Joe Smith
@therealjoesmith.bsky.social
I help lead an open & affirming church in Gainesville, FL called Shift GNV & host the Shift Happens podcast. Married for 20+ years w/ two awesome kids.
https://linktr.ee/therealjoesmith
https://linktr.ee/therealjoesmith
History shows us what happens when death becomes entertainment: Rome’s crosses. America’s lynching trees. Each one dressed up as “justice,” but really tools of terror.
✍️ I wrote about this in my latest Substack: The Dangerous Fantasy of Televised Executions. 👉 Link in bio to read.
✍️ I wrote about this in my latest Substack: The Dangerous Fantasy of Televised Executions. 👉 Link in bio to read.
September 25, 2025 at 4:21 PM
History shows us what happens when death becomes entertainment: Rome’s crosses. America’s lynching trees. Each one dressed up as “justice,” but really tools of terror.
✍️ I wrote about this in my latest Substack: The Dangerous Fantasy of Televised Executions. 👉 Link in bio to read.
✍️ I wrote about this in my latest Substack: The Dangerous Fantasy of Televised Executions. 👉 Link in bio to read.
Stephen Miller isn’t a builder of worlds. He isn’t shaping history.
He’s a side note. An asterisk in the Trump years. If his name shows up in textbooks, it will be in the footnotes of America’s ugliest chapters.
open.substack.com/pub/therealj...
He’s a side note. An asterisk in the Trump years. If his name shows up in textbooks, it will be in the footnotes of America’s ugliest chapters.
open.substack.com/pub/therealj...
September 22, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Stephen Miller isn’t a builder of worlds. He isn’t shaping history.
He’s a side note. An asterisk in the Trump years. If his name shows up in textbooks, it will be in the footnotes of America’s ugliest chapters.
open.substack.com/pub/therealj...
He’s a side note. An asterisk in the Trump years. If his name shows up in textbooks, it will be in the footnotes of America’s ugliest chapters.
open.substack.com/pub/therealj...
If your theology protects pastors over children, demands purity from teens while excusing predators, and calls itself holy while covering harm—let it die. Some things need to die so something honest can rise. Something that actually looks like Jesus.
May 14, 2025 at 10:59 AM
If your theology protects pastors over children, demands purity from teens while excusing predators, and calls itself holy while covering harm—let it die. Some things need to die so something honest can rise. Something that actually looks like Jesus.
This can’t be real,” I say for the 700th time, knowing full well that it is, in fact, very real and very stupid.
March 6, 2025 at 2:04 PM
This can’t be real,” I say for the 700th time, knowing full well that it is, in fact, very real and very stupid.
If your faith leads you to fight for the right to hit disabled kids but not to feed the hungry ones in the lunchroom, then it’s not Christ you’re following.
March 4, 2025 at 4:35 AM
If your faith leads you to fight for the right to hit disabled kids but not to feed the hungry ones in the lunchroom, then it’s not Christ you’re following.
“Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.”
Dr. King Jr.
Dr. King Jr.
March 2, 2025 at 12:18 PM
“Any religion that professes to be concerned about the souls of men and is not concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them and the social conditions that cripple them is a spiritually moribund religion awaiting burial.”
Dr. King Jr.
Dr. King Jr.
Why do they always have Jesus is king or Jesus is lord in their bios? What is it about this strain of Christianity that feels entitled or empowered to be such jack wagons?
February 25, 2025 at 3:37 PM
Why do they always have Jesus is king or Jesus is lord in their bios? What is it about this strain of Christianity that feels entitled or empowered to be such jack wagons?
Hey @coreysnathan.bsky.social thanks for the book recommendation. How to Know a Person by David Brooks is fantastic!
February 24, 2025 at 3:40 PM
Hey @coreysnathan.bsky.social thanks for the book recommendation. How to Know a Person by David Brooks is fantastic!
Empires build themselves on fear and chaos, but they always fall. Every single one. They burn bright, but they burn out. Stay grounded. Stay focused. Love doesn’t need to be loud to win—it just needs to endure.
February 21, 2025 at 1:32 PM
Empires build themselves on fear and chaos, but they always fall. Every single one. They burn bright, but they burn out. Stay grounded. Stay focused. Love doesn’t need to be loud to win—it just needs to endure.
This is what happens when Christianity is co-opted by empire. A government that boasts about chains is a government that has lost its soul. And a church that remains silent has lost its witness.
February 20, 2025 at 2:12 PM
This is what happens when Christianity is co-opted by empire. A government that boasts about chains is a government that has lost its soul. And a church that remains silent has lost its witness.
White Christian nationalism is obsessed with controlling LGBTQ+ people. They’d rather legislate suffering than face the truth:
Queer people exist, thrive, and belong fully in the image of God.
Queer people exist, thrive, and belong fully in the image of God.
February 19, 2025 at 2:39 PM
White Christian nationalism is obsessed with controlling LGBTQ+ people. They’d rather legislate suffering than face the truth:
Queer people exist, thrive, and belong fully in the image of God.
Queer people exist, thrive, and belong fully in the image of God.
Christian leaders once said interracial marriage would destroy society. Now they say the same about trans rights.
If history teaches us anything, it’s this: The people screaming the loudest about “protecting the children” are often the ones we should be protecting them from.
If history teaches us anything, it’s this: The people screaming the loudest about “protecting the children” are often the ones we should be protecting them from.
February 18, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Christian leaders once said interracial marriage would destroy society. Now they say the same about trans rights.
If history teaches us anything, it’s this: The people screaming the loudest about “protecting the children” are often the ones we should be protecting them from.
If history teaches us anything, it’s this: The people screaming the loudest about “protecting the children” are often the ones we should be protecting them from.
Imagine sitting in church yesterday, hands raised in worship, while defending policies that kill the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized. Jesus wouldn’t be in that pew—he’d be the one those policies are crushing.
February 17, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Imagine sitting in church yesterday, hands raised in worship, while defending policies that kill the poor, the oppressed, and the marginalized. Jesus wouldn’t be in that pew—he’d be the one those policies are crushing.
Singing praises to Jesus while supporting policies that destroy lives is the modern version of the priests saying, “We have no king but Caesar.” (John 19:15)
February 16, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Singing praises to Jesus while supporting policies that destroy lives is the modern version of the priests saying, “We have no king but Caesar.” (John 19:15)
He who saves his country does not violate any law” is not patriotism—it’s a confession of corruption. It’s the lie every tyrant tells before they seize total power. And if Christians defend it, we are no longer standing with Christ—we are standing with empire.
February 15, 2025 at 9:30 PM
He who saves his country does not violate any law” is not patriotism—it’s a confession of corruption. It’s the lie every tyrant tells before they seize total power. And if Christians defend it, we are no longer standing with Christ—we are standing with empire.
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has anointed me to protect the powerful, to ensure the rich get richer, to cast out the immigrant, and to silence the oppressed.
1/
1/
February 14, 2025 at 1:51 PM
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, he has anointed me to protect the powerful, to ensure the rich get richer, to cast out the immigrant, and to silence the oppressed.
1/
1/
Sometimes, the most radical thing we can do is keep the door open.
To stay soft, even when it hurts.
To stay soft, even when it hurts.
February 12, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Sometimes, the most radical thing we can do is keep the door open.
To stay soft, even when it hurts.
To stay soft, even when it hurts.
It’s deeply problematic when Christians claim they should be hated and persecuted simply because Jesus said, “The world will hate you because of me.” This mindset doesn’t just misinterpret scripture—it reinforces toxic, cult-like behaviors that thrive on isolation and animosity. 1/
February 11, 2025 at 12:17 PM
It’s deeply problematic when Christians claim they should be hated and persecuted simply because Jesus said, “The world will hate you because of me.” This mindset doesn’t just misinterpret scripture—it reinforces toxic, cult-like behaviors that thrive on isolation and animosity. 1/
Polarization happens when we replace people with caricatures. When faith is used to draw battle lines instead of building bridges, it stops being faith and starts being ideology.
February 10, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Polarization happens when we replace people with caricatures. When faith is used to draw battle lines instead of building bridges, it stops being faith and starts being ideology.
LEAVE. TRANS. KIDS. THE. HELL. ALONE.
That’s it. That’s the post.
That’s it. That’s the post.
February 9, 2025 at 8:48 PM
LEAVE. TRANS. KIDS. THE. HELL. ALONE.
That’s it. That’s the post.
That’s it. That’s the post.
Had a video or two go crazy on Tik Tok & IG. So many loving comments and those are the majority. But (and that’s a BIG but) lots of “Christians” saying just awful things. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest but what makes them act that way? What about their system makes that the default response?
February 8, 2025 at 7:13 PM
Had a video or two go crazy on Tik Tok & IG. So many loving comments and those are the majority. But (and that’s a BIG but) lots of “Christians” saying just awful things. It doesn’t bother me in the slightest but what makes them act that way? What about their system makes that the default response?
If your faith needs government protection, it’s not faith—it’s fear. The gospel doesn’t need an executive order. It needs people living out love, justice, and humility. Christians, we must call this out.
This not just bad politics. It’s blasphemy.
This not just bad politics. It’s blasphemy.
February 7, 2025 at 2:29 AM
If your faith needs government protection, it’s not faith—it’s fear. The gospel doesn’t need an executive order. It needs people living out love, justice, and humility. Christians, we must call this out.
This not just bad politics. It’s blasphemy.
This not just bad politics. It’s blasphemy.
The president’s executive order is a bold move to protect women’s sports from (checks math again)… 0.002% of athletes.
Truly, the biggest threat of our time.
Truly, the biggest threat of our time.
February 6, 2025 at 10:03 PM
The president’s executive order is a bold move to protect women’s sports from (checks math again)… 0.002% of athletes.
Truly, the biggest threat of our time.
Truly, the biggest threat of our time.
If your faith doesn’t compel you to speak out against this kind of blatant racism and sexism, it’s time to re-evaluate. Silence isn’t neutrality. Silence sides with oppression.
February 6, 2025 at 2:45 PM
If your faith doesn’t compel you to speak out against this kind of blatant racism and sexism, it’s time to re-evaluate. Silence isn’t neutrality. Silence sides with oppression.
“Love your neighbor” wasn’t a suggestion. It wasn’t conditional. It wasn’t meant to be debated. If your theology lets you ignore suffering, your theology is broken.
February 5, 2025 at 5:47 PM
“Love your neighbor” wasn’t a suggestion. It wasn’t conditional. It wasn’t meant to be debated. If your theology lets you ignore suffering, your theology is broken.