Dear 'Anti-' Christian Churches, You're Doing It Wrong

***Religious disclaimer***

I'm Catholic.  You do or don't do whatever religion (or no religion at all) you do or don't want to...

I recently had one of my right wing Christian friends (a huge Trump supporter) file a Twitter post about how the hosts go the HGTV show Fixer Upper, Chip and Joanna Gaines, were being wrongly persecuted because they attended an Anti-Gay Church, in this case Antioch Community Church, a church whose leaders have expressed a position of anti-gay rights and anti-gay overall.  The gist of my friend's argument was these two were being discriminated against because of their religious beliefs, how Antioch and similar churches wanting to criminalize being GLBTQ wasn't the problem; it's the people offended by such bigotry (like the GLBTQ community and their supporters) who are the real problem.  Okay...

As a Christian, and a Catholic, the specifics of the Gaines' plight isn't what perplexed me, but rather a skimmed over element of the story:

How is there an 'Anti-' anything Christian church?

These 'Anti-' anything Christian churches sicken me.  They purposely ignore the teachings of Jesus Christ and his powerful message of love and acceptance.  The 'anti-' church leaders, human beings not divine entities, people who have strong personal feelings against a certain group of people, try to add provenance to their personal hatred by incorporating a Christian angle, painting their hatred and phobia as something pious and divine.  They usually do this by purposely misquoting the Bible, purposely removing the context of certain passages to try to make them fit an individual person's hatred, or purposely relying heavily on passages which are not direct teachings from Jesus Christ (Usually Paul's letters and Leviticus) to offset the actual teachings of Jesus Christ.

A great example of this twisting of Christianity to fit a conservative message is the way pro gun people like to talk about Jesus telling the disciples to go buy swords, insisting Jesus is telling everyone to arm themselves.  The pro gun kooks always leave out the reason for Jesus' command to carry weapons, so the disciples would look like criminals and thugs (nothing about 'Stand your Ground').  Eventually, Jesus ordered his followers to drop their weapons, because if you live by the sword, you die by the sword.  This clear anti-weapon message from Jesus has been outright ignored.  Some churches even, proudly(?), encourage their parishioners to lock and load for church service.

To be an 'anti-' church, a message of hatred, bigotry, misogyny, religious intolerance and fear needs to be preached in some official capacity.  'Anti-' churches have sermons, lectures, or various group meetings, where the main message is a condemnation of whatever they're  'anti-'.  At some point during their hate speech, they attempt to legitimize the hate pep rally within Christianity by pulling a proverbial Hail Mary.  They put on an earnest smile and insist, "Even though I'm screaming these people are Satan's foot soldiers, let me be very clear, I don't hate them!  I love them! The church tells me to love, so clearly I'm not the problem, they are!"  My goodness...

If you're Christian, you believe Jesus Christ is the son of God, meaning you believe in his teachings (as laid out very clearly in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), and his teachings should take priority in your Christian life.  He never once condemned gays, not once.  Not only that, he tells us very clearly to turn the other cheek, welcome in strangers from strange lands, feed the hungry and to LOVE EACH OTHER!  You can't be 'anti-' anything and be Christian, according to Jesus.  And no!  The leader of your church who hates gays, feels interracial marriage is unnatural, feels wealthy people are more divine, Muslims are all terrorists, and women should be barefoot and pregnant, their personal feelings don't override base Christian doctrine!

We all have the right to have our own personal feelings.  Nothing can stop that.  But just because you desperately want to make your personal bigotries mainstream doesn't make the people offended by your hate the bad guys. And stop trying to use a religion based on love and compassion to validate your hatred.  Jesus would not be amused.  Only the most evil of human beings tries to take the teachings of love and acceptance from Jesus Christ and turn them into a thesis of hate.  If your Christian church is doing this, they're doing it wrong!

I'm no angel.  I'm a sinner, just like everyone else, and, in my belief system, I'll have to answer for my actions when I move on.  One thing I won't have to answer for is usurping the teachings of Jesus, supplanting his teachings with my personal feelings, and then trying to sell it to the masses as, "See, my hatred is sanctimonious as Jesus agrees with my racism/hatred/bigotry!"  I also won't have to answer why I purposely ignored a large portion of the Bible to make my political leaders more angelically palatable.  And, I won't pretend to be Christian for one hour a week, and then immediately forget most of what I worship for the next 167.

My priest, Father Bill, made this statement on Sunday morning, "The Bible tells us to love everyone, and to not hate anyone."  Amen!  The anti-'s you should be as a Christian are anti-hate, anti-poverty, anti-discrimination, anti-shaming, anti-relucatnace, anti-injustice, anti-war, anti-conflict, and anti-wealth worshipping.  It's all right there, in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

If you profess to be a Christian, it's time to stop listening to the people telling you who you need to hate, and it's time to start reading the words of the man who told us all to love.