Since the 1980s, self-described “Christians” decided that they needed to impose a socially conservative agenda on the rest of society in complete rejection of the First Amendment’s insistence on separate of church and state.  These “Christians” have also substituted the teachings of Jesus for the writings of Adam Smith. But it doesn’t need to be like this.

In the same fashion that so many people argue we need to “Take America Back”, I’m starting a movement to Take Back Christianity.

People who are calling themselves “Christians” aren’t acting much like Christ, and their actions reflect a radical departure from what Jesus taught his followers. They have all but ignored the most important teaching of Christ – Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Pope Francis hammed on this message in his address to the U.S. Congress this past week.

Let us remember the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Matthew 7:12).

This Rule points us in a clear direction. Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves. Let us help others to grow, as we would like to be helped ourselves. In a word, if we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us. The Golden Rule also reminds us of our responsibility to protect and defend human life at every stage of its development.

In calling for Christians to help the poor and the needy, some are calling the Pope a left-wing Marxist (e.g., the Christian Coalition of America, one of the champions of the Take America Back movement).  But the message of Pope Francis is hardly left-wing. He’s very clear in his calls for an end to abortion. But he’s also clear in this views about life. Life may or may not begin at conception but it definitely doesn’t end at birth. How are so many Republican candidates calling themselves “pro-life” when their concern for life seems to be limited to fetuses? Once a child is born, do Ted Cruz or Rick Santorum really care about that child? They don’t like health care, education, equal opportunities for poor children and they see no problem in the fact that the United States has the highest incarceration rate of any nation (other than the Seychelles). They are also strongly in favor of guns (responsible for 30,000+ deaths per year) and don’t even think about overturning the death penalty. How can they call themselves “pro-life”?

In my upcoming blogs, I’ll look at how much Christianity has changed in the past thirty years in its involvement in politics. And I’ll look at the teachings of Jesus and others in the Bible to show far these “Christians” have twisted, contorted and deviated from the Word.

Liberal Christians have sat on the sidelines too long and not done enough to protect our faith from being hijacked.

It’s time for us to Take Back Christianity! Please join me today!