During the Super Bowl, a very well-funded group ran an ad showing conservatives abasing themselves before leftist victim classes, with the tagline “He gets us,” with the “He” referring to Jesus. The message was clear: Whatever traditionalists say about Christ’s teachings is wrong. Leftists are morally and doctrinally correct, and it’s time for Christianity to get with the program. That’s not the only assault 2024 has on traditional Christian beliefs. Rob Reiner has a movie coming out challenging so-called “Christian Nationalism” and substituting leftism in its place.

Four things to get out of the way before I get to the meat of this post.

First, before he was politicized, Rob Reiner directed some wonderful movies, most notably The Princess Bride and This Is Spinal Tap. Others are fond of When Harry Met Sally… and Misery. By 1995, though, with The American President, Reiner stopped being concerned with his artistic vision, which was lovely and started becoming politicized. It went downhill after that.

Second, the interview, which runs in Newsweek, is kind of incoherent because it’s not really an interview. Instead, it’s an insider conversation between two leftists who are less interested in informing people and more interested in proselytizing their utter dislike for Christians who believe in the Gospels as written and hating on Trump. As best as I can tell, H. Alan Scott, the interviewer, is a gay man and drag queen who was raised as a Mormon and converted to uber-reform Judaism.

Third, regarding that Judaism, Reiner acknowledges that, although born Jewish, he was raised secularly and, as noted, you can bet that Scott’s conversion wasn’t through a conservative or Orthodox congregation. What’s important to understand is that people who identify as both Jewish and leftist are exactly as committed to the Old Testament as people who identify as Christian and leftist are committed to the Gospels.

Image: Rob Reiner. YouTube screen grab.

That is, they drape themselves in Biblical garments and then relentlessly fold, spindle, and mutilate traditional doctrines to accommodate their leftist beliefs. There are a lot of self-identified Jews on the left, but you might more accurately call them “Jews In Name Only” because, while they like throwing around Yiddish words and fasting on Yom Kippur, they have no interest in core religious values. It’s performative. Many are actually well-meaning but can be easily controlled by their fear of another Holocaust.

Fourth, because both men are leftists first and religious…well, not at all, no matter what they call themselves, their goal, as with all leftists, is to change what it means to be religious. The moral precepts of the Bible (both Old and New Testaments) must be rewritten to accommodate their true theology, which is wokism.

So, now to the interview. As I noted, it’s a slog. Distilled to its essence, it really does boil down to saying that Trump is a bad man, the Christians who support him are bad people, and these same Christians are not only probable white supremacists, but they don’t understand Jesus’s message. And what was Jesus’s message? Inclusion. Or, as Reiner says,

So I thought, boy, this movement that they have here seems completely antithetical to the teachings of Jesus. Jesus was about peace and love and helping thy neighbor and those less fortunate than ourselves. And I thought that was something that we should all aspire to. So to me this movement is going totally opposite the teachings of Jesus.

Naturally, the movie, which seemingly castigates traditional Christians as one step away from Hitlerism, complete with race hate and homophobia, isn’t meant to offend. According to Reiner, it’s meant to “spawn a discussion.” That’s how leftists think. You tell people they’re irredeemably evil and then say, “Let’s discuss it.”

Honestly, you have to read the interview for yourself to appreciate how completely loopy it is. It throws Reagan, Brown v. Board of Education, abortion, Christian nationalism, patriotism (a bad thing because it’s tied to conservative Christian ideas), integration, Trump cultism, and everything else into an incoherent pot. Get rid of traditional Christianity, and you will save democracy!

The best I can offer is the movie’s trailer, which makes it very clear that the only good version of Christianity is one that strips away entirely the Bible’s moral teachings and ends up with “love” (a funny concept when you think how much Democrats hate Trump supporters) and “inclusion.”

There’s an old expression, “If the mountain won’t come to Mohamed, then Mohamed must go to the mountain.” (For example, you’ll find a variant in Jane Eyre, chapter 12.) Leftists have concluded that Christians aren’t going to change. Therefore, they’re going to change Christianity. The important thing to focus on is that this isn’t about faith; this is about control.