I said, "Don't do it!" He said, "Nobody loves me." I said, "God loves you. Do you believe in God?"
He said, "Yes." I said, "Are you a Christian or a Jew?" He said, "A Christian." I said, "Me, too! Protestant or Catholic?" He said, "Protestant." I said, "Me, too! What franchise?" He said, "Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Baptist or Southern Baptist?" He said, "Northern Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist or Northern Liberal Baptist?"
He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist." I said, "Me, too! Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region, or Northern Conservative Baptist Eastern Region?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region." I said, "Me, too!"
Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1879, or Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912?" He said, "Northern Conservative Baptist Great Lakes Region Council of 1912." I said, "Die, heretic!" And I pushed him over."
It's a pity...
That heretic is rarely used in conversation these days. It's a lovely word and so evocative.
69% Christian is a superficial and meaningless number
To say that the mainstream of the nation is Christian is like saying that the majority of growing surfaces are made of soil. The vast majority of growing surfaces are made of soil (there are hydroponics). Yet the soil where bananas grow is very different from the soil where desert cactus grows.
Unitarian: According to many Christians Unitarian can not be Christian since they disbelieve a core tenet of Trinitarian theology.
Many Christians say that Mormons can not be Christian since they include an additional text.
There are Catholics who still reject Protestants and vice versa as true Christians.
The term Christian is effectively a shallow label that has not substance. Biblical Literalists reject as Christian anyone who refuses to use their Bible as a sledgehammer for beating up the competition. Fundamentalist Christians reject any claim to Christianity that conflicts with their definition.
It is foolish to call something absurd, while resting on a claim and statistic that is so superficial it is meaningless.
Please
This is a cat hair away from #notrueChristian and stinks just as bad.
Yes
It's splitting hairs on the head of a pin.
I think what he's actually done
is prove that Christians don't actually exist. Which is an interesting take, but I'm not sure if it lines up with reality all that well.
Team-building exercise is exactly it
You tell each other "they hate us because we're right!"
Then you go out and do something shitty and mean, and when you get flack for it, hey, that must mean you're right.
Mormons & JWs too
I've heard it said that part of the purpose of the mission for LDS adherents and peddling Watchtower for JWs is to make the younger followers feel that the outside world is hostile to them which in turn solidifies their identity within the religion.
This is why I am always as
This is why I am always as kind as possible to missionaries despite being a godless heathen and a gay. No need to confirm the horrible things their church has told them. Maybe having a sinner show them kindness (no thank you but hope you have a great day, it's hot out do you guys want a glass of water, etc) will plant a seed somewhere deep, and if not, well, at least I didn't stoop to anybody else's level.
Team building
I suspect most evangelism is team-building exercises. They go out in little groups and spend the afternoon repeating the core principles of their group. Going out and getting rejected for a while reinforces the idea that Christians are a threatened little minority who are justified in fighting back.
Aaaah, just like the old days
Funnymentalists used to harass Pride events nonstop back in the day. Christians, come get your people.
OMG Mizery...
I met her many, many times back in the 90s. She's a real sweetheart.
She's looking like the real
She's looking like the real Christian here.
Mizery is company!
I have known Mizery McRae also since the '90s. I have the deepest respect because she used to live in Revere by the way. And she sees people for exactly who they are. If you want to have a nice conversation and get into details Miz is typically ready for that, when you want to have a private talk. But when you're performing and doing your thing in a positive manner for others and there are people trying to call you out because of who you are...then be ready for the eye roll. And that eye roll is priceless.
I'm just thankful I've never been on the other end of it LOL. They wanted to come to the party, but if you're just going to be a piece of gum on the bottom of a heel, then you're just a piece of gum on the bottom of a heel. This was a celebration. That behavior had no place in a welcoming environment.
Cue: Eye-roll
Love you Miz! ;-)
What else can a person who needs to hate do on a Sunday?
Fanatic religiosity is a psychological addiction. It is a cousin to gambling addiction and other psychological conditions that an otherwise rational person uses to deal with the horror show that they experienced while growing up. Show me a religious fanatic and I'll show you a person whose familial past includes alcoholism or other drug addiction, ruinous behavioral compulsions, abuses of various forms.
With the one additional element that instead of being extreme loners in life religiosity is a vehicle that allows people suffering extreme and deep emotional pain to join together to dump that pain and rage onto others. In that pain and rage is usually so much fear that a person can not face that fear alone.
That is why Trump et al. are successful in finding supporters. They innately recognize the psychology of their supporters, they possess the intrinsic recognition of how to manipulate people whose lives are always outlined in unconscious emotional pain, rage and terrible, bubbling under the surface fear.
At one level religious fanatics deserve some empathy. They are reacting against monsters that are part of their personal pasts. But that does not excuse the abuses and violence that they commit against others.
Almost everyone has monsters
Almost everyone has monsters in their personal past. Religious hate-bots don't have a unique claim on painful childhoods.