I’ve always been an atheist but have also always loved the teachings of Christ. A little left-wing for me (you can’t always turn the other cheek; and I think a rich man who’s lived a righteous life would get into heaven, if there were one, way easier than a camel could negotiate a needle’s eye) — I’m more of a centrist — but who could not be moved by the compassion and purity of his teachings? It is an upside down world, it has always seemed to me, that thinks Jesus would have favored invading Iraq or cutting food stamps or eliminating the estate tax or voting 46 times to defund Obamacare.
We can’t know for sure, of course. Only the Pope has a direct line to God (and apparently, not even that; just limited infallibility). But according to Addicting Info, “Pope Francis has shifted the focus of the Catholic Church to issues facing the poor and the sick. He has railed against economic inequality and has criticized the anti-gay and anti-abortion strains that have come to dominate the Christian Right here in America. Such ideological extremism is dangerous, not only to Christianity, but to the world. And Pope Francis said as much last Thursday.”
Here is one minute of it — calling Christian ideologues “ill,” no less.
Amen.
