Bill Penzey's Easter Message

Bill Penzey has continued to spew his politics and attack his political opponents while hawking his spices.

I don't waste my time drawing attention to every goofy thing Penzey says.

However, Penzey really goes off the rails with his "Easter" message.

Here it is:

Easter, the Now Holiday!


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For a while now, Penzeys has stayed away from religion, because let's face it, religion is tricky. Just like pretty much anything that tries and succeeds in promoting good, religion is constantly under assault from those who would undermine the public good for their own gain. In Jesus's time, it was the money changers, and in many ways it was Jesus driving them out of the temple that put the events of Easter in motion. These days, from the number of churches that cloak themselves in the symbols of Christ, but use their pulpit to preach tax cuts for the rich funded by denying health care for the poor, it's clear that at least in some branches, it's the money changers who have driven out the teachings of Jesus.

Over the centuries, of all the religious holidays, Easter somehow seems to be the easiest to misuse. The "Let's all pound Cloves into hams and blame the Jewish people for Jesus" approach to Easter has always seemed totally at odds to me with the life of Jesus, the heart of religion, and the kindness that is cooking. It does appear to be a regularly recurring theme that those who seek to use religion to undermine goodness, constantly divide and dehumanize. And as great as it would be if those who work to corrupt the love and kindness at the heart of religion would simply go away if we continued to ignore them, ignoring them isn't going to solve the problem, not in our lifetimes anyway. The time has come to roll up our sleeves and get involved.

So Easter—The Now Holiday! Each year as winter gives way to spring there is the hope that comes as the past gives birth to the future. In nature, the past fading to make way for the future is a gradual, natural process. For us humans it's a little bit more complex. For us, so much of creating an ever better future is choosing the right pieces to leave behind. And as much as this process has always been a debate, these days the question of what to leave behind seems so much more confrontational. This divide now seems to be very much along that same political divide that's been fueled by unlimited corporate spending in American elections. I don't think this is a coincidence.

Where do we look for advice on the path forward? I believe some of the most sane voices in these last few months have come from interfaith councils. Maybe the time has come to reach out and build bridges with, and between, all the religions around us. And yes, those who seek to misuse religion will say that having faith means preserving the institutions of inequality from centuries past. But for honest leaders of faith, there is the belief that faith itself is a path to equality. These leaders have always been at the front of the march for bringing to an end discrimination by gender, by orientation, by race, by gender identity, and for tolerance of religion and respect for immigrants and refugees as well.

This Easter it's time for all of us who believe in fairness and equality to join the struggle to leave inequality in the past to make way for a better future where opportunity is open to all. It's time to respect everyone's choices when it comes to faith, and stand together in the effort to drive out those forces that seek to divide us. We are allies. This spring let's come together and make a difference.

Penzey's ramblings are embarrassing.

This paragraph is really nuts:

Over the centuries, of all the religious holidays, Easter somehow seems to be the easiest to misuse. The "Let's all pound Cloves into hams and blame the Jewish people for Jesus" approach to Easter has always seemed totally at odds to me with the life of Jesus, the heart of religion, and the kindness that is cooking. It does appear to be a regularly recurring theme that those who seek to use religion to undermine goodness, constantly divide and dehumanize. And as great as it would be if those who work to corrupt the love and kindness at the heart of religion would simply go away if we continued to ignore them, ignoring them isn't going to solve the problem, not in our lifetimes anyway. The time has come to roll up our sleeves and get involved.

"Let's all pound Cloves into hams and blame the Jewish people for Jesus."

Yes, that's how Christians celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Bill.

Penzey claims to be all about getting along and tolerance and coming together while he goes on the attack and speaks divisively. Penzey divides and dehumanizes while accusing others of doing exactly that.

It's an approach some Leftists apparently believe effectively promotes their agenda.

They're wrong.