Christian nationalists want a Christian nation—unless it means providing health care to the sick or funding food assistance for the hungry or raising the minimum wage for the poor. It seems like they want to base our laws on the Bible until they read the words of Jesus. —James Talarico, Texas Democratic candidate for Senate
* * *
Jesus ain’t nice. Just when you think Jesus loves and forgives everybody, it turns out he doesn’t. He has an inflexible ethical standard. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been baptized or sanctified, you’re still in the dock. On trial.
According to Matthew 25, if you mistreat anyone—for example, don’t provide water to a thirsty person or shelter for a stranger—you’re going to hell. Not just for a long time. Forever.
On those counts, my liberal friends consider the current administration guilty. They are the unrighteous goats on Jesus’s left hand while my friends (and I) are the righteous sheep on his right, also according to Matthew 25.
It’s black and white. It’s pass or fail. No curve.
But if you take Jesus literally, we’re all going to hell. I mean, who hasn’t fallen short of his standard? Have you always been kind in every single situation to every single person? Of course not. So if we take Jesus literally, we’re all going to hell. And that’s why I suggest we not take Jesus literally.
None of us is a goat or a sheep. We’re hybrids.
I generally dislike self-proclaimed Christian politicians—people such as JD Vance, Mike Johnson, and Lauren Boebert, who glibly quote the Bible.
But I do like James Talarico. He’s my kind of Christian. He says things like this:
Jesus liberates, Christian nationalism controls. Jesus saves, Christian nationalism kills. There is no love of God without love of neighbor.
Talarico reads Jesus the way I read Jesus. But still, with all due respect to Talarico, I don’t want the Bible or Jesus governing our nation.
Jesus meant this!
No, he meant this!!
No, he didn’t!!!
The United States was founded on the separation of church and state, on natural rights, reason, and common sense accessible to all, not on supernatural revelation accessible to believers only. The Constitution can be amended. The Bible can’t.
Thank God we are not a Christian nation.
Many progressive Christians—based on Matthew 25—denounce the Trump administration for mistreating the impoverished, the hungry, the thirsty, the refugee, the sick, and the imprisoned. And rightfully so! But then those same Christians blithely assume that they do not mistreat such people.
Not so fast, my friends. Jesus also said: Why do you see the sliver in another’s eye and neglect the log protruding from yours.
Darn. That ain’t nice!
Good Morning. I was raised Southern Baptist in racism and white supremacy, literal interpretation of scripturs and the subjugation of women. I was disowned for loving a Black woman, but I read the Bible every night through high school and early college. Reading the gospels by myself was very liberating, especially Matthew 25: 40. My life would seem empty if I couldn’t work with others for a society that embraces everyone, is empathetic and compassionate and just. There are several things that seem to be loving (maybe Godly) values: love, justice, care for immigrants and children.
Your unique view & perspectives on Christian Nationalism – it’s roots, it’s misalignment with the spirit of Christ’s teachings, & it’s radical literal interpretations of those teachings (unless it’s convenient not to) are so important & instructive as we deal with the daily firehose of propaganda & cruel, unchristian actions coming out of this “administration “. Galling to know that our tax dollars go to funding ICE, Detention Centers, foreign escapades… In the ice & cold & bitter weather, I ponder the frozen moment’s lack of warmth & lite in nature, reflective of cold & sadistic methods used by our own government against us, against our immigrant friends & neighbors, & I feel the warmth & righteous anger of Minnesotans & others all across our nation…& I hold on to the promise of Springtime, of Imbolc, & I hold on to & for dear life…thank you for this gathering place of fire in these cold days.🙏
I’ve used a lot of words to describe Jesus since I first met Him in the 1950s, but I have never used the word ‘nice.’Someone born in the Mideast to a carpenter’s family and who is focused on rescuing others, confronting evil, and demanding repentance is not the blonde, wimpy, white European Jesus. He could be kind, gentle, humorous, encouraging, and comforting when necessary, but I do not see him as ‘nice,’ andcertainly not to me about the sliver in my eye.
Here we are today using our religion as a cover for ignoring simple facts: Do unto others…, Love thy neighbor….Turn the other cheek, and so forth. Stuff that a child understands. Yet there are plenty of adults who have twisted these into their opposites.
But that’s what you said, “pass or fail” so count me in. (Except for one little problem, I’m left handed. Can we join the flock?)
You highlight the hypocrisy of the Christian Nationalist movement that has nothing to do with Christianity. This is a bankrupted movement supporting a corrupt and bankrupted political movement that has no moral center, driving the country into insolvency while filling their own pockets in the interim. Once again, I say, “Thanks American voters! Evidently, once was not enough. All we can do now is follow the directions of the old spiritual, “Keep your hand on the plow, hold on!”
Another vote for Humanism over Religion. President Reagan’s son Ron is a spokesperson and board member for the organisation Freedom from Religion Foundation. The organization is a strong advocate of the separation of church and state. Seems that throughout history mixing the two has never turned out well. Your blog is a strong inspiration.
Or as Bob Marley once sang:
Judge not
Before you judge yourself.
Judge not
If you’re not ready for judgement. Woah oh oh!
The road of life is rocky
And you may stumble too.
So while you talk about me
Someone else is judging you
You nailed it, brother. Love that song, especially the horns. Hadn’t heard it before. Thanks for the connection. Bob Marley sure knows his Jesus.
If you liked that horn solo, check out “Simmer Down,” another one of his songs from that era.
Life is not black or white, pass or fail. It’s about nuances. We are complex mysteries, and it is wise and humble to admit that “log” in one’s eye. Being aware of ourselves, our strengths and needs, can be eye-opening! Self-righteousness and pious claptrap, especially by politicians, is unhealthy and unnecessary. Just like the current DOJ, we are seeing Jesus being weaponized in unloving and unjust ways.
Yes.
June
So, Yeah – skewer all of us. Even as I cringe at some of the moralizing in our own tradition, I certainly see that pretty much everyone is short sighted in various ways. So, this is a pertinent comment to us all. I wouldn’t impose theocracy, or absolutism in most cases. Then there is Jesus.,,,