Sen Raphael Warnock, a pastor himself, was remembering Rev Jesse Jackson and made a very poignant observation:
Listen, something much deeper than politics is at stake here. The soul of our country is in danger.
And many of the loudest voices of faith in our country are the meanest voices. They have a vision of the country that, in my view, is a far cry from the vision of the Old Testament prophets, the Hebrew prophets, who said, “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness as a mighty stream, who told us to welcome the stranger and to care for the poor.”
Jesus is a victim of identity theft in American politics and American culture. And so those of us who have been shaped by the faith that inspired Martin Luther King Jr., and for that matter, Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, and so many larger figures, Reverend Jesse Jackson, we need that faith now more than ever. And it is something that I certainly try to center in my work every single day. I fight for the poor because my faith tells me to center the poor. And in the eyes of the poor, you get a glimpse of what God is like. That’s who Jesse Jackson was. And it’s now up to us to continue that work.
Warnock is correct. So many on the right, especially the Christofascists, are merely using religion to justify their hate and bigotry. I once saw someone say that the late Charlie Kirk used God instead of letting God use him. Is it any wonder that with “Christians” like them, fewer people are identifying as being religious?
H/T Aaron Rupar for the video
