I am steering away from a discussion about the organized church for a moment. I just listened to a podcast that, to me at least, illustrated the profound contrast between religious Christianity and following Jesus.

I will define the two once more. I see religion as a human-created system of rituals and beliefs that have one purpose, and that is to enhance one’s feeling of piety. That piety is most readily enhanced by comparisons between your group and those outside your group. For example, “I’m heterosexual and I’m far superior to the homosexual.” Or “I believe x, y, and z doctrines and you don’t, and that makes me better than you.” The comparisons continue within your group as well, “I’m better than Joe at church because I follow Christian author A, or I believe dogma B, or I smile more and don’t say certain words, like shit, damn, and hell.”

The “followers of Jesus,” which were called “The Way,” were very simply following the fundamental teachings of Jesus, which you can fit in a thimble. Deny yourself (think of the needs of others more than your own), and love everyone intensely. No cults. No extraneous bullshit. And without the pretentiousness of competitive religion. In simpler terms, religion is very egocentric, and following Jesus is very altruistic. The rejection of Christianity is a rejection of the religionized Jesus, not the simple teachings of Jesus.

I will also be clear that I do not see the religious camp and the following Jesus camp as an absolute dichotomy, a choice of one or the other. The two live at opposite ends of a continuum, and the travel along that continuum is fluid.

I spent the first 38 years of my Christian life as a religious Christian. However, there were days, or times during those years, that I sincerely acted in altruistic ways. Now, I aim to live as a follower of Jesus, but I sometimes find myself being self-centered instead of selfless.

Also, to be clear, at face value, I don’t see this as a moral problem or a problem of intelligence, though it can have ethical consequences. It is a thinking problem, a mindset. For that reason, I can have respect and love for those who are religious, although I might not want to be around them. The religious are competitive, seeking to prove they are better than I, more moral, more correct in their dogmas. Religious people are those who attack me the most, and they always go for the Juggler.

I listen to This American Life each week while working on my cottage. This week’s recording was about the DOGE’s elimination of USAID. Imagine two camps in this story: the religious Christians who support this present administration, which has a narcissistic agenda, modeled after its leader. “America First,” “Me first,” no compassion for others, such as immigrants or citizens of other countries. No compassion for the poor. Hatred for those different from us, such as LGBTQ. This is a profound antithesis to Jesus’ teachings.

It is not a conspiracy theory for me to state that the primary reason for the so-called campaign of getting rid of fraud and abuse is a code name for cutting programs left and right so that the deficit caused by the “Big Beautiful Bill” will not be so significant that some Republicans will not vote for it. It still will be big because the primary purpose is to give massive tax cuts to the top 5%, those who have donated the most to the politicians. Those wealthy individuals knew they were purchasing tax cuts when they made their donations, as did the politicians. To appease the religious, they put the focus on the 1% of recipients of those programs, those horrible people, such as immigrants and LGBTQ.

It is also not a conspiracy, but an thoughtful estimate by the Boston U. Public Health College, that at this juncture, June, 2025, tens of thousands have died and 300,000 people will die this year, mostly children, as the result of ending USAID funding.

The faithful followers of Jesus, in this story, were the PA (same profession as me) and her doctor husband. Just listen to the sacrifices they have made for others. Deep personal sacrifices. I found this contrast to be profoundly clear of the difference between a religious, me-first Christianity and a selfless one.

Listen to the following This American Life story here.

Respectfully,

Mike