Separation of Church and Hate

by John Fugelsang

“Biblical Marriage isn’t what many Christian leaders want you to think it was. It wasn’t beautiful. It wasn’t sacred or holy. It wasn’t defined by religious texts. It was a secular business deal. On the Christian side, marriage wasn’t made a sacrament until the 1500s. Meaning, prior to that time, Christians didn’t think about marriage as something the Church had to bless or regulate or define. It was merely an arrangement between two families that took place in someone’s home without involving the pastor, the priest, the bishop or any Christian leader.”

Women Are Icky

But we’ve got high hopes the United States will be ready for a female president sometime in our second 250 years.

“As we meet Jesus in the Gospels, we’ll encounter a man who welcomes sexually notorious women while standing up to sexually self-righteous men. We find a man born into sexual scandal, who further scandalized his fellow Jews by loving women known for sexual sin. We find a man who never had a sexual relationship, but who loved women so well that they’d leave everything to follow him. We find a man who turned his back on the religiously powerful men of his day and had his longest recorded private conversation with a religiously despised woman.” Rebecca McLaughlin, Jesus Through the Eyes of Women

He begins in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:28, by essentially telling men, “Stop looking at her like that.” “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

This could be the first recorded biblical utterance of “Eyes up here, buddy.” Jesus’s admonition to not look on women lustfully is not anti-sex—it’s anti–sexual harassment.

A man would never speak to a woman he did not know, and no respectable Jew would ever talk to a Samaritan. But Jesus, fan of breaking down barriers and reaching out to outcasts, asks her for a drink and strikes up a conversation.

What follows is Jesus’s longest recorded private conversation with anyone in the Bible—with a woman he was forbidden to have been speaking to.

As they converse, Jesus reveals details about her personal life. He knows she’s had five previous husbands, and was currently living with another guy, out of wedlock. By the standards of the time, these were grounds for righteous, full-throated slut-shaming.

He even tells her “salvation is from the Jews,” which is why right-wing Christians never quote this one.

This admission marks the first time in John’s Gospel that Jesus ever tells anyone that he’s the Messiah—and he says it to a deeply despised woman no rabbi would be permitted to talk to.

it will not be taken away from her.’ ”

If you’re ever looking for permission to slut-shame, Jesus ain’t your guy.

Am I right, JD Vance?

MAKE BIBLE MISOGYNIST AGAIN

Paul is not, in fact, Jesus.

Of course, that’s nothing compared to what happened to Mary Magdalene.

Mary Magdalene is never once referred to as a prostitute in the Bible.

THE HE-MAN WOMAN-HATER’S CULT

“Every woman should be filled with shame by the thought that she is a woman.” St. Clement of Alexandria (c. 150–c. 215)

Listen to early church father Tertullian (c. 155–c. 240), “the father of Latin Christianity.” He’s known for his influential writings on theology, like “Woman is a temple built over a sewer.”

Martin Luther’s legendary passion for reform didn’t extend to gender roles within the church; he deeply opposed the education of women beyond basic literacy: “The word and works of God are quite clear, that women were made either to be wives or prostitutes.” “If they become tired or even die, that does not matter. Let them die in childbirth; that’s why they are there.”

From Franklin Graham to Jerry Falwell Jr. to Roy Moore, Christian misogyny has come a short way. After two thousand years, Christian nationalists’ opposition to women in power is still rooted in the cultural attitudes they were raised in, and an unmanly fear of women in power.

Stephen Wolfe, author of The Case for Christian Nationalism, openly says that under Christian nationalist rule, women can’t be in charge, because they are too empathetic and inclusive.

Right-wing pastor and desperate cry for help Joel Webbon coedited “The Statement on Christian Nationalism” manifesto (co-drafted by James Silberman and Oklahoma state senator Dusty Deevers), which states that the US must officially “acknowledge the Lordship of Christ” in all its laws. In a 2024 viral podcast appearance, Webbon proudly asserted that if he could wave a Christian nationalist “wand,” the Nineteenth Amendment would be abolished, and US women would lose the vote. Speaking of his wand, Pastor Webbon justifies his misogyny because politics is war, and “the sword has been given to men.”

“The sword is—without being crude, I think this is a fact—it is a phallus. It is assigned by God to men.” Got that, ladies? Joel’s penis was assigned by God Himself. And it’s like a sword. This means he’s special, and you’re not.

If the Virgin Mary came back, would the Vatican let her say mass?

To a sane person in the twenty-first century it might seem obvious that there were actually fifteen apostles, at least.

The Vatican will one day realize that they need women more than women need the Vatican.

THE BIBLICAL SLUT-SHAMING HALL OF FAME Okay, since this is a book about the Bible and all, let’s talk about sluts.

And in America, “promiscuous” means “anybody getting more than you.”

as one does.

because fetuses are not considered people in the Bible—Tamar

“Judah, you are the father.”

whose actions are never condemned.

Tamar’s deception is a brave response to injustice, exposing Judah’s hypocrisy and securing her future. The Bible portrays this deeply wronged woman as an intrepid figure who acts with brilliance and self-respect. In fact, it’s such an inspiring biblical story of justice and female ingenuity that none of these conservative Christian broadcast groups have ever tried to make a movie out of it.

Each of these women has a story that involves elements of sexuality or scandal. Each has been slut-shamed throughout history. But according to the Gospel of Matthew itself, they’re all direct ancestors of Jesus’s family.

without these “sluts,” there’d be no Jesus.

Being gay is natural; hating gay is a lifestyle choice. And unlike being gay, homophobia is highly curable.

But some Christian guys are powerfully attracted to antigay hate. At some point when they were young, they may have experimented with hate a little, and now it always gets them turned on.

Here’s a tip—if you think letting consenting taxpaying adults marry who they love will lead to bestiality, you are not a champion of Jesus—you’re a guy who thinks too much about bestiality.

But marriage equality was never about special rights, just equal rights. “Special rights” are for political churches that don’t have to pay taxes.

The Bible condemns idolatry, exploitation, cruelty to immigrants, and violence, but with a few exceptions never even mentions same-sex relations. Helping the poor, by contrast, is commanded over three hundred times. Which is why that’s all conservative Christians talk about, isn’t it?

God sends two angels—called “messengers”—to check out the city and see how bad things have gotten. Lot, Abraham’s nephew, greets the angel-men, welcomes them into his family’s house, feeds them, and offers to put ’em up for the night. So far, it’s a lovely story, right? The messengers warn Lot that he needs to bounce; God’s about to drop the hammer and shit’s about to jump off. I paraphrase from the Hebrew. But then a large mob gathers outside the house, shouting at Lot and the others, demanding to know who the two strangers are. “Where are the men which came in to thee this night? Bring them out unto us, that we may know them.”

Now, in the modern age of blocking and muting trolls, you might not see much sense in trying to reason with a gang of sweaty guys in the desert who’ve made up their minds to gang-rape two angels. But Lot goes outside and makes them an offer—if they promise to leave the two messengers alone, they can have his two virgin daughters, to do with as they will. Yes, Lot offers his two virgin daughters up for gang rape. Remember, this is the heterosexual hero of a story used to teach us that gay people are bad.

Lot goes on to settle in the mountains with his two childless daughters, who then decide to get Lot drunk and take advantage of him. Both daughters sleep with their drunken father and later give birth to their own child-siblings. The End. And the moral of that story—we are told—is that God really doesn’t want us to ever bake a cake for a gay wedding.

If you’re going to believe that God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of gay people, you’ve got to believe that God’s okay with offering up virgin girls for gang rape and having incestual relations with your dad, as those behaviors don’t seem to merit any punishment.

Finally, there’s nothing in this story about sexual orientation, same-sex relationships, or same-sex attraction. God does not condemn a city of gay men given to brunch, racquetball, and antiquing. He punishes a gang of men looking to rape. And rape is not about love, pleasure, or sexual preference. It’s about power. So remind your homophobe—if he thinks consensual same-sex relationships and gang rape are the same thing, he’s seriously dating the wrong guys.

Imagine you’re going to marry a very powerful man, and he gives you a simple prenup—that’s the Ten Commandments. Then, after a few years, he delivers twenty-six chapters of extensive fine print—that’s Leviticus.

Leviticus has twenty-seven chapters and 859 verses, and these are the two that Americans have most likely heard of.