Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Catholic and Enjoying It!

Home
Catholic
I keep getting asked what I mean by “Christianism”

I keep getting asked what I mean by “Christianism”

Last updated on: October 12, 2018 at 11:45 am by Mark Shea

I keep getting asked what I mean by “Christianism” 2018-10-12T11:45:42-07:00 Mark Shea

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Signorelli: Antichrist and the Devil

A Christianist is an adherent of a political cultus centered on Donald Trump and informed by a magisterium of FOX, right wing talk radio and right wing social media, which uses Christian imagery and jargon in the service of a diabolical antichrist gospel of racism, war, torture apologetics, gun fanaticism, misogyny, mammon worship, cruelty to the least of these and hatred of both science and orthodox Christian belief. One of its defining features is a soteriology which states that “Talking about opposing abortion taketh away the sins of the world–including the sin of supporting abortion if you are a Republican.” Accordingly, it is a fertility cult which uses the unborn as human shields in order to make open war on the actual teaching of the gospel which calls for the protection of all human life from conception to natural death.

A Christian, in contrast, is a disciple of Jesus Christ. A Christian attempts to obey Jesus Christ at all costs. As a Catholic, I believe the fullness of Christ’s gospel subsists in the Catholic Church and that, therefore, discipleship to Jesus means heeding and obeying all the Church’s magisterial guidance, not just the bits I happen to like.

Christians believe Jesus died for sinners and we are to do likewise. Christianists believe in killing those whom they feel threatened by, using their precious, precious gun.

Jesus said “Suffer the children to come unto me.” Christianists believe in torturing and caging children at the border.

Christians practice baptism and believe Jesus give it as a gift to cleanse us from sin. Christianists say, “Waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.”

Christians believe Jesus gave us his body, blood, soul, and divinity to eat to make us sharers in eternal life. Christianists believe God gave them the poor to eat, body and soul, to make them sharers in the American Dream.

Christians believe Jesus said “Love your enemies.” Christianists say, with their lord and savior Donald Trump, “If somebody hits you, hit them back ten times as hard.”

Christians worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Christianists worship Mammon, Mars, and Venus.

Christians are the mortal enemies of Christianism because Christianism is an antichrist false gospel, created in hell to deceive the faithful.

It cannot be said often enough that just as truth is at the heart of the worship of Jesus–the Way, the Truth, and the Life–so lies are at the very heart of “prolife” Christianism, which imitates its lord and savior Donald Trump in pouring out a torrent of lies.

Lies are the mainspring that drive it. Lies are the core of the Christianist’s hope. The deepest, most heartfelt lie of its soteriology is that opposition to abortion taketh away all the sins it passionately loves. And the corellative hope it has founded all its ideology upon is that every Supreme Court justice it has lied, cheated, and stolen to support is a massive liar when he says that Roe is settled law and that he will uphold it. That’s the hope: that Roberts, Gorsuch and Kavanaugh are liars who have successfully deluded enough people, snuck on to the Court by lying about their support for Roe, and who will now use their gift of lying to overturn Roe.

It’s possible that will happen. It’s possible that the Christianist hope in their lies will result in Roe being overturned. But what never seems to occur to the Christianist lover of lies is that, as in 1992, when they placed exactly the same hope in exactly the same lies, they will be betrayed by the liars in whom they place their trust and get another Casey decision. My money is on that happening as it did then–and with the same result: that they learn nothing from it.

For what is so amazing is the blinding power of their towering pride. It does not and, indeed, cannot occur to them that they have been wrong to trust the Party that is 100% responsible for the establishment (in Roe) and expansion (in Casey) of our abortion regime. It is is unimaginable to them that while they offer hosannas to Trump and his party of nihilist predators as the “most prolife President in history” even as they re-fund Planned Parenthood eight times, they are being laughed at by that party as the suckers they are. Because that would involve the unthinkable possibility that they–the Greatest Christians of All Time, anointed by God Almighty to sit in judgment of all others, including the Holy Father himself–are wrong and that there might be another approach to our abortion regime than theirs.

Christians uphold the whole teaching of the Church because they are disciples of Jesus Christ himself, not of bits and pieces of what he said that they can use to accessorize their lust for earthly power.

Christianists are mortal enemies of the whole teaching of the Church and do everything in their power to make war on every bit of it that is a threat to their worship of Trump and his party and their obedience to the daily downloads and panics du jour that are the stuff of the Right Wing Noise Machine.

Does the pope say something about care for the environment? We will denounce him as a commie tree hugger and say “How can he talk about climate change when babies are dying?” (Because the unborn are the opposite of the biblical command to care for the Garden.)

Does the Church teach about just war? We will denounce the Church as a liberal UN-loving NGO and say, “How can they talk about the prudential judgment of war when babies are dying and that is intrinsically immoral?” (Because the unborn are the opposite of the dead innocents killed in war.)

Does the Church teach about a living wage and say that families should have enough to be able to afford the babies “prolife” Christianists claim to care about? We will denounce the Church as a bunch of socialists who do not understand economics and say, “How can they talk about the minimum wage when babies are dying?” (Because the unborn are the opposite of the ability of families to afford them.)

Does the Church teach about gun violence? We will denounce the Church as a liberal pack of gun grabbers and say, “How can they talk about guns when babies are dying?” (Because the unborn are the opposite of the 35,000 dead from guns each year.)

Does the Church teach about capital punishment and call for its abolition? We will denounce the Church as heretical for this obvious and logical development of doctrine and say, “How can they deny us our pound of flesh at the cost of four innocents out of 100 when babies are dying?” (Because the unborn are the opposite of the dead innocents killed by capital punishment and because being “prolife” means asking “How many people do we get to kill?” not “How can we keep from killing people if at all possible?”)

Does the Church teach about justice to the alien, the orphan, and the widow and condemn the caging of children at the border and xenophobia to desperate refugees? We will denounce the Church as ivory tower fools trying to kill us all at the hands of murderous Mexicans and say, “How can they talk about the border when babies are dying?” (Because the unborn are the opposite of the children caged, tortured, and sexually assaulted at the border.)

Does the Church teach that the Shepherd leaves the ninety and nine to go rescue the one lost lamb and say there is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 who do not need to repent? Christianists like Austin Ruse (who defended the invitation extended to actual Austrian Nazis for the inauguration of Donald Trump) are exquisitely happy when people are driven from the Church by scandal. Don’t misunderstand his point. He only begins by commending them for their honesty. But what he means by that is not “They are honest about the pain of scandal they could not endure.” No. What he means is “I thank you, O Lord, that I am not like these worthless hellbound scum, who finally admitted that they have no faith. Good riddance. I am a Real Catholic[TM] and these faithless ones can rot in hell outside the Church. I’m glad they are gone. I hope they burn as the apostates they are.” And then he urges others he deems impure to likewise cut themselves off from the Church and the grace of the sacraments. In short, he wants, insofar as it lies within his power, to urge people to go to hell. Because the #1 goal of Christianism is the prevention of those outside the Church from entering and the expulsion of as many of those inside as possible.

Christianism, in short, seeks the first for the least of these and the second death for all. It is a lie from hell.

Meanwhile, Christians see the unborn as related to, not the opposite of, all the other forms of human life that are sacred from conception to natural death. Christianists see the unborn as useful human shields for all the forms of human life they want to rob, harm, torture, and kill.

Because Christianists are People of the Lie, enemies of the gospel, and enemies of Christ.

But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, If any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed. (Ga 1:8–9).

Uncategorized

Christ vs Christianism

Previous Post

October 11, 2018

Proud of my State!

Next Post

October 13, 2018 Pope St. Paul VI: Bridge Builder

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 September 2006 June 2006 July 2005 April 2005 May 2002 April 2002 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz