Cherry picking the Bible and giving more weight to some parts of the text than others is something almost every Christian does. As one of my former seminary professors said in class one day several years ago, “We all have a canon within the canon.” In other words, we all put more emphasis on passages of scripture that resonate with us. But Jesus cherry picking scripture, really? I can just hear some readers saying, “C’mon man, that’s a bridge too far, even for you…” Allow me to back up my claim with some evidence from the Gospels to show that yes, Jesus did in fact cherry pick his Bible and he flat out rejected some parts of it too.

Let’s begin with Luke 4:16-21 where Jesus has returned to Nazareth and is teaching in the synagogue there. He is given the scroll of Isaiah to read from, but as he is reading, he stops in mid-sentence in one verse of the passage before rolling up the scroll to give it back to the attendant. After handing it to the attendant, he says, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing,” thus announcing the beginning of his public ministry. What parts of Isaiah 61:1-2 did he read and which did he leave out? Jesus read aloud that he was “sent to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” In Isaiah that last sentence has another clause that says “and the day of vengeance of our God.” His leaving out that latter clause says to me that Jesus wasn’t nearly as into divine vengeance as some of his listeners would have been or some of the Hebrew prophets of the Tanakh had been in their day. Instead of vengeance his focus had more to do with the plight of the poor, oppressed, and those held captive. That sounds a lot like social justice to me and that’s certainly not the only place Jesus cherry picked.

In the Sermon on the Mount, one of the “Five Discourses” in Matthew, Jesus shows that in some ways he was more conservative than some of those listening to him and certainly more so than some of the passages of the Torah that he quotes. In Matthew 5:27-32 he teaches that not only is adultery wrong, as it says in Exodus 20:14 and Deuteronomy 5:18, but that even looking lustfully at a woman is adulterous. He also teaches a much more stringent rule for divorce for Jews than what was written in the Torah — sexual infidelity rather than a man simply finding the woman unpleasing and objectionable as it says in Deuteronomy 24:1. In so doing he told his hearers that he saw the Hebrew Bible as flawed because to him it didn’t go far enough — perhaps because he wanted to see women being more protected from arbitrary divorce than the writer of Deuteronomy had.

Later in Matthew 5, he shows a more liberal side as he overturns “an eye for an eye” and therefore also the death penalty in Mt. 5:38-39 where he states, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’. But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also…” In so saying Jesus not only overturned multiple passages of the Torah (Exodus 21:23-24; Leviticus 24:19-20; Deuteronomy 19:20-21) he also proposed a nonviolent method of shaming the violent person who hits someone. As Walter Wink noted in Engaging the Powers in an honor and shame culture like that of Jesus’ time, to strike someone on the right cheek would have been a right handed backhanded slap rather than a punch to the face because the left hand was only used for tasks considered unclean, and backhanded slaps were used as “the usual way of admonishing inferiors.” His audience would largely have been made up of people who were oppressed by such so-called superior people. Jesus, as Wink notes, was telling his hearers not to meet violence with violence, but rather to show the violent oppressor that their attempt at humiliation was a failure and the oppressor “has been given notice that this underling is in fact a human being. In that world of honor and shaming, he has been rendered impotent to instill shame in a subordinate. He has been stripped of his power to dehumanize the other.” (Wink, pp. 175-176). Jesus was attempting to turn his culture upside down and inside out even if he had to make his point by taking away the validity of a passage of scripture.

Take the idea of honoring one’s father and mother as found in the Ten Commandments for instance. Fundamentalists like the late James Dobson and the Christofascists behind the Project 2025 document like to harp on that idea, and the idea that the nuclear family is of paramount importance to Christianity and society at large. The problem with this view is that Jesus disagreed with those notions multiple times in the Gospels. In Mark 3:31-35; Matthew 12:46-50; and Luke 8:19-21 the Gospel writers each record a story in which he places his disciples above his mother and his siblings. This would have been shocking to those who heard him. In a similar way in Luke 11:27-28 when a woman in the crowd raised her voice to say, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” Jesus’ unexpected reply was, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” Jesus thus once again decided that what was written in the Bible was not necessarily authoritative to him regardless of what his listeners thought.

These are a few representative passages where Jesus cherry picks or completely dismisses what his Bible and many of the religious leaders of his day taught. He refused to give equal weight to passages of scripture that called for harm or to those passages that were contrary to his message of the Kingdom of God being at hand. In so doing he put paid to the idea that the Bible is inerrant, infallible, and consistent on all topics. Cultural norms too were less important to him than loving God and neighbor, using nonviolence to bring peace, the golden rule, and overturning systems of oppression. Conservative Christians, and especially Christian extremists like Joel Webbon, Doug Wilson, and William Wolfe, would all do well to start focusing on the words in red instead of the misunderstood and misused passages of Torah that they so often latch onto in their desire to impose patriarchal control on the entire nation. The world would be infinitely more Christlike if they did and that is after all what they claim to want.

When I pointed these contradictions out, a woman who runs Bible studies and has a YouTube channel with thousands of followers, expressed incredulity by asking, “If that’s true, how can you trust any of it?” This is the kind of all or nothing thinking I once commonly experienced as a fundamentalist and still see from those who remain conservative Christians. The people who ask questions like this seem to want assurances that the Bible will affirm their doctrinal views while also presenting a single coherent and univocal narrative from Genesis to Revelation without any errors or contradictions. When that is the criteria, the Bible is very unreliable indeed as so many scholars and theologians have proven over and over again. I am one of those theologians…1

Let’s briefly look at the idea of univocality. Prior to taking biblical interpretation classes at Lancaster Theological Seminary, I had never heard of the “Documentary Hypothesis” (DH). The DH was introduced in the 19th century and suggests that there are four distinct sources for the texts that later became the Torah/Pentateuch - Jahwist (J); Priestly (P); Elohist (E); Deuteronomistic (D). Later 20th century scholars argued that the E source was barely, if at all discernible in the Torah. Others argue that the three sources should be classified as Priestly, non-Priestly, and Deuteronomistic. What’s clear, regardless of where one lands on the above debate, is that the Torah/Pentateuch wasn’t written by Moses, or any other single author, and is not a unified, consistent, univocal narrative. The different authors had different points of view wrote things based on those distinct points of view.

This can be seen in the first two chapters of Genesis. I often start here in discussions about biblical inerrancy, because that hypothesis falls apart completely within these first two chapters of the first book of the biblical canon. These opening chapters tell totally different creation stories that are contradictory. In a bit of textual irony, the story that starts in Genesis 2:4b is actually the older of the two stories. It’s also the one which affirms a patriarchal viewpoint. The narrative in Genesis 1 however is distinctly ‘P’ material as can be seen from its narrative flow that focuses on order and repetition in which God creates something and then calls it good afterwards. The final act of creation in this version is when God creates human beings simultaneously in God’s image. This is radically different from the non-Priestly version in chapter two in which Eve is created from Adam’s rib.

These early examples of a text having multiple authors or of obvious contradictions between different texts are not anomalies. These types of issues continue to show up throughout the canon quite consistently. Other biblical texts as we now have them come from multiple sources such as Isaiah, which has three different authors and scholars have determined was compiled over the course of multiple centuries. This is to be expected when oral histories and early writings are compiled with newer writings to create a new whole.

Sometimes the author or authors of a text makes a mistake because of translation issues. One such instance is because the author of Matthew relied on the Septuagint as his source for the Hebrew Bible. In an attempt to show Jesus being the subject of a prophecy in Zechariah about a king riding a young donkey, the writer made an error of translation. This leads to a ludicrous picture of Jesus riding a full grown donkey and a young donkey at the same time during the triumphal entry into Jersalem. Whoops. (See Zech. 9:9; Mt. 21:1-7)

Sometimes an author fudges the information a bit or may move an event to a different place in their particular narrative to fulfill what biblical scholar Dan McClellan often calls “rhetorical goals.” For example, the genealogies of Jesus in Matthew and Luke are different. Matthew’s anonymous author left out a number of generations to make the math add up. His goal was to show that Jesus could trace his ancestry back to King David and he included three sequences of fourteen generations: fourteen from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Jewish exile in Babylon, and finally fourteen from the exile to Jesus. As Bart Ehrman points out in his New Testament textbook, often used in biblical studies classes, Matthew made claimed Joram was Uzziah’s father which would facilitate the fourteen generations listed above. 1 Chronicles 3:10-12 says that Joram was the great-great-grandfather.2 The genealogy is therefore historically inaccurate.

The above examples barely scratch the surface of the various authorial voices present within the cannon, as well as the errors and contradictions that exist therein. It is an anthology of ancient texts, or a library as Diarmaid MacCulloch describes it in Lower than the Angels: A History of Sex and Christianity. It therefore makes sense that these variations of theological viewpoints, translation errors, and inaccuracies are present. That doesn’t mean that the Bible as we now know it is worthless. It does mean that it is not a reliable univocal narrative of literal truth dictated directly by God to scribes who then wrote it all down. There simply is no evidence to back up that assertion.

The Bible can reliably tell us what different groups of people thought about their God throughout different generations and points in their particular history. It can reliably show the theological views of the different authors who were trying to make theological sense of their worlds and the events occurring within their lifetimes. It can reliably show us what those people believed about God, Jesus, salvation, eschatology, and the more earthly matters such as diet, sex and marriage, and agriculture, among much else. To take the Bible seriously we must attempt to let each of the authors and each text speak for themselves rather than forcing post-biblical doctrines or theological viewpoints onto the Bible. Doing so makes the Bible into something else entirely.

Peace be with you.

This corrupt fascist kakistocracy of oligarchs, plutocrats, grifters, and assorted sycophants is the reason for our current collective nightmare. The scale of the nightmare is global and its effects are far reaching. I’m sure the former KGB folks are delirious with happiness at how spectacularly successful their attempts to dismantle the U.S. have been with Trump at the helm. For our former allies, however, it’s a nightmare. It’s made worse by the fact that a malignant narcissist has the keys to America’s nuclear arsenal.

Understandably, people around the country are shocked by Trump’s behavior. Many of his supporters claim “we didn’t vote for this,” while those of us who have been speaking out against Trump for years are rage screaming into the void, “WE TRIED TO WARN YOU!” And boy howdy, did I try, yet racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and propaganda seemingly won. I say seemingly because of Elon Musk’s involvement in the election process and Trump appearing to admit that Musk rigged the election in one of his rambling speeches back in 2025. A lot of the allegations he’s made against others have turned out to be confessions. I hope we learn the truth very soon.

Whether Trump won legitimately or cheated his way to victory in 2024, we’re here now dealing with the consequences of the election, and it’s terrible. Millions of people are struggling because of Trump’s erratic economic policies which have made everything more expensive. So many of his domestic policies are designed to hurt ordinary people while lining the pockets of wealthy kleptocrats and others who make hoarding wealth their entire personality. Jobs are increasingly hard to find too and that’s adding to the financial hardship people of all political stripes, including his ardent supporters. Trump’s cruelty and stupidity coupled with his enablers who help set the Project 2025 agenda are causing harm that’s taking a toll on so many people.

Lately, depression has been taking a toll on me. Having PTSD is hard enough without a regime of malignant narcissists and predatory billionaires adding to the weight of the millstone. The regime is detrimental to my mental health and I am absolutely certain that I am just one of millions for whom that is true. I do what I can, including regular therapy, to mitigate the symptoms, but it is a tough row to hoe at the best of times. These are not the best of times and my hands are getting blistered…

Now would be a good time for USians around the country to start banding together for the collective good, for mutual aid, and community solidarity, in order to provide some respite from the nightmare. Now would be a great time to check in with family, friends or acquaintances who you haven’t heard from in a while to see if they’re okay. Like me, many people are struggling with their mental health as a result of all that’s going on and that can make it harder for them to reach out, thus making any feelings of isolation even worse. The regime wants us to feel isolated, despondent, and alone. We must deny them that wish with all of our collective might.

As I’ve said many times before since the 2025 inauguration, now would be a great time for members of the military, the civil service, and elected officials to fulfill their oaths to the Constitution. Refuse to follow unlawful orders. Disrupt the regime at every turn. Blow the whistle on unconstitutional or illegal acts planned or committed by the regime. Leak information to reputable journalists and news agencies. Everyone who took the oath should be doing everything within their power to stop Trump and his gaggle of fascist enablers. It’s clear that Trump will stop at nothing, including genocide, to avoid accountability. Stop him before it’s too late.

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While the white Christian nationalists like Wilson, who is an extreme Reformed Calvinist, may differ on many theological points with the dominionists from the New Apostolic Reformation, their goals for creating a Christian theocracy overlap. Both types of theocratic authoritarians rely on shoddy history and proof-texting biblical passages to build their flimsy case for making America an overtly hyper-conservative Christian nation with dominionists running amok and forcing everyone else to conform to their views — none of which look anything like what Jesus taught, or Paul for that matter.

In his introduction to Christian history, Anglican theologian and historian Alister McGrath notes that the use of proof-texting arose during the 16th century as Lutherans and Reformed Calvinists argued about whose views were biblically correct and whose were false teachings. Each group had statements of faith that influenced how its members read the Bible. Proof-texting according to McGrath is the practice of taking “isolated, decontextualized verses of the Bible” in order to substantiate their views on “often controversial confessional positions.” (McGrath, 198-199). The more things change, the more they stay the same, as Americans are currently learning as the current regime attempts to illegally fast-track Christian nationalism as policy.

A prime example of a popular Christian nationalist proof-text is 2 Chronicles 7:14. NAR dominionists like Lance Wallnau love to pretend that this verse in applicable to all people, all nations, and all times rather than allowing it to be contextual to when and why it was written to begin with. The verse states: “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” For dominionists, this verse is inexplicably about America in the 21st century despite all evidence to the contrary. Wallnau in particular loves to use this verse as justification for his theocratic ambitions. But what is the verse actually about?

1 and 2 Chronicles are chronicles of the Israelite monarchy. In some ways they read like monarchical propaganda highlighting the achievements of Kings David and Solomon and how they found favor with God during their reigns. Specifically in 2 Chronicles chapters 2-7 the writer focuses a lot of attention on the construction, accoutrements, and then the eventual dedication of the first Temple during Solomon’s reign as king. Gary N. Knoppers notes in his NOAB 4 NRSV ed intro to 2 Chronicles that, “As the home of the ark of the covenant and the tabernacle, the Temple represents the continuation and fulfillment of earlier Israelite religious institutions. The careful attention given to the Temple and its worship reflects the importance that the Chronicler ascribed to this institution in the postexilic era. For the author, the Temple is the divinely sanctioned place for both sacrifice and prayer (6.1-7.22), a view also present in the book of Kings.” (NOAB 4, p. 617)

Melody D. Knowles in her commentary on Chronicles in Theological Bible Commentary provides further context about about 2 Chronicles saying that it “portrays a God who is particularly interested in religious practices that are centered on the Temple in Jerusalem. God chose the site (1 Chr. 21:18,26) and accepted it as the dwelling place for the divine name (2 Chr. 6:10; 7:16). God’s connection with this geography means that the secession of the northern kingdom in 2 Chronicles implies not only a rejection of the Davidic monarchy, but also a separation from worship in Jerusalem, and thus true worship of God.” (Knowles, pp. 150-151)

The above historical context shows that 2 Chronicles has absolutely nothing to do with the United States of America and it is not a broadly applicable verse for all times and peoples. That verse highlights a theophany during which God spoke directly to Solomon after the dedication of the Temple. It is specifically about the Israelite people during Solomon’s reign during the first Temple period and the practice of ritual sacrifice in the Temple. The U.S. is nowhere to be found anywhere in the Bible, it is not a special nation in God’s eyes, and the people of God referenced in 2 Chronicles 7:14 are the Israelites, not American dominionists. They are not Christians of any kind. They are not anyone living in the 21st century.

The above context for that verse doesn’t stop theocrats from making it a general statement from God to Christians everywhere. Wallnau does this on his website with that verse emblazoned across a distressed looking American flag and in his so-called “prophetic” messages. He claims that it relates only to the “saved” and not the “unsaved” and that the saved will be spared God’s wrath. This is wildly anti-Jewish because Wallnau centers certain types of Christians as the ones who god called “his people” rather than the ancient Israelites in context and modern Jews to whom the Hebrew Bible continues to speak. Perhaps Lance thinks the Temple is really in Washington, D.C. and that animal sacrifice should be brought back.

Doug Wilson in noting that when former V.P. Mike Pence was sworn in with the Bible opened to that passage stated that this was a testament to those who believe in Jesus and not merely “a whitewash for a humanistic religion.” Wilson too, takes the verse out of context to apply it to Christians. He also makes his total disdain for American democracy plain stating that: “First, we must distinguish the Christian faith once delivered from a generic American civil religion. That is foundational. We must have nothing to do with a faith in secular democracy, decked out and festooned with certain Christiany decorative elements. American civil religion is in fact a thing, and it is a religion that we are required to have absolutely nothing to do with. Unbaptized Americans are not part of that biblical phrase thy people. The claims of Jesus Christ are total, and they are exclusive.” Alas, Jesus never once claimed that anyone should set up a theocratic government in his name nor did he say that people should be forced to believe in Calvinism. Perhaps Doug should move out of the country…I’d be happy to help him pack.

Christian nationalism is heretical. The theological and historical arguments used by dominionists to support their desire to create an American theocracy are flimsier than a house of cards in a hurricane. There is nothing in the Biblical canon to suggest that America is a special nation with a divinely sanctioned mission to proselytize through the means of government backing and Christian civil magistrates. There is however plenty in the Bible about the abuse of political power, the dangers of accumulating wealth, and the evils perpetuated by militaristic empires that have much to teach American Christians. The sooner they learn those lessons, the better.

Lancaster, PA once again turned out to show Donald Trump and his minions that his corrupt fascist kakistocracy is wildly unpopular. These rallies are just one of the ways people in the U.S. are showing resistance. Let’s keep up the pressure on the regime every single day. That’s a good way to show love for our neighbors right now. Disruption is good trouble…

Peace be with you.

Dillon Naber Cruz

As a theologian who has also studied history academically, I certainly have thoughts. Ogles is wholly unqualified for Congress because he rejects the first amendment and refuses to represent his Muslim constituents. He’s a hate-mongering bigot who fails his LGBTQIA constituents, his Black constituents, and immigrant constituents by being a sycophant for Trump.

Ogles is MAGA to the core and that gives him some measure of political protection from accountability for now. Like many in the MAGA movement, he’s a serial liar, having been caught lying about his academic background by Nashville News 5 investigative reporter Phil Williams (whose work is excellent.) Ogles academic prowess, or lack thereof, was revealed during Williams’ investigation which showed that Ogles achieved a 2.4 GPA in liberal studies and not in economics as he repeatedly claimed. He has also engaged in apparently shady campaign financing which Williams reported on too. For MAGA, he ticks a lot of boxes: being poorly educated, engaging in corruption, espousing bigotry and hate-speech, protecting pedophiles, and bowing down to simp for Trump at every opportunity.

Ogles has also expressed his Christian nationalist leanings on multiple occasions. He did so again this week when he shared an AI video depicting himself, Pete Hegseth, and Marco Rubio as medieval Crusaders wearing armor emblazoned with a Knight’s Templar cross. On his Twitter page where it was posted, he wrote “This is a battle between good vs. evil. We must reaffirm that our nation was built on Christian principles. Join Us.” The short video and his Twitter post show just how ignorant of both Jesus’ teachings and history this Christofascist clown is.

To start with, Ogles has apparently no idea that the Crusades were largely disastrous wars of mass religious psychosis that failed to achieve what the Crusaders set out to do. Nothing about those violent religious wars looked anything like Jesus despite Pope Urban II’s claim that “Christ commands it,” before then proclaiming that those who gave their lives would have their sins forgiven immediately by the Pope himself. When Urban II called for the Crusades at the Council of Clermont in 1095 those assembled “responded with cries of Deus vult!” (Gonzalez, The Story of Christianity Vol. 1, p.346). Jesus wept.

If that Latin term rings a bell, it might be because Pete Hegseth, the blasphemous and obviously abusive Secretary of Defense, has that tattooed on his arm — along with other highly problematic tattoos. The irony here is that Hegseth attends a church led by followers of the Christian nationalist rape and slavery apologist Doug Wilson. Wilson has recently said that when he or his Christofascist Reformed theobros are in charge that public Catholic displays honoring Mary or even Eucharistic processions would be banned. Hegseth has a Catholic tattoo and is shown in the video wearing armor along with Ogles and Rubio that is symbolic of militant Catholicism from before the Reformation, but attends a Reformed anti-Catholic Church. I don’t think Petey and Andy thought this through very well.

That there is absolutely nothing in the Gospels commanding or even suggesting that followers of Jesus should engage in holy war, or any war for that matter, seems to be lost on Ogles. He represents Fundamentalist Fuckwittery, a term I coined to describe the beliefs, rhetoric, and political actions of people like Ogles, the Domination System, Mars the god of war, and empire. He doesn’t represent Jesus at all and clearly doesn’t understand his teachings. Jesus said that his followers were not to dominate and lord power over others. He said that his followers should love even their enemies and bless those who persecute them. He did not say go to war on his behalf or support sexual predators on his behalf or set up Christian nations on his behalf.

Ogles claimed that his fight is a battle of good vs evil, but he lacks the self awareness to see the evil he is engaged in as a sycophant for Trump and an adherent of Christian nationalism. He’s theologically inept, historically illiterate, intentionally misleads his constituents, and willingly aids and abets the agenda of a self-admitted sexual predator. Andy Ogles is truly an American idiot who only has a job in Congress because he was elected in a gerrymandered district. The people of Tennessee and all of the U.S. deserve far better.

“I’m often criticized for invoking my faith,” Johnson said. “That’s not some innovative thing. There are some very angry voices out there trying to convince us breathlessly that there must be a rigid separation between church and state. It’s a phrase that’s often repeated, as we know, but very rarely understood.”

If anyone is misunderstanding the first amendment, it’s Christian nationalists. The Supreme Court, as shown by rulings in many cases, has historically held that Americans have both the freedom to practice their religion and the freedom to eschew religion altogether without any interference from the government or its agencies. That has not stopped Christian nationalists of various stripes from pretending otherwise as they claim that America was founded as a Christian nation and must thus return to that foundational state. Only then will America and its citizens prosper according to this Christofascist logic. Only then will America return to its position as a special “shining beacon on the hill,” because America has ostensibly been chosen by God to be such a beacon, according to people like Barton.

Their argument against the Establishment Clause being a barrier between church and state is sometimes stated like this: the phrase “separation of church and state” is not found in the First Amendment and thus is not what the framers of the Constitution meant by the Establishment Clause. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, a Southern Baptist Christian nationalist and vocal protector of sexual predators, including Donald Trump, has made this claim multiple times. He did so again in an Op-Ed he posted on Twitter (I absolutely refuse to call it X) in July 2025.

Johnson, as Speaker of the House, is third in line to the Presidency, which should horrify anyone with common sense. During a political gala in 2023, Johnson proclaimed that God had called him to be a “new Moses.”[1] His delusions of divinely sanctioned grandeur, his repeated expression of his baseless opinion on the separation of church and state, and his adherence to Christian nationalism make him a dangerous man for the majority of Americans, whether they know it or not.

He claimed that Americans get the idea of church-state separation not from the Constitution, but from the letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Church in which Jefferson clearly stated that:

“Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.”[2]

Despite these seemingly unambiguous words from Jefferson, Johnson, in his op-ed, opines that in the letter, “Jefferson clearly did not mean that metaphorical ‘wall’ was to keep religion from influencing issues of civil government. On the contrary, it was meant to keep the federal government from impeding the religious practice of citizens. The Founders wanted to protect the church from an encroaching state, not the other way around.”[3]

This clearly misrepresents what Jefferson said, not only in his letter to the Danbury Baptists but elsewhere as well. Jefferson’s thinking on religion was heavily influenced by the Enlightenment, and as such, he was nothing like an orthodox Christian clamoring for a state religion. As multiple SCOTUS rulings make plain, the First Amendment protects religious institutions from government overreach in matters of faith and protects citizens from any government entity attempting to impose particular religious beliefs or to privilege a particular faith’s set of beliefs within government institutions, including schools.

Neutrality regarding religion is the Constitutional position, and it has been affirmed by legal precedent many times over. That has not stopped other politicians, including from making similar claims, including noted high school dropout and public groping enthusiast Lauren Boebert. During a speech in a Colorado church in 2022, Boebert parroted Johnson’s argument about separation not being in the Constitution, stating that she was “tired of that separation of church and state junk.” Like Johnson, she claimed that phrase is in a “stinking letter, and it means nothing like they say it does,” before then stating that, “The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church.”[4] Notably absent in her remarks was any mention of which particular church should be directing the government. Nor did she mention how people who aren’t conservative Christians are supposed to have freedom of religion, or from religion, if “the church” is directing government policies. Some Christian nationalists like to pay lip service to people of other faiths having freedom of religion, while others, like those behind the ridiculous and horrific “Statement on Christian Nationalism and the Gospel,” do not. Boebert appears to be in the latter camp.

While Boebert is neither intelligent nor well educated, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is neither stupid or uneducated. He does, however, have a completely transparent desire to create a right-wing theocratic state based on his Southern Baptist view of Christianity. This is clear from his hyper-partisanship, which even extends to protecting a bunch of pedophile sexual predators in the Epstein files, including the self-admitted predator in the White House whose predatory behaviors were laid bare on the Access Hollywood tapes and, in the lawsuit, brought against him by E. Jean Carroll. For Johnson, the ends—a theocracy—justify the means—whatever it takes, no matter how heinous, to bring that about. His rampant lying about everything from the MAGA insurrection on January 6, 2021, to the Epstein case is there for all to see. Apparently, he missed the parts of the Bible that talk about abusing power, lying, and protecting evil people from accountability.

Speaker Johnson earned an undergraduate degree in business administration and a law degree, both from Louisiana State University. He likely knows that he was not telling the truth about Jefferson’s meaning in the aforementioned letter. Perhaps because of his rigid adherence to fundamentalist Christianity, he simply refuses to accept what is so plain to others. His work with multiple extremely conservative legal organizations, including the Alliance Defending Freedom and the Family Resource Council, gives clues to his thinking. Both organizations are rife with bigotry and openly theocratic leanings. Jefferson, for all his many faults as both a white supremacist enslaver and serial rapist, had no such theocratic leanings. In 1777, the future president drafted a bill for the Virginia General Assembly, titled “A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom,” which was then introduced into the legislature in 1779 and then passed in 1786.

Jefferson’s unambiguous thoughts on religious freedom are plain from the opening paragraphs of the bill. He strenuously objected to the idea that people could be coerced by civil or ecclesiastical authorities to give financial support to spread religious ideas that they abhor. His enlightenment thinking is clearly shown when he mentions that man’s mind is free and should be compelled by “reason alone.” He went on to write, “…our civil rights have no dependence on our religious opinions, any more than our opinions of physics or geometry; that therefore prescribing any citizen as unworthy the public confidence by laying upon him an incapacity of being called to offices of trust and emolument, unless he profess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him injuriously of those privileges and advantages to which, in common with his fellow citizens, he has a natural right.”[5]

Religion should never be a litmus test for civil rights, according to Jefferson. This is in stark contrast to the views of Christian nationalists, who have no problem advocating for denying civil rights of those people whom they continually disparage and attempt, through legislation, to revoke those civil rights, as they have often done with laws targeting the LGBTQIA community. Continuing to advocate for religious freedom in the bill, Jefferson stated, “That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on no account of his religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their capacities.”[6]

I find it highly unlikely that Johnson could read those words and think that Jefferson was not in favor of the complete separation of church and state. It is highly likely, though, in my opinion, that Johnson is counting on the fact that MAGA supporters and David Barton enthusiasts are utterly ignorant about Jefferson’s bill and use that ignorance to their advantage. Like David Barton, most Americans have no training as historians and therefore take the word of people like Speaker Johnson as gospel without examining those words critically.

Of course, Jefferson was not the only one of the Founders who believed in the separation of church and state. James Madison, himself an Episcopalian minister, was the chief author of the First Amendment. Another of his important political documents on the subject is entitled “Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments,” which he wrote in 1785. Such was the import of the document that Anson Phelps Stokes, the author of a massive three-volume work entitled Church and State in the United States, wrote that “Memorial and Remonstrance” was “one of the truly epoch-making documents in the history of the American Church-State separation.”[7]

Historian Alan Taylor notes in his fantastic book, American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1784, that Madison was staunchly opposed to the sectarian rivalry between different Christian denominations that was marring Virginia politics.[8] He was also against the establishment of Christianity in general as a state religion. Thus, he wrote in the “Memorial and Remonstrance” document, “Who does not see that the same authority which can establish Christianity, in exclusion of all other Religions, may establish with the same ease any particular sect of Christians, in exclusion of all other Sects? that the same authority which can force a citizen to contribute three pence only in his property for the support of any one establishment, may force him to conform to any other establishment in all cases whatsoever?”[9] Madison, along with the other delegates to the Constitutional Convention, had brought this same desire for separation of church and state to the convention’s debates. Taylor points out that during the convention, the framers were “Devoted to a secular, legal project,” and had “rejected proposals to appoint chaplains or hold morning prayers before their sessions.”[10]

The goal of Christian nationalists is to do whatever it takes to impose their will on all USians without regard to their faith or lack thereof. That includes Orwellian level lies about what is clearly established in the Constitution. In rulings such as Engle v. Vitale, Abington School District v. Schempp, Cantwell v. Connecticut, and others, the Supreme Court has affirmed the strict separation of church and state that Christofascsists hate. There’s is a minority movement that looks nothing at all like Jesus. It is all about domination over others which is precisely what Jesus told his followers to avoid. Christian nationalism is incredibly dangerous and we must band together to stop Mike Johnson and his allies from imposing it upon us.

Peace be with you.

[1] Olmstead, Molly, “Mike Johnson Claims That God Prepared Him to Be a “New Moses,” https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/12/mike-johnson-christian-nationalist-lawmakers-moses.html

[2] https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html

[3] https://mikejohnson.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=2645

[4] Dress, Brad, “Boebert says she is ‘tired’ of separation between church and state: ‘The church is supposed to direct the government’” https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3540071-boebert-says-she-is-tired-of-separation-between-church-and-state-the-church-is-supposed-to-direct-the-government/

[5] Jefferson, Thomas, “A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom,” https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-02-02-0132-0004-0082

[6] Ibid.

[7] Quoted in the editorial note for “Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments,” accessed at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-08-02-0163

[8] Taylor, Alan, American Revolutions, p. 447, Kindle ed.

[9] Madison, James, “Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments,” accessed at https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/01-08-02-0163

[10] Taylor, American Revolutions, p. 375, Kindle ed.

One night during our time in Caracas, I was eating in the restaurant of the Hotel Avila where we were staying. The Venezuelan baseball league championship was being decided that night. As I ate my risotto, the final game of the championship series ended with Los Leones de Caracas emerging victorious. Almost immediately the entire city of Caracas seemed to erupt with celebrations which included an inordinate number of people firing guns into the air. It was a bit frightening to be honest to hear so many guns being fired at once. Venezuelans love baseball and as I learned that night, guns.

Donald Trump and his regime of low IQ violent extremists has committed war crimes against Venezuela during this second Trump term in office. They carried out extra-judicial murders of alleged drug boats without evidence and even killed people who had initially survived. Over 125 people were killed in these illegal strikes carried out under the authority of Trump and his unqualified and violently unhinged Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. Then came another illegal military action in Venezuela as Trump ordered the U.S. military to attack the country and remove Nicolas Maduro from power. Trump has since taken charge of Venezuelan oil with the intention of selling it, likely for personal gain.

These actions against Venezuela under Trump and other U.S. presidents, including George W. Bush in the early 2000s, are continuations of a century of U.S. military and economic interventions in Latin America. It is a long, ugly, sordid history of domination, exploitation, and violence in the name of capitalism and fueled white supremacist ideologies. All of that history, and especially the Trump regime’s recent illegal military actions, were on the minds of millions of people as the Venezuelan national baseball team took on Team USA in the championship final of the World Baseball Classic last night.

I love baseball. It was my first love, so to speak, as a child when I first became enamored with it in 1980. That was a magical year in Kansas City for baseball lovers as Royals superstar third baseman George Brett came so close to hitting .400 and the Royals finally beat the Yankees in the American League Championship for the A.L. pennant. I was able to watch a lot of this year’s World Baseball Classic and saw the unadulterated joy that players from Latin America brought to the tournament. It was fun to watch. The aforementioned history made it hard for me to root for the home team though.

Both teams in last night’s final were stacked with Major League stars. Those kinds of lineups make for some great games as the best of the best square off. That was certainly what baseball fans were treated to last night. The U.S. team was favored going into the game, but the Venezuelan pitchers performed masterfully to keep the U.S. bats in check. American sluggers Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber, who both hit over 50 home runs last season, each struck out three times. Royals shortstop Bobby Witt, Jr., one of MLB’s most exciting stars went 0-3 thus neutralizing his speed on the base paths. There were a lot of “0-fers” in the U.S. box score. Phillies slugger Bryce Harper was a notable exception. He hit a game tying home run late in the game to give U.S. fans something to cheer. It proved to be a fleeting one.

Venezuela had other ideas though as they batted in their final turn at bat. With the score tied 2-2 in the top of the ninth, Luis Arraez, one of the best contact hitters in baseball, drew a walk. Without hesitation, Venezuela’s manager pulled Arraez for a pinch runner. Commentator Joe Davis briefly second guessed taking Arraez’s bat out of the lineup if the game were to stay tied and then go to extra innings. Javier Sanoja, the pinch runner, promptly stole second base putting himself in scoring position. Eugenio Suarez, seemingly one of the happiest people on the planet, then hit a run scoring double to give the Venezuelans the lead. His joy as a he pointed to the sky while on second base was palpable even through the TV screen.

There was still hope for US fans of a walk off win in the bottom of the inning as Team USA sent up three big bats to face Venezuelan closer Daniel Palencia. The Cubs’ pitcher brought the heat. Kyle Schwarber struck out for the third time. Gunnar Henderson then popped out. That left Red Sox phenom Roman Anthony to face Palencia’s upper 90s fastball. After throwing a ball to Anthony on the first pitch, Palencia blew him away on three straight pitches to win the championship for Venezuela. The mighty Casey, so to speak, had struck out…

I’m not mad about it. Venezuela had a fantastic tournament to reach and then win their first WBC final. They beat the U.S. team at our own game (just as Japan had done in 2023). The Venezuelan people deserve the joy that they are doubtless experiencing as a result of their team’s historic win. I am truly happy for them. Poetic justice was served on the field of play and it was beautiful to see. May it lead to more USians understanding that we as a people are not “the be all and end all” in the world and that the hubris shown by so many, particularly those in the Trump regime, is not a laudable quality.

Felicidades a Venezuela y gracias por jugando beisbol con alegria. Campeones, campeones, ole’, ole’, ole’!

The early Jesus movement was nonviolent. Tertullian once said that “Christ in disarming Peter, disarmed every soldier.” Unfortunately, since Constantine “converted” and made Christianity the religion of empire, Christians have too often have chosen empire and domination over the teachings of Jesus. We can see this with the violent rhetoric of Pete Hegseth since he was named Secretary of Defense. He claims to follow Jesus, but his words and actions clearly show that he does not as he openly advocates for the U.S. military to commit war crimes.

It is this latest use of state sponsored terrorism that lead me to again think of Walter Wink and these three powerful books. I believe that the Gospel narratives show us that anyone who follows Jesus must reject dominating others and the systems that support domination and empire. What follows are written reflections on each book that will serve as an introduction to Wink’s thoughts on the Powers. Naming and Unmasking can be a bit abstract and even a bit “woo-woo” while Engaging has plenty of theory, historical context, and shows readers what to do in the face of systems of domination. I’ve quoted them all in my books. If you can only read one of them, I suggest reading Engaging the Powers.

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Her book On Repentance and Repair should be required reading for everyone because we have all caused harm to other people and we all have reason to repent of the harm we’ve caused. Organizations, and perhaps especially religious organizations or denominations should definitely read it, and put its wisdom into practice. Political leaders and decision makers too should read it because our nation has so much to repent of and that needed repentance and repair work is being made nearly impossible by those who want to maintain the white supremacist and capitalistic status quo.

As I read the book this week, I highlighted so many passages, and wrote many quotes down in a notebook. I’ll leave you with a few here:

“This resistance to facing harm head on is a form of gaslighting…which piles more harm on top of the original offense.” p.9

About repentance, “The goal here is not merely making amends. It’s transformation.” p.34

“Repentance is, I believe, a kind of self care. p.59

“Repentance is an ethical, often practical necessity, even in cases where forgiveness is not merited or may not be extended.” p.117

“There should never be pressure on victims to forgive. Ever.” p.184

Listen to our conversation here: The God Squad Pod episode 79 and read the book!

In 2026, I still see fundamentalists, Pentecostals, and other types of conservative Christians making spurious and dangerous claims on social media about mental health. They often fall in line with what I mentioned above. Some boldly and quite stupidly claim that depression and anxiety are demonic oppression or that no one actually needs therapy. I push back on this theological garbage whenever I see it. These types of anti-mental health social media takes cause a lot of harm to people who might be considering getting or who have already started to get therapeutic help from a qualified therapist — rather than a pastor. The latter was a route that I once took about 25 years ago. Nothing he told me proved helpful of course because what I needed was therapy, not a sermon.

Trauma is often complex and for those of us with PTSD healing does not come from sermonizing platitudes, Bible verses taken out of context, or prayer. For some Christians, those things can be a helpful adjunct to therapeutic modalities, but they are not even remotely the main driver of healing. That healing takes work and that work takes place with a qualified therapist, not a life coach, not a pastor, and not a spiritual director.

I have been in therapy for well over a decade now. Since 2015, thanks to the V.A., I have had the same therapist. I’ve gone through multiple trauma informed therapeutic modalities including talk therapy, cognitive behavioral and cognitive processing therapy, accountability and commitment therapy, and others. It has all proven helpful in big ways and small ways. Despite those years of therapy, I still struggle with symptoms, including flashbacks, of traumatic events in my life, whether they were Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) or the accident I experienced in the Marines that dramatically altered my life. I even had flashbacks to that accident earlier today while reading a book in preparation for this week’s episode of the God Squad Pod. Fortunately, I was able to take a significant break from work and use some tools given to me by my therapist to reset my nervous system in order to continue with my day.

Yesterday was seemingly just another Tuesday. I had work to do, a therapy appointment, and there was a Liverpool match against Galatasaray to look forward to in the afternoon. I was not expecting anything monumental from my therapy appointment and thought it would be somewhat routine. The book I’m reading for this week’s episode though was thought provoking and led me to think of some questions for my session. The questions were only obliquely related to the subject matter in the book, but the book was their catalyst. Little did I know what would happen during the appointment.

The questions I asked my psychologist took us down a winding path to a completely unforeseen place. A symptom that I have been dealing with for decades and have never understood the true root cause of came into the conversation at what I initially thought was a weird moment. My therapist suddenly had a “ I wonder moment…” during the session and quickly jumped into research mode. That seemingly strange detour led her and me to the deepest taproot cause of so many mental health symptoms that I experience and to one in particular that seemed to be completely unrelated to that root.

She read me some relevant research related to the root cause and this particular symptom which has been such a detrimental and limiting factor for me for so long. I kept saying some variation of “holy fuck” over an over again as it all started to sink in. This was literally a breakthrough of enormous proportions. It’s obviously going to take some time to fully process this and to then start what I hope will be a healing process that allows me to get more of my life back while also expanding my world. That world has shrunk more and more in recent years after being overwhelmed by triggers related to this set of symptoms and the subsequent isolation that has often been engendered as a result. It is a road that I am willing to travel.

None of my healing would have been possible had I continued to listen to the voices of fundamentalist Christians whose words had only served to reinforce some of the trauma. None of it would have been possible without me recognizing that something wasn’t right and then taking a first step back in 2009 to ask for help. I got that help from a kindly psychology professor at a local college. He was the first person to truly diagnose me and help me to begin understanding what was going on. It took a few more years and some deeply painful life experiences for me to start really digging in for the long therapeutic haul. There is more to come.

I see therapy as a form of grace. It can lead to healing, restoration, repentance, and redemption, depending on the needs of the person in therapy. It should be embraced by Christians rather than bad-mouthed, belittled, and dismissed. Clergy, spiritual directors, and youth ministers should absolutely recommend therapeutic resources for congregants when a church member who’s seeking help brings up trauma. They should also do what they can to ensure the safety of those people if they are in a situation that is threatening to their mental and physical well being. They should not try to fix the problems with verses, platitudes, or prayer alone. They should definitely stay in their lane.

I wish that therapy was more readily available to people of all social and economic backgrounds. It is sadly beyond the reach of too many people in a nation where for-profit health care and hyper-individualism are seen as the norm. As a society we have much work to do to redress both of these wrongs. Therapy is grace. It is effective. It can lead to deep healing. It is, in short, a gift. May we as a nation find the political and spiritual will to help those in need of it to be able to get it as needed.

Peace be with you.

Donald Trump’s war of mass distraction is the latest in a lamentable series of state sponsored terrorist attacks that the United States has inflicted upon its perceived enemies. Between the damning evidence in the Epstein files, America’s ceaseless support of Israel, propaganda about Iran imminently building nuclear weapons, and rabid rapture enthusiasts in the upper echelons on the U.S. military, the attack on Iran was predictable. Reporting from the Human Rights Activists News Agency states that nearly 1100 civilians have been confirmed as killed in the strikes including 181 children under ten years old. By your fruit you will be known…

Just as predictable as these attacks is the incompetence displayed by the Trump regime’s gaggle of fascist idiots since Operation Epstein Fury began. Pete Hegseth’s “leadership” of the Department of Defense has been catastrophic as he performs for the cameras and attempts to foist Christofascism on the military. Marco Rubio, as usual, can’t get his story straight and no one in the regime seems to understand the concept that actions have consequences. They seem surprised by what has happened since this illegal war began as Iranian drones keep hitting targets throughout the region causing more death, more anger, more distrust, and more desire for retribution from survivors.

Both the demonic level of violence inflicted by Trump’s regime and its incompetence can be seen in the fact the stockpile of U.S. military munitions is likely running low. Experts have been raising the alarm about missile stockpile numbers and how quickly they are dwindling. This is despite the fact that the Department of Defense budget is the highest military budget in the world. Heather Cox Richardson recently said that the current war is costing taxpayers a billion dollars per day to wage. Two minutes to midnight, indeed, and it’s all being done in our names as U.S. citizens.

Elect a clown and you get a circus. Elect a malignant narcissist who’s also a fascist, a racist, and a sexual predator, and you get the horrific shit-show we’re dealing with in the U.S. today. Rampant violence, runaway incompetence, cruelty consistently being displayed in nearly every policy, and mind boggling corruption are happening in broad daylight. We could have had a competent president and administration, but we got this fascist kakistocracy instead, whether by fair means or foul. We could have an effective opposition party, but we’ve got corporate centrist democrats instead.

Unsurprisingly, as prices have continued to rise and job reports have been poor, Trump’s war is unpopular. That unpopularity is consistent with much of what his regime has done since his second inauguration. Despite that unpopularity, Trump’s regime continues to remain in power while doing damage to people and the planet every single day. Where is the line in the sand? How much more of this atrocious governance will the nation endure before waking up? Will the war’s unpopularity be enough for the people of the United States to finally say “enough is enough” before finally rising up nonviolently to demand the regime’s ouster? The nation and the world can’t afford to allow this regime’s lunacy to continue.

Far too many U.S. Christians remain steadfast in their support for Trump despite everything he’s said and done. They continue to fail an open book test. Far too many Christians, whether Trump supporters or not, have for too long supported unjust war being waged by the U.S. military in the name of capitalism. Christians who misread Revelation are among those who ardently support this war, and every war in the region, thinking that these wars will bring Jesus back. In showing their support for the American empire’s violence, they profoundly miss the main point of Revelation, which is that Christians should do nothing whatsoever to aid and abet empire — for John of Patmos, that was the first century Roman Empire. It’s time for the above mentioned Christians to join to repent and join the resistance before it’s too late.

My prayer is that tens of millions of Americans will bravely choose nonviolent good trouble over fear or complacency. Let’s make good trouble wherever and however we can so that justice may roll down like water and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

In the United States, right wing fundamentalist Christians have perpetuated two theological concepts that are frightening and have led to violence – dispensationalism and dominionism. These ‘D’s’ of American fundamentalism are indeed dangerous. I grew up fundamentalist in churches with the doctrine of dispensationalism and it was terrifying for a lot of people, myself included. Dispensationalists believe in the theologically spurious notion of “the end times,” “the tribulation,” and the “rapture.” Because of people like disgraced charlatan Mike Warnke, a popular Christian comedian and serial liar, I had rapture anxiety into my early thirties. This had me frightened out of my wits and traumatized by the notion that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t live up to the expectations of Southern Baptist or Church of Christ notions of what a Christian teen and then later man, should be. That meant I would obviously get “left behind” when the rapture happened. That would mean that I would have to live through the “tribulation” and then almost certainly spend eternity in hell because I had been left behind in the first place. Balderdash.

The danger of dispensationalism goes far beyond the type of religious trauma I, and many others, experienced as a result of believing in it (prior to learning that it is utter nonsense and it is not actually supported by the texts that make up the Bible). That religious trauma inflicted by absurd readings of scripture is bad enough to send dispensationalism to the dustbin of theological ideas, but the most horrifying aspect of it is that there are dispensationalists in the U.S. actively trying to foment their fever dream version of Armageddon by starting World War III in the Middle East. As Dr. Diana Butler Bass once tweeted during Trump’s first term, “I don’t want to worry y’all, but Trump’s evangelical advisors – those who will be praying with him at his rally today -mostly believe that the Bible predicts a war between Iran and Israel before Jesus returns to rapture them in advance of the end of the world.” We saw this kind of thinking this week as U.S.military leaders told troops that bombing Iran would trigger the rapture and that Trump is anointed to usher it in.

There have long been dispensationalists within the U.S. government and the military. They have helped drive foreign policy for quite some time in their hopes that they can facilitate the second coming of Jesus by using Jews as pawns while starting a war that will kill millions of people. These people claim to be pro-Israel, but not out of respect for Jews and Judaism, but rather because they misinterpret the Bible’s apocalyptic literature in dangerous ways. Not one word of the Bible predicts 21st century events, yet these these people outlandishly think that God needs their help to fulfill their misguided prophecies…Outsized egos and rapture fever dreams are a dangerous combination, much like a malignant narcissist having the nuclear codes is.

Dominionism is also exceptionally dangerous. It is a later theological development than dispensationalism and its adherents too are close to power. Christian dominionists, many of whom are theonomists and Christian nationalists, have a different view of eschatology – the theological views about the end of the world – that is different than the “pre-tribulation dispensationalist” rapture fever dreams mentioned above. Dominionists believe that Jesus won’t return until Christians establish Christian theonomic governments all over the world. Theonomy means “God’s law” and dominionists like Gary DeMar, R.J. Rushdoony, and Doug Wilson, et al, believe that Mosaic law – i.e. the Torah – should be the civil and judicial law of the United States, as well as in other so-called “Godly” nations. Only creating governments based on extremely conservative Calvinistic readings of the Bible will lead to Jesus’ return according to Christian dominionists. These theological views are also spurious and come from terrible interpretations of the Bible, including lifting the entire Torah out of context and applying it to people for whom it was not written. Dominionism leads to violence as we saw on January 6, 2020 when Trumpists, including many flying the Christian nationalist’s flag, stormed the capitol in a violent attempt to overthrow the U.S. government. It is as Frederick Clarkson has said, “a Christian supremacist agenda.”

Christian supremacy has no place in a secular democracy. Dispensationalists should have no influence on domestic or foreign policy. Dominionists should not be dictating civil law. And yet, adherents of both theologically spurious belief systems are running rampant in America’s government and military right now. Therefore, it is imperative that people of faith and of no faith at all band together to prevent religious extremists from spreading their hateful, violent, and democracy destroying agendas, regardless of their party affiliation. We outnumber them substantially and it’s time that we act like it.

Anyone who cares about democracy and human rights needs to vote religious extremists like Mike Johnson, Lauren Boebert, and Josh Hawley out of office. It means ensuring that people like Russel Vought and Pete Hegseth never get near power again. I think that it also means that people of faith must fall back on orthopraxy – right practice – rather than orthodoxy – right belief – and live out love of neighbor and the golden rule rather than insist on everyone rigidly adhering to a particular belief system. Jesus placed a great deal of emphasis on love of neighbor and the golden rule. He placed these teachings far above rigid legalism. We as U.S. citizens should reject fundamentalist extremism both here and that being done in our names abroad.

Now is not the time to stay idle on the sidelines or to say, “I don’t do politics.” No one has that luxury while religious extremists are at the helm of the world’s largest military and while an increasingly addled and depraved president holds on to power. People of conscience must demand an end to the war on Palestine and hold the current president, members of Congress, and church leaders accountable for supporting the ongoing genocide in Gaza. We must demand an end to this ill conceived, criminal war with Iran. It’s time for all hands on deck, for everyone to join the bucket brigade, or to put their finger into the dike.

We know that Donald Trump is implicated in the Epstein files. We know that the Trump DOJ is engaged in a cover up in direct violation of the Epstein Transparency Act. I would love for so much irrefutable evidence to be revealed this week that everyone involved in the trafficking ring, the sexual abuse of victims, the alleged murders, and the other heinous crimes mentioned in the files would be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law including the Predator in Chief. The victims deserve justice. I want to see Pam Bondi, Todd Blanche, Kash Patel, Dan Bongino, and every other person involved in the cover-up in handcuffs in a court room while being sentenced.

This regime is full of fascists. Stephen Miller, Russel Vought, and Kristi Noem are three such fascists in important positions within the regime. All three are responsible for horrible crimes. I want every evil thing they’ve done, every unconstitutional action they’ve taken, every dollar they’ve stolen or misappropriated to be made public and for them to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. Once they are held accountable, I want to see safeguards put in place that will prevent those types of crimes from ever being committed again. I can’t wait to see Miller, Vought, and Noem in orange jump suits, preferably before the Hague.

Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and current U.S. Ambassador to Israel, is a dispensationalist who believes in the rapture. He’s the kind of Christian that engages in a lot of Fundamentalist Fuckwittery, and his statements during his interview with Tucker Carlson made that clear to anyone who didn’t already know that he’s batshit crazy. I would love to see him removed from his post and replaced with someone competent who isn’t trying to start World War III in order to make Jesus come back. Expose every idiotic, Christofascist thing Huckabee has done in his role and hold him accountable too if he broke any laws.

I have a powerful revulsion to being lied to and gaslit. The regime specializes in lying and gaslighting the nation and the world. Karoline Levitt is the regime’s primary mouthpiece for disinformation and gaslighting. Every single day she makes demonstrably false statements in support of a fascist sexual predator as she cosplays being a Christian. She is a human meadow muffin who continues to harm the nation. I want to see her held accountable for her role in perpetuating this fascist kakistocracy.

Like Karoline Leavitt, Speaker Mike Johnson cosplays being a Christian and has lied repeatedly in support of Trump. He knowingly covered up the sexual abuse of a minor by Matt Gaetz and there’s ample evidence that he is part of the Epstein cover-up. How much does he know about the Trump-Epstein connection and when did he learn it? I want to see him exposed and held fully accountable for his crimes, lies, and gaslighting. I also want hm held accountable for pushing Christian nationalism as Speaker of the House. He thinks the ends justify his nefarious means. They do not and the vast majority of U.S. citizens want a firm wall of separation between church and state.

Donald Trump is the most corrupt president in the history of the United States. He’s used his position to enrich himself and his family. He’s added billions to his personal and family coffers through corruption and illegality. He is a self admitted sexual predator, an adjudicated rapist, and has been credibly accused of sexually abusing a minor. As Epstein said, Trump is the worst person he’d ever met. Imagine being the worst person that Jeffrey Epstein had ever met…Epstein looked in the mirror everyday. I want to see Trump and his criminal family members convicted of their crimes and all of their ill-gotten assets seized. Will the orange jumpsuit clash with his caked on make up?

Accountability and justice are what I want for my birthday. I know it’s a lot to ask. I’m sick of seeing evil people getting away with their evil actions. I’m sick of the regime’s Christofascist sycophants lying and gaslighting me, you, and the world. I’m sick of terrible dispensationalist doctrine influencing global politics in deadly ways. I want to see justice roll like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. I want this regime to collapse and for all those who have aided and abetted it to be held accountable. Seeing that would make mine a truly happy birthday.

Peace be with you.

So what is theology? Dr. Barrett noted that theology is the study of God in context, in this case, the Christian context, that includes broad thoughts about God, faith, and religion that goes beyond personal doctrine and belief. He then said he would explain further by using the via negativa, in other words, what theology is not. I was surprised at some of the things he listed, which was probably the point he was making.

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You can find the full audio episode here: The God Squad Pod featuring Dr. Kevin M. Young

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#faith #reconstruction #deconstruction

The U.S. Women’s hockey team played Canada for the gold medal this week. They had quite literally steam rolled the opposition to make it to the gold medal game while only surrendering a single goal in the process. Included in those preliminary games was a 5-0 dismantling of Canada who were without their talismanic captain, Marie-Philip Poulin for that particular game. The gold medal game would prove to be a much tighter affair.

Canada and the U.S. are the giants of women’s hockey. The gold medal game was everything a hockey fan could wish for - skillful players showing off their talents in a closely contested heated rivalry game that goes to overtime. It was super nerve-wracking to watch. With the score 1-0 to Canada late in the third period, American Laila Edwards took a shot from distance with a lot of traffic in front of the net. Among the players in front of the net was U.S. captain Hilary Knight who deftly deflected the puck past the Canadian goalie to knot the score at 1-1. The Canadians were understandably disappointed having been so close to a victory. For large periods of the game, the Canadians were the better team, but momentum had shifted with the Knight goal.

Overtime periods in hockey are three on three which creates a huge amount of open ice. All of that open ice creates ample opportunities for teams to create scoring chances. Just over four minutes had elapsed when Megan Keller seized on the kind of opportunity every player dreams of in back yards and driveways around the country regardless of the sport. Keller, a defender, received a long pass, then made a sick move that left a Canadian player in here wake before she deked the Canadian goalie to score the gold medal winning goal. For the U.S. women it was the unadulterated thrill of victory, while it was pure agony for Team Canada.

Knight, a legend in U.S. women’s hockey, has had quite the week. In addition to scoring the typing goal, she proposed to her girlfriend, world record holding speed skater Brittany Bowe, the day before the gold medal game. That game tying goal was set up by Laila Edwards, the already highly decorated 6’1” defender who had helped the U.S. record so many shut outs in the tournament. She also scored two goals and recorded six assists during the Olympics tournament. Edwards is the first Black U.S. women’s hockey player to represent the country at the Olympics and the first to win an Olympic gold medal.

I wonder if the MAGA supporters cheering the team on realized how much of the team’s success was fostered by diversity, equity, and inclusion. A Black player assisted on the game tying goal which was scored by a lesbian player. The game itself was a testament to equity and inclusion because it was Women’s hockey. Title IX certainly helped grow the women’s game in America through collegiate athletics. Further growth came when women’s hockey was included as an Olympic sport in 1998. Many of the players for both the U.S. and Canada now have the opportunity to play professional hockey as well in the PWHL. I hope they expand into Philadelphia soon.

D.E.I. benefits everyone.

Ice skating athletes of a different kind brought a much needed infusion of joy to the U.S. during this week’s women’s figure skating competition in Milan. During the short program, Amber Glenn, who had helped the U.S. team win gold in the team competition, failed to complete a crucial element during her skate. It was clearly a devastating moment for Glenn. After her short program, Glenn was languishing in 13th place with her hopes of an individual medal almost certainly dashed.

Glenn said in a pre-skate interview prior to her free skate that she just wanted to have a moment to be proud of after she completed her competition in Milan. When it came to her time to perform the four minute free skate she looked determined to erase the memory of the short program. Her Olympic free skate was a wonderful show of resilience. She delivered a beautiful performance and mouthed the words, “So close!” before skating off the ice to get her score. Her score reflected how well she’d skated and she was overjoyed when it was announced. Tears glistened in her eyes, and mine, as she celebrated her moment. She didn’t make the podium, but she definitely had a tremendous Olympic free skate to remember.

Glenn is from Plano, TX, the town where I used to go to the mall or to the movies when I was in high school. She boldly and unapologetically represented the U.S. as the first openly LGBTQIA women’s Olympic figure skater and talked about how the current administration is making things much harder for people in the LGBTQIA community. This is easily verifiable. MAGA supporters excoriated her online simply for speaking the truth and some were happy when she made the mistake in her free skate. She stayed strong however and finished fifth despite her short program.

Glenn has accomplished so much more in her young life than those MAGA trolls who attacked online ever will. Not only did she win an Olympic gold medal in Milan, she is a three time U.S. National Champion. She won that prestigious title three years in a row. She used her platform as an elite figure skater to speak up for people who are intentionally marginalized, vilified, and legislated against. She certainly represents the best of America in ways Trump and his cult like supporters never can.

As wonderful as it was to see Glenn crush it in her bounce back performance, it was Alysa Liu who stole the show later that night. Liu, whose father left China as a dissident in 1989, had stopped skating for two years before coming back in 2024. Throughout this year’s Olympics, commentators spoke of Liu’s comeback and her pressure free skating in Milan. She was skating for herself and her teammates. She was skating for the pure joy of skating and it showed in both the team and individual competitions.

Liu delivered a nearly flawless performance in her individual free skate that exuded a radiant joy. It was so fun to watch it because seeing an elite athlete compete with that level of joy for the entirety of a competition is so rare. Sure, there are moments of joy when a goal scores a goal, sinks a game winning shot, or blasts a home run to win the game, but usually players are locked in, intensely focused, and maybe on edge due to the pressure. That was not the case for Alysa Liu as she delivered a truly stellar performance on Olympic ice. She punctuated her free skate with a hair flip and an elated cry of, “That’s what I’m fucking talking about” as she exited the ice.

Off the ice, Glenn and Liu also exemplified what it means to be good sports. While Glenn watched other skaters she could be seen admonishing the crowd to celebrate a Kazakh skater’s performance. Liu then followed Glenn’s lead as she celebrated with 17 year old Japanese skater Ami Nakai when Nakai’s scores came in and she realized that she had won the Bronze medal. It was such a moment of pure elation between two competitors who were so happy for one another. No animus, no taunting, no flaunting, just two young women relishing the moment and respecting one another’s talented performances on the world’s biggest skating stage. It was beautiful to see.

To me, it was so poetic that it was women competing in different sports on ice who brought joy to our country this week. Our country has been wearied, traumatized, and filled with grief because of I.C.E. terrorizing immigrants and citizens in cities around the country at the behest of a fascist regime. How beautiful was it to see the best of America being represented by diverse women competing at elite levels while showing grit, determination, resilience, sportsmanship, and unparalleled joy while doing so. As a country, we needed that. May seeing America at its best prove to be a catalyst in coming weeks for mass resistance against the MAGA regime.

I was born in Kansas City, MO and moved to rural North Texas just prior to turning 12. I spent my formative years in a small Texas town called Blue Ridge where I was finally able to stay at one school from the end of sixth grade until I graduated from high school. While in high school, I played basketball, ran track (slowly), and participated in the One Act Play competitions. I was also a member of the First Baptist Church in town where I’d gotten “saved” just after starting to attend when i was 12.

Growing up in a town whose demographics were almost entirely white and being a member of the local all white Southern Baptist Church shaped me in ways that were not always beneficial. I had to unlearn a lot of things from that slaveholder theology and spent years doing so. That said, it also wasn’t even remotely all negative. My time in Blue Ridge fostered my love for and connection with the earth, showed me the importance of community, and was the start of a lifelong friendship with my buddy Jeff. He was the first kid I ever met in Blue Ridge and we’ve remain friends despite the geographic distance between us.

After graduation, I joined the Marines and went to boot camp eleven days after Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait. That thirteen weeks was not at all fun… After heavy equipment engineer school at Camp Lejeune, I was stationed at Marine Corps Air Base Kaneohe. On a training exercise at the Pohaku Loa training area on the Big Island, I was crushed in the hydraulics system of a DTC-8606 rough terrain fork lift while doing maintenance on it. That accident caused life changing injuries and led to me having service connected PTSD.

Fortunately, mental health providers and social workers at the Veteran’s Administration have helped me immensely. Through the V.A., I was able to complete my undergraduate degree in history, have consistent therapy, got help in navigating the process of getting V.A. disability compensation, and secured a V.A. loan to buy a home without having a down payment. Without all of these veteran’s services, I could easily be another veteran experiencing homelessness.

My deconstruction process from the Southern Baptist and Church of Christ doctrines I had grown up with started as a result of my undergraduate study of history. Learning to think critically and learning about U.S. history’s worst aspects was the impetus for the scales falling from my eyes. I was no longer able to see the U.S. and it’s military as benevolent forces in the world, nor could I see fundamentalist Christianity as something I wanted to be a part of. I left that world for good in 2003 during the build up to George Bush’s war that year.

Deconstruction is a disorienting and bewildering process. I was angry, really, really angry about how I’d been lied to and even traumatized by the theological views I’d been taught while I was young and that I maintained well into adulthood. From being told that I would burn in hell forever if I died as a nine year old, to the satanic panic and rapture anxiety, and later being taught anti-LGBTQIA bigotry from the pulpit, I had a lot to unpack. It’s been a liberating process, despite being so fraught with confusion and anger.

One of the most powerful things that I was able to do to aid my deconstruction was attending a progressive seminary to learn from truly outstanding biblical scholars, theologians, and church historians. I had wandered in the spiritual wilderness for over a decade and then suddenly, inexplicably, it became clear that God was moving me towards Lancaster Theological Seminary. I began my studies there in 2016 and took to seminary like a duck takes to water. By the start of my second year, it was clear that pastoral ministry was not my vocational calling so I switched tracks to an academic Master’s degree program from the MDiv program I had started in.

My thesis explored the connections that I saw between permaculture’s ethics and the golden rule. I had first studied permaculture in 2007 and had taken further courses in 201 and 2015. My thesis advisor, renowned theologian and Kierkegaard scholar Dr. Lee C. Barrett, encouraged me to submit my thesis for publication. I submitted the manuscript to a single publisher who then decided to publish it. Go Golden was published in 2018, seven months after I had graduated with an M.A. in religion.

Later, I worked for a few years in a non-profit social work setting as my day job, but it was so stressful that I ended up in the hospital twice. At the time, I continued to write when I could, and started to do occasional podcast interviews. Eventually, I left my job due to an anti-trans policy instituted by the Executive Director and all of the stress working in that field had caused me. That happened in the autumn of 2022. For quite a while afterward, things looked incredibly bleak. I was running out of money, had no job prospects, and was overwhelmed by the stress of it all. I only came through that difficult experience with the help of the aforementioned V.A. staff.

Since that time, my vocation has been entirely as a somewhat obscure public theologian. I completed the manuscript for what became Theological Musings: Collected Essays of a Tattooed Theologian which was then published in two volumes in 2023-2024 by Quoir Publishing. Those two books led to more podcast interviews and a landed me a weekly spot on ’s show Tell Me Everything on SiriusXM Progress. That, in turn, led to the launch of the God Squad Pod that I co-host with the amazing . We are a dynamic duo of theological rabble rousers who talk about fundamentalist Christianity, politics, and deconstruction.It’s Christianity with a lot of profanity. We just recorded our 75th episode last week!

I’ll continue to call out Fundamentalist Fuckwittery, Christian nationalism, white supremacy, xenophobia, bigotry towards the LGBTQIA community, predators, and the dangerous abuses of capitalism in my written and media work. I am definitely a heterodox theologian. I’m one who wants to make the world a better place, one that looks something like the kindom of God spoken of by a Jewish shaman during the Roman occupation of Palestine in the first century C.E. My theology is a cross between process theology and liberation theology that is informed by my study of history, permaculture, and theology. I hope you enjoy my work.

And now some random facts about the Tattooed Theologian:

• My sister was born on my third birthday. I’ll never get a better birthday gift.

• I’ve lived in twelve states and two foreign countries.

• I won the third grade spelling bee at Westridge Elementary in K.C. The final word was ‘ornament.’

• After leaving the Marines, I was a working cowboy in Montana and Texas.

• In England, my first job there was on a commercial goat dairy as a herdsman where duties included delivering baby goats, mixing feed, and milking up to 500 goats.

• I’m a hopeless romantic and my favorite movie is Love Actually.

• I love 19th century European literature. My favorite novels are David Copperfield by Charles Dickens and Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.

• I drink tea in the morning instead of coffee. My go-to “cuppa” these days is organic Russian Caravan a black tea from Arbor Teas.

• Baseball was my first love and George Brett is my all time favorite player because I was still in Kansas City when he hit .390 in 1980.

• I’ve been a Liverpool FC supporter since 1998 when I lived in England. American goalkeeper Brad Friedel was with the club at the time. These days, I seldom miss a Liverpool match.

• If I could only eat three things for the rest of my life they would be tacos, pizza, and mashed potatoes.

• I currently have thirteen tattoos.

• Photography is a hobby I enjoy. One of my photos was published in USA Today.

created the shirt.

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