Separation of Church and Hate

by John Fugelsang

Now, this may shock you, but everybody’s favorite radical long-haired nonviolent homeless revolutionary Jew never said, “Forgive us our trespasses as we lethally inject those who trespass against us.”

“There is no such thing as an actual Christian that believes such bullshit. You cannot follow Jesus and be in the eye or tooth-snatching business. I’ve also called these people self-righteous eye molesters. They think they can go after whatever eyes they want… but never consider why their own eyes might not be so safe.”

Leviticus 20:10 “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife—with the wife of his neighbor—both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.” We’ll keep referencing this one for all y’all Trump Christians out there.

“The reality is that capital punishment in America is a lottery. It is a punishment that is shaped by the constraints of poverty, race, geography, and local politics.” Bryan Stevenson, Equal Justice Initiative

According to the center, in 2020 only five other countries executed more of their citizens than the US: China, Iran, Egypt, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.

Turning Point USA founder, MLK hater, and Christian nationalist bamboozler Charlie Kirk said on his Thoughtcrime podcast that he wanted to see corporate-sponsored TV executions of Donald Trump’s political opponents: “It should be public. It should be quick. It should be televised…. You could sell, you could fund the government. You could have like, ‘brought to you by Coca-Cola.’ ”

Kirk suggested that children should be made to watch public murder, and that such executions “should be taken in a holy way.”

did you ever notice how so many Americans who warn of the perils of “big government” want that same government to have the power to strap a citizen to a table and fill them with poison until they die? Does it get more “big government” than that?

His approach is always redemption and reconciliation, rather than convincing oneself that it’s not murder if the condemned guy really deserves it.

Just remember, right-wing friends: If you support government murder of sinners, you can stop pretending you believe “all life is sacred.”

THOU SHALT NOT HATE GUN CONTROL OR WORSHIP WARRIOR BRO-DUDE JESUS

“Our faith compels us to protect the sanctity of human life. We are called to reject a culture of fear and self-protection that fuels a cycle of violence.” United Methodist Church, “Take Action: United Methodist Call to End Gun Violence,” 2021

“Our faith calls us to act on behalf of those who are most vulnerable. This includes advocating for gun control laws that will help reduce the epidemic of gun violence in our society.” Presbyterian Church (USA)

“We utterly deny all outward wars and strife and fightings with outward weapons, for any end, or under any pretence whatsoever; and this is our testimony to the whole world.” Quaker Peace Testimony

We live in a world where Christian nationalists maintain a proud tradition of re-creating Jesus in their own image. And it turns out, their Christ isn’t the nonviolent bearer of compassion who demands we turn the other cheek.

When it comes to war, torture, the death penalty, and gun proliferation, some of Jesus’s locked-and-loaded fans have overlooked his teachings, like they overlook the words “well-regulated militia” in the Second Amendment.

And grievance, as we have learned, is good for business.

But as you probably know, right-wing Christians defiantly refuse to do anything that might help drive these fatality numbers down. Those Christians who boast so proudly of “pro-life” convictions are also fighting for emotionally unstable twentysomething males to have easy access to AR-15s.

I also believe most guns and ammunition should be legal and free for most women.

But an AR-15 for civilian use is not your “God-given right”; it’s your goddamn entertainment.

Christian nationalists aren’t interested in the nonviolent Jesus of the Gospels. They worship a right-wing warrior Jesus, Lord of the Strapped, Ragingly Heterosexual Bro-Dudes.

ALPHA-BRO CHRIST

The concept of a “warrior Jesus” has been invoked by quite a few individuals and movements throughout history. You’d think it might be blasphemous to blend Christ’s image with your own militant agenda, but testosterone is a strange and fragile thing.

In modern political discourse, particularly among extreme right-wing and nationalist groups, Jesus is often depicted as a jacked-up, long-haired, battle-ready Lord of the Bench Press who brings good tidings of gun rights, homogenous communities, and aggressive opposition to whoever you think deserves it.

More and more right-wing pastors stress Jesus’s masculinity over his message, deeming any depiction of a compassionate Jesus as weak or “hippie.” Witness, please, these big bad butch believers, selling Macho Jesus to insecure men who appreciate the spiritual benefits of phallocentric piety. I apologize if any of this gets a little homoerotic.

“Jesus wasn’t an effeminate hippie… Jesus Christo gets pitched as some unisexual, religious, gluten-free Gucci model who might confuse us in regards to his a...

“God, at a physiological level, sent His Son Jesus into the world with a male, testosterone-producing body that equipped Him with the masculine attributes required to fulfill His physical duties as Messiah… He was wonderfully and perfectly masculine.” Dale Partridge, relearn.org, 2022

For some Christians, masculinity is synonymous with dominance, violence, and trying way too hard, bro. Fetishizing a chest-thumping, militarized Rambo Christ says more about one’s own insecurities than about the carpenter who frequented the poor neighborhoods of Galilee.

The hypermasculine rhetoric of the pious Warrior Dude-Bros doesn’t align much with the cheek-turning carpenter of the Gospels. Their Jesus is a Rebel without a Cross.

This Jesus is a ketamine seizure Carpenter of Carnage in a heavy-metal video filmed at the gun show.

The communal aspects of faith, the call to love and serve others, all crushed by a theology of ME ME ME ME ME.

Prioritizing civilian access to mass-kill weaponry—instead of measures that could protect lives—isn’t really in Jesus’s sacred wheelhouse.

The deeply silly portrayal of Christ as a warrior figure has always been a product of male insecurity and/or political agendas; it’s designed to ruggedly sidestep those tough-sell commandments of love, forgiveness, and reconciliation.

In late 2023, a three-judge appeals court panel overturned a New York law that prohibited the carrying of firearms into churches.

For yea, though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Church, I will fear no evil; my Glock and dwindling testosterone shall comfort me. And maybe that’s the whole problem with Christianity—they let a nonviolent long-haired martyr run the startup. Some Christians don’t want the Prince of Peace; they want a prince who packs a piece.

Strength is measured by who you protect, not who you attack.

You learn a lot about a person by who they choose to ridicule, scorn, or scapegoat.