Richard Rohr with a word that Americans and the Church would do well to take to heart:

“Let’s also remember that Jesus is shockingly not upset with sinners. This is a shock so total that most Christians still refuse to see it. He is only upset with people who do not think they are sinners: These denying, fearful, and illusory ones are the blockage. They are much more likely to hate and feel no compunction. We once thought the mission of religion was to expel sin and evil. Through Jesus, we learn that sin lies in the very act of expelling. There is no place to expel it to. We have met the enemy, and the enemy is us. We either carry and transform the evil of human history as our own problem, or we only increase its efficiency and power by hating and punishing it ‘over there.'”

Christ, have mercy.

I think I have more in common theologically with Andy Rourke than Tim Keller (and I don’t even know if Rourke had a theology), but I am saddened by both of their deaths. Pancreatic cancer sucks.

There are few things more holy than a good bass line.

I’ve been doing this online thing a long time, going all the way back to BBSes in the 1980s, and every time people are allowed to interact with each other online it turns toxic. Maybe we got it right with Web1.0 and should have just left it there? I think I want to develop a Mastodon client now that only allows you to compose original toots and read others (but no comments!). Or perhaps just a “mindful” client that reminds you that the people you are replying to are actual people with feelings, and then maybe puts your post in jail for 15-30 minutes before allowing you to actually post it. It also should pop up a dialog reminding you “Do not read the comments” before allowing you to read the comments.

Any country that allows legislators to pick their voters is not a functioning democracy.

And speaking of non-functioning democracies:

“And life was indeed good for the Robertses, at least for the years 2007 to 2014. During that eight-year stretch, according to internal records from her employer, Jane Roberts generated a whopping $10.3 million in commissions, paid out by corporations and law firms for placing high-dollar lawyers with them.”

From the Department of Jesus Literally Said the Opposite of What You Are Teaching:

“It’s all part of The King coming back,” Feucht told the audience. “That’s what we’re practicing for,” he insisted, before adding, “That’s why we get called ‘Christian nationalists.’”

The King who let the state murder him rather than send his angels down to seize power by force.

Feucht then presented an imaginary dialog, in which he mockingly imitated the voice of secular critics: “You want The Kingdom to be the government,” he said, before thundering a reply in his own voice: “Yes!”

This is the same Church that oversaw inquisitions, crusades, pogroms, the Doctrine of Discovery, and the slave trade during previous periods when it had political power. Maybe Jesus was on to something with the whole suffering love rather than pursuit of power thing?

“You want God to come on over and take over the government,” he said, responding, again: “Yes!”

He’s obviously never heard the one about “my kingdom is not of this world.”

Apparently Sean Feucht’s Jesus said “screw you Pilate, I’m taking over for Caesar right now.” He said, “you see who’s on this coin? Give me the damn coin. I’m going to miracle my face onto it.”

Fuecht continued, now using his voice alone: “We want God to be in control of everything! We want believers to be the ones writing the laws! Yes! Guilty as charged.”

Not believers in Jesus, mind you. These believers will be right-wing Christofascist Moloch worshippers, because that really is what “Christian” nationalism is.

The Playlist

I’ve had a request on Mastodon to share my “Less Troubling Evangelical Worship” playlist, so here it is:

Grace Like a Wave – Elevation Worship
Everything Is Sacred – Pat Barrett
It Is So – Elevation Worship
So Will I (100 Billion X) – Hillsong Worship & TAYA
Heart Of God – Hillsong Young & Free
Sparrows – Cory Asbury
Christ Be All Around Me – Michael W. Smith
God So Loved – We The Kingdom
Transfiguration – Hillsong Worship & TAYA
Broken Vessels (Amazing Grace) – Hillsong Worship & TAYA
Way Maker – Passion & Kristian Stanfill
The Blessing – Bethel Music & We The Kingdom
Our Father – Bethel Music & Jenn Johnson
All for Love (Gethsemane) – Luke + Anna Hellebronth
This I Believe (The Creed) – Hillsong Worship & Matt Crocker
He is Yahweh – Morning Star
King of Kings – Hillsong Worship & Brooke Ligertwood
All Praise – Sean Curran
Here Again – Elevation Worship
Light of Your Face – Misty Edwards
You Made a Way – Matt Gilman
Our Jesus – Amanda Cook
God Is On The Throne – We The Kingdom

Notes:

• Yep, a lot of these are from the “big four” worship bands from yesterday’s article. But I did the heavy lifting to filter out all of the “victory,” militarism, and “my God can beat up your God”ism.
• The songs here lean heavily toward grace. If I were stranded on a desert island and only allowed one theological concept for the rest of my life, that would be it. There’s also a sprinkling of panentheism in a few of the songs if you listen to them the right way, although I’m sure the artists didn’t intend that.
• This playlist is primarily intended to be a list of worship songs that I would actually feel comfortable singling along with in a church setting, but most of the artists with a spiritual bent that I really like to listen to (and who may not even be Christians anymore) aren’t in it. A few examples of those: Jars of Clay, Gungor, Pedro the Lion, Amanda Cook (who is ex-Bethel but has a more mystical theme to her more recent music), The Glorious Unseen, The Ember Days, and even U2!

Religion News Service has a great article today on why all evangelical worship music sounds the same today.

The fact that 36 of the 38 top worship songs of the 2010s were produced by four charismatic megachurches goes a long way toward explaining why the theology of most contemporary worship music is absolutely dreadful.

I have a small, tightly curated list of “Less Troubling Evangelical Worship Songs” that I will still listen to, but most of the time when I hear a worship song I find myself cringing at the theology within about the first 30 seconds. But the one word in any worship song that will cause my brain to melt is “victory”. Evangelicals love warrior Jesus but want nothing to do with suffering, crucified Jesus.

Interestingly enough, Tucker Carlson may actually have been right for a change when he said:

“The trans movement is the mirror image of Christianity and therefore its natural enemy.”

The problem for Tucker and most Christians, of course, is that Jesus is on the side of trans folks (especially the kids). And BIPOC people. And women. And the poor. And the oppressed. And the undocumented. And those being sacrificed to America’s God, Molech.

The problem that Christians must face is that Jesus no longer exists in their religion. Sing about Jesus all that you want, but if you’re not on the side of the people Jesus is with, you are singing in vain.

Seems like something I may have heard before in the Bible:

“Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
But let justice roll down like water
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Meanwhile, in Batshitistan:

“A Tallahassee charter school principal has been forced to resign after parents complained about a sixth grade art history lesson, claiming Michelangelo’s statue of David, arguably the most famous sculpture in the world, was ‘pornographic’.”

Okay, listen up Evangelicals (because you know this is who made this happen). I’m going to give you a little theology lesson here. You know Adam and Eve, the prototypical cis/straight couple that you hold up as your ideal in marriage? The ones you believe were created six thousand years ago using one of the two processes specified in Genesis because of course everything in the Bible is literal even when it contradicts?

Anyway, you know they were naked before they ate of the tree, right? Probably looked a lot like Michelangelo’s David prior to the fall. And God said that was good.

And you know how they responded to eating the fruit of the tree? Shame. They covered up their nakedness.

Kind of like what you’re doing when your kids are being shown a statue with a package. And, by the way, God thinks that package is good.

God created it.

But I guess I can’t expect you to be any better informed about what your own sacred book teaches than you are about what is actually pornographic.

Oh, and I’m pretty sure your sixth-graders already know what a penis looks like.

Update: Oh, you don’t say:

“The Tallahassee Classical School is affiliated with Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian institution that has sought to expand its influence over the last decade by helping set up public charter schools. Hillsdale briefly cut ties with the Tallahassee school in early 2022 for not meeting improvement standards, but it later regained affiliation.”

“Parents’ Rights”

The thing that makes me mad about the whole Michelangelo thing, along with the whole so-called “parents’ rights” movement, is that it only recognizes SOME parents’ rights. Want to make sure your kids can remain masked during a pandemic? Too bad. Your rights don’t matter. Want to make sure your kids are exposed to great works of art that may offend the fundies? Nope. Can’t do that. Want to make sure your trans kid won’t commit suicide because they can’t live as who they really are? No rights for you.

In the end, “Parents’ Rights” guarantees a dumbing down of education. No books in classrooms, no exposure to different perspectives and types of families, only G-rated curriculum for all kids through 12th grade (and if DeSantis gets his way, well into college). It’s the tool of an autocrat to mold an ignorant, compliance citizenry that is beholden to superstition and prejudice.

Meanwhile, in Batshitistan:

“A Tallahassee charter school principal has been forced to resign after parents complained about a sixth grade art history lesson, claiming Michelangelo’s statue of David, arguably the most famous sculpture in the world, was ‘pornographic’.”

Okay, listen up Evangelicals (because you know this is who made this happen). I’m going to give you a little theology lesson here. You know Adam and Eve, the prototypical cis/straight couple that you hold up as your ideal in marriage? The ones you believe were created six thousand years ago using one of the two processes specified in Genesis because of course everything in the Bible is literal even when it contradicts?

Anyway, you know they were naked before they ate of the tree, right? Probably looked a lot like Michelangelo’s David prior to the fall. And God said that was good.

And you know how they responded to eating the fruit of the tree? Shame. They covered up their nakedness.

Kind of like what you’re doing when your kids are being shown a statue with a package. And, by the way, God thinks that package is good.

God created it.

But I guess I can’t expect you to be any better informed about what your own sacred book teaches than you are about what is actually pornographic.

Oh, and I’m pretty sure your sixth-graders already know what a penis looks like.

Remember those “He Gets Us” ads? You know, the ones that assume that the problem is that Jesus needs a PR campaign? Never mind the fact that his bad PR basically comes from his most well-known followers. Well, it looks like the PR campaign boils down to the standard evangelical bait and switch*:

“He Gets Us is a subsidiary of the Servant Foundation, a Kansas-based charity also known as The Signatry that says it “exists to inspire and facilitate revolutionary, biblical generosity.”

Between 2018 and 2020, the Servant Foundation donated more than $50 million to the Alliance Defending Freedom — a nonprofit that’s led big policy fights over abortion and nondiscrimination laws at the Supreme Court and in states around the country. The nonprofit is designated as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.”

One of the primary things that drove me out of evangelicalism was all of the fine print at the end of the contract:

• God Loves You… so much that he will send you to a hell of eternal conscious torment if you don’t believe the doctrines I am teaching you.
• For God so Loved the World… except the gays, you know, because The Bible Is Clear that they are an abomination.
• There is neither Jew nor Greek, Slave nor Free, for all are one in Christ Jesus… except for those woke people. Why can’t they just accept that white Jesus loves them and just be more like us?
• All Are Welcome… but only as long as you don’t ask too many questions, that you sign on to our statement of faith, and that you don’t speak up too much about ways you disagree with us.

I could go on, but I won’t. But my main point is that it’s totally unsurprising that an evangelical group would put forth a message of love and acceptance while at the same time working to exclude and other large numbers of people.

It’s kind of what they do.

* For those already saying, “Jacobin is just one of those leftist woke publications so what they have to say doesn’t count,” well, they have the receipts.