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Dino Alonso's avatar

I read this letter with a lump in my throat and a weariness in my chest that I haven’t quite been able to shake. Not because it’s false—but because every single word carries the weight of something I’ve seen with my own eyes.

Four decades of public service—two of them inside the Department of Homeland Security—has taught me more about faith, hypocrisy, and moral cowardice than any sermon ever could. I’ve worked beside good people, and I’ve seen faith twisted into a bludgeon. I’ve watched as churches emptied of compassion were filled again with grievance. I’ve listened to “God bless America” shouted like a threat, not a prayer.

This satirical lament isn’t satire. It’s an obituary. A eulogy for a Church that’s forgotten the man it claims to follow.

Feed the hungry? Too costly.

Welcome the stranger? Too risky.

Love your neighbor? Not our demographic.

Instead, we get a golden calf with a red tie. A messiah of cruelty who mocks the weak and pardons the powerful. We get crosses draped in flags, pulpits turned into campaign stages, and scripture sliced and served up like political ad copy.

Jesus has been voted off the board of directors.

It guts me to say that.

But how else do you describe a religious movement that cheers for family separation, that mocks the poor, that erases the refugee, that scapegoats the sick, that blesses billionaires while crucifying schoolteachers?

They’ve kept the cross, sure. Hung it in the lobby next to the Constitution and a life-size cutout of Donald J. Trump. They’ll invoke Jesus’ name when it suits their branding. But don’t be fooled: they fired him years ago. Too soft. Too brown. Too radical. Too inclusive.

And still… some of us remember.

We remember the Jesus who washed feet, not egos. Who healed without billing insurance. Who wept for strangers and bled for enemies. Who saw the divine in outcasts and the damned in the self-righteous.

That Jesus hasn’t gone anywhere. But his name’s being used by people who would spit in his face if he showed up today.

So we speak. We mourn. And we keep faith—not in the institutions that failed him, but in the living memory of what he taught.

As long as I’ve got breath in my lungs, I’ll bear witness to that memory. And I’ll name the blasphemy for what it is—no matter how loud the chorus of flags and firebrands sings.

Because this country may have turned Jesus into a brand…

…but some of us still remember the man.

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Andra Watkins's avatar

Ah satire, how I love thee. I'm tempted to send this to every Christian Nationalist I know, but that would mean having to communicate with them. So I'll share it on Substack and say YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

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