That had to have been the case as the South developed a civic religion to justify its racism, and Walter Wink has suggested, rightly so, that there are words of Jesus that some to many Christians are just not going to abide by.

They are definitely difficult and unpleasant sometimes, and for many, the words of Jesus helped create a religion that is weak, as weak as is the concept of democracy.

Many people – on the conservative side – seem to want a king, not a president who follows the commands of God, and on the progressive side, there often seems to be a reluctance to follow Jesus’ distasteful and difficult words, even as they work for justice.

The founders were aware of Christianity and grew up going to church, but they purposefully avoided using the word “God” in the Constitution and many shied away from the notion of and belief in Jesus the Christ as a mystical figure.

The Gospel of Jesus changes lives and creates community, even if the people are reluctant to do so; cultural or civic religion, by contrast, seems to create division as it works to uphold its cultural beliefs in the name of God.