Three Wins Today: Sept 9, 2025
It's way past time to accept that religion isn't evil
Today James Talerico, a Presbyterian seminarian, and a Texas State Rep, announced his candidacy as a Democrat for US Senate, so it felt like a great time to have a conversation about the left and it’s hatred of religion.
There is this pervasive idea, on the left, that religion is the root of all evil. And when I try to push back on that, the response is, “okay I didn’t mean all religion, I just meant all forms of Christianity.”
So let’s really look at that.
There are 10,000 religions in the world, only 12 of those are considered major.
But let’s say you just mean Christianity is evil. There are 45,000 denominations of Christianity. There are more Christian denominations than there are other religions in the world.
And you can’t possibly know what all of them value, what their morals are, or what they preach.
The vast majority of people who act like if you’re not an atheist you can’t be a true leftist left one single denomination of Christianity: White Southern Evangelical.
It is valid to name a specific denomination, or better yet, a specific church, and say they teach hate. It is not valid to lump 45,000 other denominations and 10,000 other religions in with that.
2/3 of today’s Three Wins come from Christianity. And that is happening at least once a week. Religion, at it’s heart is supposed to be about making the world a better place. In Hebrew we call it Tikkun Olam, which means repairing the world, in other languages, teachings, cultures and religions it’s called something else, but the concept is the same.
We are on this earth to leave it better than how we found it. And when you write off any religion, you are taking away their voice, as a community, to do that work.
If you’re not specific in directing your anger and frustration, you’re inflating your own ego and silencing the rest of us, no matter how good the work we’re doing is.
STOP IT!
New Mexico
Fri, Aug 29 - Health Secretary Gina DeBlassie issued a public health order removing all barriers for anyone over six month to receive the COVID vaccine:
It’s important for New Mexicans to know the New Mexico Department of Health is committed to keeping residents safe as we enter the 2025 – 2026 respiratory virus season. This order will remove obstacles to vaccination access.
I know a lot of states are doing this, but I feel like the focus is mostly on the Western Health Alliance and the Northeast, so I wanted to just show that it really is happening everywhere.
And a reminder that this is the work of our Democrats, so maybe don’t say Dems suck and aren’t meeting the moment.
Vatican City
Fri, Sept 5 - This year is the Catholic Jubilee, which is a pilgrimage of various groups to the Vatican that takes place every 25 years. This year’s Jubilee is titled “Pilgramage of Hope,” and, for the first time ever, there was a semi-official LGBTQ Jubilee. They were not invited to “receive a dedicated Papal audience” but they weren’t shut down either. The executive director of New Ways Ministry told the National Catholic Reporter:
Not only are LGBTQ people marching and walking to say that they're part of the church, but official church institutions are welcoming them and helping them to tell their stories. The fact that [Leo] has not clamped down on this pilgrimage, which I think previous popes might have done, is really a sign of great welcome.
This comes after Father James Martin, a queer ally, did get a meeting with Pope Leo last week.
It seems like things are continuing to change at the Catholic Church, slowly, but surely.
Arlington, Virgina
Tue, Aug 19 - I know this was too weeks ago, but I can’t let this story just die without getting national attention. The Arlington Presbyterian Church, led by Reverend Ashley Goff joined with local artist Sushmita Mazumdar to create Stumbling Stickers, inspired by the Arlington Stumbling Stones, which were put in place in March, and mark where enslaved people lived. The Stumbling Stickers are more temporary but serve a similar purpose, marking where immigrants were arrested by ICE.
Rev Goff told ARLNow:
This is about a public sign that harm has been done here, and that people are still grieving. People are still resisting. We name what happens with this sticker. We set an intention about how we want to keep showing up as neighbors.
It’s just another example of the power of one. Another creative way to raise awareness and resist.
These wins aren’t all from this week, but, I think they’re too important not to highlight.
Our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!
I love the idea of the stickers. It's a little like the roadside shrines that people put up after a fatal accident. If these went up everywhere it would be a powerful demonstration of just how ICE is devastating our communities. Is there a way to find out where all the raids have been?
I'm pretty secular, but blanket hostility toward religion rubs me the wrong way, and I tend to push back on it when I find it. When I do, I often find what you mention here, that the hostility is toward Christianity and Christian ideas of how stuff works. That bugs me even more! The rest of us are out here!