I may not be perfect, but at least I never propped up men who spread hatred or racism as Godly. And honestly, that bar should be embarrassingly low. Yet here we are, in an era where people are eager to slap the label of “Christian values” onto anyone who can rattle off a few Bible verses, no matter how far their actions stray from the life of Christ.
It’s one thing to be flawed—we all are. It’s another thing entirely to sanctify cruelty, to crown men who deal in division as moral leaders, to call hate “holy” because it’s dressed up in religious language. That’s not imperfection. That’s complicity.
Somewhere along the way, too many people confused volume for conviction and branding for belief. They mistook men who parroted God’s name for prophets, when in reality they were nothing more than opportunists with microphones. They applauded arrogance as if it were strength, and exclusion as if it were righteousness. They elevated men whose every action betrayed the gospel they claimed to defend.
But here’s the truth: calling something “Christian” doesn’t make it Christlike. Christ stood with the poor, the outcast, the marginalized. Christ tore through the hypocrisy of religious elites who performed piety in public while rotting with corruption in private. Christ never cloaked himself in power to exploit the weak. To take His name and attach it to men who do the opposite is not just misguided—it’s blasphemy.
So no, I don’t need to be perfect. I don’t need to posture as morally untouchable. I just need to hold myself to one simple standard: never confuse hate for holiness, never mistake bigotry for bravery, and never sanctify men whose lives look nothing like the Christ they claim.
If that’s the bar, I’ll take it. Imperfect as I am, at least I know the difference between God and a grift.
