Hunky Jesus - The messages of the New Testament held hostage by the Christian Right. [View all]

[pinto]

Somewhere along the way it seems Jesus became the poster boy for a visceral, aggressive, in your face version of some religious movements in the US. One I doubt he would recognize. Or one that he would condone, for that matter. At least not in his testaments, though all were aspects of the religious and cultural milieu of his time.

Extremism in the name of Christianity has happened before - some brutally enacted without any heed to the tenants advocated by the historical Jesus.

Today, we see some echoes of that extremism. Less violent or broad based of course, but extreme in its own right. The political sphere grows increasingly confrontive in regards religious issues. Legislatures run out biased laws, usually found to be unconstitutional. Social pockets in the country somehow find Jesus as a calling card for petty bigotry and a cloak for self-victimization.

I'm 62 and don't recall it ever being this way. Maybe it was all "under the carpet" so to speak and just now coming to light. Civil rights have run this course before. I was around then. Civil rights have, for the most part, held the day.

As we all will. I trust in that history.