My sharing today of Wheaton’s words is part of my ongoing effort to counter the rise in the U.S. of the idolotrous political movement known as Christian nationalism.
This is, apparently, what the actual Jesus of Nazareth looked like, according to an artist and an algorithm and actual, historical, data (as opposed to a story that white people tell each other).
I am an atheist. I do not believe in god, or the devil, or heaven, or hell. But I like and respect this guy. He was a rebel, he was an anti-authoritarian, he dedicated his life to helping the poor, the sick, the indigent, the people who were discarded and rejected by society. He hung out with sex workers and lepers, and gave comfort to the sick and suffering, and he loudly and relentlessly called out the hypocrisy of the church and its leaders. As I understand it, he was like, “Hey, you’re a sinner. That’s a bummer. Let me help you be a better person. No, I don’t expect anything from you for that. I just want to be as loving as I can be.” He was a really cool guy.
This guy, in this picture, is not the Jesus I was introduced to in parochial school. The Jesus I was introduced to was soooooo white, like super super super white, and he was keeping an eye on you so he could snitch on you to his dad, who was SUPER PISSED AT EVERYTHING YOU DID all the time for some reason. The Jesus I knew was, like, maybe going to be okay with you, as long as you knew what a giant fuck-up you were. And he was absolutely not accepting of anyone who didn’t do exactly what the authority figures at school told us we had to do. And Reagan was essentially his avatar sent to Earth. If we didn’t worship Reagan the same way we were supposed to worship white Jesus, we were going to have a REALLY bad time. Did I mention that I was, like, 8 when all of this was drilled into me?
I deeply resent the way that American “Evangelical” Christianity turned this guy in this picture, who was reportedly a cool, loving, gentle, dude, who was a legit rebel, into someone who hates all the same things they hate, and who LOVES authoritarians the same way they do. I despise the people who do all sorts of cruel, hurtful, hateful things in this guy’s name. And they are EVERYWHERE in America.
I don’t know what it’s like in the rest of the world. What I do know is that, in America, this person has been perverted into a weapon, a cudgel, to be used against the same people the actual Jesus loved and stood up for. It’s disgusting.
And, look, if someone professes to follow the teachings of this dude, whose WHOLE FUCKING THING was “love everyone. Period. No exceptions,” and they don’t, like, do that? They are as bad as the money changers in the temple. I know that this dude loves them, because that’s his whole thing, but I suspect that, if this dude exists, he is disappointed and maybe a little embarrassed by them.
As an afterthought: I can’t stop thinking about how this dude was an immigrant, and poor. I keep thinking that, if he showed up in . . . let’s say Texas, today, how badly he would be treated by the very same people who use his name and pervert his teachings to exert control over the very same people Jesus spent his entire life looking after.
And, honestly, none of this would even matter if the American Christian extremists would keep their white Jesus out of our laws and government.
– Wil Wheaton
Related Off-site Links:
The Gospel and the Specter of Christian Nationalism – Stewart Clem (Covenant, September 16, 2025).
The Shameful Christian Idolatry and Fraudulent Martyrdom of Charlie Kirk – John Pavlovitz (The Beautiful Mess, September 12, 2025).
Critics Warn Trump’s “Religious Liberty” Panel Wants to Impose “Christian Nationalist Agenda” Nationwide – Brad Reed (Common Dreams, September 29, 2025).
Christian Nationalism Vs. Progressive Christianity: An Interview with Theologian Brandan Robertson – Marianne Williamson (Transform, September 30, 2025).
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
CHRISTIAN NATIONALISM
• Bowing to an Idol
• James Greenberg on the Identity Politics of MAGA
• Memes of the Times – September 2025
JESUS
• Why Jesus Is My Man
• Jesus: Mystic and Prophet
• The Mystic Jesus: “A Name for the Unalterable Love That All of Us Share”
• The King of Love My Shepherd Is
• Jesus: Path-Blazer of Radical Transformation
• Jesus and Social Revolution – Part 1 | 2 | 3
• Mysticism and Revolution
• Jesus: Our Guide to Mystical Love in Action – Part 1 | 2 | 3
• Jesus and the Art of Letting Go
• Palm Sunday: A Sacred Paradox
• Jesus: The Upside-down Messiah
• Time to Grow Up
• The Model of Leadership Offered by Jesus: “More Like the Gardener Than the Owner of the Garden”
• Something to Think About – November 27, 2018
• Prayer of the Week – October 19, 2015
• The Lesson of Jesus
• Good News on the Road to Emmaus
• Jesus: The Revelation of Oneness
• What Part of Jesus’ Invitation to “Be Not Afraid” Don’t the Bishops Get?
• Something to Think About – December 14, 2011
• Something to Think About – October 29, 2011
• To Believe in Jesus
• Jesus Was a Sissy
• The “Moral Gaiety” of Jesus’ Teaching
• Jesus Lives!
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