Hey, everybody. I have a problem, and I come seeking help.
I've typed and retyped this several times. I feel guilty and blasphemous talking about this.
My father is living with me, and he is driving me crazy.
He listens to televangelists all day. Specifically, right now, the emphasis is on Doug batchelor, but there are dozens of others.
He says he's "studying," and when asked to clarify, just repeats himself. He is convinced the world is coming to an end, probably tomorrow. He is nominally a progressive himself, but whenever he listens to any of these preachers, he accepts whatever they have to say as gospel truth. He is constantly entrenching himself in dangerous right wing rhetoric. Convinced that every nation on earth wants to blow America off the map because it's a Christian nation, while simultaneously seeming to believe that america is some kind of secular hellscape.
I feel awful saying anything about it. I feel like I'm going against God, because I don't want him "studying," I feel like I'm being blasphemous.
It got so bad a few months ago, to the point where he was ordering things online, donating a significant portion of very small SSI check to right wing "charities," and spending every single waking hour listening to men yell and scream about how the world is ending, and it's all the fault of whatever minority group was the fan favorite for the day. I couldn't take it anymore. I changed the password on the wifi, told him his phone had viruses, and I had to send it back to Verizon to get serviced.
The youtube recommendations on the shared account we used went from primarily videos about homesteading and news, to videos about the end of days, why the gay agenda will destroy america, and secret Jewish plots. It was bad, y'all.
Like I said, he's nominally progressive. He supports many progressive causes, but there's this cognitive dissonance between him as a person, and him as an evangelist.
He's gotten very, very into Messianic Judaism and the seventh day adventists, though I don't know very much about either of those groups, to be honest. I don't know if they're inherently right wing, or if he's just found the right wing of them.
My lie about the phone has reached an end, I can't keep putting it off anymore, and the moment I "get the phone fixed," it's going right back to where it was.
Are there any progressive/left leaning televangelists, podcasts, youtubers, anything? I need help, and I'm legitimately concerned for him, and I have this horrible racking guilt about this. I don't know what to do.
Can any of you help me, please?
