A fitting coincidence

The outcry of Christian conservatives and the Republicans who exploit  them over the coinciding of Easter on the same day as the Transgender Day of Visibility is yet another example of the conservative message of intolerance and disparagement of anyone who is different. The concept  “Let us love one another.” [John 4:7] is absent in all of this shrill and divisive rhetoric. These self-styled Christians, clutching their Trump Bibles (only $59.99!) have truly lost their way. Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s campaign press secretary, called for “an apology to the millions of Catholics and Christians across America.” House Speaker Mike Johnson jumped in, asserting that the Biden White House “betrayed the central tenet of Easter.”  What tenet? “Give justice to the weak, maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute?” [Psalms 82:3].  “Be kind to one another?” [Ephesians 4:32]. “God shows no partiality?” [Romans 2:11] ] “Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner?” [Proverbs 14:21] “Judge not that you not be judged?” [Matthew 7:1] This religious conservative outrage flies in the face of Jesus’ message, yet that seems to be the conservative religious trend, embracing Christ’s name, while disdaining Christ’s  message.  Russell Moore, editor in chief of Christianity Today reported that pastors who quoted from the Sermon on the Mount were met with criticism, with congregants rejecting Jesus’ words as “liberal talking points” and “weak.” It seems that “Love your neighbor as yourself” [Mark 12:31] is passé -  unless that neighbor is just like you. This coincidental calendar conjunction was low hanging fruit for Leavitt and Johnson and their ilk to further their political agenda of hostility and exclusion, all while dripping  in specious righteousness.  Just like Mike Johnson’s insistence that the Bible is his “worldview” and “owners manual.” It seems the version of the Bible that Johnson and his cronies are reading is missing a few important pages, but that’s what you get when you switch from King James to the Trump-inspired (a steal at $59.99!) right-wing, abridged ConservatiffsNotes version.  Whatever. Johnson, Leavitt and company are wrong. The coinciding of Easter and the Transgender Day of Visibility is not a betrayal. It is serendipity. It is  fitting.  And the unstrung fury it has engendered simply shows that while these religious and political conservatives piously  proclaim themselves Christian, their actions and words show that they are anything but.













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