FFRF Action Fund’s “Secularist of the Week” is actor, comedian and broadcaster John Fugelsang for his recently published work that takes on the far right and its weaponization of religion.
Fugelsang’s book is titled, “Separation of Church and Hate: A Sane Person’s Guide to Taking Back the Bible from Fundamentalists, Fascists, and Flock-Fleecing Frauds.” He is speaking at FFRF’s annual conference at Myrtle Beach, S.C., next month.
Fugelsang’s book has been described as “a deeply irreverent and biblically correct takedown of the far right and their co-opting of religion, and guide to engaging them in effective conversational combat.” Fugelsang is the son of a former Catholic priest and a former Catholic nun, and he uses in his book his faith background to challenge claims to godliness made by Christian nationalists and fundamentalist Christians.
In a recent interview with David Corn, Fugelsang discussed how the religious right will cherry-pick bible passages to fuel its rhetoric on hot-button issues like abortion and LGBTQ-plus rights, which Fugelsang challenges in his book. “The bible was written by men, and men are fallible. So the bible contradicts itself in many ways,” Fugelsang said to Corn.
He continued, “I wrote this book because I was tired of seeing my parents’ faith used as a cover for cruelty and meanness. They try to pretend that there’s some spooky, divine, sacred divinity to all of it when in reality these are letters and accounts that have been rewritten hundreds of times. There’s a lot of truth in the bible. There’s not a lot of facts.”
Fugelsang touched in his interview with Corn on the religious right’s support for MAGA and authoritarian policies, expanding on a quote from his book: “Biblical literalism feeds authoritarian tendencies by emphasizing obedience to rulers over critical thinking and individual freedoms.” Fugelsang told Corn, “Critical thinking is death for authoritarianism. With fundamentalism, that’s how you get people to be obedient. You do not question anything in the scripture. You obey it, and if you do ask inconvenient questions, God’s mad at you. This is how you use fear to control people.”
Fugelsang also recently appeared on “State of Belief,” a production of Interfaith Alliance Foundation hosted by Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush. He shared, “I was raised in a Christianity that was about service, that was about love, that was about forgiveness, that guided us to the margins. … Because that was Jesus’ whole ministry. You reach out to the marginalized.”
“And, of course, as you know, the nice Christians don’t get the airtime,” Fugelsang added. “You don’t see the Christians on cable news talking about how war is bad or how homophobia is bad. You see the other kind — because villains make for better TV than nice people.”
While being interviewed by Marianne Williamson, Fugelsang explained how he thinks that the largest growing religious group in the United States is composed of “people who were raised religious and now consider themselves spiritual because they’re so turned off to all the hypocrisy and cruelty,” and this is why he wrote his book. He underscored, “So I wrote this book as a guide, for anyone of any faith, atheist, agnostic, any religion, even conservative Christian friends, who’s going to have to deal with a hater Christian.”
FFRF Action Fund thanks Fugelsang for his insightful and powerful book and his denunciations of Christianity used as a tool of hate. We cannot wait to hear his remarks at FFRF’s convention next month.
FFRF Action Fund is a 501(c)(4) organization that develops and advocates for legislation, regulations and government programs to preserve the constitutional principle of separation between state and church. It also advocates for the rights and views of nonbelievers, endorses candidates for political office, and publicizes the views of elected officials concerning religious liberty issues.