Russell Moore, the editor in chief of Christianity Today and the former head of the Southern Baptist Convention, recently said in an NPR interview that a number of Christian pastors have confided in him after recently preaching the Sermon on the Mount. It appears that when these pastors have preached specifically about the “love your enemies” part of the text, they have been inundated with comments from their congregations asking “Where did you get those liberal talking points?”
Moore goes on : “What was alarming to me is that in most of these scenarios, when the pastor would say, ‘I’m literally quoting Jesus Christ,’ the response would not be, ‘I apologize.’ The response would be, ‘Yes, but that doesn’t work anymore. That’s weak'”.
Of course, this co-opting of the Republican Party by America’s Evangelical Right comes as no surprise to anyone looking at the data, nor to anyone examining the exodus from churches and the sudden spike of the “unaffiliated” in America, after 1990. 
What the hell happened around 1990 that sparked this shift in the Evangelical ecosystem? Christian Smith, a sociology and religion professor at the University of Notre Dame, sees two pivotal historical changes that brought about this punctuated equilibrium moment in the evolution of American religion:
- the end of the Cold War and
- the alignment of the Republican Party with the more fringe elements of the Religious Right.
Fast forward 30 years and now we have mainstream Christian Conservatives like John Zmirak (75lbs lighter, above)– raging incel and managing editor of The Stream– pushing apocalyptic Deep State conspiracy theories, openly urging Christians to meet up at local gun ranges and start their own militias and now expressly condemning the “progressive”, pacifist notion of loving your enemy.
Zmirak is the embodiment of the 2023 American Jesus. Angry. Very angry. Although, we’re never sure exactly why. He is besieged, combative, anti-Left, perpetually single, venomous and ready for war… in the most non-metaphorical sense. He fancies himself a hard-nosed man of the Word of God and a mortal enemy of the touchy-feely entreaties of the religious Left. That is, he CLAIMS to fancy the “hard sayings”, but when those sayings unexpectedly swing around and stick a finger in his doughy flanks, he is quick to curse and deny any involvement with the utopian ideals of loving one’s enemy, doing good to those who hate you, blessing those who curse you and praying for those who despitefully use you.
Zmirak has no shame in his NT revisionism, claiming that loving one’s enemies REALLY just means wishing for their conversion. "Remember that “love your enemies” means desiring their eternal salvation. And NOTHING ELSE. It DOESN’T mean wishing their worldly success or happiness — not if those rest on their freedom to go on doing evil. You can love your enemy while you lock him up for violating the law, or execute him for capital crimes. The one way you WOULDN’T show love for him would be to affirm him in his sins. THAT aids his eternal damnation.“
Otherwise, Zmirak contends, Christians would be forced to “hug it out with Hitler”. And in his mind, that form of Christianity would be nothing more than a “suicide cult.” And that’s not the Christ of 2023.
On this point Zmirak may actually be hitting something. The Sermon on the Mount and many other divine admonitions of the Bible have passed their usefulness– either in private practice or in society. And instinctively he and many others seem to have arrived at this conclusion simultaneously. As a result, Evangelicals and other Right Wing Dominionists have hastily rewritten many of the source codes of The Book, to suit their updated Great Commission. After all, despite the constant appeals about the timeless nature of scripture, religion, just like culture, is constantly evolving.
The New Orthodoxy stresses hatred for one’s political opponents– disdain for the unconverted and their power structures. And even violent, armed uprising in the face of its imagined threats. Although I no longer consider myself an Evangelical or even a Christian, I would be a liar if I said I didn’t find this latest evolution within Evangelicalism more than a bit sad.
Just like Thomas Jefferson taking a pair of scissors and cutting out all the miracles and absurdist, fantastical elements of the gospel accounts, the Religious Right wing have now followed suit and meticulously excised all the sticky parts of the New Testament that demand grace, civility, peace and non-violence. What’s left is the MAGA BIBLE– little more than a cut-n-paste pamphlet, featuring just the most ugly, obnoxious and tribal aspects of the ancient texts. Plenty of judgment, fire, torture and domination. With a smattering of pro-wrestling histrionics and billionaire reality show tycoon “f*ck you!” for good measure.
Of course, as the numbers of unaffiliated continue to grow, cranks like Zmirak will conveniently blame the encroachment of the brainwashing leftist media, without ever once considering the demise they have relentlessly driven their own religion into. They have joyfully pointed the nose of the plane straight down, all the while mocking and complaining that passengers are clawing their way to the doors, trying to jump out.
