There’s No Hate Like Christian Love

It’s sad how a religion about loving everyone has turned into one of hating the other.

For many, doing good, being kind, and loving everyone is the epitome of Christianity. To these believers, spreading peace, love, and justice is what truly constitutes Christlike behavior, and they strive to do so in their daily lives.

I’m not talking about these people today.

No, today I’m talking about the stereotypical evangelical Christian who embodies all of the behaviors that are the opposite of Christlike. They covet wealth and belongings, they push for tyranny and injustice to be perpetrated on their enemies, and they spew hatred and filth at anyone who their preachers consider anti-Christian. This includes anyone from LGBTQIA+ folx to immigrants to anyone who either isn’t Christian or isn’t Christian enough — at least according to them.

These are the “Christians” who claim that hellfire and brimstone will befall anyone who doesn’t see the light of their god, and the list of people who don’t see the light is long. If you’re queer, liberal, secular, or a woman who doesn’t obey whatever a man says, it’s straight to hell for you, and oh boy will they tell you all about it.

They will tell you that you are evil, that you are a sinner, and that you are going to hell. They will attack you verbally, assault you physically, and torment you in as many creative ways as they can think of. And, worst of all, it is all wrapped in their “love.”

“We are doing this because we love you,” they say. “We want to save your soul and show you god’s true love,” they exclaim as they try to beat the gay out of a teenager or scream at a woman going into a Planned Parenthood. To them, the best way to show love is through some of the most hateful, violent acts that a person can perpetrate on someone else.

To these people, if you don’t know god’s love, the best way to bring you around is through hate. Threatening nonbelievers with hellflame and endless torment is standard-issue evangelical these days, and if you aren’t on board the Jesus train, you are the enemy, a soldier in the devil’s army.

These people view themselves as holy warriors, and their sole purpose is to bring sinners to god, whether to see his true light or to face his mighty wrath. It’s okay, though — yelling at random people, physically assaulting anyone you disagree with, stripping away the rights of women and minorities, and imposing a fundamentalist authoritarian rule over everyone is just spreading god’s love!

Ten years ago, my friends and I thought it was funny when the Westboro Baptist Church would go out and picket the funerals of soldiers who were killed in combat, or whenever they would show up at ComicCon, or whatever weird random thing they were picketing that day. “They’re so out of touch,” we would say. “Why do they think it’s okay to yell their hatred at everyone on the street when the counter-protests are always bigger? They’ll never get anywhere with those tactics.”

Apparently, more people agreed with them than we thought since most standard-issue Evangelicals these days have decided that hatred of the other is the way to go. And, since America is apparently too other for them, they are trying to inflict their backward hatred upon us via the government. Being a nation founded on religious freedom is fine with them, as long as that religion is their flavor of Christianity and nothing else.

The worst part about it is that they’ll stand behind their religion and their holy book to defend their actions when the religion, the book, and the guy who gives their religion its name all decry those very actions. They shout about how being gay is a sin, women shouldn’t be sluts with their birth control and abortions, immigrants should go back where they came from, money is power, and might makes right.

Here’s the thing: all of those things can be found in the bible. Do you know what else can be found in the bible? Acceptance and love of your fellow man, women as strong, independent beings with agency and power, having too much wealth to the detriment of others is sinful, and nonviolence is generally the way to go. Guess where all of those examples came from? You know, the namesake of the religion, Jesus Christ himself.

Slavery and segregation are in the bible, and so are freedom and integration. Guess which of those is Christlike and which is not?

War and violence are in the bible, as are peace and nonviolence. Guess which of those is Christlike and which is not?

Wealth and opulence are in the bible, as is humble charity. Guess which of those is Christlike and which is not?

Brutalizing and killing sinners happens in the bible, as does peacefully forgiving those who have sinned and trespassed against you. Guess which of those is Christlike and which is not?

Hating and condemning those unlike you is in the bible, as is loving your neighbor as yourself. Guess which of those is Christlike and which is not?

If you are a Christian and are using your religion, holy book, or god as a means of persecuting and hating others, I hate to tell you that you’re doing it wrong. Christianity is a religion of peace and love at its root, and I can’t believe that I, an agnostic weirdo, have to tell you that.

According to your own goddamn religion, Christ died on the cross to free you of the obligations laid forth in the Old Testament. This includes everything from not eating shellfish to a big old pile of rules and regulations that are considered very, very backward by today’s standards. Once Christ became the messiah, all the fire and brimstone stuff from the Old Testament kinda fell away to the hippy-dippy love and peace that Jesus brought with him.

(Although, if you really want an excuse to be both Christlike and violent, you could always beat the money-grubbing private-jet-owning megachurch leaders with a flail in the same way Jesus drove the money lenders from the temple.)

The long and short of it is that Christianity is a religion of love, and if you are using it as a tool of hatred, you are wrong. You are especially wrong because, as the dominant religion in America, you are using it as a cudgel against the roughly 30% of us who aren’t Christian. This both goes against the founding principles of America as a place for religious freedom and also has some interesting parallels to how the Romans crucified Jesus in the first place.

The whole point of Christianity is that Jesus loves us all regardless of our lives or circumstances, and we should reflect that love upon our fellow man. Bigotry, hatred, and oppression are the tools of the devil; only through love and peace can we truly reach paradise. Anyone who tells you otherwise is a false prophet leading you down the path of sin.

This isn’t hard, everyone. Love thy neighbor as thyself, let he who is without sin cast the first stone, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, take your pick. The whole point of Christianity is love and peace. Please, let’s be better together.

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