I tried to stay as far away as I could from Charlie Kirk’s memorial service on Sunday. First and foremost, nothing gets between me and my Pittsburgh Steelers. So when the game ended around 4 p.m. Eastern and the Steelers won, my day went downhill fast.
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I started to read the updates about the service from various news sites that were were live reporting. And I was not surprised to see the words Jesus, Christ, Christianity, God, martyr, etc. bandied about again and again,and again, because I knew that would happen. It galled me.
As far as I could tell, there were no mentions of the poor, the sick, the downtrodden.
The images, video, and live video backed this up, and more. As far as I could see, it was a sea of white people wearing in-your-face MAGA hats.
As I let all of this ruin my day, I thought of two things.
How the nuns who taught me in Catholic school must have been turning in their graves, and next about Bishop Mariann Budde’s sermon at the National Cathedral prayer service after Trump’s inauguration.
Related: Watch a bishop scold Donald Trump about attacks on LGBTQ+ and immigrants during inaugural prayer service
First to those blessed nuns. When I went to Catholic school for eight years, it was drilled into our heads that Jesus was about helping the poor and the oppressed. I remember how much he disliked people with wealth and once overturned tables of money. He was always about those less fortunate.
The Bible is clear about our moral duty to care for the poor and vulnerable. I remember some of them but looked them up to be more accurate. In Proverbs 19:17, we are told, “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and he will reward them for what they have done.”
Similarly, in Matthew 25:35–36, Jesus says, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink … I was a stranger and you invited me in.”
Finally, James 2:15–16 cautions, “Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing … what good is it?”
Together, these passages emphasize that caring for the poor is not an option but central to living a life of faith. We were also taught plenty of songs in grade school. Two of them come to mind immediately: “Blest Are They” and “Whatsoever You Do.” The latter is one of those songs that I can sing without looking at the hymnal and also one that really gets at the heart of Christianity.
Here’s the first verse:
“When I was hungry, you gave me to eat; when I was thirsty, you gave me to drink. Now enter into the home of My Father. Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me…”
It dumbfounds me that I’m actually having to write tout hese Bible verses and words to a song because they seem so obvious to anyone who has faith..
That’s where Bishop Budde comes in. Her sermon gave us Christianity in its unadulterated form. Her words described a Christ rooted in a fierce commitment to mercy, humility, to speaking truth in love, and to walking humbly with God.
Especially with the poor, the oppressed, the immigrant, the stranger. Most especially. And not be hypocritical about it, because that’s what’s happening with all this “Christian” talk around Kirk. It’s as sacrilegious as it gets.
Bishop Budde begged, “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.” That included the LGBTQ+ community, which Kirk loathed. “There are transgender children in both Republican and Democrat families who fear for their lives,” she said.
Related: Charlie Kirk DID say stoning gay people was the 'perfect law' — and these other heinous quotes
She named those who live in fear, those living at society’s edges. She said, “They may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals.”
She insisted that help be provided to “those who are fleeing war zones and persecution in their own lands to find compassion and welcome here."
She tries, with her words and in her actions, to lift up the dignity of every human being. But her Christianity was dangerous. It was dangerous to all those who exalt exclusion and spread hate. That’s why Donald Trump vilified her as “nasty” for her very words, powerful and sadly prophetic, about what makes a Christian.
Related: Bishop Budde is unapologetic about confronting Trump over his treatment of LGBTQ+ people and immigrants
Now consider what was offered up at Charlie Kirk’s memorial service yesterday. That same heathen, Trump, speaking to tens of thousands, turned a Christian moment into a celebration of hate. Virulent hate. Unmitigated hate.
After Kirk’s widow gave a message of forgiveness, quoting Christ’s example, which I did admire, Trump broke sharply from that model of decency.
“I hate my opponents, and I don’t want the best for them," he said. "I’m sorry. I am sorry, Erika. But now Erika can talk to me and the whole group and maybe they can convince me that that’s not right, but I cannot stand my opponents.”
That is not gospel. That is not Christianity. It’s blasphemy, pure and simple. That is weaponized anger somehow justified because, well, Trump said it. The so-called Christians in attendance in awe of someone who South Park rightly labels, “F**king Satan.” There's a reason why dictatorships and autocracies are called "evil empires."
Jesus specifically said in Matthew 5:43-44, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you"
Those in the crowd of mourners, who claim to be Christian, should have booed, walked out, made it known that they did not agree with the evil Trump preaching hate. But the truth is this, that their first obedience is to Trump. Christ comes second. So there was no objection to his cruelty.
In a real Christian service, hate is never celebrated. When Jesus died, he did it for sinners, for enemies, for the outcast. He did not call on those who followed him to hate those who opposed him. All prophets preached a message of love, inclusion, justice, restoration, and yes, forgiveness
To a Christian, mercy triumphs over judgment. And here’s where I need to vent about judging. I’m so sick and tired of the so-called Christians who continue to judge me and all queer people as if God gave them a call on their cell phones and said, “Condemn the gays!”
For over 40 years, so-called Christians have been frothing at the mouth that I’m going to burn in hell. That I’m a heathen. That being gay is reprehensible. Unforgivable. It’s blasphemy!
If it was that bad, I have a message for all these so-called judgy Christians, Jesus never preached about hating gay people and that they were going to hell.
A Christian is measured by how they treat the least, the lost, the marginalized. Their Christianity should never be “validated” by how loudly they can shout or how loudly they can condemn.
I remember learning as a kid an axiom that goes something like this, “People who have money don’t talk about it.” That’s how I’ve always felt about Christianity. If you blah, blah, blah that you are this amazing Christian, chances are you’re just a narcissistic jerk.
At Kirk’s memorial, there was no mention that Jesus lived among the poor, the immigrants, the persecuted, the sick, the orphan. No call to lift them up. Instead, there was praise for Kirk as a martyr, praise for his legacy, and praise for his "battle."
I never saw any compassion from Kirk. Do you want an example of what he thought about hungry children? Here you go: “Why should children eat for free? The parents should get a job.”
Bishop Budde’s Christianity demands walking in someone’s shoes, sharing meals with the homeless, and reaching out to refugees. Humility. There was no humility at Kirk’s memorial. It was a hollow shell of using show-off Christianity.
We can choose which type of Christianity we follow. Will we follow the one who died for enemies, who called us to love and serve and stand with the oppressed?
Or will we follow the one who uses divine words to justify hate for rivals, fear of the other, and exclusion for anyone who isn’t white, straight, and with money?
I’m standing with Bishop Budde, and if you don’t like it and think I’m going to burn in hell, that’s your choice.
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Charlie Kirk DID say stoning gay people was the 'perfect law' — and these other heinous quotes