I was having such a good Sunday, Manchester United advanced to the Semi-finals of the FA Cup, and I talked to my loving parents. I start watching Nascar at one of my favorite speedway tracks, Atlanta, and Denny Hamlin, my Toyota guy is leading. Then it goes to commercial and I am once again bombarded with the, ‘He Gets Us’ campaign. I am confused and frustrated by this advertising idea, it is something superfluous and illogical coming out of the right wing the way that usually left wing organizations are accused of things like, ‘Give Peace a Chance.’

I am not writing this to dispute the existence of Jesus Christ, just to provide a critique on the latest attempt to monetize and completely destroy his message as is described in the New Testament. Preface: I’m about to say a bunch of horrible things about religion because from the bottom of my L3 vertebrae I believe it is detrimental to the progress of humanity. My position for many years has been, call him Jesus Christ Philosopher, without the miracles, and I have no problem. I agree with much of the New Testament and adamantly believe Jesus, if resurrected again, (Christ, can we let the man sleep?) would be a Bernie voter.

What I cannot accept is the hijacking of religion in the United States to serve a political goal. This is what the right wing has been sanctimoniously doing for my entire lifetime, and it is despicable. The saying shouldn’t be, ‘As American as apple pie.’ The saying should be, ‘As American as the separation of church and state.’ Building on the greatest thinkers of all of history, the founding fathers created an imperfect republic that has endured over 300 years. Don’t swallow that bit from your preacher about this being a Christian nation, it was explicitly not. The early law of the United States shares don’t kill and don’t steal with the ten commandments, get over yourself, theologobats, or do I wanna say theologicians?

If I have to burn in eternity because we both read the same texts and they came to the conclusion that America is Christian and I came to the conclusion that we can be free from the intentional suspension of critical thinking that is faith in religion, I will take that chance. Growing up Catholic was so frustrating if you had 20 brain cells in your head during my timeline because it wasn’t even the child abuse that’s been going on for centuries, but the fact that our junior religion textbook had one paragraph on the crusades. I can’t let it go, religion forces you to be less than you can be mentally and when weaponized is dangerous.

I never want to crucify anyone, and if you want to have your religious candy because that is what gets you through the day, that’s fine and that is the right afforded to you by the constitution. However, when you do serious damage to the country, like electing Donald Trump, and getting 3 unqualified, lying justices put on the Supreme Court, that is a problem. The affected rights and healthcare of over 50% of the people in the country will have something to say for many years to come. I cannot believe that this is the way that this ends, but if you were trying to keep the country safe and secure with your vote in 2024, ‘What would Jesus do?’