More’s the pity:-|. Jesus did stuff, reportedly, so those who claim to be “His followers” choose to do the opposite. Jesus Himself would be rejected out of nearly all churches in America today.:-(
Even so, churches on the whole still used to serve a useful societal role - lessening rates of theft & murder, fostering community ties with irl people, helping the disenfranchised (feeding homeless, aiding widows & orphans, job-training services, etc.) - but especially after overturning Roe v. Wade I think the public perception has shifted. Now we see more clearly than ever before how the people in those churches are killing innocents, by converting average people into single-issue voters who will vote for the likes of Donald Trump or George Santos so long as they just do that ONE thing that the religious higher-ups want. Forget how climate change is going to radically transform our world - and in the process kill millions - and similarly automation and globalization are making slaves of us all, desperate to hold onto a job that pays increasingly less and less dividends plus may kick you to the curb no matter what you do.
Fwiw, I even say this as a Christian myself: I do not stand with those who call themselves by that name yet condone genocide, even cause it themselves, and ignore the plight of the innocents who suffer (e.g. Ukraine). I am also a patriot (by the technical, acurate definition) but do not want to call myself that either, especially after January 6. So I guess I am a “godless heathen” now, who “hates my country”, or whatever it is that they say about me? Or else NOT THAT, and they can fuck all the way off, as they destroy themselves and yet in the process take us all down with them.:-(
