Losing Our Religion

 When I was a kid, I grew up in a house where we went to church each Sunday.

Twice.

My mom, dad and I were members of a Baptist church where we would attend in the morning for Sunday school and the worship service at 11 AM.

Then we were back that evening for an evening service at 7 PM preceded by other activities. For me, Sunday evening was when I was subjected to youth choir practice.

Just want to establish my bonafides that I'm a guy who grew up with the idea that Sundays were for going to church.

The church was part and parcel of my life as much as any habit is formed and codified over the years.

These days, not so much. 

I have over the last few years found the foundations of the church challenged and found wanting.

I am currently a member of a Methodist church which is fairly progressive in it's thinking compared to say your hard core evangelicals. 

But I also know that whenever my shadow did darken the door of the church, I was surrounded by people who did not share my values. 

I was surrounded by people who voted for Donald Trump. 

I was surrounded by people who did not accept my daughter Randie after she came out. 

Oh, every one was chill about it. No one came to church wearing MAGA hats but people talk and I would hear things.

No one got in Randie's face to tell her she was going to hell or something like that but people talk and she would hear things. 

A few years ago when I attended my first gay pride event, I was struck by the overwhelming feelings of love and joy everywhere. Well, everywhere except where the "Christian" protesters showed up.

When I was a child, I may have been naive and blissfully unaware of any darkness in the Christian faith but I knew what Christians are for. Jesus loves you, this I know for the Bible tells me so. 

In recent years, it seems Christians have made more of a name for themselves for what they are against. 

Jesus loves you... but damn you to hell if you

are gay

or trans-gender

or had an abortion

or an illegal immigrant 

or believe climate change is real 

or think social distancing is an effective means to fight the pandemic 

or you think Donald Trump is not a messenger from God but might in fact indeed be a fucking moron

or use the word "fuck" in a sentence.

There seem to be a lot of things that Christians are angry about and are vehemently against. And this anger manifests itself in naked grabs for political power. 

No wonder the Christian church is not very appealing these days.

I will concede that all Christians are not like this. I will even endeavor in the hopeful aspiration at most Christians are not like this. 

But too many are and they have an outsized influence over a faith that I think would not be recognized by the Son of God whose name is above the front door.  

Amanda Marcotte wrote for Salon  about this topic. Here is some of what she had to say: 

The religious right isn't nearly as interested in feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless as much as using religion as an all-purpose excuse to abuse women and LGBTQ people. In an age of growing wealth inequalities, with more and more Americans living hand-to-mouth, many visible religious authorities were using their power to support politicians and laws to take health care access from women and fight against marriage between same-sex couples.

This echoes what I said before, that the Christian church is subsumed more for what it's against than what it's for. And this is has led to a major push for influence over politics, to buttress through conservative courts the harshest edicts against those who are an affront to their faith.

And this effort to bolster the influence of the Christian church through political power is having the opposite effect. 

Here's what Amanda Marcotte said about that in her article for Salon.  

It's a story with a moral so blunt that it could very well be a biblical fable: Christian leaders, driven by their hunger for power and cultural dominance, become so grasping and hypocritical that it backfires and they lose their cultural relevance. 

In short, the new blood needed to sustain any ongoing enterprise is looking at the modern day Christian church and saying no thanks.  

Who needs all that rage and hate and fear? 

A lot of Christians like to think they are under attack. 

Well, they are.

The attack is coming from within.  

Thanks for stopping by. Remember to be good to one another.