I came across an interesting blog posting at www.futuroticacomics.blogspot.com/, a blog by Benjamin Cain. Fair warning, the blog is part of his erotic take on the Futurama cartoon series. Definitely not for the under 18 crowd.
That being said his latest posting is an essay on how the Christian church, particularly the Catholic church, strayed from the teaching of Jesus and got essentially in bed with secular and political powers of the day. The post is entitled “Christian Chutzpah: Why Christianity is the Worst Religion.” He raises some interesting points but what caught my attention was this little gem -
“The most familiar case of Christianity as a handmaiden of secular powers is the American conservative’s brand of the religion, which very obviously bears not the slightest resemblance to anything that Jesus would have welcomed. From the warmongering to the fetishes for guns, violent sporting events, and Ken and Barbie doll-like nuclear families; and from the greed for money and material goods to the seamless union between religious and Machiavellian schemes in the Republican party, conservative “Christianity” in the US is a farcical charade, a preposterous amalgamation of opposites that brings shame to all its informed participants.”
A farcical charade says it all. If you look at the current crop of GOP candidates for President and watch how they throw around their religious beliefs, trying to snare the evangelical vote, it could make you sick. As one who is not religious in the least, I really don’t care what they say on religion as long as it doesn’t translate into laws and actions that exclude the non-Christians (i.e. Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Atheists, etc.). Well that’s not entirely true. I don’t want them also to push any agenda that is primarily based on a religious belief, i.e. the abortion issue. That being said, it is laughable how the GOP as a whole, pretends to be so religious, salivating for the evangelical vote, when at the same time spouting things that would have Jesus spinning in his grave. Yeah he died and didn’t get up - get over it!
America is portrayed as a very religious country when in fact it is really a country of those who use the religious lexicon for things that the Christian religion itself, from the time of Jesus, didn’t stand for. When you look at how Jesus was portrayed in the Gospels, he was “a radical socialist and ascetic” who wasn’t really concerned about secular power or waging war or causing social uprising. Todays’ Republicans are hell bent on war, capitalism, and world domination with touches of religious side dressing to appease their in-group.
The GOP is now creating a new Christianity that is unlike any that exists today. The problem is that the “other Christianities” will have problems with this GOP Christianity in the long run and in-fighting will continue for decades. I hope one can stand on the side lines and not be hurt by it. Think about it.