New (And Refurbished) Blog Posts: "Devious Donald's Smug Mug," "Where Conservative Christians Go Wrong," "The Choice Between Mercy And Retribution," "Trump's God Problem," "How Trump Uses Your Brain Against You" and "Pro-Lifers Cause Abortion Rates To Spike"

Bibliolatry... And How To Live Happily Ever After

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/04/bibliolatry-and-how-to-live-happily.html

Biblical Literalism And The Cultivation Of Hatred

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/02/biblical-literalism-and-cultivation-of.html

Biblical Literalism: Not Only Impossible But Destructive Of Meaning And Souls

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2013/09/biblical-literalism-not-only-impossible.html

"The Obsession With Biblical Literalism," The Atlantic

https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-obsession-with-biblical-literalism.html

UNC-CH Professor Bart D. Ehrman:

Biblical Exegete And Former Christian Evangelical

The Bible and Textual Analysis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bart_D._Ehrman

Dear F and Jimbo,

The first post (below) is perhaps the most politically "effective."

The second, third and fourth are admonitions that might even make sense to "good upstanding Christians" who made the childhood mistake of "playing at religion" like K-12 students often "play at school," rendering it a "Gold Star Factory" rather than an opportunity to join the world of ideas where they might engage the hard work -- and often surprising outcomes -- of assiduous study and deep contextualization.  

The last of the posts below is the "most important" -- at least in terms of how our political psyches are structured -- and how similarly they're structured whichever side of the aisle we occupy. Lakoff's model of the two fundamental paradigms --- "Strict Father" and "Nurturing Parent" -- is a model that gets a grip on conservative and liberal biases so deeply rooted in our pre-conscious conditioning that it is difficult to "see" them for what they are beyond the golden patina of childhood mythology.

Or, perhaps better put, Lakoff spotlights how difficult it is to stop projecting our counterproductive suppositions onto "the other." "Why can't they just...?"

Devious Donald's Smug Mug

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/08/devious-donalds-smug-mug.html

Where Conservative Christians Go Wrong

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/08/where-conservative-christians-go-wrong.html

Christians And "Christians" Choose Mercy, Love And Forgiveness Or Punishment And Retribution
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/01/christians-and-christians-must-choose.html

Donald Trump's God Problem: Evangelical Support For Trump Threatens To Undo All Credibility
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/08/donald-trumps-god-problem-evanagelical.html

Excerpt: "I recently heard a brilliant and articulate Clinton surrogate argue against a group of Trump supporters that Trump has presented no policy plans for increasing jobs, increasing economics growth, improving education, gaining international respect, etc. This is the basic Clinton campaign argument. Hillary has the experience, the policy know-how, she can get things done, it’s all on her website. Trump has none of this. What Hillary’s campaign says is true. And it is irrelevant. Trump supporters and other radical Republican extremists could not care less, and for a good reason. Their job is to impose their view of "strict father" morality in all areas of life. If they have the Congress, and the Presidency and the Supreme Court, they could achieve this. They don’t need to name (particular) policies, because the Republicans already have hundreds of policies ready to go. They just need to be in complete power.

Most conservatives - and all Christian conservatives - believe they are absolutely right. 

But this outsized presumption does not stop there.

They also believe God is on their side and that He enlists their help -- indeed He imposes a moral obligation -- that they disregard any democratic decision which, in their view, contradicts God's Will.

Which brings us back to "Where Conservative Christians Go Wrong" - http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/08/where-conservative-christians-go-wrong.html - and the many powerful arguments that those who are most certain of their impeccable righteousness are the very people who routinely contradict the letter of New Testamental law, not to mention the spirit of Love's Law by behaving in ways so subtly-but-pervasively egotistical that they stonewall any-and-every misgiving that might free them from their self-set traps.

Short Form:

How The Values Of "Strict Father" -- Or "Nurturant Parent" -- Control Our Political Views

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/06/how-values-of-strict-father-or.html

"Fear And Anxiety Drive Conservatives Political Attitudes"

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mind-in-the-machine/201612/fear-and-anxiety-drive-conservatives-political-attitudes

Long Form:

"Strict Father" And "Nurturant Parent": The Two World Views That Determine Our Political Values

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2018/06/strict-father-and-nurturant-parent-two.html

George Lakoff: How Trump Uses Your Brain Against You And Why His Policy Details Don't Matter

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/08/george-lakoff-how-trump-uses-your-brain_26.html

Love

A'bald

PS Speaking of childhood's golden patina... I have come to realize that American conservatism's bedrock demonization-of-liberals as "baby killers" is, in fact, topsy turvy. If we examine actual outcomes in societies with -- and without -- access to legal abortion, we see that "pro-lifers" who try to proscribe abortion are part of a cultural matrix that contributes to a steep spike in per capita abortion rates. It is a paradoxical (but profound) truth that far more fetuses are aborted in cultures where abortion is illegal than in those where safe, legal abortion is available. Anticipating the argument that "the end does not justify the means" I would remind American conservatives that their nearly-universal support for Despicable Donald proves -- in saecula  saeculorum -- that their ruthless political pragmatism dwarfs any misgiving that "the end does not justify the means." Personally, I am never at ease with arguments that posit "the all-justifying end." But on the other side of the aisle we see American conservatives -- particularly "Christian" conservatives -- applauding a man whose personal behavior and poltical behavior (e.g., bragging about his penis size in a nationally televised debate) is more appalling than any nationally prominent politician born in the last hundred years - and perhaps ever!

"How To Reduce Abortion" (What Delaware's Stunning Abortion Rate Reduction Reveals)

https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/10/how-to-reduce-abortion-what-delawares.html

"If You Had A Chance To Rescue Bizillion Frozen Embryos Or One Living Baby..."

https://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2019/09/if-you-had-chance-to-rescue-bizillion.html

Given Conservative Fondness For "The End Justifies The Means," Note That Legal Abortion...

http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/07/given-conservative-fondness-for-end.html