Rev. Benjamin Cremer

Rev. Benjamin Cremer I have spent the majority of my life in Evangelical Christian spaces. I have experienced a lot of church hurt. I now write to explore topics that often are at the intersection of politics and Christia...

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My newsletter tomorrow is called “When Hate Masquerades As Christianity.”

In it, I invite us to ponder some of the deeply unsettling supremacist mindsets that are being advocated in certain Christian circles and consider some practical ways forward.

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One of the greatest deceptions of our time is the false narrative that we should somehow be more concerned about how a poor person uses the welfare system than we are about the ultra wealthy swaying the highest positions or power in our country to their favor.

A Christianity that makes the ultra wealthy and powerful feel safe and supported while making the poor and powerless feel unsafe and unsupported is a Christianity that is following someone other than Jesus.

Rev. Benjamin Cremer I have spent the majority of my life in Evangelical Christian spaces. I have experienced a lot of church hurt. I now write to explore topics that often are at the intersection of politics and Christia...

My newsletter on Sunday is called, “Blessed are you who hunger, for you will be satisfied.”

In it, I invite us to reflect on how the poor and hungry are being treated by the current status quo and how Jesus’ words in Luke 6:20-31 call us to respond.

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Common myths about SNAP and poverty in America.

My recent article: open.substack.com/pub/benjamin...

When modern Christians say “it’s not the government’s job to help the poor,” they’re not echoing Jesus, Paul, the prophets, or the early church.

They’re echoing figures like Ayn Rand, who despised Christianity’s communal ethic of compassion and called altruism a “moral evil.”

Notice how it’s somehow the government’s job to legislate a few Bible verses on human sexuality over our entire country, but it’s suddenly “not the government’s job” when it comes to the +2,500 Bible verses calling for a generous use of wealth that prioritizes the poor.

Notice how quickly “we want our nation to uphold Christian values” turns into “it’s not the government’s job to feed the hungry or help the poor!” which are actually things Christ taught his followers to value.

“He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” -Mary, the mother of Jesus in the gospel according to Luke (1:53)

Now compare this with the actions of those in power who claim to follow Mary’s son.

The arrogant disregard of critical thinking, painstaking research, and humble discernment has been rebranded as “common sense.”

Hope is not a sentimental optimism that things will somehow work out; hope is the subversive conviction that injustice and death will not have the final word and acting on that belief. Hope is not passive waiting it’s active persistence. Hope prays, peacefully protests, weeps, and keeps showing up.

A Christianity that causes the hungry to go without food, the sick to go without healthcare, the stranger to be mistreated, and God’s creation to be ravaged, all while the greedy and cruel satisfy their every desire, is a Christianity that can no longer claim to follow Christ.

Rev. Benjamin Cremer I have spent the majority of my life in Evangelical Christian spaces. I have experienced a lot of church hurt. I now write to explore topics that often are at the intersection of politics and Christia...

My newsletter this Sunday is called, “The Freedom to Love in a World of Fear.”

In it, I want to invite us to reflect on what we mean by the categories of truth, freedom, and liberation through the conversation that takes place in John 8:31-36.

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To blame the poor is to accuse Jesus.

My recent article: open.substack.com/pub/benjamin...

Notice how it’s always, “the Bible must inform our laws!” until it comes to the +2,000 verses in the Bible that discuss the generous use of wealth and possessions in a way that prioritizes the needs of the poor, this sick, the stranger, the vulnerable, and the oppressed.

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public" - Theodore Roosevelt

Rev. Benjamin Cremer I have spent the majority of my life in Evangelical Christian spaces. I have experienced a lot of church hurt. I now write to explore topics that often are at the intersection of politics and Christia...

My newsletter this Sunday is called, “The Widow’s Prayerful Protest.”

In it, I invite us to consider what persistence looks like when we are caught between hope and the face of injustice. All through the lens of Luke 18:1-8.

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A Christianity that believes it needs a president, legislation and a government to ensure its survival is a Christianity that is centered on the worship of its own power rather than faithfully relying on the power of God.

God is just its mascot for its political ideology

A people who refuse to despise one another are immune to authoritarians because an authoritarian’s power depends on certain groups of people despising other groups of people.

This is why there’s so much power in Jesus’ words, “love your enemies.”

It is an act of resistance.

Many of us grew up in the church being taught to root for Moses, Daniel, and John the Baptist in the Bible, only to grow up and have our churches question our faith for not cheering on the Pharaohs, Nebuchadnezzars, and Herods in our world today.

Rev. Benjamin Cremer I have spent the majority of my life in Evangelical Christian spaces. I have experienced a lot of church hurt. I now write to explore topics that often are at the intersection of politics and Christia...

My newsletter tomorrow is called “They Are Us. We Are Them.”

In it, I invite us to ponder the concept of “foreigner” through the lens of Luke 17:11-19 and how God consistently calls us to be in solidarity with all who the world considers “foreign.”

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A Christianity that is known for its cruelty is a Christianity that no longer knows Christ.

"By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." -Jesus

It doesn’t matter what your politics are regarding immigration. If they do not begin and end with human beings needing to be treated with dignity and respect, especially when it comes to the enforcement of the law, your politics are wrong.

CW: protester being struck in the head by a pepper ball

Footage I took earlier of the moment Reverend David Black, a regular protester outside of the Broadview Detention Center, was shot in the head with a pepper ball by ICE agents on the roof of the facility.

The point of Jonah is not Nineveh’s repentance but Jonah’s fury at God’s mercy. It is a scathing parody of nationalistic religion that wants God on 'our side' and cannot stomach the possibility that God’s love extends beyond our religious and political borders, especially those considered 'enemies'.

I spoke to a Venezuelan woman who was arrested in this raid and later released with her 4yo son. She said agents broke down their door, pointed guns at them and made sexualized remarks about Venezuelan women. When she returned to her apartment it was boarded up and all her possessions were gone.

When you demonize and mistreat the immigrant, the poor, the starving, and the marginalized, I'm not interested in hearing about your religious beliefs.

You've already shown me what they are by how you're demonizing and mistreating the immigrant, the poor, the starving, and the marginalized.

Rev. Benjamin Cremer I have spent the majority of my life in Evangelical Christian spaces. I have experienced a lot of church hurt. I now write to explore topics that often are at the intersection of politics and Christia...

My newsletter this Sunday is called
“Jonah: A Prophetic Critique of Religious and Nationalistic Arrogance.”

In it, I invite us to explore the historical context of Jonah to see the powerful critique it offers American Christianity today.

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It will always baffle me how easily people will believe that the poor, the sick, the marginalized, and the immigrant are the cause for all their problems, rather than the people in the most powerful positions in their country who refuse to fix problems and exploit them instead.