4d ago

Clyburn asks town hall crowd to pray the US ‘will not allow itself to go the way of Germany in the 1930s’

edition.cnn.com

Clyburn asks town hall crowd to pray the US ‘will not allow itself to go the way of Germany in the 1930s’ | CNN Politics

“It’s obvious the Trump administration has no use for the Constitution whatsoever,” one attendee said, asking Clyburn about the Trump administration’s immigration efforts and suggesting he feared US-born citizens could be next. “What can Congress do to put a stop to this nonsense coming out of the White House?”

Clyburn gave a lengthy response, including reading out the 14th Amendment and emphasizing the importance of hosting congressional town halls and speaking to voters across the country.

The congressman then asked the crowd to pray that the US “will not allow itself to go the way of Germany in the 1930s.”

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Keep your fucking prayers out of it.
Do something.
- I completely agree prayer is utterly meaningless at best and actually harmful at worst. When somebody prays for an outcome they are getting the benefits of doing something without affecting any change, it's like asking your imaginary older brother to take care of the bullies at school. "Who wee that job is done, I did my part by asking big bro for help"
  That said, I think we ought to tone down the anti-prayer rhetoric because it can push some people who are actually waking up to the issues caused by recent political events away. While centrism in general is a bad political play for politicians, less derisive language among us common people could be good. Let some of the mindless religious fanatics do their praying that trump won't hurt them, but when he does we should at least try to be sympathetic and let them change their mind.
  We often get caught up in the schadenfreude of the self inflicted political wounds and forget these are people who will suffer needlessly.
  
  100%
  anything that creates emotional space enough for people to gather, contemplate and talk is a good thing. we need people willing to see and say that "none of this is ok".
  if they end up marching in the streets, great! but I will be happy with them simply taking to their prayer group and repeating that "none of this is ok".
  edit: humanity, apathy, stupidity and hate are powerful things, but when apathy falls away I believe humanity can bend the majority toward our better proclivities, even through the stupidity and hate.
  
  Ageee to disagree.
  I won’t ally with people who belive in magic.
  They cannot be trusted.
  
  I think that's fair, superstition is directly opposed to evidence based reasoning. Not every superstitious person is a lost cause though. Most belief comes from indoctrination, and with time and critical thinking a lot of people can and do escape.
  I think it's similar to racism, people who do racist things can sometimes change when introduced to people of color, or to the subject of their bigotry. In the same way the victims of racism aren't morally obligated to "fix" nor trust the people who perform racist acts, victims of the superstitious are not obliged to trust them.
  The optimist in me hopes we can just help these people heal from their mental issues, but the realist realizes that in many cases it's hopeless.
  
  Religion is complicit in this mess we’re in.
  It is time for humanity to grow up.
  It will be hard.
  I hope I survive it.
  
  You do realize even most people who report that they aren't religious on polls also believe in magic, right? Pew Research Polls found that 69% of people who listed their religion as "no religion" believe in God and 13% of them specifically believe in the Christian God. So if 28% of people in America list their religion as "none" and only 29% of those people actually don't believe in God, you're left with only 8.7% of the population. Regardless of your personal beliefs, the numbers are really, really bad if you're completely unwilling to work with anyone who is religious or spiritual. 8.7% of the population is a nuisance, not a movement.
  2% didn't answer the question

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