Bigots, Beliefs, and Betterment

The world is complex and beautiful. So are people.

First, faith is not an excuse to be an asshole. Belief, in ANY ideology of ANY kind, does not give you the right to discriminate, to hate, to sadism, to evil.

That is all the self, which uses ideology to justify bad behavior.

Second, I identify with all of the following things:

• pro-choice
• wife
• socialist
• feminist
• mother
• writer
• artist
• spiritual
• political
• teacher
• singer
• social justice activist
• oh...and by the way...Christian.

I mean, the last one is really obvious from this blog (I think anyway) but you may or may not have known about the others. Some of them are innocuous identities (singer generally doesn't rock boats), but others come with a lot of baggage (feminist...for example) and none of them are mutually exclusive.

I repeat: none of these are mutually exclusive.

Life is not 1 or 0 - it does not function in a binary system of states. People are complex and varied. Belief, thought, and associations are fluid. They change. They morph. They are not exclusionary sets.

AND guess what? NO ONE KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT ANYONE.

So much more I have to learn about this guy...

For example, I love my husband, and I learn more about him the longer I'm around him. While I know him well, there is always more about him I can learn. That is part of why I like marriage so much; it gives me an intimate case study in humanity. And believe me, he continues to fascinate after nine years of being a couple and seven of marriage. And he's just one person...so imagine what that means for 7 billion...

Wow. That is mind-blowing to contemplate.

That number just reinforces the lesson I learned through my husband: you don't know shit so don't pretend like you do.

In the last week a lot of good things have happened here in the US, but these events have shown people for who they really are - some showed their bigotry on the right. Others on the left. The thing is, neither one thinks of themselves as such. Both think they're moral. Both are wrong.

Everyone is flawed. Everyone fails sometimes. Everyone has biases and prejudice in their hearts in some shape or form. The best of people recognize it and struggle with it. The worst encourage and entrench it. I hope I do the former and that if I start to slip into the latter, someone compassionately calls me on it to make me better (as we all should).

And...here's the thing...that is okay. It is okay to have these things because this is part of what it means to be human. We are imperfect. And, when we strive to be better, that is good. That is all I ask  - all I wish for humanity.

Accept yourselves where you are and strive to be better.

This is what God wants, or if you don't believe in God, this is the cumulative effort of the human project...so further it. Work on it. Work on yourselves. Check one another. Be examples in your efforts to improve and love.

And to start, remember to hold yourself accountable before you start throwing stones. They could just as easily hit you. I promise to do the same.

Morality, Calling, and Signposts

Bleak? Or a change in the weather?

I am struggling to see the good in the world today. Last night I read another article about another group of politicians intending to hurt people by taking away basic necessities and it kept me awake. It made me physically sick. It made me so angry that someone who claimed to be for family, for God, would do something, even if it is only political strategy, at the expense of people's lives.

There is no excuse.

No major world religion I have read about wants this. And I have read a LOT about gods. I have read a LOT about religion. A LOT. It is one of the things that comes up in my life over and over.

And I love people. I mean, I hate them, but I love them. Sort of like Jonah. Sometimes I don't want to save people from themselves...some of them may not deserve it...but then again, even the worst can repent.

And they should have a chance. But shouldn't there be consequences for hurting thousands of people? Isn't that - more than anything - immoral?

But I cannot focus on this. I cannot keep turning towards this, except as motivation to spur me forward - to create positive change around me. And I am motivated. Everything I read stokes my fire. Every conversation I have pushes me in the same direction.

This past week I met a person who gave me a huge jolt of positive energy. Talking with her affirmed what I am doing. I realized that God wasn't content with closing all the other options, but decided to send me a few more signposts. I received positive responses to my speaking inquiries. I received positive responses to my story from more than one quarter - from friends, strangers, and professional acquaintances.

If there was any doubt, it is gone. Whatever happens from here on out, I am not worried. Whatever happens, at least I know I'm fulfilling my calling. And that is edifying, even as it requires fire.

So You're Circumcised: Following Obsolete Rules

Stained glass: Alfred Handel, d. 1946[2], photo:Toby Hudson - Own work

Typically I don't post more than once a month to this blog. I think there's quite a lot of thoughtful religious people in this world and frankly, I like to spend my writing time focusing on other issues. However every now and then, there is an article or social media post that requires a response. In this case, I am thinking particularly of the flawed theology of conservative Christianity. Ultimately, it has to do with how Christians read the Bible.

While Scripture is a good indication of the message, the vision,  the yearning of God it is not the end all be all. We have to take scripture with a grain of salt because God cannot be contained in words - words are limited. Words are flawed. Words have many connotations, and translations, and interpretations. Words are not enough to explain the Divine. 

When I read conservative Christian arguments about theology, I feel pity. I feel pity because the world they describe is black and white. The world they describe is one of fear, hate, and horror. The god they talk about is one that is limited (Otherwise, how could an opposing entity like the Devil compete with God?).

So often these conservative Christians pick and choose parts of scripture and ignore the covenant by which they are charged to live. It is like that test where the first instruction is to read all of the instructions before doing anything. To pass the test, the only thing you do is to read the rest and complete a single item. The Gospels are like the main instruction for that test - they say to read but not follow the Old Testament. The Old Testament is the Old Covenant. The New Testament is the New Covenant. 

I have never been a Jew. If I was, I would have followed the Old Covenant, which includes the Torah. We cannot be Christian and follow the Old Covenant rules. They do not apply. Anyone who says they do is following a religion that is not really Christianity, but rather something closer to Judaism.

 In addition to the nature of words being limited, or following a given set of books, another very important thing to consider about Christian scripture, is that the Bible was constructed. The Bible was chosen and assembled by scholars/religious leaders at the request of political interests at the time. Don't you think that would mean the political interests directed the kinds of content included (at least subconsciously if not overtly)? Don't you think certain things would be left out because they were subversive or conflicted with the political/cultural interests of that time?  The translations have been made in similar circumstances. And that is not even including the biases of translators to use words according to their own beliefs. 

To deny this is to blatantly ignore historical fact as well as human nature.
 

In addition to this, we have to consider biblical writing was written centuries and millennia ago. The kind of issues that plagued such people during that time do not necessarily apply to us today. We have different issues. We have more complicated societies. The ethical dilemmas that plague modern humanity are unfathomable to those who lived during the time of Jesus (fertility treatments, nano technology, or even use of plastic for example). 

The reason why scripture remains relevant is because it can be interpreted by focusing on the heart of the message. We cannot apply words wholesale to a time and place so radically different from the context in which they were written. The reason message of Jesus can remain relevant because it is fundamentally a message of compassion. Compassion is love. It is merciful. It is gracious. It is working to make the world a better place where all people experience belonging, and have their fundamental needs met. It means working for Shalom in the truest sense of the word.

Necessarily, compassion leads us to act lovingly. That means feeding the hungry. It means finding justice for those who have been wronged. That means giving voice to the voiceless. That means sheltering those without housing. That means ensuring people are healthy. It means protecting the environment because we care about our children and our children's children. It means letting women choose how to live their own lives, on equal footing with men. It means forgiving our enemies. It means supporting those who live on the edge of society. It means loving transgender, queer, lesbian, gay, and bisexual folk and treating them as any other human being living on this planet. It means speaking truth to power when power does not have the interests of all people at heart. That is what it means to be compassionate, to follow the message of Christ.

If Jesus is compassionate and our religion, Christianity, is based on his example, I have no idea where a God of judgment and punishment comes from. I have no idea where conservative Christians get this stuff. It kind of sounds like they're following the god of the Torah...so maybe they're Jews in disguise. And that's fine, if only they would admit it.

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.

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.

What The Boston Bombings Can Teach Us

I know it's been some time since the attacks in Boston. And some people would say there was only one thing to take from such a tragedy - we in America need to toughen up security. Fear increased and so did accusations - about the people responsible as well as their motives.

I would argue this has actually taught us quite the opposite. By living in one of the most diverse countries in the world, necessarily there will always be differences. We are a nation of immigrants. The idea that we could some how homogenize our society is preposterous.

Rather than point fingers and stereotype, it behooves us to spend time learning about one another. How can we do that? What is the common ground on which we can stand?

Ironically, those fingers pointing to religion as a wall, could just as easily point us to a solution. By spending time educating ourselves about the commonalities between religions, we can start to have not only conversations, but work on the issues that concern all of us - like poverty and hunger - as opposed to getting hung up on doctrine or dogma.

Moving forward, I pray we will build bridges and extend hands, instead of erecting walls and throwing stones.

Tolerance, plurality, or co-existance? - an Aside

I saw this video on pomomusings. It caused me to remember many of the lessons I learned while I was in India which I think are relevant to our discussions here. Particularly, I think of how we all seek something more than "this" and how difficult it is for so many of us to find "it". Beyond that, when we do, frequently we tend to be hurtful to those who have a different way of accessing the divine. This is a problem in our globalizing world where so many cultures and religions are interacting at an increasing rate.... the question becomes, how do we deal with this?

Now I would not say that I am tolerant of others views. In fact I am actually quite hard and fast about where I come down. This doesn't mean I won't give you air time. If I were merely tolerant I might simply condescend to allow you to believe whatever it is and smirk behind your back saying my way was the high way. By being forthright and admitting inconsistencies and conflicts, it's much easier to respect the other.

This should not only be practiced in India in political elections, or even on an interfaith level, but rather needs to be practiced on an intrafaith level. That is, different denominations of Christianity need to come into conversation with one another and really talk. May the most pragmatic begin!!

Indian Elections : A Mammoth Democratic Exercise from Shashwat Gupta on Vimeo.