Fundamentalists have become their own worst enemy in the battle for market share among young people. At least that’s what atheist writer Hemant Mehta posted on CNN.com:

While this sounds good philosophically, the myth surrounding Jesus is part of the problem with Christianity. To believe in Jesus means believing that he was born of a virgin, rose from the dead and performed a number of miracles. There’s no proof of any of that ever happened, and atheists place those stories in the same box as “young Earth creationism” and Noah’s Great Flood. To be sure, if Christians followed the positive ideas Jesus had, we’d all be better off, but it’s very hard to separate the myth from the reality.

Actually, I think most of what Jesus said is fine. If Christians lived by that template wholeheartedly, I would hold them in higher esteem.

But too many don’t.

Indeed, the most visible form of Christianity in America today is about as anti-Gospel as I’ve ever seen in my life. Pity the billionaire, hold the poor in contempt. Punish the middle-class for the sins of Wall Street big-shots. Might is right the world over. Fuck over education, fuck over workers, screw women and minorities. Forget about turning the other cheek, rather, stand your ground. With hold healing, pursue the Prosperity Gospel. Destroy the planet, for a few more precious shekels.

These aren’t just fringe outliers in Christianity, it’s what much of apparatus has been bent to the breaking point to serve (Nor is that unique here and now). Until small town pastors get away from the frothing gun nut, anti-science, xenophobic, anti-gay, anti-everything crowd and the easy money that often comes with it, they will continue to wane. Because, if we honestly ask what would Jesus do, the answer is crystal clear to any objective person who takes the time to read a few passages in the New Testament: Christ would preach against practically everything the right-wing wealth dominated politico-religious complex professes.