It’s time for hate-based Christianity to be stopped!

Some recent media reports indicated that just prior to his passing, the late Pope Francis wrote Catholic bishops warning them not to fall for the Christian doctrine being touted by some in the current American administration, especially regarding immigration. This post will go one further. It’s not just interpretations that are the problem, it is hate-based doctrines being pushed by some Christians pitting people against one another.

As one who was raised Christian, and who has explored many facets of the religion for more than a half-century, the unfortunate increase in hateful pseudo-Christianity is hard to fathom.

Instead of preaching love and forgiveness, far too many churches have evolved into a hate-based theocracy. Nearly as bad is the prosperity gospel that claims you are rewarded monetarily for being a good Christian. It’s almost like those weird television preachers of late-night programming from our youth have somehow found an audience.

And whenever a thoughtful counter-response is expressed by those who still preach love-based beliefs, it is too often drowned-out or ridiculed by naysayers at the highest levels of government, media, and even religion. Case in point was the vitriol aimed at Bishop Budde of the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. after she advocated for compassion and mercy by the new administration.

So many 21st century Christians, especially men, are now sounding vengeful, hateful, inconsiderate, and fear-mongering. Immigrants, minorities, the poor, the unhoused, gays, those of other beliefs, and even women are being singled out and vilified. Anyone or anything that is somehow perceived as contrary to the a “white men are right” gospel have become fair game to many evangelists, priests, pastors, preachers, and parishioners.

Did any of these people actually read the New Testament? Do they know what the Beatitudes are? What grace is? Do they realize Jesus was from the Middle East and was not white? Or is it just easier (and lazier) to become a successful ministry by pushing a hate-based doctrine? This is certainly NOT the Christianity most of us grew up with.

It used to be said that one cannot act one way on Sunday and then behave another way the rest of the week. Well, today, bad behavior seems to be a week-long activity amongst some Christians. And with their easy-to-use “get out of sin jail free card” always available through confession or repentance, why should bad actors even worry about how they behave? All they have to do is confess or apologize and everything suddenly becomes hunky dory — despite how many people they harmed, hurt, or betrayed. Frankly, at some point, there has to be some form of “divine justice” for serial hate-mongers within Christianity at the time they are behaving that way. Otherwise, the faith gradually loses its credibility in the public realm.

Generally, it is believed that comeuppances for bad behavior here on Earth take place after death, as we were taught in Sunday School (a.k.a. Hell or Purgatory). However, Karma is a useful concept from Eastern religions that helps one cope with so much of the free-flying crapola taking place in the world these days.

Some might argue that believing in Karma is counter to Christianity. Perhaps, but, nearly every major religion does have some principle that relates to actions having consequences, including Christianity. Furthermore, how is Karma’s belief in “a law of cause and effect” different from the following?

• The Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you;”
• Galatians 6:7. “for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap;” or
• Matthew 7:18: “A good tree bears good fruit, and a bad tree bears bad fruit;”
• Newton’s Third Law: “each action has an equal and opposite reaction;”
• Or even the old adage of: “What goes around, comes around.”

Once again, it seems that the ever-present “get out of sin jail free card” is the single biggest enabler of hate-based Christians. Why behave on Earth when eternity in Heaven is promised to those who eventually repent? Please explain how such a belief system improves life on Earth right here, right here and right now?

• Hate doesn’t end poverty.
• It doesn’t solve crimes or end wars.
• It certainly does not solve racism, bigotry, or injustice.
• Hate does not reduce sin.
• And hate absolutely does NOT promote peace, love, and understanding.

Meanwhile, living a mindful, loving, empathetic, and compassionate life while we are here on Earth would go a long way towards easing the hate-filled atmosphere pervading so much of our country and planet. All we have to do is be nice, be kind, and show others grace. Why is that so hard?

Peace!

While I'm certain Amanda Marcotte and I have different ideas about how to actually fight fascism, I agree strongly with her argument that Marco Rubio's cable asking State Department employees to use a snitch line to report each other for "anti-Christian bias" is both an indicator of the regime's theocratic intentions and an ominous portent of the next moral panic the Trumpenreich will use to purge its enemies and continue installing a fascist dictatorship.

https://archive.ph/7Zge0

Marco Rubio's hunt for "anti-Christian bias" is creeping theocracy

"Unsurprisingly, a deeper read of the cable shows that "anti-Christian bias" is the cover story propped up to justify Rubio's actual assault on freedom of religion at State. He's giving Christian nationalists at the agency a tool to harass and even purge people who don't share their far-right beliefs. The definitions of "anti-Christian bias" throughout add up to outrage that conservative Christians are expected to treat people who believe differently with fairness and decency.

For instance, the memo asks for reports of "mistreatment for opposing displays of flags, banners or other paraphernalia," specifically during Joe Biden's administration. It doesn't take a doctorate in bureaucratese to interpret this. Rubio is seeking stories where conservative Christians were told to mind their own business after objecting to a colleague putting up a Pride flag, a Black Lives Matter sign or perhaps a religious knickknack from a non-Christian faith. This might be more comprehensible if, say, any Christians had being told they couldn't wear a cross or have a picture of Jesus on their desk. Instead, what Rubio is suggesting is that Christians have a prevent other people from having the freedom to express views and positions they dislike — and that it amounts to "bias" if they can't control what others do or say.

Also defined as "anti-Christian bias" is alleged mistreatment for "opposing official media content due to religious objections." Under Biden, the State Department flew the Pride flag, validated the passports of trans people, allowed LGBTQ employees to be out at the office, and expected employees to use the correct name and pronouns for trans colleagues. Under this new policy, if State employees objected to these policies, they are now free to punish those who asked them to show professional courtesy to co-workers. This is not an anti-discrimination policy, but a pro-discrimination policy."

Throughout the rest of the piece, Marcotte does a solid job of debunking the idea that anti-Christian bias is a significant problem in an increasingly Christian Nationalist/fundamentalist America, and pointing out that what Rubio is doing is enabling Christian Nationalists working at State to harass and potentially purge anyone opposed to their odious ideology; including other Christians who do not conform to the very narrow definition of believer the Christian Nationalist worldview allows for.

"What's ironic here is that, because of American demographics, most of the people who risk being targeted by these authoritarian policies are either Christian or grew up Christian. But a large part of the MAGA project is redefining "Christian" only to mean people who share a white nationalist, anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQ worldview — and want to use force to bring everyone else in line."

In other words, it's just another project to install fascist ideology as the only acceptable way to think and act inside the Trumpenreich-controlled US government. Where I think Marcotte's analysis shines however, and what I hope readers take away from this story, is the author's direct connection of this nascent argument for another fascist purge, with its prior two arguments for doing so as we watch them evolve into their horrifying final forms in real time; specifically the regime's fake wars against "antisemitism" and "gang activity."

Like most fascist movements, what some call "Trumpism" is actually a giant quilted patchwork of reactionaries, supremacists, and eliminationists who are ideologically aligned under the big picture fascist umbrella, but have (at times) wildly different priorities and concerns on the micro level, inside each individual clique. One of the core constituencies in the fascist Trump alliance are Christian Nationalists and the evangelical right; whose loyalty to the regime was rewarded with an anti-trans pogrom and assaults on public education (among other things) the moment Trump was inaugurated. Now, slightly staggered as their two prior fake moral panics become exposed as just bog standard fascism, what better way to right the nazi ship of state than to drum up a third moral panic about anti-Christian bias? This would rally the Christian right around Trump's banner, while the regime continues its project to purge "enemies" and install a fascist dictatorship, in what it hopes will become a white ethno-state.