John Fugelsang - "Separation of Church and Hate" - The Daily Show

[TexasTowelie]

“Jesus’s movement was about humility, it was about service to others, it was about uplifting the marginalized, not about total right-wing domination.”

John Fugelsang, host of "Tell Me Everything" on SiriusXM Progress and author of the New York Times Bestseller "Separation of Church and Hate," talks to Jordan Klepper about how MAGA and the far-right have wrongly co-opted Christianity as a cloak for authoritarianism and bigotry – the opposite of Jesus's call for individuals and states to "take care of the poor, take care of the sick, welcome the stranger, and be kind to those in prison.” Fugelsang traces back a long history of non-violent Christian activism, from the Crusades through the Civil Rights Movement, and urges all those on the left to engage with Christianity, even if only to combat the narrow version of the bible that Trump and MAGA are trying to impose.

[ancianita]

1. I read the book, it's deep and funny, calls out all the right wingers and spiritually prejudiced believers in Jesus

who think atheists and agnostics and Muslims and indigenous people and anyone not their religion are going to hell.

Fugelsang notes that Pope Francis, a friend of nonbelievers, said (while he was still new on the job) that everyone can be redeemed through good deeds, even atheists... Francis emphasized the importance of "doing good" as a principle that unites all humanity. Francis went on to say, "All of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not do evil. All of us....The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us...not just Catholics. Everyone!"
Someone says: "But I don't believe, Father, I am an atheist!" Francis says, "But do good: we will meet one another there." The elders of the church flipped out...

Fugelsang says, "Belief in Jesus doesn't mandate hatred or discrimination against different faiths; the teachings of Jesus forbid it.
... So if you hate Muslims or Jews because "they reject Jesus," then it's actually you who's rejecting Jesus. Real followers of the Nazarene are required to love both Palestinians and Israelis equally. Try that line out at the cookout."

His next section is entitled "Give Me a Christlike Atheist Over A Fraud Christian Any Day."