Sufjan Stevens has refused to stay silent in the first weeks of Donald Trump's presidency, reminding everyone of the Ten Commandments and urging Americans to be more accepting of immigrants through some passionately worded online posts. Now, his latest message is reaching readers beyond the realm of the indie music-loving corners of the Internet.
The Washington Post has reprinted Stevens's most recent post in its op-ed section.
The piece hears Stevens tearing down the idea of a "Christian Nation" as "absolutely heretical" and reminding his fellow Americans to "love your neighbor as yourself."
"Jesus said you must hate your mother and father and love your enemies," he writes. "This is not obtuse provocation, but it's spiritual deployment of true identity, which no longer resides in skin color combination, ideology, genealogy, name, people, places and things, but in the brotherhood and sisterhood of all humankind, which is ruled by love at any cost."
He continues, "You must eradicate all the corrupt, theological fearmongering they preach from the pulpit and from behind the political podium. Get real and get right with God. Go in your closet and pray for your enemies. You must take up the cross and follow that narrow path of sacrifice and love and service."
Stevens goes on to encourage readers to place less importance on material things, declaring money, power and government "fraudulent and false gods," and that "the real substance of life has nothing to do with money or power or prestige or greatness."
The message ends: "To gain your life is to lose it. To lose your life is to gain it. The life you live is not your own. Give your life away."
Read the full piece, relabelled with the headline "Stop repeating the heresy of declaring the United States a 'Christian nation,'" here.
The Washington Post has reprinted Stevens's most recent post in its op-ed section.
The piece hears Stevens tearing down the idea of a "Christian Nation" as "absolutely heretical" and reminding his fellow Americans to "love your neighbor as yourself."
"Jesus said you must hate your mother and father and love your enemies," he writes. "This is not obtuse provocation, but it's spiritual deployment of true identity, which no longer resides in skin color combination, ideology, genealogy, name, people, places and things, but in the brotherhood and sisterhood of all humankind, which is ruled by love at any cost."
He continues, "You must eradicate all the corrupt, theological fearmongering they preach from the pulpit and from behind the political podium. Get real and get right with God. Go in your closet and pray for your enemies. You must take up the cross and follow that narrow path of sacrifice and love and service."
Stevens goes on to encourage readers to place less importance on material things, declaring money, power and government "fraudulent and false gods," and that "the real substance of life has nothing to do with money or power or prestige or greatness."
The message ends: "To gain your life is to lose it. To lose your life is to gain it. The life you live is not your own. Give your life away."
Read the full piece, relabelled with the headline "Stop repeating the heresy of declaring the United States a 'Christian nation,'" here.
