“Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” – The False Dichotomy

by Zach Hunt

American Jesus

My apologies for the long post, but I thought this video, which is quickly going viral, is in need of some thoughtful reflection.

If you have Christian friends and you’ve been on Facebook in the past 48 hours, then chances are you’ve already seen it.

As of “press time” the video was already closing in on 1 million views on Facebook after having only been posted on Tuesday. No question about it that’s impressive.

Aesthetically speaking it’s not hard to see why. It definitely has “the look”  and “feel” (however you define those words) that appeals to a 18-35 year old demographic (with a little leeway in both directions).

As a Christian person in that demographic I should probably “like” it and share it with all of my Facebook friends.

But I don’t like it.

Now, to be fair I do think Jeff Bethke (the guy in the video) makes some good points about voting Republican, sexuality, and Christian identity being defined by your Facebook status.

And, once again, the production quality is great and the speaker is very articulate. That’s not my issue.

My issue with this video is that it panders to a false, but widely accepted Protestant Evangelical narrative; one which has come to supplant Christianity itself as the “true gospel.”

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