Torture: To Sin Against God

Follow some simple logic with me now:

The ultimate message of Jesus is love. Jesus wanted his followers to be loving.
Hurting people is not loving.
Therefore, Jesus did not want his followers hurting people.

Torture hurts people. If we follow Jesus, we cannot torture. If we torture, we are not following Jesus.

See how this works?

It is very simple. It does not matter what evil a person has done. It does not matter if they are a sociopath. Torture is inexcusable. Torture is anti-Christian. Every time. All the time.

If we are to love our neighbors, and our neighbors are even those culture tells us to hate, we cannot torture. The moment you torture - The moment you commit violence or cruelty against a fellow human - you have turned against God. You have turned against Jesus. You have begun your own descent into wretchedness.

Instead, forgive your neighbor. Treat them as you would a friend or a sibling or your own beloved child. Show them the path of love and compassion. This is the will of God. Do this, and God's light is realized in you. There is nothing more beautiful. There is nothing more Christian.

Let It Shine

I have to help us all with something...to remind myself and everyone:

The world is dark. There are many evils here, but there are twice as many beauties, wonders, and joys.

The smallest things give us delight: a flower, a good meal, a soft clean shirt, a laugh, a smile, a hug from a friend. We create beautiful things. We imagine true marvels. We give deeply of our spirits, changing everything we touch.

True the night is long in winter, but dawn comes. A new birth is around the corner. This is not the end of things. Do not be blinded by darkness. Do not miss the beauty and joy around you. Do not forget you are loved. Keep these things in your heart. Carry them in your thoughts.

Each one of us holds God's spark. Do not smother it. Hold it against the darkness, in concert with so many sparks. Let it be a great flame - a burning sun - casting rays across the world. Let your love, beauty, and joy fill that light. Let it shine.

Jesus Was a Feminist

Everyone. Not one group. Not some groups. Not even most people. All people.

I thought this conversation was antiquated. I thought it was a no-brainer. Why would we be having this conversation now? Why is it even an issue? I don't know, but apparently it still is. I am thinking in particular about sexism, though it is also an issue with sexuality, race, and socio-economics (why do we have to talk about this again?).

Let me first present the Christian argument for equality.

Whatever argument one makes about the Old Testament scripture is invalid. Remember that was the Old Covenant and Jesus' message is the New Covenant. Therefore Jesus' message supersedes any law or principles in the Old Testament.

Now, let's also consider the fact that the Bible is a collection of texts deemed important by a group of men during a time when equality was an incredibly radical concept. Let's also remember these texts a're translations and some words have been extrapolated or reinterpreted and many translations borrow cultural concepts from previous ones.

So...with all those caveats...

Jesus, during a time when men were considered more important than women, spent time with women. The woman at the well is often cited as the first missionary. Women stayed at the cross when the male disciples fled. Women went to the tomb and saw Jesus first. Jesus held up the marginalized as important - as worthy of attention and value. He spent as much time with children, lepers, and women as he did anyone else. His actions say it all - we are all equal in the eyes of God. We all are valuable and deserving.

Some will say, but Jesus was a man. Yes. Jesus did have a penis. But let's remember the time - would a Jesusita been received as well? Had as great an impact? No. A woman wouldn't have been listened to in the same way as a man during that period. The argument that because Jesus is a man that leadership should be male is based on false logic.

And this is a different day in a different age.

So I say again, why are we even having this conversation?

The Blessing of Pride: Churches Coming Out

Last night I attended a little panel discussion at my church given by Pacific Pride. There were a few things that stood out about the panel to me.

First, the panelists all had some connection to faith. Generally this was something in the past (and had left scars) and more rarely, it was something in the present.

Second, there were only two panelists who were around my age (actually younger), and the rest were significantly older. The point was made throughout the evening that experiences of LGBTQ people are divided generationally. The experiences of the older panelists were radically different from the younger ones, and certainly different compared to the experiences of my LGBTQ friends.

Third, there was a theme of self exploration and the encouragement of self exploration, not only in relation to personal gender identity, but across the board (As an INFJ personality, I can't agree more!).

And finally, there was a theme of coming out and welcoming.

This last one is what I really want to talk about because it points to several issues in the church. While the panelists asserted that no church should have to "come out" in support of any group of people (see: the message of Jesus), without this act, the very people a church seeks to help will be unwelcome.

In other words, a church must take an open stand, or come out, in order to be recognized as a welcoming place.

There are so many churches in this world that do not take stands on issues. If a person were to call and ask a "closeted" church if they were welcoming of a given group of people, it is hard to know how they would respond. The reality is, most people wouldn't ask, and it isn't their responsibility to ask.

The Church is meant to be a witness to the world. The Church is meant to declare its stances to the world and defend them, regardless of what other people and institutions think. Inevitably this gets individual churches and the Church as a whole into trouble, but that is what Jesus requires us to do. Sometimes, you just need to flip a table. Sometimes you need to call a person out.

My church in Goleta (or rather my dad's church as I'm slightly transient) has yet to take a stand on this. Part of me understands why the community has been dragging its feet (think: denominational BS). Part. Most of me has no idea why they haven't just come out yet. I mean, how can you have 3 openly gay staff members over the years and NOT openly stand up for them?! That's crazy! 

My only guess is it is fear - fear about the unknown - about what will happen if they make a stand. But here's the thing: fear isn't a good enough reason to stop from doing something. Jesus tells us not to be afraid. God tells us not to be afraid, but to step out in faith, and act according to God's will. All God's children deserve love, community, welcoming, and nurturing.

I don't think there's any question here - it's time to come out.

Atheists Worship Satan and Other Myths

I get that a lot of people don't care for religion. After all, it is an institution. Institutions are created by people. People are flawed and therefore, their creations are flawed. Combine this with the fact institutions are often interested in self-preservation and such pursuits rarely benefit people, and yes, it makes sense. Hating religion makes sense to me.

Hell. Even I hate religion sometimes. And I'm a believer.

That said, it drives me CRAZY when generalizations are made about religion - especially statements about it being dumb, irrelevant, hateful, or obnoxious. There are people who are part of all institutions who fit these categories. There are groups within all institutions that fit these categories. All people in a given institution cannot be dumb, useless, etc. The law of statistics asserts it cannot be so. If we lump every person and group together, things get dangerous (you know, like Holocaust dangerous).

It also drives me crazy when people assume the logical counter to religion is atheism (though philosophically it may be), and then proceed to associate the 'Devil' with this mode of thinking.

Note: If you believe in the Devil, you cannot be atheist. Atheism is, by definition, the belief that there is no god - none of any kind. The Devil would qualify as a deity or god in this situation. People who worship Satan are actually Satan worshippers or Devil worshippers. They aren't even Satanists who are more closely related to atheists...but that is another discussion entirely...

I say all this because someone - I think an attendee to my brother's wedding - decided to leave a confused note on the comment card at my parents' church. It was probably a confused teen, because I hope no thoughtful person over 30 would waste a non-profit organization's resources by leaving a confused anti-religious comment on a card while attending a wedding.

Too bad that person hadn't been raised in a church. Maybe they would have been a little more respectful to the community who spent time and money on communication materials.

Is SCOTUS for Discrimination?

I know you wanted to read my response to the SCOTUS Hobby Lobby ruling. I'm slow...so here it finally is:

I thank God every day for separation of church and state. I also thank God for how blessed  I am to live in a place where I am not discriminated against (so says the law) because of my religious beliefs. I mean, you can be Sikh in our army and wear a full beard and a turban. That's awesome!

I'm also thankful that I live in a place that my opinions (and therefore beliefs) are protected in the public space.

Have you seen the problem yet? I'm a little surprised the majority of the justices didn't.

By saying that companies can impose their religious beliefs on their workers through health insurance, we have opened up the doors to a mess of issues.

What if someone eats beef? Must they stop if they work for a Hindu? What if someone needs a blood transfusion? Must they find alternative treatments if they work for a Jehovah's Witness? What if a woman needs hormonal birth control to treat other health issues and works for some place like Hobby Lobby? What if a woman needs a dead fetus removed from her womb? Is that not covered when she works for certain Christian organizations?!

And this doesn't stop there. Since this is my faith blog, I won't touch the fact the Supreme Court is attacking female reproductive rights and female health yet again...

The issue we need to discuss here is the erosion of nondiscrimination. Necessarily individuals will choose to apply to other employment. While this is not technically discrimination, it is in fact. It facilitates work environments that are not friendly to diverse employee demographics. It facilitates segregation. This is counter to the spirit of America.

There is, to put it mildly, no way in Hell I will ever work for nor support Hobby Lobby. Ever. Period.

And as for SCOTUS? I'll pray for wisdom.

Church Attendance: You Need A Date Night

I'm going to be honest here. I totally judge people - and I judge people almost as harshly as I judge myself. It's a fault. I admit it. It's part of my personality (Myers-Briggs got it right with me, that's for sure!).

And what's one of the things I judge people on? It's one of those things that you might think marks me as some kind of strange 21st century-1950s hybrid. Yes. Church attendance.

Everyone who knows anything about relationships knows they take work. Relationships are not easy. They aren't something you can just expect to stay on cloud nine all the time. They require effort. They require commitment.

It's been said that Jesus is like a groom and the Church his bride.

Are you picking up what I'm putting down here?

COMMITMENT.

Faith takes commitment. It is a daily thing. It requires effort. It requires active participation. When your girlfriend, lover, spouse, partner comes home that day, you don't ignore them. You talk to them. You do chores around the house. You help pay bills. You have a regular date night.

Think of attending church, or temple, or mosque as your weekly date night. Because that's what it is. It's part of your commitment. It's your weekly rejuvenating shot to your spiritual relationship.

What happens when you miss a date night? What happens when you keep missing date nights? You stop connecting with your partner. Your relationship starts to get messy. Maybe you lose a little spark. It fosters discord and dissonance in your relationship. It contributes to creating a negative relationship environment. Maybe it contributes to relationship death.

The same thing happens when you stop going to church or temple. Your connection to God gets a little fuzzy. Your spiritual focus gets lost. An emptiness starts to grow in your heart. A darkness takes root in your spirit. It won't be big at first. You may not even be aware of it, at least at first.

But let me tell you, when you show up to worship that first Sunday after a break, you're going to feel what you were missing. You're going to realize that you were undervaluing your relationship with God and that you lost focus. You're going to realize that Divine relationship is one of the most important things in your life and you need that time. You need to make the time. You need to recommit.

You don't make excuses to ignore your spouse, so stop making excuses not to go to Church.

All God's Children

God doesn't make imperfect babies. That's the gist.

I love babies. I have one of my own. He's sleeping next to me and he is, by and large, perfect. Really. Everyone says so - I'm not joking. I could talk about him all day, but that's not the point. The point is that my baby isn't the only kind out there.

Some babies are born with six fingers. Some are born with an extra chromosome. Some are born missing a chromosome. Some are born without feet. Some are born with pale skin. Some are born with curly hair. Some are born with no hair. Some are born with double joints.

Actually, the possibilities are endless. Even the really horrible ones - like congenital heart defects or spina bifida or a thousand other really awful nail-biting complications....

You know, some babies even have ambiguous genitals.

The fault here isn't with God. A lot of religious people have said it before and I'll say it again - God's creation is beautiful. We're a part of that creation. Everyone. No matter where the person is on whatever spectrum you can name - that person is a part of God's creation.

Part of that creation is experience and human engagement. I think that's part of why we're here on Earth - so that we can be a part of this wonderful beautiful thing. That means sometimes humans must act. God requires us to act. So if that means that some baby was born to feel more female than male and needs to act to engage with creation... then do it. Do it up. Do it beautifully in concert with God. That's God's will.

I can talk about how the Southern Baptists have completely missed the point and are basically denying the existence of the gray inbetween area - that confusing beautiful mess of God's creation. I could talk about how they're trying to redefine standard English word usage and that's the most bullshit ridiculous impossible thing. I can talk about how they're pretending to love when what they're really doing is contributing to self-hatred, depression, and psychological scars that traumatize the marginalized groups of our society. But I won't. I don't think there's any question about all those things and plenty of other people will discuss them.

The only thing I want to make sure people get is the fact that some Baptists think something different. In fact a whole lot of CHRISTIANS think and believe something completely different: God's messy technicolor creation requires human engagement and when that happens, it is rendered even more beautiful. The world is a richer more wonderful place because of difference, and I for one, welcome it.

No Prayer! Why The Supreme Court is Wrong

Prayer should not be in public/government spaces. This is because it gives the impression of endorsing a particular religious view. That can't happen. Church and state need to be separate.

So unless the state starts holding prayers for every religion represented in a given community (which some communities do), I'd prefer government officials didn't encourage religious prayer in government functions.

But then again, what if there was one prayer and it was Buddhist? Or Muslim? Would SCOTUS have come to the same conclusion? I wonder...

While adults should be able to tolerate a prayer by a different religious group, this kind of decision is something that could easily be abused by a majority religious group. It's something that when prayers of a particular group support exclusivity is a real problem in DEMOCRATIC public spaces. What if someone was fundamentalist Muslim and prayed that all the infidels should be converted? What if a charismatic Christian prayed that women should all return to their "rightful" roles as wives and mothers only? Those kinds of prayers are not conducive to openness, dialogue, and debate. They'd make me want to leave.

I don't know about you, but I was under the impression that courts were supposed to protect minorities. I'd rather not go to a public function and be told I was going to hell for speaking my mind and having a uterus - but this could happen with such a decision.

Don't want to legislate prayers? Then say people should have prayers from every religion in a community or NONE AT ALL. Simple. Instead we got a half-ass, support the majority, church-state-mix-a-lot  decision.

Bad form SCOTUS. Bad form.