Photo: Screengrab/YouTube/MSNBC
By Walter Einenkel
Daily Kos Staff
REPUBLISHED BY:
During an end of the year MSNBC panel discussion, writer, actor, and comedian John Fugelsang gave his thoughts on what he hopes to “leave behind” in regards to 2024’s national discourse. Fugelsang proposed leaving “behind right-wing fundamentalists and Christian nationalists who use Jesus, whose birth we celebrate, as a prop while legislating and fighting against his actual teachings.”
He then deftly synthesized a common analysis among non-Christian conservatives: “Jesus is not an ally of the Republican Party. There is no overlap between Jesus and the policies of Donald Trump.” Fugelsang called out the evangelical-led, South Carolina “pro-life” bill that would subject people getting abortions to the death penalty. “We're so pro-life, we'll kill you,” Fugelsang joked.
The South Carolina bill, originally co-sponsored by 24 Republicans, turned out to be as politically disastrous as it sounded, with many Republican politicians fleeing like rats from a sinking ship in the weeks after its filing. This, however, did not change the inhumane consequences of another Republican and evangelical-led bill, “the Fetal Heartbeat and Protection from Abortion Act,” that made abortions illegal after six weeks, from becoming law. That bill, the legality of which was subsequently upheld by the all-male (and conservative) state Supreme Court, continues to shock even its pious supporters in how barbaric it is in practice.
Fugelsang went on to mention that it was so strange to watch Pope Francis “enrage these right-wing Christians so much because he acted like Jesus in blessing gay unions.” He then went on to enumerate the ways Republican policies fly in the face of Jesus’ teachings: “Jesus is not anti-immigrant. He commands people to welcome the stranger. He never mentions abortion. The Bible never condemns abortion. We've had two generations of Christians in this country who have been groomed to believe criminalizing abortion is something to do with what Jesus talked about.”
The final proof of how transparently hypocritical the Christian conservative ideology is, according to Fugelsang, can be seen in what they push for when it comes to the religious education of children. “Christ was a peaceful, radical, nonviolent revolutionary. Never mentioned gay people. He commanded you to pay your taxes, to welcome the stranger. Individuals and nations must care for the poor and sick, in Matthew 25. He who lives by the sword, must die by the sword, Luke 22. There's a reason why these right-wingers never try to put the Sermon on the Mount on walls in classrooms.”
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