You don’t just get to call yourself a follower of Jesus and cheer on the use of power and wealth that actively oppresses the very people Jesus called us to serve and expect us to just accept this as truthful.

You don’t just get to say that you interpret the Bible “literally,” while actually disregarding all the verses about helping the poor, caring for the immigrant, bringing healthcare to the sick, feeding the hungry, advocating for the voiceless, forgiving debts, using our collective wealth and resources to care for others well, taking care of our planet, putting our swords away, and loving all our neighbors as ourselves and expect us to just accept this as truthful.

You don’t just get to say that you’re standing up for religious freedom while actively supporting the legislating and weaponizing of Christianity in our states and nation and then expect us to just accept this as truthful.

You don’t just get to say that you have strong moral values, yet hold all your fellow citizens accountable to the most rigid interpretation of those values while holding your preferred political leaders accountable to no standard at all and expect us to just accept this as truthful.

You don’t just get to say that you “stand for truth” while proudly supporting prominent figures who openly distort and outright disregard facts for political gain and expect us to just accept this as truthful.

You don’t just get to rally around a central figure and movement for almost a decade now with unquestioned loyalty while telling us we are the “sheep” for not falling in line and expect us to just accept this as truthful.

You don’t just get to use your brand of politics and Christianity to gaslight us in an attempt to make us believe we are the ones who have been duped, that we are the ones who are wrong because we are standing against blatant mercilessness and injustice that everyone seems to be able to see but you and expect us to just accept that kind of treatment as truthful.

You don’t just get to support bullies and authoritarians as “leaders” while claiming to follow a nonviolent teacher from Nazareth who laid down his life out of love for all people, even his enemies, and then expect us to just accept this as truthful.

You are free to say at any moment that you don’t support what is happening any longer. You are free at any moment to stand up against what is happening to the most vulnerable people among us. We will celebrate with you and be by your side advocating for what is merciful and just.

But until that time comes, please know, you can’t just expect us to accept blatant hypocrisy and injustice as normal, good, patriotic, or remotely “Christian.”