In my opinion Evangelical religion has no business POLITICALLY forcing me or any other

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35. The real Christians have allowed the false Christians to steal

the spotlight and the narrative.

The OP is exactly right. No one was forced to follow him. The Evangelical religion does not show me any resemblance to one that follows Christ "in spirit and in truth."

Trying to be like Jesus means being humble. Can't be in the limelight and do that.

But the Christian Nationalists are guilty of sullying Christ's name and character by claiming values the opposite of those of Jesus to be theirs. Those of us who try to welcome the stranger, feed the poor, visit the prisoner, work for justice, and offer God's love to all because we have experienced that love and mercy ourselves have been doing a very poor job of standing up for the truth of Jesus. (For our atheist friends here, the truth of Jesus based on what he says in the Bible.)

The true Christian faith motivated Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. to work for justice in the civil rights movement and for economic justice as well, for the Beloved Kingdom, and it has led others to many acts of justice and mercy over time.

Our failure to reject the evil distortion and counter with the truth has allowed the distortion to defame the character of Christ. That's directly tied to the declining numbers of those who profess to be Christian (and whose behavior shows that they actually might be). We have a battle against a very toxic theology and so far the toxic side is winning.

Because the Christian Right has been so hateful, they've brought about a great antagonism to religion in general and Christianity in particular. The intolerance is great, but it stems from us Jesus followers failing to defend or teach the heart of Jesus' teachings.

I was raised with much of the same antagonism towards Christians, so I understand it. But MLK inspired me with his understanding of faith, and I lucked into a church that didn't have any agenda of fixing or converting me, but welcomed me until I stopped being defensive and started listening. I've been blessed with many adventures since then, which come from following Jesus' Way.

Just to be clear though, I don't think the name matters at all and many folks work for the principles by other names, shalom for instance, and I'm quite sure they are just as blessed.