I will start this conversation by stating that I define myself as a fundamentalist agnostic – meaning, I really do not know about the existence of a God. I studied the Bible more than most when I was in my teens, and then dabbled with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Krishna Conciseness in later years.  I begged God to show me a sign that it (surely the All Powerful does not have or need a gender – hence the virgin birth) exists, to no avail. So, I settled into the realization that God is unknowable, if it exists.

In this thesis, I will concentrate on the predominate religion of the U.S., Christianity. But, the same arguments could be made of Buddhism, Islam, and most other religions. I do not mean to paint all Christians or other believers with such a broad brush. I am simply addressing the mentality that is often espoused by those that profess to be their spokespeople and adherents.

The Jesus that I read about in my youth was a very progressive guy. And that is not just for his time, but certainly progressive for ours as well. He preached love, peace, and tolerance. He went out of his way to care for and about those of lessor financial and/or class status than that of himself or his peers. He eschewed the trappings of power, for a simple semi-nomadic lifestyle. I will grant that times were different then, but the basics remain the same.

Realizing that we live in a time of cognitive dissonance, the difference between what Jesus taught by words and example is strikingly different from the mindset of many (I would dare say most) of His most vocal followers today. And it seems that these followers are farther from His teachings than the public at large. This is not a condemnation of Christianity or religion, just its standard-bearers of today.

Let us examine a few examples. Below, I will use ‘the right’ as a catch-all for the majority Christian community in the U.S., since they vote for conservative (Republican) candidates overwhelmingly, and their loudest voices (the ones who wear their religion on their sleeves) seem to hold hard right beliefs.

• Guns – I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine Jesus owning, preaching for the right to own, or even condoning the possession of guns by others. Granted, they were not around in His day, but it can be extrapolated from His teachings that He would not have been a fan of them. However, the right in the U.S. has become strongly associated with gun rights. They seem to have a blind spot to the Prince of Peace’s teachings. And it is not just a handgun for personal defense that is in question. Any regulation of guns seems out of the question. I would venture a guess that Jesus would not have liked armor-piercing ammunition or semi-automatic (or with bump stocks, automatic) weapons. These are both things of which the right, and with the complicity or outright support or much of the Christian community, has blocked regulation.
• Care for the needy – Jesus reportedly spent much of His time and effort looking after those in need. He hung out with lepers, prostitutes, and the poor – the bottom rung of the socio-economic strata of His time. By contrast, the right seems hell-bent on ending handouts to those who they feel refuse to pick themselves up by their bootstraps. They seem to think that everybody had their start in life. Many of those who show such distain for the poor, were born on second or third base, and stand their celebrating the double or triple that they just hit. Why can the poor not do the same, they ask.
• Criminals – The right also is extremely pro-law and order. They feel that if someone breaks a law, they should be locked up, and shown the error of their ways, but not rehabilitated – just punished. The Jesus that I studied was all about forgiveness. The right seems fine with forgiving a pussy-grabbing, lying, bigot, but believe in nailing the real criminals to the metaphorical cross. They believe in punishing those who choose to make love with someone of their own gender or smoke weed in the privacy of their home among other victimless crimes. But if the crime is of the white-collar variety, then we should either change the law to make it legal, or at least show mercy, and rehabilitate them in a luxury facility, as to not scar them too badly. I believe that Jesus would have had mercy on them all, but felt scorn for the money-changers, and overturned their tables. He would not try to have them imprisoned but would let them know that what they were doing was not right.

• Inequality – There is much about our current society that Jesus would probably have a hard time grasping if He was here today. That is assuming that God would not have just uploaded in Him a working knowledge of the current state of the world. But I cannot imagine that He would be good with our current state of economic inequality. One can imagine a Sermon on the Mount addressing corporate greed, pay inequality, and tax reform (not like the sham that has just been disguised as such). But the agenda of the right is all about making the rich richer and dismantling the meager safety net that we currently have. Blessed are the money makers, for their wealth shall trickle to those at the bottom? That seems not very Jesus-like to me.
• Abortion – In my mind, this is the one that the right has got, well – right. I do not think that Jesus would have condoned abortion, except maybe in the most extreme cases like rape or incest. I personally am conflicted about this issue, but I think that Jesus would have held firm. Enough said.
• Immigration – I do not think that it is a stretch to surmise that Jesus would not have been anti-immigration. But I do not think that for most of its existence America has been either. Or maybe there is a typo on the symbol of our freedom, the Statue of Liberty. Perhaps it was meant to read, “Give me your healthy, your wealthy, your non-shit hole people yearning to breath coal dust.”
• The Environment – Take a guess how Jesus would have come down on this one – probably not in lock-step with the right, I guess.

 

In summary, it would be great if the right would practice what Jesus taught, instead of preaching their bastardized version of moral superiority. This is one man’s opinion.

 

Friedrich Wolfson