Never once have I ever read in the Bible where Jesus said, “God bless the Roman Empire”. Never once have I read in the Bible of Jesus standing to pay homage to the symbols of the Roman Empire. Never once have I read Jesus combining his teachings with the Rule of the Roman Empire. I began thinking of that when I was watching the 4^th of July celebration on PBS, and there was a guy waving an American flag, and wearing a red hat that said, “Make America Pray Again”. That struck me as so anti-Jesus because that was what Jesus was not about. That is the last thing that the man that we call Christ would have been doing, in my opinion. Patriotic to a Government, whether it was Roman, Israel, or Jerusalem, was not what he was about. We have patriotic songs like the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” and “Onward Christian Soldiers,” and I have asked myself many times, would Jesus have marched off to war leading an Army? He was the man who let himself be tried by the Romans, did not offer any defense, and was crucified by the Romans. That was a man of sacrifice and not of violence. He was not a leader of men like a President or a General. He was a leader of men, like a shepherd who would lead his sheep to water so they could drink. I am not saying that all wars can be avoided because I know we have to stand up to tyranny, but we are not being led by the word of God or Jesus.  

I used to be a fairly religious person, but it was the confusion of the Church and the Bible that made me turn away from the church. I do not see very many so-called religious people practicing the teachings of Jesus, and I definitely do not see our government controlled by the Republican party practicing anything close to the teachings of Jesus. Churches do not create freedom. If anything, they restrict freedom. Bringing prayer into our schools does not enhance freedom. Posting the Ten Commandments in our schools does not enhance our freedoms. Forcing one's religion is not freedom. These are methods of control, and control and freedom are on opposite sides of the spectrum. We have a Speaker of the House who has compared himself to Moses. Moses delivered the Israelites from slavery and bondage from the tyrannical ruling class of Egypt. Speaker Johnson has helped deliver people who many were already living in poverty into concentration camps like the camp that the Republicans are opening in the Everglades.

Speaker Johnson was very instrumental in the passage of  Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”. What it could be called is the “anti-teachings of Jesus” bill. This “One Big Beautiful Bill” increases the budget for ICE to imprison people in Trump’s concentration camp, like the one they are opening in the Everglades. All your religious people who support Trump’s immigration policies, please read Matthew 25:31-46. Read it and then tell me that what Trump is doing is inspired by God or in line with the Bible, his so-called favorite book. All you people, read the entire book of Matthew and tell me that anything in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is inspired by the teachings of Jesus. How is denying millions of people healthcare part of the teachings of Jesus? How is cutting food supplements to the poor part of the teachings of Jesus? How is not protecting the planet we all have to live on part of the teachings of Jesus? Climate change affects the poor, the people living in poverty, not only in the United States but all over the world. We see people suffering and dying around the world because of our changing climate, and we do nothing. Not because we don’t have the technology to do something, but because it is not profitable to do something.

Back in 2017, I was always envious of people who had stronger faith than I did; I thought of it as a gift that I had not received yet. Back in 2017, when Trump was first elected, I thought the Church would never put up with Trump. I had faith that the Church was one of the institutions that would stand up to Trump and his cruelty. I thought Christians would help save America like they helped found it. Instead, the Church embraced him. Why? Because of the abortion issue? I never would have believed that the Church would turn its back on the teachings of Jesus for an issue that Jesus never talked about. That is right, Jesus never talked about abortion, even though the first written account of abortion was written 1500 years before the birth of Jesus. He did talk about helping the poor. He did talk about healing the sick. He did say, “Suffer the children not”. I never thought that so many Christians would lie at the feet of a man who was more like Herod than anything else. Yup, Trump, the man who has had five children from 3 different women. The man who cheated on multiple wives. The man who sells autographed copies of the Bible. He tries to profit from the teachings of Jesus even though he has never read the teachings of Jesus. The man whose only cathedral on Sundays is a golf course. He was now considered a vessel to God. Some treat him as the second coming.

I long for the day long ago when the message of Jesus was the major part of the teachings of the Church. I long for the day when men of religion thought we should all walk together as brothers. I long for the day when the Church and our Government were two distinct and separate institutions. I long for the day when the Church thought it was important to lift people up and not imprison them for the color of their skin or the language that they speak. I long for a Church that thought the contents of a man’s heart were more important than the position he held. I long for the days of a man saying, “I have a Dream”.  What I want now is a country that works to make that dream come true. What we have now is a country that is filled with Hatred, Racism, Bigotry, and threats of violence.