The Teachings of Jesus (don’t let them be hijacked)
England was a Catholic nation, until Henry VIII replaced himself as the head of the church, which later morphed into the Church of England (the head is King Charles). The Catholic church is still overseen by Pope Leo (who won’t denounce bullfighting) and Orthodox Christianity is even older, but doesn’t answer to the Pope.
There are of course many other religions now in England. And as long as everything is peaceful, that’s fine.
But now we have so-called ‘evangelical Christians’, who are using the Bible to preach hatred and division (ironically in the same way that they sometimes accuse other religions of doing). All religions have a few zealots, but for the most part, all follow ‘the golden rule’.
Of treating others as you would wish to be treated.
This ‘them vs us’ mentality is now leading to ugly politics on both sides of the Atlantic. But Jesus ‘followers’ have forgotten that he was a peaceful simple man, who preached love and forgiveness.
If alive today, he would no doubt be protecting downtrodden people, innocent animals and saving the planet.
He never called poor people lazy, was never even slightly anti-gay. He was a long-haired, community-organising, authority-questioning, brown-skinned, Palestinian, unarmed homeless Jew. But only if you believe what’s actually in the Bible. John Fugelsang
Bring Back Your People is a book to bring the real issues of climate change and pollution back to a nasty politics more concerned with scaring people into voting for far-right beliefs.
The author is a preacher and leader of the Poor People’s Campaign in the USA, who even saw loved ones, get sucked into this new politics. He says, the price of gas is not the reason to spew politics of hate.
In the US recently, one bereaved father called out Trump and Vance for mentioning (without permission) the name of his son, accidentally killed by a Haiti immigrant. He asked them to stop using a genuine accident which involved the death of his son, for political gain.
I wish that my son was killed by a 60-year old white man. I bet you never thought anyone would say anything so blunt. But if that guy killed my 11-year old son, the hate-spewing people would leave us alone. Nathan Clark (father of Aiden Clark speaking alongside his wife Danielle).
The same thing happened in England, when Boris Johnson used two murders, again to spew his own agenda:
Jack would be seething at his death (and his life) being used to perpetuate an agenda of hate. He believed in the goodness of humanity.
Borrow his intelligence, share his drive, feel his passion, burn with his anger and extinguish hatred with his kindness. Never give up his fight. David Merritt (father of Jack Merritt, who with Saskia Jones was killed in a London Bridge terrorist attack)
How to Take Back the Bible (from people who hate)
Separation of Church and Hate is the debut book from actor/comedian John Fugelsang, and boy do we hope he writes more! This book is absolutely brilliant, a funny yet intelligent take-down of people in power (the media and politics) who profess to be ‘Christian’, but use their faith to create hatred, division, war and hardship to those less fortunate.
Interestingly, John’s own parents were a nun and Franciscan brother (they fell madly in love and were pen pals for 10 years before marrying). So he knows his religion and Bible, better than some bigoted people who preach it.
A book that is mostly concerned with so-called ‘Christian nationalists’ in the USA, of course now we are having a similar kind of thing happening in England. With far-right MPs and media being taken seriously, by those who profess to be ‘traditional Christians’.
But in both cases, their politics are as far away from what Jesus believed and preached, as could be:
Jesus was a peacefully, radically non-violent revolutionary who wasn’t American, never spoke English, who hung around lepers, hookers and crooks. He never sought tax cuts for rich Nazarenes, was anti-wealth, anti-death penalty, anti-public prayer.
He never called poor people lazy, was never even slightly anti-gay. He was a long-haired, community-organising, authority-questioning, brown-skinned, Palestinian, unarmed homeless Jew. But only if you believe what’s actually in the Bible.
He writes that rather than make ‘disabled and poor people pay’, Jesus Christ (the real one, not the made-up one in right-wing politics) is good for people, planet and even the economy.
If your church is not telling you to love your enemies (but telling you who your enemies are), you’re not really in a church.
He says the reason our churches in the western world hardly have any parishioners, is not because people don’t love God. It’s because they are fed up of the hypocrisy:
- The Vatican hires out buildings for $30,000 a month to McDonalds, and even Pope Leo won’t denounce bullfights (some bulls drown in their own blood) due to donations from Catholic countries like Mexico.
- The Church of England owns over a billion pounds worth of property, yet people are homeless, and King Charles III (head of the church) does not pay corporation or inheritance tax on private estates.
- We have ‘Catholic’ former Conservative ministers, whose policies were so mean, that church leaders actually wrote open letters to them, begging them to change policies.
- The two-child benefit cap has been restored, leading some ‘Christian MPs’ to suggest this is promoting a welfare estate. In fact, 70% of all children in poverty have working parents.
- Then of course we have the issues with immigrants. No-one is denying there is a problem, but to call all immigrants ‘illegal aliens’ (Trump even calls Somalians ‘garbage’, applauded by his Catholic vice-president).
You can’t hate these people back. You’ll get a lot farther by convincing your racist uncle that Jesus wasn’t an immigrant-hating homophobe than if you just call your uncle an immigrant-hating homophobe.
Genuine Reviews
America’s soul needs scrubbing, and here is a brush. Is this book the truth and the light? I can’t say, but it is certainly the hypocritical modern Christian’s worst nightmare. Nick Offerman
Fugelsang has discovered the Kryptonite to use against Christian fundamentalists – a deep, intelligent knowledge of the Bible. Patton Oswalt
Evangelicals, Politics & Firearms (the unholy trinity)
In Guns We Trust is an American book, also relevant to England, with an increase in gun violence. In the USA when you have over 100 million people owning guns, you get tragedies like the recent Minneapolis events.
This book also recalls the Sandy Hook shooting (the author was the local bureau chief when it happened). At a New England primary school, one man shot his mother dead, then killed 20 children and 6 staff at a primary school, before shooting himself.
What makes this book so interesting is that the author is a practicing Christian, who is appalled at how the ‘Christian evangelicals’ have ‘hijacked his faith’ to promote gun ownership and right-wing politics (one of the teachers who died at Sandy Hook was just 27 as she protected the children – she was also the daughter of immigrants).
The daughter of Gwen Mayor (the teacher who died protecting children at Dunblane) won’t let her children play violent video games – instead she teaches them about hedgehogs, her mother’s favourite creature).
Just like here (where all mass shootings have been carried out by legal gun owners), the Sandy Hook killer’s gun had been legally bought by his mother (who he shot dead). All these people needed to pass checks to carry guns, before they carried out their crimes.
One good thing to come from all this tragedy was Sandy Hook Promise, a website with free resources for schools, councils and police forces to prevent gun violence worldwide.
Guns are now everywhere. Millions of Americans hunt animals (sometimes as ‘trophy hunters’, like what happened with Cecil the lion (the dentist went onto kill a rare Mongolian sheep).
Although President Trump does not hunt himself, his sons do (there are photos of them grinning alongside dead buffalo and leopards, and even holding the tail of an elephant they had killed).
Since coming to office, Trump has relaxed the laws on trophy hunting (in England, some peers in the House of Lords are delaying the Bill due to vested interests, by talking about it for hours and hours).
What’s This Book All About?
This book is basically an unsettling investigations into the ‘unholy trinity’ which incorrectly links Jesus Christ to right-wing politics, ‘America first’ mentality and gun ownership. He asks why it is that ‘white evangelicals’ are more likely than other Americans to own weapons? Yet the main message of Jesus was peace and to ‘turn the other cheek’.
He also meets Christians worldwide who would never own a gun (think of Quakers). One Amish community that suffered a similar primary school shooting a few years back, even had the residents attend the funeral of the gunman, and help his widow and young family.
It’s almost impossible to believe this level of forgiveness. But due to their actions, the killer’s parents (he also shot himself dead) were able to forgive their own son. His mother would even visit a survivor (left unable to walk, talk or feed herself) to read her the Bible and Anne of Green Gables stories.
The author also meets activists who are ‘beating guns into garden tools’, and nuns who bought company stock, so they could force a gun manufacturer to do more to promote peace!
William J Kole is an award-winning veteran journalist who has reported worldwide, and served as bureau chief in Vienna and New England. A former lay missionary, he also served as board president for an international Christian relief agency. He lives in Rhode Island, USA.
How to prevent mass shootings in England
In recent years, it’s become terrifying the amount of mass shootings in the world, and some of them are now happening in England, which has far less of a gun culture than abroad.
But despite the panic caused by both the event (and often the media), there are proven ways to help prevent these awful tragedies, in most cases. Forget ‘political correctness’. Nothing excuses anyone shooting anyone, but it helps to know some causes, to stop the same happening again.
Vote for Peace
There is never any excuse for mass shootings. But often they have political or religious hatred causes. That’s not to say the shooters are justified, but voting for parties that promote peace (rather than create more hatred by arming countries to bomb children’s hospitals etc) helps to foster world peace.
After the tragic shootings on Sydney beach, the Israeli Prime Minister immediately began to put blame on politicians, the same happened with President Trump in the USA, when Charlie Kirk was shot.
Neither does anything to help prevent the same happening again. Politicians have responsibility to bridge divides, not create more hatred and division.
Prevent Bullying (in schools and workplaces)
Many teenagers who participate in school shootings often have a history of being bullied at the school they have carried out their crimes. So preventing bullying is obviously one way to prevent such tragedies happening again. And remember bullying can also happen in the workplace.
Listen to Warnings (they’re usually there)
One surprising fact from research, is that nearly all mass shooters give a good indication of what they are about to do, whether that’s telling someone, or posting on social media.
So better monitoring can help to prevent further shootings. Register your school at Sandy Hook Promise, to take online courses to prevent shootings.
One way to help is for parents to use BARK app: This tool scans messages and posts (without being too intrusive) for talk about bullying, self-harm, threats and talk about weapons). In the USA (where it was invented), this app has prevented at least two school shootings.
Links Between Animal and Human Abuse
Nearly all serial killers (and this includes mass shooters) have a history of cruelty to animals (most people who own lots of guns are hunters).
Animal Legal Defense Fund has more information on this, which is a huge factor in preventing crimes to both animals and humans. You can take free courses to learn more.
Don’t Encourage Play with ‘Violent Toys’
The daughter of Gwen Mayor (the teacher at Dunblane who died with defensive wounds, holding a dead child in her arms) does not allow her own children to play with toy guns or violent video games. Instead, she teaches them about hedgehogs, her mother’s favourite animal
