Reclaiming the Gospel: Don’t Let Jesus’ Teachings Be Hijacked
England was a Catholic nation, until Henry VIII replaced himself as the head of the church, which later morphed into the Church of England (the head is King Charles). The Catholic church is still overseen by Pope Leo (who won’t denounce bullfighting) and Orthodox Christianity is even older, but doesn’t answer to the Pope.
But now we have so-called ‘evangelical Christians’, who are using the Bible to preach hatred and division (ironically in the same way that they sometimes accuse other religions of doing). All religions have a few zealots, but for the most part, all follow ‘the golden rule’.
Of treating others as you would wish to be treated.
This ‘them vs us’ mentality is now leading to ugly politics on both sides of the Atlantic. But Jesus ‘followers’ have forgotten that he was a simpel man who preached love and forgiveness.
If alive today, he would no doubt be protecting downtrodden people, innocent animals and saving the planet.
Bring Back Your People is a book to bring the real issues of climate change and pollution back to a nasty politics more concerned with scaring people into voting for far-right beliefs.
The author is a preacher and leader of the Poor People’s Campaign in the USA, who even saw loved ones, get sucked into this new politics. He says, the price of gas is not the reason to spew politics of hate.
In the US recently, one bereaved father called out Trump and Vance for mentioning (without permission) the name of his son, accidentally killed by a Haiti immigrant. He asked them to stop using a genuine accident which involved the death of his son, for political gain.
I wish that my son was killed by a 60-year old white man. If that guy killed my 11-year old son, the hate-spewing people would leave us alone. Nathan Clark (father of Aiden Clark speaking alongside his wife Danielle).
The same thing happened in England, when Boris Johnson used two murders, again to spew his own agenda:
Jack would be seething at his death (and his life) being used to perpetuate an agenda of hate. He believed in the goodness of humanity.
Borrow his intelligence, share his drive, feel his passion, burn with his anger and extinguish hatred with his kindness. Never give up his fight. David Merritt (father of Jack Merritt, who with Saskia Jones was killed in a London Bridge terrorist attack)
How to take back the Bible (from people who hate)
Separation of Church and Hate is the debut book from actor/comedian John Fugelsang, and boy do we hope he writes more! This book is absolutely brilliant, a funny yet intelligent take-down of people in power (the media and politics) who profess to be ‘Christian’, but use their faith to create hatred, division, war and hardship to those less fortunate.
Interestingly, John’s own parents were a nun and Franciscan brother (they fell madly in love and were pen pals for 10 years before marrying). So he knows his religion and Bible, better than some bigoted people who preach it.
A book that is mostly concerned with so-called ‘Christian nationalists’ in the USA, of course now we are having a similar kind of thing happening in England. With far-right MPs and media being taken seriously, by those who profess to be ‘traditional Christians’.
But in both cases, their politics are as far away from what Jesus believed and preached, as could be:
Jesus was a peacefully, radically non-violent revolutionary who wasn’t American, never spoke English, who hung around lepers, hookers and crooks. He never sought tax cuts for rich Nazarenes, was anti-wealth, anti-death penalty, anti-public prayer.
He never called poor people lazy, was never even slightly anti-gay. He was a long-haired, community-organising, authority-questioning, brown-skinned, Palestinian, unarmed homeless Jew. But only if you believe what’s actually in the Bible.
He writes that rather than make ‘disabled and poor people pay’, Jesus Christ (the real one, not the made-up one in right-wing politics) is good for people, planet and even the economy.
If your church is not telling you to love your enemies (but telling you who your enemies are), you’re not really in a church.
He says the reason our churches in the western world hardly have any parishioners, is not because people don’t love God. It’s because they are fed up of the hypocrisy:
- The Vatican hires out buildings for $30,000 a month to McDonalds, and even Pope Leo won’t denounce bullfights (some bulls drown in their own blood) due to donations from Catholic countries like Mexico.
- The Church of England owns over a billion pounds worth of property, yet people are homeless, and King Charles III (head of the church) does not pay corporation or inheritance tax on private estates.
- We have ‘Catholic’ former Conservative ministers, whose policies were so mean, that church leaders actually wrote open letters to them, begging them to change policies.
- The two-child benefit cap has been restored, leading some ‘Christian MPs’ to suggest this is promoting a welfare estate. In fact, 70% of all children in poverty have working parents.
- Then of course we have the issues with immigrants. No-one is denying there is a problem, but to call all immigrants ‘illegal aliens’ (Trump even calls Somalians ‘garbage’, applauded by his Catholic vice-president).
You can’t hate these people back. You’ll get a lot farther by convincing your racist uncle that Jesus wasn’t an immigrant-hating homophobe than if you just call your uncle an immigrant-hating homophobe.
Is this book the truth and the light? I can’t say, but it is certainly the hypocritical modern Christian’s worst nightmare. Nick Offerman
Fugelsang has discovered the Kryptonite to use against Christian fundamentalists – a deep, intelligent knowledge of the Bible. Patton Oswalt
How Western Christianity Got it Wrong
How Western Christianity Got It Wrong is a book that many of us would like to leave in the library of several politicians and media pundits, though whether they would pick it up and read it, is another matter!
The author (of mixed white and Native American heritage) traces how a brown man from Nazareth (Jesus!) who never lost his connection to the whole community of creation, has been turned into the poster child for building empires and destroying the planet?
Jesus never intended to start a religion that would justify destroying creation, enslaving people or stealing land. So how come many of those who do these things, then preach about God to us?
The faith that bears His name has now made theologies that rationalise greed and violence – things that Jesus was completely against.
Jesus was not about billion-dollar Vatican City empires that rent out property to Mcdonald’s for 30,000 Euros a month, or support bullfights (scared of not getting enough income from Mexico if they do). It’s not about dropping bombs on other countries, or sending polar bears extinct or drilling for oil. Jesus was a simple humble man without any money, yet these political and religious institutions are never questioned?
Even our monarchy (the head of the Church of England). It has huge wealth (yet recently the government had to pay to clear up a huge toxic dump owned by the Duchy of Lancaster). This nothing to do with what Jesus preaches.
Rev. Dr. Randy Woodley is a writer, teacher and scholar, who speaks on justice, faith, the earth and indigenous heritage. He and his wife co-sustain Eloheh Indigenous Center for Earth Justice (an inter-faith community for regenerate farming) outside Portland, Oregon.
Jesus spoke to the wind, to the water and to trees: closely observed the habits of birds, flowers and animals; and called his disciples to model their lives after what they saw in nature.
Things are out of balance. Earth’s topsoil is disappearing; coral reefs are dying; glaciers are melting; aquifers are not being recharged; animal, bird, fish, and plant species are dying at exponential rates. We are experiencing a steadily increasing amount of severe weather patterns through hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, forest fires, landslides, droughts, and snowstorms. Earth is out of balance, and God’s creation is in peril. Randy Woodley
