Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought

crucibleofthought.comPerfect Love,Perfect Fear: How the Religion of Love Gave Me Fear as Its ToolI’m writing a book! The typical Christian has no idea that the underlying operating system of their faith, its primary tool, is actually fear. In 2020 I watched the American church utterly fail its major test: would it uphold the things it had taught for many decades? The resulting fallout only accelerated a trend of […]

20 Sept

I'm writing a book! "Perfect Love,Perfect Fear: How the Religion of Love Gave Me Fear as Its Tool" is about how fear is the perfect tool used by institutional religion to drive behavior and enforce tribal boundaries. Learn more on my blog. crucibleofthought.com/perfect-love...

21h

Seems like the vast majority of social media interactions fall into two categories: 1) Is anyone else like me? 2) See, I'm like them.

In my deep-red white-collar military-base Maryland county, the early voting turnout in 2024 was 54% Rep, 46% Dem/other. This year, the early voting turnout is 47% Rep, 53% Dem/other. That's a massive shift in turnout. If Dems win my county this year, it will be the first time in decades. 🤞

Christian nationalism sounds great only until the state’s Christianity isn’t quite the same as your Christianity. History consistently shows that those who use God to gain state power usually suffer greatly for it not many years later. It's a fool's errand.

Imagining the Apostle Paul's social media account: a humorous way to retell the book of Acts. crucibleofthought.com/the-apostle-...

💙For the second time in my life, I just voted for a Democrat ticket.💙 I voted for Trump twice, in 2016 and 2020. But by 2024 I came to my senses when I saw what the Christian extremists were doing to America. I follow Jesus but I want nothing to do a party that excuses Trump's vile immorality. /1🧵

20/ So there it is. That's why I could vote for Trump twice and now be absolutely opposed to him. My journey was incremental, and started from a place of absolute indoctrination, and it took several serious hits to finally let me step away from everything I grew up with.

21/ I hope that hearing this story will make it understandable. I don't need anyone's approval; I'm sharing for others' benefit. I hope the details will give them a reason to be gentle with folks like me. We had good reasons, even though they were wrong. But we're here now.💙

18/ I'm now pro-choice (as few abortions as possible, but leave it up to the doctors and families). Anti-racist. LGBTQ-affirming. Pro-welfare. Pro-immigrant. Increasingly pro-gun-control. But I'm still interested in a strong national defense, low taxes, and balanced budget.

19/ So with those values, I'm definitely not welcome in any Republican circles. Basically I'm somewhat fiscal conservative but socially very liberal. As such, any connection I used to have to the GOP evaporated since 2021. And now I want to help others escape that trap I was in.

16/ That kicked off the last five years of religious deconstruction - how could this evangelical teaching be real, if they supported these lies? and political deconstruction - how could the Republicans be this great party of truth and the rule of law? So I walked away for good.

17/ Since then, as my newfound empathy opened my eyes to the pain and suffering of so many people, and so many things the church taught me have been proven to be lies and faulty interpretations, I've completely flipped on most of my former policy positions. For example:

14/ So during the 2020 election, I gritted my teeth, held my nose, and checked the (R)-Trump box, knowing the man was VERY deeply flawed but at least (I thought) he was doing God's work. He was our Cyrus, right? And in deep blue Maryland, I knew my (R) vote wouldn't count anyway.

15/ But then it all started to fall apart: when I watched January 6th unfold, and then the absolute denial that it was all that bad, even from the pulpit of my church talking about the prophecies that Trump did win and would be president again... I was devastated to my core.

12/ Because I came out of that counseling in winter 2019/2020 smack into the racial unrest rocking America. It rocked ME this time: for the first time in my life I understood what my Black friends were experiencing, and I couldn't ignore it. But my politics, my politics...

13/ I spent most of 2020 desperately trying to cling to my Republican/evangelical upbringing. I mean, it HAD to be right, and despite what I saw with the church about COVID and BLM, I *knew* the Republicans were right and more needed doing. But Trump had lost his shine for me.

10/ Given this, voting for Trump in 2016 was easy: a lifelong Republican who couldn't empathize with other people's pain had no problem with Trump's "drain the swamp" and racist, protectionist rhetoric, especially with the chance to see SCOTUS packed and Roe v Wade overturned.

11/ But then I went through some deep inner healing. A personal mistake led me to be required by my pastor to get counseling, and it did amazing things to open my eyes to other people's inner world. For the first time in my life, I grew empathy! But I was unprepared for it.

8/ Up to that point, my religious and political training - both real, and Aspy-perceived - taught me that it was absolutely impossible to be a Christian AND Democrat. Yet this professor seemed faithful in both. But it was too hard to wrap my head around, so I stuffed that away.

9/ The picture I'm trying to convey is this: I grew up both damaged goods, and unaware that there WAS an alternative way of viewing the world. And even when I saw it, I couldn't handle it, and suppressed it forcefully.

6/ Also, my religious upbringing deep in evangelicalism coupled up with the Aspy to make me ridiculously certain of my own view of the world: nobody else COULD be right, and anyone who disagreed with me was dangerous and I should avoid them lest I be infected by that thinking.

7/ Put these things together, and it probably won't surprise you that LITERALLY my very first encounter with someone who claimed both labels "Democrat" and "Christian" was a college professor who I deeply respected - before learning this about him. And it rocked my world.

4/ I was born into a Republican family - my entire extended family. My earliest political memory was attending a 1980 rally and watching candidate Ronald Reagan promote his exciting vision for America, talking about all the amazing things he would do for our nation. It was intoxicating.

5/ As someone who had serious social deficiencies, definitely ADHD and probably a bit of Asperger's, I was not well aware of the people around me, especially their pain and hurts. So I was effectively blind to anything that didn't meet my particular view of the world.

2/ Each time I post something about leaving the Republican Party after voting twice for Trump, I get a ton of questions asking how I could have been so dumb. I get the incredulity; I wonder the same thing. But I think the question is asked in good faith, so here's my answer.

3/ First, the short version: I grew up SO Republican that I never thought there was a real honest alternative. And Trump scratched my itch for seeing Christians take over the reins of government. But January 6th broke me: I was unwilling to be associated with that. So, here are the details:

Lots of people in the evangelical church were taught "tough love" - it's okay to hurt people for their eternal benefit. If you want to understand Trump voters, that's really all you need.

Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought reposted

Xela Hart

@xelahart.bsky.social

This is an absolute masterclass from Abdul El-Sayed, the Democrat candidate for Senate in Michigan, answering a direct challenge whether he'd disavow a Muslim extremist group. He leans into the question, and you can probably guess where this goes, but he does it so much better than I've ever heard.

Abdul El-Sayed@abdulelsayed.bsky.social

This is Tommy. Tommy had a question about my allegiances. Listen to the end to hear about his.

So what do y'all think that Katie Zacharia was meant to distract us from observing? For all the stupidity of the Trump administration, things like KZ are NOT random. There was SOME purpose behind putting someone so horribly incompetent in that position.

Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought reposted

Miaganga

@miaganga.bsky.social

Why don’t they just do the live-streamed execution at 11 o’clock on a Sunday morning. That would pretty much guarantee a massive viewership among their target audience. I mean, that’s what Hegseth is after anyway, right?

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Q: Did you personally authorize or approve the livestreamed execution? TRUMP: Did I approve? Absolutely I did

Oh my god. What have we become?

Fr. Joash P. Thomas@joashpthomas.bsky.social

The same people who told me that the anti-Christ will stage public executions in America in the last days are now staging public executions in America.

Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought reposted

NakedPastor

@nakedpastor.bsky.social

Cruelty as entertainment Is an ancient ruthless practice Binding us all together In the bloody cult of death wish.

mediaite.comPete Hegseth’s Execution Livestream Plan Sparks Avalanche of Bipartisan Fury: ‘Government-Backed Snuff Film’Hegseth's announcement triggered triggered widespread condemnation spanning GOP lawmakers, Democrats and pundits across the spectrum in media.

Impeach Pete Hegseth. www.mediaite.com/online/pete-...

Psychologists say that the certainty of being caught is a far better deterrent than the nature of the punishment. Despite what Hegseth says, publicly executing Nidal Hasan won't move the obedience needle even slightly; it only breeds fear in the ranks. We don't need to become like ISIS.

Here's something I learned recently about the psychology of punishment: the certainty of being caught is a far better deterrent than the nature of the punishment. Executing Nidal Hasan publicly won't move the needle even slightly, despite what Hegseth says. We don't need to become like ISIS.

Livestreaming Hasan's execution would violate Army policy. "No person under the age of 18 shall witness the execution." (Army Regulation 190-55, "Procedures for Military Executions", paragraph 2-5.a.10.b) api.army.mil/e2/c/downloa...

What we increasingly see in politics is the same thing that happens in too many pulpits: they give us permission to demonize our opponents, teaching us to hate and fear them, so that our own tribe is unified and strengthened. This should not be; Jesus preached exactly the opposite: restoration.

Trump does not define America. I believe we're better than that. Let's prove that at the ballot box.

@bradleyonishi.bsky.social

The "false consensus effect" is where nobody is speaking out against the evil that's happening, so each person assumes that everyone else agrees that it's okay. But as soon as one or a few people finally speak out, the imaginary consensus collapses suddenly. This post is about MAGA. I hope.

Brandon @ CrucibleOfThought reposted

Dr. Bradley Onishi

14 million Americans are a small price to pay. Think of the atrocities ahead . . .

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com

Trump: "With the war, it's just artificial. It's a little bit high. It's a small price to pay ... let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego. This is a very small price to pay."

See what's missing? The olive branches.

Today I learned that there is a logical connection between the Cornell 7 and continuing to tickle a small child when they say "stop." WHY WAS MY FORMER EVANGELICAL TRIBE SO BAD AT THIS? WHY DIDN'T THEY TELL ME ABOUT TEACHING CONSENT WHEN I WAS RAISING MY CHILDREN?

youtu.beThe Smell of Rot: How to Tell Which Christianity Is SoundYouTube video by Crucible Of Thought

In 2025 I spent 100 hours ripping rotted wood out of a house that looked fine on the surface. Fresh paint and nice furniture hid a lot. Much of evangelicalism looks like that too. Ep. 169: how to tell which Christianity is sound. My answer: listen to the ones being harmed. youtu.be/eq-YWqwCDpQ

PLEASE, watch this. Not just for the sheer artistry of the performance, but for its current message.

StrictlyChristo 🇺🇦🌻@strictlychristo.bsky.social

Sir Ian McKellen orates 'The Stranger's Case' from 'Sir Thomas More' by Shakespeare about the Evil May Day xenophobic riot of 1517 in London. This passage was written 400 years ago, but times never change. Humanity refuses to change its unwarranted bias against 'others'.

The very only person in the Bible to give God a new name was Hagar, who called God "El Roi" which means roughly "God who sees me." God looked at someone the Patriarch sexually abused then rejected, and instead cared for her, provided for her and her son, and honored her forever. #Cornell #MeToo

cnn.comWhy botched lethal injections are becoming more common | CNNThe failed execution of Christa Pike Wednesday night in Tennessee wasn’t the first time a lethal injection didn’t go as planned. It wasn’t even the first time this year in the state of Tennessee.

Maybe the real problem is that we're killing people. Criminology fairly consistently finds that the certainty of being caught deters more than the severity of the punishment. We don't need to kill people to lower crime.

I feel like Isaac Asimov's three laws of robotics sci-fi books should be required reading these days.