How Jesus Christ Became the Model for Fascism (In America)
Demanding obedience to divine authority is the root of all evil
Hello Friends,
I'm sorry to have to break this to you, but somewhere in the course of human history, Jesus Christ became the model for fascism.
At some point, everybody has to stop and seriously ask the question, “Is my faith hurting my children?” If you refuse to even consider that you might be causing your children harm, you probably already are.
I've come to believe that human beings simply can't handle the model of the divine in human form. That concept, no matter how gently it's presented, is always corrupting. There's evidence that this is so.
I started thinking about this idea again when I saw the current president's press secretary. She came defiantly trotting out with a gigantic, gaudy, gold crucifix around her neck. If there's one thing that demonstrates you have no comprehension of the teachings of religion, it's the fact that you wear an ostentatious cross.
The last thing you should be wearing is any kind of offensively expensive religious symbol.
How about this? Instead of using that money on jewelry, you can use it to help the poor. But religion is not about helping people anymore. It's about a demand for obedience.
God told me to tell you what to do, so shut up and listen and don't question it.
You're still not certain that this ideology might lend itself to certain abuses? It seems pretty obvious doesn't it?
When was the last time religion was a force that moved a government to embrace a path of educating the uneducated or healing the sick? Everyone knows that's not what religion stands for.
My question is, why do we accept that? Why don't we object? Why don't we say that people will burn in hell if they OPPOSE giving free lunch to school kids?
Why are we so indoctrinated to see religion in only one way? Maybe it's because we've been conditioned not to talk about it over dinner with our families. The second you suggest a criticism, people start shouting at you. Who the hell do they think they are? Why can't they sit down and shut up and listen to your comments with a bit of respect?
They will not extend you that grace. That's wrong.
I've lost all tolerance for the expression of smug and unquestionable authority I often see on the faces of religious leaders. The bigger the cross, the bigger the lie. I've met a lot of abusive people in my life. These are the type of men who rape children and know that they can get away with it because they hold a position of power.
They insist they have god on their side.
As for me, I stand with the survivors.
But this is another transgression that you'll get lectured at if you try to bring it up. If there's a gold cross shining in the room, people are expected to worship it like an idol, even though the 10 Commandments prohibit that very thing.
The symbol of the divine is used to browbeat the innocent. You're supposed to sit obediently in the crowd, trembling in terror. It's like they're trying to suggest the divine has returned in human form to punish us.
Where's the love?
We need to point out that any human being that affiliates himself or herself with the divine is a LIAR! It's a lie. It has always been a lie. They don't know what God thinks. They never have.
Also, it's not that the model has been corrupted, the model has always fundamentally been corrupt! It's not all religions either, it's Christianity that is the problem.
I can't think of another religion that has this idiotic concept of the divine coming to Earth in human form. It's a big problem because it prevents people from seeing the inherent flaws in the teaching of Christ.
Christ says some good stuff. Love thy neighbor is fine.
When he starts talking about sin, he's spewing the language of evil. It leads directly to fascism. We need to have these discussions or we risk becoming agents of fascism.
When people say go back to the words of Christ, they're practicing a trick. It's a bit of mental slight of hand. They don't mean “heal the sick,” they mean OBEY.
You shouldn't blindly obey anyone because even if the messenger says the commands are from God, it's always a flawed human being who brings them.
Every. Single. Time.
And if you regard a flawed human like a divine authority, you will become a tool of corruption.
Every. Single. Time.
Why is it so offensive to consider interpreting the words of Christ like we would any other ancient philosopher? Yes, there's value there. There's also stuff that is flat out wrong.
Insisting something is right when it's not is how people end up dead.
I've said this again and again. We should examine the works of Plato and separate the good from the bad. Some of it is right, some of it is wrong. We should examine the works of Aristotle. We should examine the works of all ancient philosophers, including Christ.
But it's only Christ that people insist is perfect because they claim he represents the divine in human form.
That seems innocent enough, but that belief, if uncontested, can be used to enable acts of blatant evil.
“Only Christ was perfect, I am flawed,” says the man accused of molesting a child. I've heard people make this claim and it always makes me sick.
Claiming a man represents the divine in human form deprives us of our agency. We're no longer allowed to question. People come to believe it's an affront to challenge anything that speaker, or his representatives, have to say. They become angry.
And that is the essence of authoritarianism.
That's exactly what we're dealing with today.
Again and again, I see politicians who hide their fascism behind the cross. They justify their belief that they have a mandate to inflict harm with their religion. They wave the Bible like a weapon.
Even when they're caught, they use their faith to escape consequences. They only feign remorse as a step on the way to consolidating unquestionable power. They want the kind of power God has. They want to take the place of God.
They want you to listen to them as the ultimate authority. That's their end game. They want you to disregard the evidence supplied by your own eyes and ears.
The sad part is that this strategy totally works.
The voting public becomes so compelled by this mechanism that they willingly give power to a man who has committed crimes in plain sight.
The people are told they must defer to the divine model or they'll be tormented in hellfire for all eternity. A mechanism of control indoctrinates our vulnerable children with this message of abuse. This is the model of authoritarianism. This is the model of fascism.
Hitler was raised Christian. It's as if he looked at the story and thought, “Gosh, this is a good idea. I'll bring the fantasy alive on Earth and I'll play the part of God.” He wasn't the first and he won't be the last.
Today, American Christian nationalists are flocking to their flawed savior who can't even speak a person's name without insulting him.
We're living in an era of collective ignorance and laziness. Otherwise rational people look to the very worst possible person to solve their problems. They fail to recognize that those problems were created by the very person they happily install in a position of authority. They think that only he can save them.
This is the model that destroys humanity. The model of the divine in human form is corrupting.
We have to soundly reject it because it deprives us of our agency to determine or to recognize when people are engaged in acts of evil. If you set aside your own ability to reason and observe, and you only listen to authority, and you try to appease authority, you become complicit in acts of abomination.
The authoritarians absolutely control the narrative.
Nobody in our society argues that if you oppose universal health care, you will burn in Hell for all eternity. If you oppose universal education, you will burn in Hell for all eternity.
Why can't we argue that? Why can't we turn the language of religion for good?
It's because evil corrupts. It must be cast away.
Only abusive people claim to be a spokesperson for the divine. The rational and the humble would never suggest that.
People who want to establish themselves as unquestionable authority never do it in pursuit of the greater good. They do it out of an insatiable hunger for power and control. They want you to deny the facts you see with your eyes, the facts you hear with your ears. They want you to disregard all your senses and all the things you yourself know to be true. Instead, they want you to be entirely beholden to them and their orders.
That model is how the people in the United States came to voluntarily elect a cruel tyrant.
It's because Jesus Christ has been corrupted into the model for fascism. We have Christian churches all throughout the nation that spread a gospel of hate and authoritarianism.
They claim it's “love.”
I'm a survivor of Christian abuse. My eyes and my ears and all my other senses know it's not love. Now I'm using my flawed human voice to share that truth with you. Do with it what you will. I know I'm not divine, but neither are the abusers.
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Religion the opiate of the masses! A man made patriarchal concept where they slaughtered people, burned women, and all for indoctrination into control. Religion for control is the real evil in this world.
Thank you 🙏 this is all so true! All from a man that held bible upside down and failed to put hand on bible when being sworn in. This is a beast!