#leftist Christianity

[joanofarcs-stigmata]

im giving up wishing suffering upon others for lent. im giving up wishing cruelty on politicians and bigots. i am praying for my enemies for lent. i do not have to excuse their actions or ignore the pain they cause, to deny their bigotry or the danger of their power. but i am called to forgive seventy times seven. not for others, but in my heart, for myself. i am loving my enemy this lent.

[apostle-therock-peter]

noticed i got a lot of new followers and gonna say: if you support the genocide of palestinians at the hands of israel and the united states, i do not want you following me. christianity is supposed to be a religion of and for the oppressed, ideally, and if your christianity is based on dominating another culture and abusing them, or if your christianity is based on supporting an evil, un-christlike hegemony that trods upon the religious and ethnic minorities in your wake, you do not have a christianity that's worth supporting.

p.s. jesus was likely in real life a palestinian jewish man (and the first palestinian christian of a diaspora of many palestinian christians, same with his disciples). get over it, evangelicals

p.p.s and btw, there is no state but god in christianity.

[jellyfishhhhhhhhhhh]

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is who every Christian in the West (especially the USA) needs to be researching and emulating

[gnosisandtheosis]

This piece will come as no surprise to any remotely progressive or leftist Christians. Of course this brand of hyper-individualist, hyper-capitalist, and hyper-nationalist evangelicalism would find its followers rebuking Christ and His message.

One quote from Russell Moore here really stood out for me: "When we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we're in a crisis"

Now I haven't read the full interview yet to read this quote in context but it astounds me. The whole point is that Jesus message is *supposed* to be subversive. Both individually and in society we are supposed to challenge the status quo.

For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

When we look at the world that we have created and compare that to the one we are called to co-create with the Divine, everything will need to be subverted for us to get from here to there.

I came to bring fire to the Earth, and how I wish it were already kindled

[gayleviticus]

reading 'jesus: a life in class conflict' which is a secular Marxist reading of Jesus and his movement (which they interpret as far more complex than 'jesus was a communist' but was still v concerned w inverting the status of rich and poor, while also not idolising him or treating him as perfect ) and their interpretation of the cleansing of the temple is interesting bc they take it as an attack on the temple as a symbol of economic exploitation of the establishment, which is embedded in the moneychanging

and it's interesting bc they cut against the typical Christian interpretation, which tends to view it as a repudiation of the sacrificial system or Judaism as a whole, or alternatively a criticism of defiling sacred space with exchanging of money (which is not really the same thing as economic injustice)

but they also criticise the more liberal interpretation, which often gets used to defuse the implicit anti Semitism of the Christian one, which holds that the moneychangers were necessary for the function for the temple and so Jesus must have been mad about something else (or even that Jesus was just having a tantrum and didnt grasp the complexities of how the Temple worked). you can understand where it comes from; Christians make a big deal about how the moneychangers were such a consumerist perversion of the Temple and there's enough unpleasant tropes about greedy Jews you get why it's an uncharitable take you'd want to push back on.

but jesus a life in class conflict thinks this is a liberal projection, and in fact connect it to the same kind of mindset that dismisses abolition of police or military or prison. sure, maybe the moneylenders were integral to the function of the Temple sacrificial system. but does that make them immune to criticism or to imagining a system that doesn't depend on such a source of economic exploitation? things can be necessary to the way the world currently runs, but that doesn't mean the way the world currently runs is itself necessary or inevitable. Jesus (from a secular historical POV) didn't have to have a complete concrete plan for what this new ideal system would look like to take issue with the way the Temple apparatus was a source of economic exploitation

the authors might not be perfectly right here, maybe Jesus really was mad about something else - but I think even if their hypothesis is incorrect it is a relevant point that something being 'necessary' doesn't make it good. it's good to nuance and question our handed down assumptions about the NT, especially on the lookout for anti semitism; but those liberal reinterpretations can in turn be lacking and obscured by our own assumptions

[whereserpentswalk]

The nazis that you see in movies are as much a historical fantasy as vikings with horned helmets and samurai cutting people in half.

The nazis were not some vague evil that wanted to hurt people for the sake of hurting them. They had specific goals which furthered a far right agenda, and they wanted to do harm to very specific groups, (largely slavs, jews, Romani, queer people, communists/leftists, and disabled people.)

The nazis didn't use soldiers in creepy gas masks as their main imagery that they sold to the german people, they used blond haired blue eyed families. Nor did they stand up on podiums saying that would wage an endless and brutal war, they gave speeches about protecting white Christian society from degenerates just like how conservatives do today.

Nazis weren't atheists or pagans. They were deeply Christian and Christianity was part of their ideology just like it is for modern conservatives. They spoke at lengths about defending their Christian nation from godless leftism. The ones who hated the catholic church hated it for protestant reasons. Nazi occultism was fringe within the party and never expected to become mainstream, and those occultists were still Christian, none of them ever claimed to be Satanists or Asatru.

Nazis were also not queer or disabled. They killed those groups, before they had a chance to kill almost anyone else actually. Despite the amount of disabled nazis or queer/queer coded nazis you'll see in movies and on TV, in reality they were very cishet and very able bodied. There was one high ranking nazi early on who was gay and the other nazis killed him for that. Saying the nazis were gay or disabled makes about as much sense as saying they were Jewish.

The nazis weren't mentally ill. As previously mentioned they hated disabled people, and this unquestionably included anyone neurodivergent. When the surviving nazi war criminals were given psychological tests after the war, they were shown to be some of the most neurotypical people out there.

The nazis weren't socialists. Full stop. They hated socialists. They got elected on hating socialists. They killed socialists. Hating all forms of lefitsm was a big part of their ideology, and especially a big part of how they sold themselves.

The nazis were not the supervillians you see on screen, not because they didn't do horrible things in real life, they most certainly did, but because they weren't that vague apolitical evil that exists for white American action heros to fight. They did horrible things because they had a right wing authoritarian political ideology, an ideology that is fundamentally the same as what most of the modern right wing believes.

[hermthejewishwyrm]

The fucking antisemetism that people express just for jews existing is crazy. These are all comments of a video of DOGS IN CUTE CHANUKA HATS

These aren't even all of them I'm just not allowed to add more pictures to this post

[apostle-therock-peter]

one of my favorites off of one of my favorite lecrae albums (besides restoration). lecrae describes the type of believers that the world wants to shut out: the believers who turn to selling their bodies, selling drugs, doing drugs, joining gangs, shooting people, doing anything to get the money they need, because God wasn't granting them their money as prosperity gospel had said, so they have to get money somehow, right? then he turns his scorn on us; like how God was vengeful in the bible, lecrae turns his rage on the conservative Christians who here just one catchy song by lecrae and tune his heartfelt ideas out, saying that people are dying in america for their race and religion and sexuality and gender and identity and that it's the white Christians who are enabling this. he even, in the third verse, talks about the immigrants who want to come to america who practically have conditions worse than ours, expecting our country to be a paradise, when in reality our country is far from it. lecrae is one of our greatest social critics as a Christian rapper besides the mainstream kendrick lamar, and he puts good work to it.

as a trans and queer christian, this song very much resonates with me. it helps me with my dysphoria i feel when i worry i'm too much like a masculine man or a feminine woman, because it helps me feel like i'm both a feminine man and a masculine man and neither genders at the same time, and that my body was sacredly made to be a sort of female eunuch "neither" because god created me like he created the eunuchs to be different, which is why i identify with eunuchs from the bible and verses about how eunuchs are welcome in heaven.

joy guidry's work in gospel christian music and jazz fusion inspires me as a christian. her christianity and her transness work in tandem, as if her transness helped her find her relationship with god much closer (as what happened to me as well). this is a beautiful gospel spiritual that shows that angels are everywhere because god is always watching us, and never leaving us alone; he sends his angels to watch over and protect us, and our God never leaves us alone, just like the refrain of this song says. love joy guidry; her work spiritually inspires me in ways a lot of contemporary christian music doesn't.

finally, i was caught between fire-toolz "to every squirrel who has been hit by a car i'm sorry and i love you" and "the pain-body (child synergy tears)", and really, the entire album is an entire christian mystic adventure in a good way, and her music is beautiful and heartfelt in a way that makes me feel like god is right there with me, but i had to choose the pain-body (child synergy tears) for these lyrics alone:

"i'm thankful/i'm grateful/i'm hopeful in the snow/"no hope = no fear"/but this hope could not be afraid/be not afraid"

the final scream of "be not afraid" is just...a primal scream of a believer who has finally found a safe place in their religion to just...believe. to believe god will look out for them. to believe god is always there, and that this hope could not be afraid.

this hope could not be afraid.

because God is here.

Can We Start A Thread Of Christian Music Recommendations

[troythecatfish]

[unsolicited-opinions]

The AJC's State of Antisemitism in America report for 2024 was released yesterday.

US Jews are tired and scared.

With roughly three-quarters (77%) of American Jews saying they feel less safe as a Jewish person in the U.S. because of the October 7 attacks, it is no surprise that nearly six in 10 (56%) American Jews report changing their behavior over the past 12 months out of concern for their safety. This is a sharp increase from previous years – jumping from 38% in 2022 to 46% in 2023 to 56% in 2024.

...

American Jews see antisemitism as emerging from diverse sources. The 2024 survey asked American Jews to assess how much of an antisemitic threat certain groups or issues – the extreme political right, the extreme political left, extremism in the name of Islam, and Christian nationalism – pose in the United States today. Roughly one-third of American Jews say each of those four represents a very serious antisemitic threat: extremism in the name of Islam (33%), Christian nationalism (33%), the extreme political left (33%), and the extreme political right (33%). Roughly three-quarters or more say that each group or issue represents at least a slight antisemitic threat.

The vast majority (90%) of American Jews say antisemitism has increased either a lot (61%) or somewhat (29%) since the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, and one-third (33%) of American Jews say they have been the personal target of antisemitism – in person or virtually – at least once over the last year:  23% report being the target of an antisemitic remark in person 17% say they were the target of an antisemitic remark or post online or through social media 6% say they were the victim of antisemitic vandalism to, or messaging (such as flyers or pamphlets) left on their personal property 2% say they were the target of an antisemitic attack in person, during which the attacker physically touched them 10% report being targeted by any other kind of antisemitism, not already asked about

Three-quarters (78%) say they did not report any of the antisemitism they experienced, with more than half (54%) saying they didn’t think anything would be done if they reported.

...

For the first time in the six-year history of the survey of American Jews, a majority (56%) say they changed their behavior – by avoiding certain behaviors or activities – over the last year because of fears of antisemitism.  40% say they have avoided publicly wearing or displaying things that might identify them as a Jew, up from 26% in 2023 37% say they have avoided posting content online that would identify them as a Jew or reveal their views on Jewish issues, compared with 30% in 2023 31% say they have avoided certain places, events, or situations out of concern for their safety or comfort as a Jewish person, up from 26% in 2023

[joanofarcs-stigmata]

while im feeling desperate enough for prayer requests: my affirming siblings, if you could pray for guidance from the Divine surrounding me choosing an stp to purchase and use, i'd be be so thankful. i'm very frightened to take this step in my transition, but it feels important. i just hope it's the hand of God telling me that </3

[relaxedstyles]

[oceanicmarxist]

1929 cover of Bezbozhnik u Stanka, the magazine of the League of Militant Atheists in the U.S.S.R. Cover depicts industrial workers tipping Jesus into a garbage disposal while another smashes a church bell with a big hammer.

[argaman01]

I'm feeling fucking sweary today. I just found out that some of our local pro-Hamas anti-Israel "Christians" have put up a Christmas "creche" with the baby Jesus wrapped in a kaffiyeh under a sign saying "stop the genocide."

Jesus was a Jew, not a Palestinian. It's quite possible to denounce Israel's destruction of Gaza without resorting to the ancient antisemitic charge that the Jews killed Jesus.

This is what was posted to Facebook today:

[gingerswagfreckles]

Not really loving how my post about the left's love affair with eugenics and blood and soil ideology framed as "decolonization" got coopted into another "wait it's all Christianity??" "It always has been" post." Y'all are sticking your heads in the sand if you think this is a problem with "cultural Christianity." This is the exact same pattern we saw play out in the 1979 Iranian revolution and much of this ideology was coopted from the Nazis by the Soviets and reframed as progressive. This is not an issue with Western "cultural Christianity" and it would be great if Jumblr could stop engaging in the same "there's actually one secret root cause of every problem in the world and if we get rid of it we will have utopia" thing that antisemites have been using against Jews for 2000 years.

[jesusinstilettos]

“Oh I’m just not the creative ty-“

Wrong, all humans are inherently creative in some way when their needs are met and they are given the leisure time to pursue hobbies. It came free with your being a social species wired by evolution to love doing stuff with your hands. Don’t define art through a consumerist lens where it’s only worth existing if it’s something someone would buy. Connect with your inner monkey, create to create and let it just be.