Controversial filmmaker Michael Moore posted a familiar meme to his Facebook page on November 26, 2018. The meme, that begins to recirculate each year when the Christmas season arrives, read, “Rather than putting ‘Christ’ back in ‘Christmas,’ I’d settle for putting ‘Christ’ back in ‘Christians.’” While this wasn’t the first time the meme has been shared, it elicited a fierce reaction from some of the liberal filmmaker’s 2.3 million followers.
According to TheBlaze, Moore’s post had received more than 900 comments and 33,000 likes and loves by the morning of November 27, 2018. Sadly, many of the comments made by Moore’s followers appeared even more disturbing than the meme itself. One commenter wrote, “It will be a better world when Christianity is just a historical memory.” Another person quipped, “Discovered many years ago that I was far more Christian in deeds than anyone I knew that went to church. In fact I knew many church Christians who were horrible people that I could never associate with. Gun-toting, hate-mongering, racist placard-carrying, white-privileged, self-professed Christians that do not resemble any follower of Christ that I want to associate with. I like my brand of Christian better.”
One of Moore’s followers replied, “Atheists are more ‘Christian’ than a vast majority of so called Christians!” Another commenter reasoned, “My neighbors go to church every Sunday but yet they harass everyone. Apparently this saying is so true: Going to Church doesn’t make you any more of a Christian than standing in a garage makes you a car.” In today’s divisive political environment, a liberal commenter unsurprisingly said, “I’ve been saying for about two years now that it is a strange event when I, an atheist, seem to have more respect for Christianity than GOP Christians do.” One commenter said, “People don’t need Christ to do the right thing.”
Not all of the people who saw Moore’s meme agreed with it. One person who contributed to the conversation attempted to explain the problem with the attacks on Christianity in the comments. This person stated, “The comments reflect persecution. And it is the only persecution tolerated in this country. It is not only anti-Catholicism, and anti-Christianity, it is anti-Semitism, and anti-religion … all religion. It is sick, hate filled, and dangerous. It is the open door to a totalitarian government, because only atheism can endure the activities of totalitarianism. What is happening on our border, for example, would not be tolerated by ANY faith, but only by the faithless.” Another user remarked, “I can both agree and disagree with this. There have been some atrocious thing done by so called Christians but there are also many doing fabulous work. You probably never hear about them because they wont blow their own trumpet. There is good and bad in all of us.”
This isn’t the first time Moore has weighed in about Christianity. Before the 2016 presidential election, the left-wing filmmaker proclaimed socialism and Christianity are the “same thing” during a sit-down with MSNBC host Christ Matthews. Rationalizing his decision to vote for former first lady Hillary Clinton in the election, Moore remarked that millions of younger people “favor socialism over capitalism.” When Matthews said that “Hillary’s not a socialist,” the liberal filmmaker commented that “she’s a Christian, so it’s the same thing.” He went on to add, “It’s all about making sure everyone has a seat at the table and the pie is divided so that everybody gets a slice. Isn’t that what Christianity is? That’s what she’s about.”
In October of 2018, Moore saw Pope Francis at the Vatican. During an appearance on “Late Night With Seth Myers,” the leftist filmmaker revealed what he discussed with the leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Moore remarked, “And I said, ‘Do you believe that an economic system that benefits the few, the wealthy at the expense of the many is a sin?’” The controversial filmmaker maintained, “He said to me, ‘Si’ in Italian. And I said, ‘So you believe capitalism, the capitalism we have now is a sin?’ He goes, ‘Yes, it is.’ He said, ‘The poor must always come first.’”
In the United States today, Christians are often humiliated, shunned, and even demonized for simply believing in the traditional values many people have held for centuries. Pray for those in this country and around the world who are facing persecution for their Christian faith.
~ 1776 Christian
