Jesus was an American Progressive

Well, kind of…

For all you Left Wing Christian denominations out there, horrified at Trump and his ability to twist your religions into an Authoritarian’s dream come true by ignoring Jesus’ messages, I’ve got something for you to take a close look at.

But hey, you folks aren’t dumb, so a bunch of you may already have this figured out.

If Jesus were alive today, his message would fit perfectly into the US Progressives’ political messaging. I mean, this ain’t rocket science. Political science, maybe, but that’s not as math dominated. (Thankfully)

In a nutshell, what were His major points of how to live?

1. Love others as you love yourself.
2. Welcome the immigrant
3. Feed the poor
4. Heal the sick
5. Do all of that freely and without cost
6. If you put these values into your heart, you will bring the Kingdom of God to earth — in your heart.

Compare that to the major points of Progressive ideals:

1. Equality for all people
2. proper immigration laws that do not discriminate
3. A Universal Minimum Income
4. Universal Health Care — via Medicare
5. Use taxes we all equally pay into the system according to our income levels.
6. Use Democracy to regulate how all that works.

Now, a big part of the Right Wing’s criticisms of Progressives and “Socialism” boils down to their accusations that both point to a desire for authoritarianistic government, as with the old USSR. But nothing today could be further than the truth, take a look at the American Democratic Socialist Party’s declaration about exactly that:

We believe there are many avenues that feed into the democratic road to socialism. Our vision pushes further than historic social democracy and leaves behind authoritarian visions of socialism in the dustbin of history.

— Democratic Socialists of America

It can’t be more clear than that. It’s a definitive rejection of authoritarianism with finality.

Modern socialism as practiced by major European democracies today also use democracy to regulate their economies, and they are some of the most successful countries, economically, than many others around the world.

Progressives here like AOC and Bernie Sanders want to bring that here, to us, to help solve many of the economic ills our country suffers from, many of which are the result of Capitalistic oligarchy gone mad.

You know, those Rich White Men (RWM) I keep nattering on about.

So, while the Progressive messaging to separate religion from the government is a basic part of their message, and a lot of us are atheists, not all of us are, and as I noted above, our values and goals do not in any way conflict with the basic values Jesus taught in the New Testament.

In fact, they align almost perfectly.

The only thing different is that in Jesus’ day, there weren’t any democracies, so that “give to Caesar” thing was a plug to keep folks out of trouble with the authoritarians who ran things.

But today, we don’t need that, because today, WE can run things, via democracy!

So, hey, if you’re a left wing Christian who believes in Christ’s messages, join us. We will welcome anyone who truly wants to use these values to improve our country and help to stave off those authoritarians who hate those values.

And who are willing to twist and pollute Christianity (or any other religious messages) to gain power.

Let’s teach the Democratic Party how to thwart the bad guys, ok?