Jesus was an inclusive fellow.
So insists He Gets Us, the organization that has spent millions of dollars on Super Bowl ad campaigns designed to modernize the perception of Christianity. The idea is to convince folks that Christianity is for everyone — no matter color, class or other dividing factors. And indeed, Galatians 3:28 reads: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Like usual, however, actions speak louder than words.
The original braintrust behind the “He Gets Us” campaign is The Servant Foundation, a conservative nonprofit backed by anonymous donors that funnels tens of millions of dollars into right-wing initiatives. Between 2018 and 2020, The Servant Foundation gave approximately $50 million to the Alliance Defending Freedom, an organization that argues for legalized discrimination under the umbrella of Christianity and is currently “cheering DEI’s demise.”
The Servant Foundation has also donated millions to Answers in Genesis, the evangelical organization famous for building a giant model of Noah’s Ark as a museum in the middle of Kentucky. Answers in Genesis says that “DEI needs to DIE” and calls DEI a concept that is “antithetical to the bible, because it denies personal accountability, encourages partiality, and attempts to make Marxism palatable to the church.”Answers in Genesis is of the position that “not all diversity is good diversity.”
Immoral positions, to be sure, but why does this matter?
Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has engaged in attack after attack against “DEI” policies — initiatives that focus on diversity, equity and — you guessed it — inclusion. From a fatal plane crash over Washington, D.C., to the battling of deadly California wildfires, President Trump has found no shortage of tragedies for which to baselessly heap blame on DEI. Some of his latest attacks have placed a bull’s eye on public schools by requiring those receiving federal funding to certify that they’re terminating DEI practices and via the ending of a decades-old desegregation order with a Louisiana federal court. But Trump isn’t acting without support — and he has it in spades from the evangelical congregation.
Public education has been at the forefront of some of this country’s most prominent battles for social justice. In the 1950s and ’60s, tensions boiled in the South as segregationists battled orders from the federal government to integrate public schools.
The Supreme Court declared in Brown v. Board of Education that school segregation violates the Constitution, but its ruling took time to implement. Eventually, the federal government pursued protective orders issued by federal courts to ensure integration progressed under the law. These decrees allowed courts to monitor the progress of desegregating individual school districts — if issues persisted, they could be brought before the judge, and federal power could be exercised to remedy the unconstitutional discrimination. While their impact was isolated to each school district they covered, these protective orders were effective in remedying unconstitutional segregation in public schools, especially in the South. Yet through all the attempts to right the wrongs of school segregation, resistance continued — especially in the South, and particularly in the isolated congregations of the evangelical church.
Historians agree that most Southern evangelicals staunchly opposed integration not only as a disruption to their own way of life but as a violation of God’s design for the world. In 1961, a mob littered with white evangelical Christians attacked and brutally beat members of the Freedom Riders in Montgomery, Ala., including future member of Congress John Lewis. Just weeks later, at a meeting of the White Citizens Council in Montgomery, prominent local Pastor Henry Lyon delivered an impassioned segregationist speech insisting that “if you want to get a fight with the one that has started separation of the races, then you come face to face with your God.” Lyon wasn’t alone. White evangelical pastors across the South echoed segregationist sentiments to their congregations, justifying them through the eyes of God. Not only was segregation favored as a matter of policy, but it was also demanded as a matter of religion.
At first glance, Lyon’s words may seem outrageous and indicate a time gone by. But when one recalls the words of Answers in Genesis, an evangelical organization very much active in 2025, the ugliness of Jim Crow racism seems frighteningly present today.
We are going backward.
Just 20 years after its landmark decision in Brown v. Board, the U.S. Supreme Court began a series of decisions that made claims of race discrimination, specifically in the schools, much more difficult. From requiring a showing of intent to bring a claim of unconstitutional segregation to barring any explicit consideration of race in enrollment decisions, the court slowly removed tools from the tool belt used to enforce Brown’s mandate. As a result, American schools were never fully integrated and, in fact, for decades have been on a path toward resegregation.
The Trump administration is dead set on removing every last tool from that tool belt, and it’s backed by the same power that fought for Jim Crow segregation nearly 75 years ago: evangelical Christians.
In the 1950s, the evangelical engine for religious racism was relatively confined to individual congregations. There was no social media, and word traveled much more slowly. Today’s evangelical congregations have shifted into powerhouse advocacy organizations funded by the millions to argue that public money should be used to fund religious schools, that a Christian web designer can deny services to same-sex couples based on her religious beliefs, and that a university professor could refuse to respect a student’s preferred pronouns based on his Christian beliefs. Now, they’re taking aim at diversity initiatives.
Make no mistake about it: Our civil rights are under attack. Evangelicals are trying to drum up support through television advertisements while destroying the last remnants of American efforts to ensure equal justice for all.
So much for inclusivity.
2 Responses
My early Atheism included in discounting anything in the Bible, including a Jesus. But, I was literally throwing out the baby Jesus with the bathwater. I had read the bible, cover to cover, and my turn to Atheism began with a simple, science-based question: why would the “Creator of the Universe” need a human sacrifice on this planet in order that His creation of “man” should have everlasting life? And, the OT God, as promoted by Moses, under Mosaic Law, proved to me that “God” was impossible, and if this is the best one (per “Christians” humans could come up with, then there is no “God of Abraham” You have to stop using the term Evangelical Christians to describe the MAGA Cult as “Christians”. Only 40% of Evangelicals (90-100M) are actual Christians. They are the Judaeo in the hoax Judaeo-Christian (an oxymoron). They are joined by Opus Dei Catholics who attributed to the last Pope as saying “Mosaic Law is a gift from God”.
The current Evangelical movement grew out of the Southern Redneck religions spawned by the “Feds” (the Union) outlawing Slavery, which was sanctioned by God and codified in Mosaic Law. You will hear the Cult declare that “we follow God’s law, not man made ones”. Mosaic Law was only intended for the “good” of God’s Chosen People of Israel, not the rest of us non-Jews.
Over the past 10 years, I started researching the historical Jesus, which originally, I had discounted as fiction like the rest of the Bible. I don’t know (or actually believe) if there was a man called Jesus alive in the 1st Century AD (pun intended), but I do believe there was a rebellion against Mosaic Law that started at that time and it is the basis of Christianity. Jesus was ultimately executed by the Romans because he, first, violated one of the most precious of Mosaic Laws (over 613 edicts implemented by the Pharisees from 250 BC – 70 AD in Jerusalem) that made it in the top “Ten”; working on the Sabbath. The Romans did the execution on the threat of Jesus being “King of the Jews” when he was handed over to them by the Pharisees who had offered to a Jewish mob the release of Jesus or Lazarus. The Jews chose well Lazarus was a Jewish Insurrectionist against Roman rule. His efforts led to the total destruction of Jerusalem and the end of rule by the Pharisees with the “destruction of the Temple” in 70 AD. This is all historical facts, backed by volumes of historical research, and right out of the New Testament. I always considered Biblical Facts to be an oxymoron. Fact is, the Teachings of Jesus is the basis of a civil Western Society as is Buddhism formed the basis of civil Eastern Societies. Most of the Jesus’ ethics overlap with the Buddha’s, who preceded Jesus by 500 years, leading many researchers to believe that Jesus had studied Buddhism in his “travels” (or some scribe had embedded it in the copy, of a copy, of a copy of….. the “original” manuscripts).
The MAGA cult insists that the United States is, and always has been, a Christian Nation when in fact, our Founders insisted that we should be a secular Nation with separation of Church and State; the reason we rebelled against the state religion of England and its divinely appointed King. But, we do now have a state religion; 1st Century Judaism of the Pharisees as implemented under Mosaic Law, now known as Project 2025, as implemented by a bunch of cosplaying Jewish Pharisees. Its really rich that they all are anti-Semites to a person, but they are identical to the hypocritical Pharisees of antiquity. These Pharisees exist from the Mega churches to Trump’s Cabinet, from local City Councils, School Boards, County Commissions and Law Enforcement to the Department of Justice and DHS, from MAGA Judges to the Supreme Court. The Old Testament United States of America has much more in common with the Orthodox Jews of the Netanyahu-declared Jewish State of Israel (used to be secular) and the Islamic State of Iran; the OT, Torah and Koran have very much in common in their adherence to Mosaic Law (Sharia in Islam) and fealty to their greatest Prophet, Moses.
It is impossible to follow Mosaic Law and call yourself a Christian. Diametrically opposed to each other. In America (and Russia, et al), the term Christian is a shield against attack (any criticism is an attack). There is no such thing as Christian Nationalism it is a hoax, just as Judaeo-Christian ethics is; all the propaganda attempt to blur the lines.
I know Dan has to know all this, or he would be remiss in not knowing it. We have to call these “Christians” out and align ourselves with good Christians and their Churches who should be as angry as Jesus was in “cleansing the Temple”. History really repeats itself, exactly. The 2024 Election was literally a choice between the Teachings of Jesus (taking care of the least of these instead of Billionaires; the “money changers of our state religion) and the Insurrectionist in Chief (Trump) whose win will lead to the complete destruction of the United States. He’s doing a really good job of that.
Can FFRF come up with some suggestions on how to build an alliance to save Western Democracy and stop calling MAGA and the Trump Administration Christian, as ell as, bring the Christians that follow the Teachings of Jesus into that alliance. Can’t fight faux Christianity as Atheist. Non-starter. I call myself a Christian Atheist as I try to follow the Teachings of Jesus (and Buddha). I am not alone. Like Jefferson, I discount all the “magic” of the Bible and concentrate on the only good, and validated, thing in it: the Sermon on the Mount. I think real Christians would accept that, now, as they have in the past; Congress printed thousands oRf copies of the Jefferson Bible and handed it out to all newcomers to the place. Please! We all need to help in stopping this State religion of madness.
Thanks (lifetime member)
This was beautifully articulated. Thank you both for your writings!!! Such an enjoyable and educational read.
As a child in the 80s, my parents were Pentecostal preachers. I can remember being 8 years old, crying while the congregation was shown videos of being left behind. It did not resonate and it was scary to think of being alone and everyone you love being gone one day if you weren’t on Jesus’ good side. We would sing songs like, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red, brown, yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight,” but don’t hang out with those kids because they were bad. I wasn’t allowed to be friends with black children.
When I was 21, I began to go through a time when I needed “God” more than ever. I read the bible front to back six times searching for connection over 2 years. I didn’t find it myself, but I can respect those who do and actually follow it in act not just in name.
My father isn’t MAGA, but still aligns with many of those values. He would never have voted for Kamala. I think there’s a blurry line between MAGA Christians and non-MAGA ones, not a definitive one which makes them difficult to separate.
After the election, I asked my mother (who was born in Mexico, now a citizen here) how she could believe in Jesus and be a Christian while voting for Trump. She started disparaging Kamala. There’s no reasoning with bigots who have found their person who has okayed their ignorance. This is a woman who reads her bible daily.
I used to wonder how that is and then I thought about how crazy it is that we were also brainwashed in school every day to say the pledge where it states, “with liberty and justice for all,” yet so many still fight against the “all” part and only remember the “under God,” part (which should’ve never been added).