Christianity has been wanted and never tried

The title comes from a G. K. Chesterton quote: Christianity has not been tried and found wanting, it’s been found wanting and never tried.

It’s true in the sense that for most of Christianity’s history we’ve not even tried to live up to the standards set by our faith. However it also comes close to the “no true Scotsman” argument that the ugly behavior of so many Christians is not real Christianity.

I’ve become quite jaded about my faith over the past few years. Seeing the religious right are even more disgusting than I used to think. The long list of church officials engaged in sex crimes (and the churches that turned a blind eye). The conviction that contrary to Jesus if they gain the world but lose their soul, that’s a win. Their refusal to break with the Necrotic Toddler on any point —and then whining when they’re criticized over it. Even if they assume the Toddler is doing god’s work in some fashion (most obviously ending Roe) it doesn’t follow everything he does must be godly — King David was god’s anointed but the Uriah-Bathsheba business was not.

Their view of religious freedom is very much “freedom for us, not for others.” It’s perfectly fine for them to punish LGBTQ individuals based on their religious views but pro-immigrant Christians should remember we separated church from state — their views don’t count.

Then there’s Minneapolis, where the Toddler’s ICE storm troopers have imposed a state of siege. It’s bad, and people have suffered horribly, like a five-year-old ICE kidnapped from Minneapolis to Texas without telling his family And ICE claims that they are not bound by the Fourth Amendment. And now a second murder (more here) and Kristi “Nazi” Noem lying about it. I’d say more but I don’t think I have insights that haven’t already been said.

Despite which, Minnesotans are refusing to submit and give in, including a number of Christians. Here’s one example: “Ben, 17, and Sam, 16, donned warm hoodies, said goodbye to their parents and piled into a well-loved sedan. Cranking the engine, they skirted a wild turkey that stalks their yard and headed out to find U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.”

On the other side, a pastor prays God will smite Minneapolis for defying ICE.

One pastor at Cities Church (which seems to be creepy right-wing patriarchal) turns out to be an ICE official. It seems a numbe rof people are fine with a Christian leader being in charge of such non-Christian behavior but they’re horrified people disrupted church services to protest. As noted at the link, it’s unlikely any well-behaved protest would have done better. JD Vance, for instance, complains that people should confine themselves to writing letters to the editor or talking about things on social media — not anything that would stir things up.

Switching to another topic, a Catholic racist discusses online how he only takes communion from white people, then brags that he goes to confession about it, therefore his shitty sins are forgiven (that is not, from what I’ve read, how confession works). Fred Clark suggests what the dude wants is absolution without repentance — someone to assure him he’s not one of the bad racists, even as he continues being racist. Hindu extremists are trying to turn the case into a tool for competing nationalism.

Clark again: “White evangelicalism has been captured by the Republican Party and vice versa, but neither variant of the merged product encourages or permits what Dad once believed about what it means to “look American,” or about who is and is not “precious” in the sight of Jesus.”

To wrap up, here’s a story from last year about how New Orleans’ football team helped the local Catholic Church’s reputation management after the abuse scandal became public.