I want to believe that the Evangelical Christians I sit next to at high school football and basketball games are good people. I want to believe that they are nice, thoughtful people who care about their families and neighbors. I want to believe this . . . I really do, but it is coming increasingly evident that many of my Evangelical neighbors are assholes.
Many of my Evangelical neighbors routinely attack, savage, and denigrate gay people, transgender people, unbelievers, and those who support reproductive rights. And if they don’t explicitly adhere to it, they support churches, preachers, and politicians that do. These people say that they are followers of the Prince of Peace, all the while promoting and supporting I.C.E., law enforcement, and military violence. Let me be clear: what and who we support says a lot about what we really believe and value. What does the behavior of my Evangelical neighbors say about them?
Today, I followed several local discussions on Facebook about poverty and people losing their SNAP benefits. Most Evangelical commenters showed that they have no idea what Jesus (or the Bible as a whole) taught about these things. Their comments revealed ugly, selfish libertarian or MAGA political values. It’s hard not to conclude that my neighbors are Christians in name only; that their politics supersede and dominate their moral and ethical values. If behavior matters, the only conclusion I can come to is that many of my Evangelical neighbors are assholes. Want to change my mind? Do better, starting with feeding the poor, caring for immigrants, and putting an end to I.C.E.’s reign of terror. Until then, your Jesus has nothing to offering people like me.
Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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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