But here I am writing this little piece. I don’t think many folks will read this, so it is mostly cathartic. I’ll keep it as short as I can. I don’t think many people want to read long posts these days – we've all become accustomed to the TV sound-bite. I like web logs that cut to the chase by quoting the topical lines from longer posts – Daily Kos, Crooks and Liars, Boing Boing and a few others are my daily reading of choice.
But here I go – starting off with a rant about religion in politics.I don’t get it. I mean, I understand why people cling to religion – it provides them with comfort and support. It also helps them reassert their image of self – everyone can find a piece of themselves in their religious text of choice – whether it is Islam, Buddhism or Christianity. I was raised a Christian, though I no longer practice. What I don’t get is why so many involved in Christianity today feel they need to shove their piousness down everyone else’s throat.
I grew up in what is now the United Church of Christ (it was the Congregational Church when I was a youngster). I went often. I attended Sunday school. I acted in some of the church plays for Christmas and Easter. I attended church school during the summer. My experience was positive, except for the torture of the hour of service on Sundays. I learned the Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you). I learned “Love they neighbor.” I learned “Judge not lest ye be judged.” And I learned tolerance and to appreciate the differences within the human race. I learned that Jesus was love and that he sacrificed himself for me. It was all very comforting.
As an older student (high school), I became a Methodist (we had moved). I sang in the church choir and participated in the youth groups. But I began to see another side of the church. For a time we had a young minister at the church who seemed to feel and preach about the religion in the same way I felt about it – but then some of the elders of the church thought he was too liberal and they had the Bishop remove him. We got an older minister who spoke openly of his disregard for black people and other minorities. He was intolerant of the youth in the church and he seldom met with the youth groups. I didn’t understand this interpretation of our faith, and I drifted away from the church. I’ve never gone back.
Today I see and hear religious groups professing their hatred for gay people – hoping to deny them civil rights through the political process. I hear the religious groups promoting unprovoked wars and urging the killing of foreigners. I see religious people on TV frothing at the mouth in virulent anger over the rights of American citizens to make personal choices in life that are not in keeping with some pre-determined view of the world espoused by some fanatic and hate-filled preacher. I see news of priests in the Catholic Church abusing young children – and instead of recoiling in horror, the Pope and church leaders attempt to cover it up. Where does this come from?
Where is the love that Christ taught? Where is the tolerance I was taught when I learned the Golden Rule? Where is the tolerance that should pour forth from the teaching, “Judge not lest ye be judged?” Where is the tolerance that should come from “Love they neighbor?” Why is the Christian religion now tolerating, and why are some followers even preaching, hatred (of gays, of non-Christians) and lack of tolerance? Why is the church now allowing, even sanctioning, those who preach that torture is acceptable? Why aren't more Chrsitians speaking out about the judgemental nature of those who, in the church's name, claim to know the judgment of God on such issues as homosexuality and abortion?
And where is the God I was taught about as a child?
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