"I hope it's not a Jesus thing..."

There is an award that sits on my shelf. I was given it at college graduation. It’s the University at Buffalo Vice President’s Student Award for Senior Leadership…and it’s actually the second incarnation of this particular glass plaque that they gave me.

You’ll notice it’s pretty thick glass, to the point where the letters are a little tough to read (not a complaint). See, at my undergrad graduation ceremony, the Vice President of Student Affairs (who is now persona non-grata, but that’s a different story) said nice things about me and handed me a much thinner glass stand-up award, very pretty and fancy-looking, and light enough to rest on my lap through the rest of the ceremony. Then, and I forget exactly which moment this was because it was 14 years ago (good Lord). but at some point we stood up to applaud someone else. It was either a friend of mine or maybe it was for the VPSA himself (who I liked at the time). So I gladly stood up to applaud.

With the award still on my lap.

And then the award was no longer on my lap, because it had crashed to the floor. And shattered.

Oops.

The Office of Student Affairs was kind enough to mail me another one, 3-4 times thicker than the previous one. I’d like to think some staffer was like “we’re gonna make sure he KNOWS he was a klutz that day.” It makes me chuckle when I see it, a little pin to slightly deflate the balloon of my ego. Back then I was riding pretty high as a college student (I thought I knew so much). I was about to take on my most demanding challenge yet with medical school and it was about to take me down multiple pegs, so this was a nice little point of humility for me as an introduction. Now, I see it was the start of the journey that would lead to a more mature version of myself.

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I feel like my life has done a good job of providing me with moments like that to reintroduce humility into my manner. I have an ego that is generally kept in check but every now and then I do get a bit overconfident (rather than appropriately confident) and I run face first into something that rattles my confidence and makes me reevaluate my knowledge and position. I kind of wish I didn’t need those moments, but overall I have become a better person because of them, and most of the time no one else is hurt.

It feels like no one in the current White House administration nor any Republican member of Congress (and many Democratic members of Congress, but not all) has had any of these moments, or somehow learned to completely ignore the lessons that such moments can teach. Since January of 2025 it seems like every week there is a new assault on healthcare access, public health measures, climate change countermeasures….basically every innovation of the last decade is on the chopping block. Multiple cabinet members demonstrate either a deliberate ignorance of their supposed agencies or areas of expertise, while others demonstrate a deliberate and purposeful rejection of expertise and knowledge in order to advance an anti-science, anti-human agenda from The Heritage Foundation.

It has been incredibly frustrating as a physician to watch my profession accused of trying to make people sicker as I work hard to fight sickness, while the government literally passes legislation that will make people sicker (or in some cases dead). I have never felt more Sisyphean than when I am refuting disinformation about COVID-19, any pediatric vaccine, or abortion as healthcare for the umpteenth time on social media because the exceedingly unqualified or disqualified men in charge of healthcare agencies have yet again repeated lies.

It is also frustrating for one of my other personal dimensions, that of Christianity. I’ve written about this before, but I often don’t mention that I’m a Christian upfront because in 2025 that is not always a welcoming self-descriptor. Sure there is the distinction that I am a Jesus Christian and not an AmeriJesus Christian, but that line is often obscured (again, deliberately), by those who profit from sowing division and wedging a persecution complex between people trying to be good Christians and anyone who isn’t a straight white man.

Recently comedic actor Craig Robinson announced he is quitting comedy, stating “It’s been an amazing run, and y’all been amazing and wonderful. But I’m following something bigger. So, you know, thank you so much. I love you, and stay tuned.” Before I go on, I will say best of luck to Craig Robinson, whatever the next chapter is.

Under that announcement (I saw it on Threads), there were multiple comments of “I hope this isn’t a Jesus thing,” or similar sentiment, expressing concern that Robinson was turning to something in a more openly Christian space. Granted, I’m sure most of the folks commenting, including me, have no idea what Robinson’s religious affiliation or previous expressions of faith are. Yet there they were, and they were followed by even more comments offended by the “I hope it isn’t Christianity” sentiment. One commenter asked semi-rhetorically, “Why is it cool to hate Christianity?” Others dutifully expressed their persecution complex in follow-up replies. In my opinion, they’re asking the wrong question.

The question is not why it’s cool to “hate Christianity.” Rather, it should be how can we, as individual Christians and by pressuring clergy leaders, make Christianity’s reputation less bigoted, less judgmental, and more welcoming so that “a Jesus thing” sparks more encouragement and less disgust? A big step would probably be to stop wielding the AmeriJesus misinterpretation of Christianity to harm everyone who isn’t straight, white, or male.

On (the more-and-more-ironically-named) Independence Day of this year, Donald Trump signed H.R.1, now P.L. 119-21, informally known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (informally thanks to a hollow move by Chuck Schumer). It’s the budget reconciliation bill - not the original bipartisan bill that both parties agreed to together, but a much worse budget that Republicans forced through with their supermajority (something the Democrats have never been bold enough to do).

It is projected to cut Medicaid for 10-16 million people, reducing or eliminating their access to any sort of affordability of their healthcare.

It further eliminates funding for Planned Parenthood, and since PP did not previously receive federal funding for abortion services (contrary to GOP propaganda), this means we lose access to all of their other services which provide sexual and other healthcare to so many people each day.

It reduces clean energy tax credits and reduces efforts toward renewable fuels in favor of fossil fuels and their pollution, and reduces protections.

It expands work requirements for SNAP and increases costs to states for it, reducing people’s access to food.

It increases the budget for ICE so now that’s the best-funded law enforcement agency, just as Trump has begun ordering them to disappear people without any cause. To paraphrase what @whelmeddaily said on TikTok, they are using tax information to find immigrants and deport them (so you know it wasn’t about raiding workplaces (so you know it wasn’t about immigrants getting benefits without working), immigration hearings and court proceedings (so you know it wasn’t about immigrants coming here “the right way”), they are disappearing women and children (some with cancer) (so you know it wasn’t about catching gang members or hardened criminals), and it’s all ordered by a convicted felon (so it’s not about following the law). So much for looking out for “the least of these.”

And it does all this and more while raising taxes on everyone but billionaires, and increasing the budget deficit by almost $3 TRILLION dollars.

So we have a new budget that is almost certainly going to kill people and make so many lives harder. The bill was vehemently opposed by all Democrats and even some Republicans who would later end up caving despite knowing the impact it would have, selling out millions of Americans for provisions for their own state that would also be taken away anyway (looking at you, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska). A haughty, proud (in the wrong sense) Republican majority forced it on all of us Americans, many trying to humbly ask for a fair budget reconciliation.

You know what Republican lawmakers did before they voted to take away all of these essential services for millions of Americans, effectively guaranteeing suffering among not just “the least of these” but nearly everyone in some way?

They prayed about it. They made a big show of praying in the Congressional chamber and then voted against the people they supposedly prayed for. They were the modern-day equivalent of the Pharisee in Luke 8:9-14 who loudly prays thanking God for making him better than the tax collector humbly asking for forgiveness.

Source: LA Times

If these are the loudest and most public-facing of us, at least in the United States…

This is the latest in a pattern of politicians stripping the freedoms and rights of women, anyone in the LGBTQIA+ community, anyone who relies on government programs designed to even the playing field, and anyone who isn’t Christian, in the name of Christianity (and in the name of freedom). These serve to pit these groups against one another and unfortunately the outrage is often successful in that, and it makes us vote against our own interests.

No wonder people hate or fear Christians (in the US, at least). On top of that, too many AmeriJesus followers want to flaunt a persecution complex that only serves to undermine real Christianity even further.

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As a physician, despite what RFK Jr and other pseudoscience sellers keep trying to falsely claim, my job is to look for the root cause of an illness - an infection, an inflammatory process, a hormonal issue, a nutrition deficiency - and I do that with evidence and medical knowledge. Sometimes there are red herrings and sometimes there are grifters convincing patients to reject real medicine in favor of their products. When it comes to Christianity in the United States, the evidence is clear - the problem is not that it’s “cool to hate Christianity.” It’s that the public face of Christianity is marred by those who would misuse Jesus to spread hate and fear, and thus Christianity’s reputation reflects that.

Some “Christian” pastors who are selling the AmeriJesus prosperity gospel and similar vibes want to portray Jesus as a tough guy who can channel that hate and weaponize it against people who don’t fit their narrow view of who’s worthy. I’m writing this in the summer, in July, which means we just had to deal with so many of these fools trying to convince their followers that Pride Month is a sin because of what their misinterpretation of the Bible says. The unpleasant and dangerous irony is that their approach completely lacks the humility they may preach (or preach around, depending on what message they’re inserting into the Biblical text).

This weaponization of Christianity is the true problem, and until it is fixed, we will continue to see people grow concerned when someone announces that they are a Christian (especially in their social media bio) or when a celebrity (or anyone) may be turning to “a Jesus thing.” If people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones, Christians are in a house (or Church, metaphorically) that is made of glass thinner than the initial iteration of my undergrad award. If we get too careless with it, it shatters. It is only with humility and self-examination (yes, on a personal, but more importantly on an organizational and political level) that the glass can get thicker, sturdier, and can reflect a better, more mature version of ourselves to show others.