#he is not and never was religious even in Rome and certainly isn't going to steer that direction any time soon

[kaelio]

"marius force-converted Armand to christianity" says someone who's definitely read the books

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

Hi @psykulor,

Thank you for your thoughtful engagement with this post. I will answer your question, but first I want to say that I hope this can be a learning opportunity.

[I would also request to my followers that you be kind in your responses to my teaching reblogs. This post attracted a LOT of attention, which is great but also means that it's going to draw in a lot of folks who have not yet really unlearned a lot of antisemitism baked into the primary texts of Christianity and their interpretations over time, and I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about it with the interested demographic.]

So the problem here isn't the word "Pharisee" but rather invoking the concept of Pharisees as the binary opposite of what Jesus taught. Jesus likely was a Pharisee. Or, at least, the Jews he taught and traveled amongst almost certainly saw him that way. Importantly, Pharisees may have been the religious authorities for the Jewish community, but they didn't actually have real power. That would be the occupying Romans, who were pagan and too busy crucifying Jews for fun and to hold down rebellion to give even an iota of a shit about what the Pharisees (or, should I say, proto-rabbis) had to say.

Casting the Pharisees as the main enemy of Jesus and treating their relatively minor religious authority as having the same kind of major political power and hegemonic rule that right-wing Christians have in the US today is both inaccurate and antisemitic.

Unfortunately, this is an easy trap to fall into, because the New Testament itself does this in places. This is because it was written in retrospective after early Christianity had well and truly split from Judaism and had become a majority....... Roman gentile. Of course they're going to soften the colonizing role of Rome and try to recast what were mostly either healthy "arguments for the sake of heaven" or legitimate intra-Jewish issues into their main guy rabble-rousing against The Establishment [who are Jews].

I strongly encourage you and any other progressive Christians to read this article to learn more about this topic:

Progressive Christianity has a lot about it that is good and compelling, but Christianity will never be truly progressive until it has unpacked and reinterpreted the baked-in antisemitism that built and violently spread it. I've seen far too many otherwise excellent Christians - good, kind, and caring people by almost every measure - who fail really hard when it comes to allyship with Jews. There's a lot to unpack and a lot to rework and rethink. I would ask that everyone who saw my first two posts really sit with this follow up and consider what things your Christianity, your church, and your community might need to do to get there. And it starts by listening to Jews when it comes to issues of antisemitism and taking seriously what we have to say about it.

In general, I think it's currently really important for progressive Christians to be very loud about being both progressive and deeply religious Christians, and for everyone else fighting for progressive values to be supportive of them doing just that. I know that's like, idk, counter-intuitive or cringe or whatever, but seriously folks, the alternative is that progressive Christians have to be quiet about their faith to be accepted within broader secular and interfaith progressive advocacy, which means that the regressive asshole Christians (a) sound that much louder and (b) dominate the USian religious landscape all the more. That's a problem, for all of us.

We need people pushing back within the faith as well as outside of it, because that destroys any edifice that this is about Christianity and religious freedom.

You can be a devout Christian and also:

Openly, proudly, and without being forced to remain celibate or otherwise limit your full expression of self, identify as LGBTQ+ or be a supportive ally.

Advocate for full reproductive autonomy and comprehensive sex education.

Love and support people of other religious groups, non-religious people and/or atheists, by choosing to believe that a truly loving God would not pursue anything less than universal salvation.

Stand against evangelism and proselytizing as they have thus far been interpreted and used, because there are ways to interpret the Great Commission that don't promote colonialism and cultural genocide.

A steward of the earth, protecting God's beautiful creation and lovingly tending to it as the unique and incredible gift that it is.

A believer in science, rationalism, and human progress as part of God's divine plan for humanity.

A believer in history and someone who understands that the Bible can be both divinely given and open to interpretation (no really)(if you're confused, please talk to a knowledgeable traditional Jew)

An ally to Jews, who stands against supercessionism and antisemitism in the church.

And in before regressive Christians come shouting at me that (1) what do I know, I'm a Jew and (2) no lol you can't because of ___ reason:

My source is that I've personally met and talked to Christians of great faith and integrity - people who embody the closest forms of kindness I've seen to what Jesus himself advocated - who are each of these things.

It is 100% possible; you just choose to believe otherwise.