The Gospel is revolutionary.

"Chains shall He break
For the slave is our brother;
And in His Name
All oppression shall cease."

I hope you're all having a very merry Christmas. I'm spending mine with my family, and enjoying their company this winter before I head back out to Nevada to get back to work in the spring. I set this up to autopost when I'll be waking up.

I don't have a whole lot of insight to offer you this morning other than a notion I'll be expanding on in a full-blown essay, maybe even a full-blown book: the Christian gospel is revolutionary. So is the Jewish Law, so is the Muslim sharia, so is the Buddhist Eightfold Path, so is just about any other original religious tradition you can think of. Religions are just metaphysical ideologies, and they spring out of the same conditions that create materialist ideologies like socialism or fascism. Fascism never lasts very long, and neither do fascist religions. Religions that spring from socialist roots outlast them, and religions that retain their socialist roots longer and stronger remain cherished in the heart of the working class all the more for it.

This isn't to say that nothing bad ever happens as a result of religion, or that you must be religious to be socialist, or that the particular metaphysical claims of any given religion must definitely be true. What it is to say is, that Whosoever breaks the chains of the slaves my brothers is my King, and any such Name that would end oppression will forever be upon my lips.

Merry Christmas everyone!