In light of how our neighbor and the least of these are being treated in the United States, the idea of the United States being a Christian nation is debatable if not down right laughable. People are rightfully concerned about what a theocracy means for the country, but there ought to be concern about what it means for Christianity. In my opinion Christianity is complicated and the best metaphor for it is an onion. What began as an adjective describing a group of people became a religion, an institution, and for some even a faith. The issue is made even more complicated because what is religion, institution, and faith is not well understood.

Nearly everyone overloads the definition of religion. My understanding the root of the word is the same as of ligament, therefore one can view religion as a re-connecting or maybe better a re-binding. Notice the "re" portion of the word that suggests a "redo" of something that already exists. I think religion is simply a special form of tribalism that incorporates gods.

In a world full of predators a human cannot survive well or for long on their own, so humans bound themselves together for safety. A friend is a member of my tribe, a foe is someone who is not a member of my tribe. Tribes not only provide safety but also friends and thus they meet our basic needs for safety and socialism. Tribes operate within quid pro quo, your safety is provided so long as you contribute to the safety of the others in the tribe, you must be loyal to your tribe.

Authoritarians of all stripes are driven by their ego and their need for control and recognition creates a desire to rule the tribe, which they do by demanding loyalty to themselves while using loyalty to the tribe as proxy. Religion as a fusion of tribe with god makes it the ultimate tool for authoritarians. All empires of the world use religion to rule because if the ruler is god ordained then questioning their rule is questioning god and who dares to question god? Religions demand loyalty, evidenced by the the existence of excommunication as a consequence of one's disloyalty.

Did Jesus create a religion, and is that religion Christianity? Religion at the time of Jesus was used by the Roman Empire and the Jewish leaders to rule, to create insiders and outsiders, and was viewed as a gatekeeper to God. I see Jesus in the Gospels being critical of the religion of his day most represented by the Temple. I think the Gospel of Mark shows this best in Chapter 11 that tells us about Jesus entering the temple for the first time. Verses 12-14 has Jesus apparently being hungry, going to a fig tree and finding no fruit says to the tree "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." Next in verses 15-17 Jesus is in the temple and basically says that rather than it servings its intended purpose of being a house of prayer for all peoples it has become a hiding place for an exclusive group of people. Finally verses 20 says, "Next morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered to the roots." Mark uses a technique here where verses 12-14 and verse 20 explains what the verses between is about. For me this is a critique of the temple religion that had become something other than its original purpose.

I do not see in the gospels that Jesus created nor intended the creation of a religion, in fact doing so would run counter to the alternate to the norm of civilization that Jesus proclaimed that he called the kingdom of God. But if not religion, what did Jesus create? In this article intended to answer the question "Do Christians and Muslims worship the same God?" I found the best answer I've come across to date:

“Religion is needed where there is a wall of separation between God and man,” Schmemann wrote. “But Christ who is both God and man broke down the wall between man and God. He has inaugurated a new life, not a new religion.”

In other words, Jesus removes the needs for tribes and religion and that happens through a loving relationship. Love requires freedom, so it is the opposite of binding oneself to anything. Love is not forced like the tribe and authoritarian's demands for loyalty, it is fallen in to. A relationship with a God who is love can never be abused in the ways that one's relationship to a religion and it's leaders can be abused.

Not all religion, like not all tribes, are bad and in fact may be necessary for fundamental understanding just like our ego is necessary for our survival. Religion is a means to an end and when not properly understood it can impede our ability to live the life of Jesus that God desires for us. When religion is fused with the state such as Christian Nationalism it creates an idol and doing is the exact opposite of what Jesus intended.