John Fugelsang on Reclaiming Jesus from the Right
A book about the Bible for atheists, lots of believers, and other non-crazies.
I interviewed comedian and radio host John Fugelsang for The Zero Hour about his new book, Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds. To be honest, I wasn’t sure the world needed another book about the far right’s hijacking of Christianity, but I found John’s book moving, valuable, and—most of all—highly entertaining.
John describes the book as a practical and humorous guide for believers, atheists, and everyone in between who must confront right-wing Christian nationalism—in the civic sphere or at holiday dinners.
We discussed the misuse of scripture by authoritarian movements, the long history of Christian activism against oppression, the dangers of religious fundamentalism across traditions, and the forgotten radicalism of Jesus’s actual teachings on poverty, justice, and compassion.
I highly recommend the book—and the interview, too, of course.
" the forgotten radicalism of Jesus’s actual teachings on poverty, justice, and compassion." There's such a long tradition in the Catholic Church of working for the thje poor and for justice, most recently from L:eo XiV and Liberation theology. Of course there was also the authoritarian thread, embodied eg in the Polish pope John Paul II.