by the dominant empire of his time at the behest of local religious authorities. The figure whose nominal birthday is being commemorated today did NOT have anything to say about homosexuality, and the most noteworthy Gospel account about Jesus and sexual morality was his single-handedly saving an accused adulteress from death by stoning*.
I don’t have time today to cite Gospel excerpts, but Jesus left no doubt about his views on wealth and poverty or his views on the use of force. As is evidenced by his chasing the money-changers from the temple precincts with a whip, he wasn’t exactly fond of the financial “industry” of his time. As per Acts of the Apostles his followers practiced a form of socialism that, I suspect, is never mentioned in your typical suburban megachurch:
The congregation of believers was one in heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they owned.
The NRA, a $738bn “defense” budget, a tax code visibly skewed towards large corporations and the wealthy, the predominance of FIRE, and pretty much the entire platform of one of our political parties have as much to do with the Gospel message as Donald Trump has to do with Constitutional government. Those fundamental facts should not be forgotten today.
*There is no account about what punishment the male participant was supposed to suffer.