It’s about time.
Jesus was running a camp for the homeless in Alabama — which sounds exactly like what the reincarnated Jesus would do — when the cops rousted him and his followers, broke up the camp, and arrested many of the people there. Personally, I don’t like the cult thing, but there ought to be a better way to deal with the poor and homeless than arresting for the crime of existing while destitute.
The religious group leader, who described himself to WBRC 6 as “the only begotten son of the living God,” recalled waking up to the warrant being executed after hearing a noise.
Now that part is just weird, but people are allowed to believe weird stuff. It’s not criminal.
The leader also told the outlet that he felt that the authorities’ approach was heavy-handed.
Yes, it was, and totally inappropriate. We live in one of the richest countries in the world, and it is obscene that so many people are forced to live in tents in a forest while Elon Musk is squatting on $700 billion dollars.
But I must remind the current incarnation of “the only begotten son of the living God” that his earlier incarnation was treated rather more harshly than he is. Not that that excuses the cops or the landowner, but we should keep in mind how the unchecked power of the state could be used.
Let Jesus go.
Isn’t there a line like “whatever you did not do for the least of these [disadvantaged people], you did not do for me” said by Jesus? Even if he’s not Jesus, they’re still dissing Jesus by extension.
Matthew 25
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
This sounds serious.
So, I had a job once where we had to fill out a form to say we had been at a monthly meeting, attendance basically. It was all very silly and juvenile and we had to put ‘job description’ as well as ‘job title’. We usually put ‘tech’ and ‘tech’. But one month, I put Supreme Galactic Overlord or some such silliness, just to see if anyone was paying attention. Turns out the state manager was, and I got called into his office and got a very serious talking to about this very serious topic that the company took very seriously, and I should too.
The point is that the Jesus thing is nothing. The racism, in Alabama I suspect is not. This cop is all bastard. I hope his ‘Hi honey, I’m home!’ convo that night was damn uncomfortable, but it probably wasn’t. This precinct (or whatever) oughta be de-funded. The unattended gun oughta be scandalous, tis true, but that’s good ol’ american exceptionalism for ya after all. Although, where are all the religious persecution folks at? Oh racism always has and always will Trump that. Gotcha.
Just another day in the increasingly, militarized, racist as hell, MAGA US with a very slight twist I reckon.
You aren’t getting going to fix homeless through scripture, that’s the point. Live through it and come out better for it. Realize that there is no one but god to help you,
I always hear people trying to fix homeless without ever experiencing it annd anll they do is throw money at it and it doesn’t work. Most have horrible mental health and addiction issues that make it hard to place them, empathy is great, but sometimes it’s what damns them. Have no tolerance and force them to treatment or jail, it sounds cruel but it’s needed.
@4 ducksmcclucken
Australia largely managed to fix homelessness and poverty at about the same time (Top of head, slashed both by %80 or more?) during the worst parts of the COVID pandemic. Increased social security enormously, ie paid people to stay home, and we put a bunch of unhoused people in, get this, houses and hotels. The sky didn’t fall in, and that was for months, ie an economically significant period of time.
Then we stopped. And now people are back to blaming them or their mental health or what have you again. And advocating jail or treatment. Because it’s not cruel it’s the only thing that works. Apart from the other thing that actually did work. Sigh.
Problem I often see with “throwing money at them” in America is undermined by inventing as many expensive bureaucratic barriers as possible to deny them the money.
The last time that I checked there are about fifteen people who that they are Jesus/Son of God.
@RR#6: People will spend an absurd amount of money making sure that those that have the least doesn’t get too much. You can’t have poor people getting anything for free, that’s reserved for the rich.
Well OF COURSE Australia has almost eliminated homelessness!
If the homeless ‘encamped’ in forest/wilderness areas, like those folks in Alabama, they’d run into the many, many deadly fauna native to Australia!
SHEESH!
I did not have ‘John Denver sings anti-fascism songs’ on my 2026 bingo card, yet here he is in 1966 performing Your friendly, liberal, neighborhood KKK. The Mitchell Trio is a bit before my time, but this is sadly still relevant.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J3TcUA5jE6o
Can’t be Jesus, he’s not white and blue-eyed. /s
ducksmcclucken @4: “Realize that there is no one but god to help you,”
What an odd way to proclaim that there is no one to help you, since imaginary critters are always helpless to do anything. Your claim is indistinguishable from what any sociopath, or even psychopaths like Musk* or Mango Mussolini, would also insist on.
*Musk shut down USAID, which will result in the deaths of at least a million of starving children, as well as creating hardships for US farmers who were selling their crops for that purpose. Yet, he insists that he does not understand why so many people hate him, since he “has never hurt anyone”. But his $288M spent on getting a feeble-minded career criminal back into the WH was well spent, since that prearranged deal allowed him to head an illegal non-government agency to fire 10s of thousands of government workers, increasing the Federal government costs instead of eliminating $2T is fraud and waste, like he pretended he wanted to do. And he seriously crippled the agencies investigating him for fraud, eliminating his with over $2T in fines. No one was ever charged or arrested for the fantasy fraud he claimed was occurring. Of course, he also illegally stole IRS and SS data on every US citizen, and even left the stolen records openly available for public access, especially for Russian access. The lists go on.
ducksmcclucken @4: “Have no tolerance and force them to treatment or jail, it sounds cruel but it’s needed.”
Said by someone who has never been homeless. But the homeless really deserves their plight, right?
@ducks: That line, “Realize that there is no one but god to help you,” sounds like a complete abdication of your responsibility to help others and make the world a better place. I’ve encountered it before, and call it “The Gospel of Sloth.”
That’s the reason we are now living in a Christofascist hell world: We allowed people to believe in weird shit like gods, miracles, Creationism, angels, demons, capitalism, white supremacy, psychics, UFOs, Bigfoot, climate change denial, vaccine denial, American exceptionalism, etc..
Maybe we would have Trump and Co. if we legally punished the loons and grifters rather than protecting their bullshit.
Edit: Maybe we wouldn’t…
He’s not white?
Yeah, he absolutely is Jesus. And I’m not at all joking about that. Let the man go. Now.
ducksmcclucken #4
[citations needed]
Akira MacKenzie, repeal the Bill of Rights, repeal it now.
@ 10 Tethys – I was a great fan of the Chad Mitchell Trio, and they did a lot of that, including a version of “The Twelve Days of Christmas” that degenerates into a screaming Nazi frenzy. The only time I saw them live, coincidentally, was in the University of Minnesota, Morris gym in I think 1964. I got John Deutschendorf’s autograph, too!
@6 RR – I am reminded of something Jonathan Kozol once said, with regard to horrible schools in poor neighborhoods. After he gave a talk about the problem, some fatcat came up to him and opined that you can’t fix these problems by throwing money at them. Kozol responded, basically, that we should try it some time and find out.
Akira @15: So if we don’t allow people to believe in weird shit, we’ll have an Atheofascist
hellParadise? How do you go about “not allowing” beliefs you disapprove of?Priorities for celebrities.
Matthew 26:6-13 (NIV)
Interestingly, “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land.” indicates it only applies to Israelites.
Their god for them, not a God for all.
Deuteronomy 15:11
Also, Jesus has been sold: https://www.salon.com/2026/01/04/2-75m-for-jesus-trump-auctions-live-painted-portrait/
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$2.75M for Jesus: Trump auctions live-painted portrait
The live-painted portrait sold for $2.75 million at Mar‑a‑Lago, again blending art, faith and political theater
At his Mar‑a‑Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, President Donald Trump rang in the New Year by auctioning off a live‑painted portrait of Jesus Christ that fetched $2.75 million, according to multiple reports. The artwork, created in real time by Christian artist Vanessa Horabuena, was presented onstage during the gala and witnessed by a high-profile audience of guests.
Akira MacKenzie @15:
Some of these are more dangerous than others.
@chigau 18
Ironically for the original point by Ducks, research has shown that the best way to help homeless people’s mental health is to give them a fucking home. And this works out cheaper than locking them up
Oh, and jail is shown to traumatise people. Plus disabled people are over represented in both the homeless and prison populations