Thread by @PnictogenHorses

I've talked a little about how Christianity and Christians have been lurching towards a semi-acknowledged *dualism* in their ideas of good and evil. extremists like @PastorMark and @pastorlocke have come to impute far-ranging, almost godlike powers to Satan and devils.

(cont'd)

in their zeal to paint the world as irremediably sickened and corrupted by sin and diabolism, @PastorMark &c. are almost *forced* towards invoking Satan and demons as universal explanations for everything they despise—and right-wing Christians despise almost everything.

(cont'd)

as a result, right-wing Christianity has coalesced around a _de facto_ dualism in which Good and Evil, Light and Dark, Order and Chaos (q.v. the gibberings of @jordanbpeterson), Saved and Damned, @GOP and @TheDemocrats are given roughly equal metaphysical weight.

(cont'd)

their method isn't too different in spirit from the frank dualism of Zoroastrianism, which comprises two great deities—a god of creation and wisdom, Ahura Mazda; a god of destruction and evil, Ahriman or Aŋra Mainyu. it's tempting to equate them with God and Satan.

(cont'd)

the story of Job, however, makes it fairly clear that Satan is a subordinate of their Creator, fulfilling a necessary function in Creation—far from being a matched adversary or dual to the Creator, they're more like a lieutenant. there's nothing here to support dualism.

(cont'd)

that rather raises the question of just where Christians are getting their dualistic ideas. dualism has been creeping round the edges of Christianity for a long time, however; St. Augustine of Hippo is a good example, for before conversion he'd been a follower of Mani.

(cont'd)

Mani elaborated Zoroastrian ideas into a new religion, Manichaeism (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manichaei…) which once held a great following and competed with Christianity. St. Augustine had been an adherent of Manichaeism; one suspects his Christian conversion wasn't an improvement.

(cont'd)

and it's long been suspected as well that St. Augustine's Manichaeism simply found new expression through a rigid and dualistic interpretation of Christianity, one preoccupied with Hell and separation of humanity into good vs. evil, and demonization of sexuality.

(cont'd)

sounds rather too familiar, doesn't it?

Christian fascists like @MattWalshBlog and @TuckerCarlson have been screaming their heads off lately about an attack on Christianity—but they've left themselves open. their "faith" is a squirming mass of unrecognized heresies.

(cont'd)

it's especially egregious from fascist Catholics like @DouthatNYT and @michaelbd—most of these exceedingly bigoted Catholics have privately rejected the authority of the @Pontifex, for they have reactionary ideological objections to any liberality of Catholic doctrine.

(cont'd)

so what do @michaelbd and @DouthatNYT *actually believe*? what do @MattWalshBlog and @DavidAFrench and @PastorMark *actually believe*? I don't mean the things they _say_ they believe; I mean the principles that actually govern their behavior. how heretical are they?

(cont'd)

Christianity once fought wars with itself over the central doctrine of the Trinity—and yet it's highly probable that most Christians do not actually believe in the Trinity, not in any meaningful way.

they say they have #faith, and cling hard to it—but faith *in what*?

(cont'd)

how many Christians are actually dualists? they *shouldn't* be—not according to the rules of Christianity. how many Christians are in fact worshippers of idols? it's possible @MattWalshBlog believes in @RonDeSantisFL far more enthusiastically than he believes in Jesus.

(cont'd)

if Christians feel attacked, it's because they've *invited* it. they've attacked everyone else, saying they had the One True Faith—and yet Christians refuse to be honest about what they actually believe. they demand immunity from critical examination of their faith.

(cont'd)

they demand immunity *even from other Christians*. a Christian fanatic isn't ever going to listen to a non-Christian like me—but neither do @PastorMark or @MattWalshBlog listen to other Christians. their faith in *themselves* is total; they spit on ALL their critics.

(cont'd)

it wasn't just "progressives" or "trannies" or "crazy people" or other minions of Satan who wanted to know just why @MattWalshBlog was defending Christian child rapists like @joshduggar so fervently; it was *fellow Christians*. and he had no good words for them either.

(cont'd)

the game's up. right-wing Christians, fascist Christians, have been trying to pretend for ages that they're *good by definition* and everyone else is evil. it's such a transparent dodge, an obvious con—and yet Western media and journalism have let them get away with it.

(cont'd)

there's a good reason for that: the right-wing Christian noise machine has *terrorized them*. they've succeeded in keeping all of Western media *scared* of them.

I don't think anyone on the planet should be *scared* of someone like @MattWalshBlog.

~Mona Drafter of Pnictogen