Seems like a weird thing to "come out" about.

(this is not aimed at the OP)

Iirc, she said something about how she was worried that people on the right were essentially 'claiming' Christianity, and wouldn't consider her 'Christian enough'.

--that may have been part of her point.

Like all the others of the majority of US folks who are Christians.

Gotta witness!

Of course, it's all rubbish.

and that religion took that away. I was smh because- more than likely religion instilled the guilt that she was a bad person in her to begin with. Somehow I don't think her recent experience with religion is her first.

Doesn't Christianity teach that everyone is a bad person who deserves to be punished for their "sins"?

Odd, I don't buy into religion, yet I don't feel like a bad person. In act, I know I'm not a bad person.

She embraces a religion that teaches that everyone is a bad person, and then she says because she practices that religion, she doesn't feel like a bad person anymore.

That doesn't make the slightest bit of sense.

Like the words to Amazing Grace:

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

If I believed I was so rotten that someone innocent had to be crucified in order to "save" me, I don't think I'd be feeling all righteous and pleased with myself about it.

some sects (mainly the conservative ones?) are always telling people they're sinners and must Repent!

As for the Catholics, Original Sin marks you forever as a sinner. As a Catholic, you're always being reminded that you're not perfect. One nun when I was in high school never marked anyone's tests at 100%, the highest in her class was 99% because we're all sinners. When I worked in Catholic Relief Services for a few years, a nun in my department reminded us of this deficiency during a work meeting. It does get to be a bit much. (I left it long ago.)

taught that, but taught that women were more bad than men. At least, that was the reason they gave me when I, ahem, trying to think of a not TMI way to say it, had my first experience with becoming a young woman. I had no clue what was happening. I just knew I felt awful physically, had a stomach ache and back ache, and bad headache.

They said that was my punishment because Eve ate an apple then talked Adam into eating it to and caused them both to be evicted. Somehow, it was all her fault. He was bad too, for letting her tempt him with her good tasting apples, but she was worse for not only eating the apple, but talking him into it too.

The whole experience was super creepy to me until I went to the public library and checked out the medical books. I'm so glad I found those books, because I was wondering why I had to pay because Eve talked Adam into eating an apple.

Not just blame all women unto eternity for what Eve did, but those sorts of 'cursed unto the x'th generation' passages, or destroying whole peoples for the sins of some subset thereof.

If religion makes a bad person feel guilty for being bad?

IMO bad/evil people (at least the few I've encountered during my 56 years on the planet) lack consciences- so any amount of religion or shaming anyone/thing does to them, will not result in feelings of guilt.

Assuming she's doing her job.

Around here people are very interested in saving you and knowing what church you go to which is why I don't talk to them.
I don't go to church.

If anybody ever presses me, I'm going to tell them I go to Our Lady of None of Your Goddamn Business.

Vicarious salvation through bloody sacrifice. Lovely.

My question isn't meant as criticism, I really don't get it.

Was she accused of something that necessitated a public declaration?

It sounded to me like she had been walking around with a lot of guilt, feeling that she was a bad person. I can see how that can wear someone down. And rather than fall any further down that well of despair she was "found" by God's grace.

Personally, I don't refer to God, if at all, as "He." She evidently thinks differently because she refers to "Him" in her Daily Beast article too. But she might be referring to Jesus.

I have an acquaintance who told me she prays to the Virgin every day and finds peace and I wish her well, too. My son in law finds peace in meditation after running.
The mystic Rumi expresses God's love in extremely erotic terms. For the Romantics of the 19th century, the divine was found in nature.

I'm glad for her.

The people of faith I know practice their faith without feeling the need to proclaim their beliefs to the public.

I think whatever one needs to get through the day is fine, each to their own but, usually, it is done out of the public eye. Was she asked by the Morning Joe show about her beliefs or did she go on the show to make her beliefs public?

to appear on Morning Joe. Or maybe they contacted her.

But she did say God wanted her to tell people. Sorta like a press release from the Lord...

I have to say I dislike the 'selling' of religion which this is beginning to sound like to me. I hope she practices her faith by volunteering to help those less fortunate, using her microphone to advocate for the poor and those who are treated unequally and doesn't just expound upon it. Time will tell I guess.

about it. Now it's like "hey, guess what folks? I'm a Christian!" I know a lady who posts on Facebook at Christmas time telling folks not to say Happy Holidays and instructs them to say Merry Christmas. It's like she's having an argument with herself. I blame social media for this. This endless yakking about personal stuff...

I find it interesting in a kind of sociological sense, which is why I posted it here...also it's snowing again and I'm bored and I've got the Internet...

That certainly was the case while I was growing up. It really was "ye shall know them by their fruits", it is not what is said, it is what is done that truly matters, imo.

I was raised in a strong Catholic home but no longer subscribe to many of its tenets. I don't believe one has to belong to a religion in order to do good, one has only to be a good person.

to a religion in order to do good, one has only to be a good person."

"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen."

their religious affiliation.

Like others here, I don't understand why she felt compelled to "come out" as a Christian if she wasn't hiding it to begin with?

That is the real question

meeting up with other closeted Christians at highway rest stops to pray on the down low.

YER KILLING ME

maybe she's going to run for the GOP nomination for 2016.

that is the only reason I could see as a credible reason to go public although why one's religion or lack of should matter anyway is beyond me.

It's also a tad unusual to use the term 'coming out' to describe identification with a strong majority of the populace as opposed to using the term to describe identification with a minority oppressed by that majority.
I'm sure she'll find religious writing to be more lucrative for her.

by the majority, like gays.

Here is an example of her dismissive attitude toward LGBT rights as she defends religious clergy who attack us:
"Now, is New Pope great on gay stuff? NOT REALLY. He called gay marriage the path of Satan or something. (Sorry, gays, that probably does not feel nice!) But, when his native Argentina was facing gay marriage, he was pragmatic enough to embrace civil unions as an alternative."

'Sorry, gays' she smirks, for Jesus of course. And fact is, in Argentina the Pope was condemned by the people and by political leaders for using hate speech, which the President called Medieval and suggestive of the Inquisition. 'Sorry, gays my religion attacks you as Satanic and I think that's just fine.'

She's a bigot.

She's a journalist, not a priest.

I don't care what her religion is.

I don't give a shit about her religion. I find it really strange that she "came out" about this on live television.

Last edited Thu Mar 5, 2015, 02:54 PM - Edit history (2)

With that said, social media has its downsides and this is one of them.
Everyone is putting all their personal business in your face.

She WAS a Christian. However, she didn't publicly discuss it.

of revelation.

involve a toasted cheese sandwich?

I looked for Jesus first though

just now a friend of mine posted on Facebook that he farts too much. I truly didn't want to hear that from him...TMI...

Especially in a corporate media dominated by those who share your religious beliefs?

HAH!

You know, like when clerks in stores say "Happy Holidays" to them and such.

Nothing to do with religion. It's just so fake and commercial.

Tell me "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Chanukah" or even "Blessed Kwanza" if you are one of the white second grade teachers who celebrate it. Maybe even tell me to "piss off, I hate G-d." Or "G-d is fake. Thanks for the money!"

Generic crap is crap. Be somebody.

Most of the time the clerks have been told what to say by the bosses so as to maximize sales. I'd prefer they just sell me the stuff and shut the fuck up about whatever holidays may be taking place weeks in the future.

I don't really care what holiday it is. I am not there to socialize or talk about stuff. I'm there to get my groceries and get home, hopefully in one piece.

complain about it because it isn't religious? That doesn't make sense...

Just being honest that it grates on my teeth.

Being polite about someone's religion doesn't mean you have to abandon yours.

And keep in mind, I am very much an observant Jew. If someone wishes me "Merry Christmas," I may think they are a bit premature, but I take it in the spirit it is meant.

to them. If someone says "happy holidays" I respond in kind. But I kind of like "peace and love" myself...it kinda covers every faith but the "merry christmas" folks don't like that one damn bit. Which I find interesting...

protect me from your followers!

Weird . . .

This morning The Schmo and Mika Mouse were telling her that they had noticed a CHANGE in her, how “BEAUTIFUL” she was, which they now attribute to her having gone public with her re-dedication as a Christian. They described it the way people talk about the “glow” pregnant women supposedly have. So the media yakkers believe inner spirituality is so superficial as getting a facial?!1

Back in the late ‘90s there was a fad among the D.C. CIA and FBI and two media wingnuts (Robert NOVAK and Laura INGRAHAM) to convert to Catholicism. It had something to do with Opus Dei, sort of a D.C. spy ring with Catholic secrecy. These were among the most unscrupulous bunch suddenly putting on a mantle of “holiness.” Particularly, Laura INGRAHAM, one of the most VILE media yakkers ever,

After INGRAHAM “converted” I kept SCOURING the t.v. screen to see what a CHANGE her conversion meant, how she would be filled with Christian love. But there was NO change in her VILE attacks. The only difference was a gold crucifix she wore and her website said it was for sale at $53 with the proceeds going to The Little Sisters of the Poor. I e-mailed them Little Sisters asking what signs of holiness a converted person might demonstrate. A Little Sister replied that she had no idea who INGRAHAM is and knew of no such donations, but that she would look into it.

Anyway, my beef is NOT with people who have their own faith. It is with Fundamentalists who IMPOSE on everybody else, who do not exemplify their professed virtues, who continue being vile. Since COX is not somebody I regard as one of these, this post does not apply to her.

********QUOTE**********
http://www.lauraingraham.com/p/Jewelry/4-Way-Cross-Necklace/23125.html?dispid=214


59.95
This is a replica of the one Laura wears.
All net proceeds go to support the work of The Little Sisters of the Poor.
Yearly Premium Member's Price: $53.96
(A savings of $6.00)
********UNQUOTE*********

in exactly the same way!

They like taking off their clothes and being whipped, and they feel they are too rich and too famous to be caught paying a dominatrix.

Being Opus Dei means you get to help force fascism on the world AND pretend that Ilse is whipping you.

From the interview and what she wrote her faith is helping her which is a blessing.

I think of her as a petty, mean and bigoted person. I have long avoided her blog and columns because of her often backhanded attacks on LGBT and because of her constant defense of hate preachers.

It's the ethical thing for a journalist to do.

Not sure why she felt compelled to announce it to the whole world, however.

come out as a Christian? Or is this more of that persecution meme? Did she expect to be crucified?

she was all surprised.

There might be more to this story...I'm thinking there is. I don't know what, tho...

that's the rest of the story, I think.

As an upper middle-class, straight, white man.

Hell someday they might rule the world!

Talk is cheap, it doesn't take much effort to proclaim yourself born again and extol the virtues of christianity to everybody you meet.

It's a lot harder to define your life by actions that demonstrate your true belief in the teachings of Jesus. These don't include the condemnation of every human being that doesn't subscribe to the same creed as you. But it does include things like compassion, care for those less fortunate, and living moderately.

I'm glad Ms Cox thinks she is a "Christian". Time will tell whether or not she truly is.

when nobody has to "come out"...

Well, anything to be in the "in crowd" I guess.