Are You a ‘Christian’ or a Follower of Jesus?
It’s a truly bizarre thing that devotees of pomp and ceremony, neoliberal capitalists, judgemental bigots and racist white nationalists claim to be Christians. And often use their self-proclaimed status to belittle and pass judgement on those who don’t identify as such or choose different ways of approaching life and the divine.
We don’t know much about the real life of Jesus as most claims were made in four 'gospels' that are now known to have been drafted quite some time after his death. They were NOT written by contemporaries of Jesus but produced and wielded by marketeers and propagandists of what became powerful (often authoritarian, abusive and misogynistic) and wealthy empires.
In addition to the dishonesty regarding their origin and the sub-GCSE level copy and paste job in the 'gospels' of 'Matthew’, 'Mark' and 'Luke' (’John' is quite aberrant), the mythology must be questioned and recognised as such. We live in a much better educated era and it is acceptable to question, for example, if Mary was really impregnated by this perplexing and somewhat volatile ’God' character.
And if Mary, who was likely to have been a teenager at the time, was impregnated by a man, then the claims that Jesus was both the son of God and an aspect of God on Earth must be questioned. Not so long ago someone would have been burned alive for expressing this reasonable analysis — especially if they were female.
If we are to believe even half the stories about Jesus — and let’s be generous as it’s Christmas / Yuletide / Saturnalia — then we can accept the following without swallowing the supernatural mythology like frightened, illiterate, superstitious medieval children. He was a social activist, rabble-rouser and viewed as a prophet (not a fortune teller but someone who told truths that resonated).
He seems to have been a storyteller and one of his best was the anti-racist parable of The Good Samaritan. If a person from his background spoke out now, the very people who use their ‘Christian’ status as a weapon would call him ‘woke’.
If we also accept his healing had any effect, we might also consider him to be something of a shaman. That certainly was the view of the professor of the anthropology of religion who taught me.
To the discerning modern reader, many other claims must be seen as allegorical at best (such as the loaves and fishes story) or marketing and propaganda by those who saw the distortion and application of the doomed prophet’s story as an opportunity to gain power, wealth and status. Pompous Archbishops in fancy costumes and palaces are a long way from the life of the activist son of a Middle Eastern carpenter.
So when millionaire and billionaire right-wing pushers of nationalism, from Donald Trump to Jacob Rees-Mogg, claim to be followers of Jesus they must be challenged. The Jesus of the bible threw money men from a temple and preached love for all, including those from different ethnic backgrounds.
At best I would refer to the callous and cruel hoarders or money and power, who claim to be followers of Jesus, as 'Christians’ — always in inverted commas! Others might find terms like charlatans, hypocrites and dishonest manipulators of the gullible preferable.
But the problem goes beyond right-wing bigoted politicians and money-hoarders. In a country that gives dozens of seats in the House of Lords to bishops and Archbishops, we have people who claim to be ‘Christian’ that lack any compassion for people who brave treacherous seas to escape oppression.
Nobody who would rather asylum seekers drowned than made it here can call themselves followers of Jesus, yet white nationalist ‘Christians’ want to defund the RNLI for saving lives of refugees.
Nobody who smears trans people and fuels narratives that lead to dehumanisation and murder can call themselves followers of Jesus.
Nobody who finds it acceptable for a far-right Israeli state to slaughter innocent children, because those children are brown or happened to be born into Muslim families, can call themselves followers of Jesus.
At most they are 'Christians' — but I can think of many shorter words that would describe them more accurately.
To be a follower of Jesus, as opposed to a self-proclaimed 'Christian’, you must be on the side of social justice, not exploitation and materialism. You must find love for people of all ethnic backgrounds, try to help people who are suffering — and tell truths which liberate rather than mentally imprison people. Unfortunately churches themselves, let alone right-wing politicians, have often failed at most of those.
I would urge anyone who regards themselves as a Christian to actually follow the example of Jesus, rather than the hypocrisy of those who devalue and exploit others while using their ‘Christian status’ as both a shield and weapon.
I wish you a happy Christmas, Yuletide, Saturnalia — or just some enjoyable days off work.
