Paula White comparing the president to Jesus was met with applause.
The Pope calling for peace and ending the war was met with condemnation.
Beware of any Christian movement that measures loyalty to God by loyalty to the president.
If our Christianity causes us to defend the president rather than the poor, the powerless, the sick, the hungry, the homeless, and the immigrant, that’s when we know we are following someone other than Jesus.
Responding to the entire Bible being read in D.C.
Read full article here: open.substack.com/pub/benjamin...
Everytime there is a mass shooting, this image comes to mind. People in some of the highest positions of power in our country wearing gun pins. People who claim to be “pro life” and want to “protect the children.” People who claim to follow Jesus. This is idolatry of guns.
Everytime there is a mass shooting, this image comes to mind. People in some of the highest positions of power in our country wearing gun pins. People who claim to be “pro life” and want to “protect the children.” People who claim to follow Jesus.
This is idolatry of guns.
In my hyper conservative churches growing up, I was always warned about liberalism but never far right authoritarianism. I was always warned about socialism but never predatory capitalism. I was always warned about feminism but never misogyny. I was always warned about homosexuality but never about abuse in the church. I was always warned about Islamic extremists, but never Christian nationalism. Imagine what American Christianity would look like today if it had focused on its own sins.
Christian idolatry right now looks like measuring people’s loyalty to God by their loyalty to the president.
Imagine constantly demanding for years that the Ten Commandments be posted in schools and insisting that the Bible inform our laws, then shouting “stay out of politics!” when Christian faith leaders call for peace and ending wars, then expect us not to call out your blatant hypocrisy.
It was clear in 2016, but it should be abundantly clear to everyone by now that the only interest this president and administration has in Christianity is to misuse it as a tool of oppression and self serving power.
It’s always “Christian faith leaders should stay out of politics,” until faith leaders align themselves with the Religious Right, then speaking out on politics becomes a matter of “religious freedom.”
“The Pope should stay out of politics!”
Okay, then you should keep the Ten Commandments out of our public schools and keep your theology away from legislation about individual healthcare decisions, climate change, and social welfare programs.
Notice how Christian nationalists suddenly believe in the separation of church and state when Bishop Mariann Budde asks the president to be merciful, when the Pope asks the president to be peaceful, and when anyone suggests that the government should take better care of the poor.
Trump as pope.
Trump on a mission from God.
Trump as gold statue.
Seems like a good time to remind everyone that he posted these too:
The only interest this president and his administration has in Christianity is to manipulate it for their own selfish gain.
It has always been this way.
Sadly, some are only realizing this for the first time now.
If attacking Pope Leo online then posting an AI generated picture of himself as Jesus doesn’t convince you that the president has zero respect for Christianity, after all that has happened up to now, I can safely say you do not care about the truth.
Lord, have mercy.
I stand with Pope Leo.
Christian nationalism just lost in Hungary, even after being endorsed by Christian nationalism here in the United States.
This is a great win for both Christianity and democracy.
May we see this trend continue.
Some of the most successful political propaganda was convincing so many Christians that supporting policies that gut social safety nets, cut healthcare, defund SNAP, roll back environmental protections, and endlessly fund war is somehow the “pro life” and “family values” position.
In response to the Pope’s anti-war statements, the Pentagon summoned his ambassador and told him that the U.S. has the military power to do “whatever it wants” and that the Catholic Church had better fall in line.
As a Christian, as a Protestant, as an American I renounce this as evil.
Calling for a cease-fire in the evening does not somehow erase calling for the genocide of an entire civilization the same day. This is erratic and reckless leadership. In fact it isn't leadership at all. It has never been leadership. It has always been authoritarianism, white supremacy, and greed. And to think this even remotely represents Christianity is just beyond comprehension. It still must be opposed. It still must end. Our country deserves better. Our men and women in uniform deserve better. Our kids deserve better. Our world deserves better.
Calling for a cease-fire in the evening does not somehow erase calling for the genocide of an entire civilization the same day. This is erratic and reckless leadership. In fact it isn’t leadership at all. He is unfit. He has always been unfit for the presidency.
Jesus said “blessed are the peacemakers.”
Not the warmongers.
Not the authoritarians.
Not those who see their religion as a battle against “the world.”
Jesus said “blessed are the peacemakers.”
Wherever peace is chosen instead of violence, there are the children of God.
This is what taking God’s name in vain looks like. Absolutely vile.
This is what taking God’s name in vain looks like. Absolutely vile.
It is hard to name the kind of grief you feel as you watch the Christian movement that raised you continually justify the most vile things, all for the sake of power, influence, and money.
It’s hard to name the grief of knowing that there is nothing so vile they won’t justify.
One of the most blatant forms of Christian hypocrisy in our time is Christians holding all ordinary people accountable to the most rigid moral standards while simultaneously holding themselves and the president accountable to no standards at all.
