Vox Populi
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Video: GOP Jesus
Right-wing conservative Christians who see this video may think it’s an attack on Christianity. They’re wrong. It’s an attack on hypocrisy.
Written, produced, and edited by Ben Auxier & Brian Huther
Directed by Brian Huther
Jesus: Ben Auxier
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Years ago, in the small New England working class town of Attleboro, MA, I asked a bunch of different people (my tone casual) to define “neighbor.” Nobody had what I would call a thoughtful answer. Most dodged the larger (more important) question by remarking that they hadn’t met their neighbors yet… It seems lots of folks try to whittle Jesus to the flimsy mediocrity of individual, messed up, misguided nationalists–aka, Christian fascists.
A lifelong, middle-aged (maybe older) Christian told me recently that the pastors of the churches she had mostly attended in the US “heartland” NEVER spoke with LOVE. (Their sermons might feature impassioned “yelling,” but not love.) That LOVE was what she was hungry to hear and receive. We had just attended a Sunday service that flowed with love and humility, so she said she finally experienced what she had been waiting for her whole Christian life.
I told the pastor’s wife that her husband’s sermon that day really made a difference! It seems we need to SHOW the love we profess. My dad used to say, “If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a meaningful one-on-one exchange is worth a thousand pictures.” It may seem meager in the moment, but hearts are changed one by one.
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Right on, Mel! Amen.
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I laughed out loud multiple times and thank you for sharing it.
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Yes, the satire is spot on, isn’t it?
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Powerful post, Michael. I enjoy your many daily posts. Keep up what you are doing!
Michael Merrill
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Thank you for reading the daily posts, Michael!
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I watch my son, a pastor, walk his neighborhood with Narcan, saving lives literally. His church has a pantry and new shoes for those in need. I am a sorta kinda Buddhist, but I honor his commitment even though we don’t agree on some points.
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I loved this!
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Thanks, Barbara. I know many Christians, including family members, who practice the spirit of Christianity. This satiric video is obviously not aimed at them.
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It is a great moral quandary in which modern American “Christianity” finds itself, unfortunately. On the one hand, we see a total perversion of Christian values as most of us were taught existed and to which we were implored to adhere to while on the other hand, as this video briefly points out, we see “Christianity” hijacked by grifters, swindlers, and political “leaders” who adhere to no Christian values most of recognize. Yet, those who still adhere to those age old precepts are also guilty of upholding the charlatans as they do little or nothing to oppose the corruption of that faith. Where are the pastors who used to speak from the pulpit and in the streets about civil rights, or those who raised their voices against the unjust and illegal wars in which we have slaughtered so many? Where are most pastors and preachers as a genocide plays out fully and in living color before our very eyes in Palestine? Where is the moral outrage I expect to hear in public statements from them? I have spoken to a few and the answer is pretty much the same with their claim that it might “upset our Jewish neighbors” or “it’s too divisive”. We deserve better. We, the people of this nation and people of all faiths, deserve to hear that our faith leaders are willing to and even feel compelled by their faith, to speak out against murder and the rising fascism of not only this nation but of other nations as well. Failure to do so will leave most of them judged as so many German faith leaders were judged, simply guilty of complicity with injustice and if there is such a thing as a just God, I have no doubt that this would be the decision by that God.
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Speaking as a recovering Southern Baptist evangelical, I couldn’t agree more, Mel.
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