For the past 50 years in this country, the religious right, a political movement, convinced a lot of Christians in America that the two most important issues were abortion and homosexuality, two issues that aren’t really discussed in Scripture. Abortion is never mentioned. Consensual same-sex relationships are never mentioned. And so it’s remarkable to me that you have an entire political movement using Christianity to prioritize two issues that Jesus never talked about. And so I’m not saying they’re not important. I actually think both of those issues are very important. But to focus on those two things, instead of feeding the hungry and healing the sick and welcoming the stranger, three things we’re told to do ad nauseam in Scripture, to me, is mind blowing. How do you understand that? Because I’m Jewish, but when I read the New Testament, I always come away a little bit amazed that politicized Christianity is so worried about gender and sexuality and so unconcerned with greed. You’re preaching to the choir. Absolutely, concern for the poor, concern for the oppressed is everywhere. I mean, economic justice is mentioned 3,000 times in our Scriptures, both the New Testament and the Hebrew Scriptures. And so this is such a core part of our tradition, and it’s nowhere to be seen in Christian nationalism or on the religious right. And the Bible is all over the place when it comes to marriage. Paul tells us not to get married. And you see, certainly, many different kinds of marriages throughout Scripture. And the same with gender. Paul says that in Christ, there is neither male nor female. Which is pretty woke for the first century. And so, yeah, again, it’s because religion is being used to control people and accumulate power and wealth for those at the top. This is a tale as old as time, and it is not unique to Christianity. Powerful people will always see religion as a tool to make more money and be able to keep people in line.
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