On Christians and Faux Christians [View all]

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Dear beloveds:

It would be such a nice thing if you would all make a clear distinction in your minds and in your prose between Christians and the faux variety, who are often being led by Evangelical ignoramuses who instruct them in having all the same prejudices that the man and woman in the street have. These teachings are often directly contrary to what Jesus taught his followers. These particular evangelicals and their leaders are unacquainted with the Jesus of the New Testament.

So, if you simply condemn Christians, you are condemning John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Jimmy- the-Bible-teacher Carter, and numerous other nonfamous people whom I'm acquainted with, whose lives reflect the teaching and life of Jesus of Nazareth. When you condemn the faux, kindly specify which church they belong to, who their pastor is, and just lay the blame where it belongs.

And it is my hypothesis that the suite of values we on DU all hold dear is heavily influenced by the fact that most people in this country and in Europe for two thousand years before us were Christians, and were mostly instructed in the real Jesus of the New Testament. If we want to see justice done, we want it for illiterate laborers as much as lawyers and doctors; if we don't believe we will always have the poor with us, but that poverty ought to be alleviated as much as possible; if we think that the people ought to rule the country, not a King, or a Dear Leader, or an autocrat, then that belief represents progress over political systems of the past, and is influenced by the Christian values of our ancestors, who were mostly Christian. The Founding Fathers of the country were familiar with the evils perpetrated by religious people in governments, including the elders of Salem, MA, and they wisely decided to found a secular government, in which everybody got to practice his or her religion without fear of persecution from the government. This great idea of theirs has been forgotten by the aforementioned Evangelical ignoramuses, who know neither the New Testament nor history, but we should remember it, and not jail those who think of themselves as Christian until they actually break into the Capitol and trash it.

This is a plea that we on DU not be as sloppy in our terminology as our counterparts across the aisle are--who see impeachable offenses, criminal and civil offenses, and general evil in their political opponents. And constantly tell us about it. Let us condemn their policies, their tactics, their ethics, but not their right to be wrong. Let us treat them as Christ would: love them, but never ever vote for them.