Why Good Friday is a warning against far-right Christian nationalism

Good Friday is a day when Christians remember the death of Jesus Christ on the cross – when he was executed. an instrument of state torture.

It is also a powerful reminder of how dangerous it is to society when authoritarian politicians and corrupt religious leaders conspire for power and domination.

Good Friday’s warning still resonates even now, nearly 2,000 years after Jesus’ death. That’s because the relationship between the religious authorities of Christ’s time and the brutal Roman governor who ordered his execution, Pontius Pilate, was slightly different from The nationalist relationship of Christianity exists between today’s Republican Party and conservative American Christianity.

Regional Roman dictators like Pilate rely on local religious elites to help them build power by keeping order in their jurisdictions. In return, religious leaders were allowed to retain power and status. Everyone benefits – except critics like Jesus, the poor, and the oppressed.

Two millennia later, modern Republican politicians like Donald Trump and Representative Marjorie Taylor GreeneR-Ga., Using conservative Protestant and Roman Catholic leaders in a similar way, many times quote their faithshare their national focus and promises businesses “freedom of religion” to engage in harmful discriminatory practices.

Eager to bask in political glory, too far many pastors and priests like itindoctrinate their followers with the ideology of Christian nationalism: false ideas that America is a Christian country and that there is no difference between conservative and Christian identities a person’s ethnicity.

Yet it is these same politicians who, despite their claims to uphold biblical morality, completely ignore the Gospel. Instead, they try to cut off access to health care for the poor and middle class, body control of women and LGBTQ people in the United States, and forcing public schools to teach our children fake and racist version of US history. When these ostensibly religious Republicans lose the election, they don’t think twice about change the rules, attack the right to vote or ask for it Congress throws out millions of votes from 2020, this will disproportionately affect the votes cast by black Americans and other people of color.

So why do so many conservative religious leaders turn away from Jesus to stick with the unscrupulous politicians they love? That’s because they now worship at the altar of power, not God, as the title of investigative journalist Katherine Stewart’s latest book, “”The worshipers of power, “Suggest. I have no doubt that pastors, priests and doctors believe they are doing the right thing, but I am reminded of Luke 4:1-13, when Satan tempted Jesus with absolute dominion: “I will give them all this glory and all this power; for it was given to me, and to whomever I please. Thus, if you worship me, all will be yours. ”

Jesus did not love it, but politicians and pastors of the MAGA movement certainly did.

Trump’s bid for power on January 6, 2021, highlights Christian nationalist signs declare “Jesus is my king, Trump is my president.” The attack itself was inspired in part by the attendance of religious leaders at The “Stop the Steal” rallyeven the pastor burned the books Greg Locke, popular Christian radio host and author Eric Metaxas, and Catholic leaders Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and Bishop Joseph Strickland. Evangelist Franklin Graham initially despised the failed coup, seeing it as the work of “antifa. ”

Viganò and Locke participated”ReAwaken AmericaThe megachurch tour is led by Eric Trump, Michael Flynn, a disgraced former general and Trump national security adviser, and a host of MAGA celebrities. Tour presenters use their church platforms to spread QAnon conspiracy theories, disparage political opponents and Covid vaccines as “Luciferian“And assure their audience that everyone in the room is on”Team Jesus. ” At a “ReAwaken America” event last year, Flynn even stated that America should “Accept a religion.”

We have already seen what happens when religious leaders cooperate with former dictators: Not only when Pontius Pilate kills Jesus, but also when Deutsche Christen supported Adolf Hitler, and in present-day Eastern Europe, where Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill is among Russian President Vladimir Putin most loyal supporters.

Yet while Trump’s authoritarian MAGA movement has become all but synonymous with White Protestant Christianityit doesn’t tell most of Catholics in America who are sick of seeing our faith violated by hateful political agendas.

Eg, Christians against Christian nationalism is an inspiring initiative convened by the Baptist Joint Committee and endorsed by multi-denominational leaders. It is especially remarkable for production useful resources that churches and individuals can use to identify and root out this toxic ideology from their communities.

In Loyal AmericaThe Christian organization that I lead, more than 13,000 junior members urged churches not to hold the “ReAwaken America Tour.” We have also implemented a mobile billboard truck to recent tours, exposing presenters as false prophets who pervert our religion to undermine democracy.

Another 20,000 Christians signed with Faithful America petition to Paramount and Rokuurges streaming platforms to drop the OAN, Newsmax, and Real America Voice propaganda networks.

Holy Week is a time for Christians to unite in the resurrection of Jesus and call for new life, not divided by the old life hungry for earthly power. I pray that history will remember Christians today in the United States as standing in the tradition of the German theologian. Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his courage to Nazi Germany, rather than being spiritual heirs to Hitler’s Deutsche Christen. This Good Friday, let us take up our cross and love our neighbors by standing up against the brutal dictators who will destroy both democracy and the church in the name of Jesus. -su.

at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here