Recently, a friend of mine — a retired pastor — posted the following on Facebook:
One thing I’ve noticed since the murder of Kirk is the outpouring of support and adoration for him. He has certainly become a powerful symbol for many. But to be honest, I wonder how many of us actually followed him before last week or even knew much about him? In a culture of celebrity worship, many have latched onto him, or at least the vision we’ve been given. Politicians are demanding in some cases that we say nothing ill of him.
I pride myself in being in the know about a lot of what’s going on in the country abd the American church, but I’ll admit im not always aware of the powerful forces at work. I knew about Kirk and his organization, Turning Point USA (TPU) But what seemed to be behind the scenes is now coming out in the open. A toxic mix of church and state is becoming a reality, but instead of a Rome or Canterbury, generic evangelical Christianity is becoming our national religion.
If you go to the TPU website, as I finally did last night, you’ll either love what its about or be horrified. They is no line between church and state. And for many of us, that is a problem. Our country did not come together as a ‘Christian’ nation. Nations are not Christian. People are Christians. And together, that is the true Church. Our citizenship is in heaven, and Jesus emphatically said his kingdom was not of this world. We are a nation of many religions and cultures, or even no religion at all. We need to respect that. But pushing for what amounts to a theocracy, we often demand laws that do not touch on the poor, greed, and injustice, which were major themes of the New Testament and the Prophets. We instead gear towards a Christian Taliban, punishing those that we deem unclean or immoral.
As a Christian and a pastor, I reject the idea that the state and the church can co-exist as equal partners. When the Church gets into bed with the state, it becomes a whore that is only used for the pleasure of its false master. The Church, Christ’s bride, needs to reject this false idol of power and be a prophetic voice to the world instead of a mouthpiece for antichrist values. We promote Christ and his Kingdom, not the whore of Babylon. Let us not confuse the two.
If you doubt this pastor, consider what took place at Charlie Kirk’s funeral — a full-blown worship of not only Kirk, but Christian Nationalism. The funeral was nothing more than masturbatory worship of Kirk, the Evangelical deity, and Christian Nationalism.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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“When the Church gets into bed with the state, it becomes a whore that is only used for the pleasure of its false master.”
That is so very wise….(I saved that to my notepad on my phone because it really rings true).
I didn’t watch, but I heard it was nothing but an overblown Trump rally with an extra dose of racism and Christianity. It seems that everything is a ridiculous reality show in this administration.
I only watched clips from the Kirk memorial/MAGA rally/Christian Nationalist show. It wasn’t something I could handle.
Your friend is correct about how US white evangelicalism is a pursuit of power at the expense of what Jesus purportedly told Christians to do. It’s sickening to see the blatantly bigoted power grabs.
I only watched clips from the Kirk memorial/MAGA rally/Christian Nationalist show. It wasn’t something I could handle.
Your friend is correct about how US white evangelicalism is a pursuit of power at the expense of what Jesus purportedly told Christians to do. It’s sickening to see the blatantly bigoted power grabs.
O.C. you are just looking at the latest uniquely “American” version of this.
This evil cycle has repeatedly itself in every culture on earth, starting before the Sumerians in Mesopotamia, and everywhere in the world where there are “shaman” whispering in the ear of Kings, Pharaoh’s, Generals, Emperor’s, Ruler’s, Dictators and Presidents.
The wealth of entire cultures and nations have been,and continue to be, exploited and expended on the “anointed one’s” so proclaimed by the Priesthoods of countless cultures. Political Power and Religion are in LEAGUE with one another for one expressed goal – The manipulation of people, and the relentless acquisition of power, wealth, labor and control for whatever nefarious ends they drum up.
NOTHING has changed in this regard going back to Catal Huyuk, and perhaps even as far back as the Tas Tepeler culture’s recently discovered in Turkey, dating back from 12,000 to 9,000 BC.
This IS the inevitable reality of “collective” (civilization). Always has been. The Political leadership needs the priesthood to keep the peasants in fear, under civil control and to do their bidding. One cannot operate without the other.
That’s just the hard fact of the matter. The greatest real “Promise” of the AMERICAN EXPERIENCE was to break the chains of religious ignorance and control and hold political leadership in check.
The current administration is on a “damned the torpedoes” mission to destroy secular education and of course science and free thinking. It is horrifying, and an ignorant American electorate seems to be oblivious of this.
YES. Remember when Evangelicals used to call the Catholic Church “The Great Whore”? LOL
Hmmm I wonder how they can look at themselves in the mirror ???
Religion should not become the asset of the state, because then religion cannot remove it self or it’s sayings or rules from what the rulers of the state want, and it will be corrupted. Christian Nationalism is already corrupted because it wants to deny freedom of religion to people with other views.
But doesn’t it say in the Bible that ” blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord”? Wouldn’t it be better to have righteous government that leads by serving humbly, and caring compassionately for human rights, with integrity and no corruption, accountable, and leading with wisdom, like the Good Shepherd, who, in Ezekiel, rebukes the “hirelings” who care nothing for the sheep ( people) and who rule harshly,and selfishly for personal gain like dictators? Which, I might add, 🤔 is like that in so many parts of the world 🌎 TODAY, in 2025!! I got friends who live in such nations, no democracy, no fair rule of law.
Why should we care one bit about what the Bible says? You give it authority that neither I or most of the readers of this blog give the Bible. If you and your fellow Christians want to govern your lives according to the Bible, so be it, but I find no reason to do so myself.
Who was God speaking to when he said “blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord”? Not the United States, that’s for sure. Context, Terri, context. Otherwise, you can make the Bible say anything,
I live in a Christian government now but they care nothing about my rights. In fact, they take away my rights. So much for compassion. Not a surprise since the public face of American Christianity is lacking in compassion.
“ hirelings” who care nothing for the sheep ( people) and who rule harshly,and selfishly for personal gain like dictators?” Hmmm. What does this sound like?🤔🙄🙄
No, the evangelicalism has not become a whore for the state. It’s been one for a long time.