Read full article here: open.substack.com/pub/benjamin...

Notice how it’s “you can’t promote sin!” during Pride month, but when we call out the horrible sins of the president, it turns into, “you’re being divisive!” and “you shouldn’t judge!” and “no one is perfect!” and “God can use anyone!”

Jesus never demanded for his face to be put on money, for his name to be put on buildings, or for statues of himself to be made. Caesar did. May we understand the difference.

The violence carried out against Muslims in our country is the embodiment of all the anti-Muslim rhetoric from those in power in our country. This is why condemning anti-Muslim rhetoric is equally as important as condemning anti-Muslim violence. Words lead to actions.

Notice how the same people who told the Pope to “stay out of politics” are holding a worship service in D.C. to “rededicate the nation to God.”

Jesus' harshest words weren't directed towards "sinners." Jesus' harshest words were directed towards those who used their religion as a tool of oppression and self serving power. Jesus' harshest words were directed towards religious hypocrisy. May we remember this.

Beware of any Christian movement that needs a government in order to succeed. Beware of any government that needs a Christian movement in order to succeed.

White supremacy has gone by many different names in the United States. Manifest Destiny. The Confederacy. Jim Crow. KKK. Christian nationalism. MAGA. Different names for the same thing: white nationalism, misogyny, and predatory capitalism. All while using Jesus as a mascot.

Evangelical Christian leaders literally gathering around a gold statue of the president and celebrating it, all while raging against any accusation of idolatry. This is what idol worship looks like.

Notice how a book can make you gay, a vaccine can make you autistic, a mask can make you sicker, and a poster of the Ten Commandments can make you moral, but guns don’t kill people.

Imagine calling Renee Good and Alex Pretti “domestic terrorists” and calling immigrants “animals” then turning around and telling people they are the ones who need to “tone down their rhetoric.”

Whether events are staged or not, authoritarianism's goal towards them is the same: attempt to confuse and overwhelm people into apathy towards finding the truth at all. open.substack.com/pub/benjamin...

It is a broken Christianity that says “God protected him!” when a president survives and “thoughts and prayers” when school kids die.

I just can’t imagine wanting an entire secure ballroom for one man and not wanting gun reform for every child in America.

Just call God “she” or “her” or “mother” and you will find out very quickly how many Christians refuse to see God’s image in women. As if calling God by a feminine pronoun is demeaning to God rather than naming part of who God is. This is the worship of patriarchy.

The single greatest threat to Christianity in the world isn’t secularism or atheism. It is Christians contradicting Jesus by justifying evil, moral depravity, greed, selfishness, arrogance, hatred, and even the use of violence in the name of preserving Christianity.

Christians should be the loudest voices advocating confronting climate change, not its biggest deniers. If we truly believe that God created all things, called it good, and called us to be stewards, then acknowledging and confronting climate change is the only faithful response.

Reading the entire Bible and broadcasting it to the entire nation while actively taking food, healthcare, clean water, clean air, shelter, due process, and basic human dignity away from people is the exact kind of religious hypocrisy Jesus raged against.

No amount of public Bible reading can compensate for a heart full of hate.

One of the biggest lies we Christians have come to believe is that the best and most effective way to address the pressing issues of our time is to gain more control over others rather than become more compassionate towards others. This is the opposite of the gospel of Jesus.

When we Christians interpret the Bible with an unforgiving literalism towards our fellow citizens, yet interpret it with graciousness towards our preferred politicians, that's when we can be certain we are just using it to leverage our own power and privilege rather than to actually love others.

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.

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.

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.

I’ve been getting this question a lot, so I wrote my answer here: open.substack.com/pub/benjamin...

Seems like a good time to remind everyone that he posted these too:

Here’s my most recent article: open.substack.com/pub/benjamin...

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.

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. He is unfit. He has always been unfit for the presidency.