Jesus Wouldn’t Hate MAGA’s
My hate, even though I tell myself I am hating for the right reasons, is still my sin.
Not a morning goes by that I don’t wake up with an aching anger in the pit of my stomach, the very core of my soul. I then, inevitably, open my news aggregation app and read the latest despicable thing that MAGA’s have done in the last 24 hours.
The latest was having actors cosplay as imprisoned insurrectionists at the GOP 2022 CPAC conference… in their orange jumpsuits, Marjorie Taylor-Greene and other hardcore MAGA’s prayed over them, thanked them for their service, while the croud teared up and raised their hands also in prayer. This is not a joke, you can look it up. This literally made me physically ill… not only celebrating an attempted coup, but then praising it in the name of Christianity at a conference that is generally described as consisting of the top hierarchy of the GOP… the meeting of the next President and his appointees.
I don’t truly know what hate feels like. But if I did, this would be the closest thing to it. I have never felt such a feeing of abhorrence at the behavior of many American citizens in the name of a book that claims to teach kindness and acceptance. Separation of church and state? Forget it. Lauren Boebert has said that “the church should direct the Government”. Marjorie Taylor-Greene has openly said we should be proud nationalists, and America would be better as a Christian nationalist nation. In other words, a Christian Theocracy.
Transgender and other LGBTQ+ individuals be damned.
Migrants be damned.
Women be damned if they need a life saving abortion.
People be damned after they are born.
Lots of babies! But money for the homeless? Nope.
Money for maternity leave? Nope.
Money to support the excess population they are openly encouraging? Absolutely not.
Endorsed by the KKK and David Duke? Cool!
Supported by numerous “militia groups” that have been deemed hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center? Even better.
These people disgust me. I have purged them from my life. And yet the other day when self-reflecting I realized… they are us. By hating them, am I not falling into the same trap they are? Can I act in defending what I believe are the rights of a Democratic nation… can I fight for our true freedom…. can I do all this while not hating the, for lack of a better word, the enemy?
I truly don’t know, for I have hate in my heart and I don’t know how to cleanse it.
I had an interesting conversation with a brilliant man a couple years ago, one of my Pastors, a former engineer turned Theologian, a genius, and in one of my rants about how Democrats are clearly more Christian than Republicans, he made an interesting point that really resonated.
Were Jesus to actually return… he would be an activist, through and through. Do you really think he would waste time heading to Congress? No matter what party? No. As my Pastor said, the very first place he would go would be the Southern border to help the hungry and dying migrants as they attempt to make a better life for themselves. He would call on the rich of both parties to give up their wealth in order to help those less fortunate.
Do you really honestly believe that a brown-skinned Middle-Eastern Jew wearing tattered clothes and sandals would be welcomed onto the House or Senate floor? I think not. The goal of the original Congress was to be made up of our fellow citizens… money has changed that. It is now a prestigious position elevating them above the average citizen. Everything from the nice salary, to the health care, to the subsidized house, to the lifetime pension, and on and on.
I hate MAGA’s… I fear for our Democracy, I hate the conspiracy theories, the hate-mongering, the gaslighting, the hypocrisy, the utter contempt for our Constitution… my point is, Jesus wouldn’t. He would accept and forgive all of our flaws, even die for them as he did once before.
