[keiferski]

Society needs to rediscover the idea that not all moral judgements are religious in nature, and in many cases are just basic pragmatic ones.

The bans on gambling were often framed in Christian terms, so as society became more secular, they were undone. Now they probably need to be re-added with practical reasoning.

[peder]

Rediscovering first principles

[ASalazarMX]

I'm not buying that. We know vices are bad not because they're immoral, but because they are harmful to the self and others. Knowing what's harmful doesn't require imaginary superadults, just common sense.

[thrance]

I disagree with your assessment, the ban wasn't undone because of secularism. In fact, this prediction market craze was embraced by the right almost instantly, which is the side currently most favored by Christians.

[keiferski]

Gambling bans have been slowly undone for decades. This isn’t something that happened in the recent MAGA populist era; which is the portion of the right that seems to be okay with the gambling stuff.

[thrance]

I mean, white evangelicals largely sided with Trump last year, so I don't know how cleanly you can separate Christianity (as it currently exists in the USA) from MAGA populism and what policies the movement favors.

[keiferski]

I don’t think it’s that difficult. Evangelicals’ beliefs and who they vote for are not the same thing; they largely seem to have voted for his Supreme Court nominees and consequently decisions like Roe. That’s a reality of a two party system.

Evangelicals are also but one branch of Christianity, something like a third of American Christians, so to suggest that it is the same is wrong from the start.