Christianity 2025: A Collage of Hate

Dear Friends;

I’ve been struggling to write this post about hate and the Christian Right since August. It’s been discarded numerous times, only to end up on my desktop once again.

2025 is almost over. We are nearly at the ultimate dark of the year, and after the solstice, there will be celebrations of love, light, and community around the world, leading to the possibility of hope and renewal in 2026. I hope this post fits well at this time. I’ll love to hear what you think.

Please note: I was not raised as a church-goer. After a spontaneous healing at age 33, my father immersed himself in the Bible and worked to create his own deep understanding of what it was all about. And we five children around the dinner table were his congregation. Meanwhile, our mother was agnostic.

That dynamic is not the subject here, but I do want to give a sense of where I’m coming from. Not a scholar of anything, but with a lifelong passion of bringing opposing views into harmony. And I’ve surely spent many wakeful hours in the past months pondering the questions I raise here.

All because I started out making a collage about hate.

Here are this year’s prominent “people of faith,” presently hustling and terrorizing the American people with Biblical admonitions, assertions and prophecies.

Except for a clear-eyed, unpretentious Pope Francis in the center, who died last April.

All of those scowling, jeering masks. Eyes with no light inside. The so-called “Christian Right.” I want to know how they manage to constantly disempower the Left.

Does the Left have a God Problem?

Is the Left mostly “spiritual but not religious?” Incapable of creating a compelling, focused message, because there are no universally accepted words or practices for the Divine?

Or does the Right have a God Problem?

Are the majority of people on the Right “religious but not spiritual? Devoted to the form, but have pretty much tailored the content to serve their own self-interests?

And what is the definition of “spiritual” anyway?

I’m going with: Love, kindness, forgiveness. (I heard this recently from a Chinese healer named Chunyi Lin)

Do these three words represent grounding elements in a belief system? I’ll come to this later, but first, some basic questions about Christianity in America today . . .

Question #1 - Whence cometh the Christian authority for the Right’s militant piety and merging of Church and State?

Donald Trump? – Claims he’s a non-denominational Christian, but does not belong to any church. (No sooner did Pope Francis die, than Trump was posting AI creations of himself as Pope. And his hard-core MAGA followers proclaim him their spiritual leader).

Anyway, what’s his hideous scowl about? Is he mimicking “the wrath of God?

Likes to hold up his mother’s Bible as proof of his devotion. Favorite Bible verse? It’s. . .ah, well, um. . . too private a matter to share. Oh, but, he’s selling his own Trumped-up Bible, which is a mix of the King James Version plus an assortment of political documents like the Constitution and illustrations of the American flag, etc. (Order Now! The God Bless the USA Bible is $59.99— $83+ tax and shipping).

P.S. (Not to be mentioned: Jesus drove the money-changers out of the temple because their corrupt practices had turned a sacred building into a commercial marketplace).

Question #2 - What about the rest of the gang?

Catholics: They base their authority on scripture and church tradition together — Pope Francis (the only face not masked). And then, Karoline Leavitt, Marco Rubio, Melania Trump, JD Vance.

Baptists: the Bible alone is their ultimate authority. — Ted Cruz, Lindsay Graham, Mike Johnson, Mitch McConnell.

Christian Nationalists: the Bible is their ultimate authority, guiding social, political and legal matters — Marjorie Taylor Greene, Pete Hegseth.

Evangelical Christians: the Bible is their ultimate authority, with an emphasis on being “born again” through a transformative divine act — Kristi Noem, John Thune, Russell Vought.

Christian Zionist: The Bible is their authority, with a specific focus on Israel —Steve Bannon.

Uncommitted Conservative Christian (wild card?): Personal beliefs and church membership unknown—Pam Bondi, head of Trump’s Task Force to Eradicate Anti-Christian Bias.

and then, there’s:

Stephen Miller – Raised a Jewish progressive (reform), both sides of his family immigrated to America in early 1900s to escape relentless antisemitic violence and trauma in Eastern Europe. He’s singularly, obessively focused, heartless and cruel. The principal actor in the separation of immigrant families at the border.

Is Miller haunted by his family history, a dark thread of horror passed down through the generations?

At Charlie Kirk’s funeral this September, Miller evoked spiritual warfare when he warned the Left: “You cannot defeat us. . . We defend goodness. We are on the side of God.”

Classic Christian nationalist, self-anointed?

(Before Trump won the election, Miller’s former rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels wrote an article decrying Miller’s racism and xenophobia and urging people to vote for Kamala Harris. This echoed a Rosh Hashanah sermon, the rabbi had delivered in 2018 to their progressive congregation in which he said, speaking of Miller, “The actions you now encourage President Trump to take make it obvious to me that you didn’t get my, or our, Jewish message.”)

But here’s the thing:

Question #3 - If the Christian Right says the Bible is the Ultimate Authority. . . who interprets its message?

Well, it seems interpretation just depends on the person or persons who established whatever kind of church to begin with.

In other words, ordinary humans across the centuries have established churches and delivered the rules and guidelines for what to believe and how to practice their version of the Christian faith. My father’s “church” after his healing is one example.

The result: tens of thousands of different denominations of Christianity around the world. Just a few listed here.

Question #4 - How does this multiplicity make sense? Shouldn’t all Christians have the same core beliefs? In other words, what should fundamentally guide interpretation of the Christian faith?

The simple answer is the origin story in the second book in the Bible (Exodus 20:1-17):

Ten Commandments, delivered on two stone tablets direct from God to a tribe of wandering Israelites via their leader Moses. This was the result after Moses was called to ascend Mount Sinai and pray for 40 days and 40 nights to receive divine guidance.

It makes sense—Moses had brought his tribe of Israelites out of Egypt, but what was going to turn them from an unruly, disorganized bunch into a culture with laws and ethics and a belief in one absolute Divine Power?

Well, there was a wrinkle first time around. Moses discovered that in his prolonged absence, his brother Aaron had pacified the restless tribe by creating a golden calf and proclaiming it be worshipped as a symbol of the Divine. When Moses returned from his vigil, he witnessed the idolatry and smashed the tablets. There was retribution, 3,000 of the followers were slaughtered, and then Moses climbed Sinai again, was given another set of tablets and God’s promise of forgiveness.

So we have punishment and we have forgiveness interwoven in the Christian origin story from the very beginning.

Lots of illustrations of this event can be found on the Web. A lot have the calf looking bullish, like an ancient ad for Wall Street. I like this one though:

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

I. THOU SHALT HAVE NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME

II. THOU SHALT NOT MAKE UNTO THEE ANY GRAVEN IMAGE

III. THOU SHALT NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD THY GOD IN VAIN

IV. REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY, TO KEEP IT HOLY

V. HONOR THY FATHER AND THY MOTHER

VI. THOU SHALT NOT KILL

VII. THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY

VIII. THOU SHALT NOT STEAL

IX. THOU SHALT NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS AGAINST THY NEIGHBOR

X. THOU SHALT NOT COVET YOUR NEIGHBOR'S HOUSE, WIFE, MALE OR FEMALE SLAVE, OR OX, OR DONKEY, OR ANYTHING THAT BELONGS TO YOUR NEIGHBOR.

(Time out if you want to score how the members of my hate collage rank. . .)

Question #5 - Are the Ten Commandments admonitions? Or are they guidance for creating inner and outer peace?

Interpretation from Pope Francis to a general audience at the Vatican on June 20, 2018:

The Ten Commandments are best understood to be Loving Words from God, Not Oppressive Commands. A command does not invite dialogue, he said. A word does. It invites relationship, a relationship with the Divine and also with one another.

Is this a key difference between the Right and the Left? The Right likes threats and commands vs the Left wants love, understanding, and dialogue?

Actually, said Jesus, summarizing the 10 Commandments in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:12), you only need two commandments:

LOVE GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, SOUL, AND MIND.

LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.

The first commandment creates inner peace. The second commandment creates peace in community.

And this brings us to an answer about Biblical authority so simple, it may seem too unsophisticated for modern times. The Ten Commandments and Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount basically come down to:

Pope Francis was all for simplicity. When he addressed the US Congress in 2015 he said:

Let us remember the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’ (Matthew 7:12).

This Rule points us in a clear direction, he said.

Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves.

In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities.

The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us.

The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development.

Question #7 — What if the Golden Rule is a fundamental evolutionary force?

The Pope’s message is the last entry in the fascinating Chronology of The Golden Rule — the website of Harry J. Gensler, retired professor of philosophy at Loyola University.

And here is the first entry:

c. 1,000,000 BC to 10,000 BC Humans find that cooperative hunting works better. Small, genetically similar clans who use the Golden Rule to promote cooperation and sharing have a better chance to survive.

If you visit Gensler’s chronology, you’ll discover that The Golden Rule is found in every religion, tradition and culture around the world. A wealth of entries across the centuries includes Greek mythology, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Taoism, Hinduism, Christianity and more. The entry with the words of Pope Francis is the closing paragraph in the record.

Humans did not invent cooperation, however! It appears that it is Nature’s story as well. The late biologist Lynn Margulis, featured in the remarkable film “Symbiotic Earth” challenged male-dominated science with her theory that symbiosis, rather than survival of the fittest, drives major evolutionary leaps, with microbes cooperating to create species through mutual dependence: “Life did not take over the globe by combat, but by networking.”

Teamwork is key to survival, as Nature shows, with worker bees not reproducing in order to devote their lives to nurturing the colony’s young, ants guarding aphids from predators in exchange for their sugary milk, fish living safely in stinging anemones, and, as in Canadian forestry scientist Suzanne Simard’s “Finding the Mother Tree” bestseller, big trees sharing food and warnings through underground fungi networks with other trees.

So Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on top of Mount Sinai, praying for a solution that would bind the Israelites together. Who knows? Maybe all of that time in Nature contributed to a blinding revelation about a Divine plan that is already baked into life itself?

Do Unto Others as You Would Have Them Do Unto You — A Collage of Love and Mutual Support

I found a link in Gensler’s chronology that is a perfect counter to my hate collage.

1961 Norman Rockwell’s Golden Rule painting appears on the cover of the popular Saturday Evening Post magazine. The United Nations wasn’t interested when Rockwell wanted to paint it for them as a large mural. But in 1985 it created a mosaic version and today you can buy several other versions of it at https://www.un.org/ungifts/golden-rule.

Compare Rockwell’s collage with mine.

It almost makes me cry.

Why have so many so-called Christians on the Right created an idol out of a man who has broken just about every single one of the Ten Commandments?

I’m trying to put a finger on what makes the Left (including devout Christians on the Left), so ineffective when it comes to challenging Trump’s pack of hungry wolves professing in sheep’s clothing. We are being dragged very far from anything resembling a true spiritual community and into a psychotic cult of cruelty and rabid self-interest.

Rigid interpretation is the slippery slope in all belief systems. While ignoring the Christian origin story and the simplicity of Jesus’ sermon about the Golden Rule, the Christian Right has cherry-picked numerous verses throughout the Bible to justify attacking women’s rights, abortion rights, and gay rights, for example.

All of those verses are interpretations that come from the Old Testament. Jesus never said anything at all about abortion or homosexuality and the Gospels portray him elevating the status of women, rejecting double standards (such as adultery). Conservative Christians say that the Commandment “thou shalt not kill” is about abortion, yet they seem to have no problem with gun rights.

Pope Francis addressed these bitterly contentious issues through a pastoral emphasis on dignity and inclusion, affirming human rights with mercy and forgiveness. But he is no longer on the stage and Pope Leo XIV, the first ever American pope, is thus far more reserved and less spontaneous.

So what do you think, dear Readers? Does the Left have a God problem? Why is their message so weak, muddled, and without enough fire, logic, or inspiration? Why does it lack spiritual force, defined as love, kindness, forgiveness? Isn’t “Woke” the same as the Golden Rule? Why has it been so poorly defended? Do we need more unified voices—Left-wing sermonizing, Martin Luther King-type voices—to destabilize the power of the cult, and restore the original American vision?

I have more words in me on this subject, but they’ll come in the new year.

I’ll love to hear your take!

Until then, keep the faith, in whatever form makes you whole, loved, and peaceful.

With Gratitude,

Rondi