Christ was not White, or a Christian...and I don't think He'd be happy.

 

 I had been thinking along these lines for some time...as in years...but have, to now, held back from surrendering to reality (and logic) on the subject.

What I now believe is a result of; (1) 50+ years of study of world religions, (2) raised Methodist, (3) converted to Roman Catholic at 17, (4) left Catholicism back to progressive Christianity with UFMCC, (5) again studied a lot, and received a nontraditional ordainment from the NW Coordinator/Bishop. Then there's 30 years of pastoring, including two MCC congregations, and (at the end of that era) an independent coffehouse congregation endorsed by MCC and the local Unity. And the BA in Behavioral Science (focus in Forensics), the MA in Counseling Psychology (focus in Forensics as well), and a candidacy for PhD in Transpersonal & Clinical Inquiry with Saybrook. 

That's way more verbage than I feel like I should have to type, but it's what it is and is relevant here. I've worked for homeless shelters and community programs; low-income housing programs; banking; and law enforcement. 

So, that's enough of that stuff. 

Here's what I've got to present that I've been commenting will likely lose a whole lot of friends on Facebook, and/or contacts on Twitter (I don't use anything else).

Effective 2300 hours Hawai'i Standard Time on 25 July, 2022, I will no longer associate myself with any organized religion. That means church, synagogue, or whatever...if it's organized and has a building for its worship (and only for worship, rather than community service areas, etc.) is organized religion. Yeah, that's pretty extreme, and particularly from someone with the collar. Briefly, this is a very condensed backstory. Some of it could not be told until very recently.

Yes, Virginia...there really is a God...

When I submitted a letter of resignation to my local church a couple of years ago (only as a voting member...I was not the pastor), it was taken by some as a "crisis of faith" and that I had abandoned my ordainment. A couple actually broadcasted that.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Without quoting the letter, it simply asked to be removed from the list of voting members as I had, after much consideration, concluded that I could not swear an oath under the Nicean Creed, and therefore couldn't be a "formal" voting member. I stated that I wouldn't be "quiet," though. Maybe that was the issue...but, here it is. I didn't lose faith.

I found it.

I was ordained by an MCC district official in the early 90s whom I considered a mentor. I'm not going to blast their name around, as they're no longer with us, and I have no desire to dwell on it. I'd just like to quote these words we shared at the small, quiet ordination, and what followed.

Them: (after the formalities) I wish you all the best, E. You're going to be a target, you know. I have no doubt that won't slow you down. Your intellect...your skill sets...your status...you watch yourself. You know you can never put away the collar...these vows don't go away.
Me: I know. I'm ready. I believe this is what I've been called for. I guess it's up to The Boss now. I just work here...
Them: (Laughing) Yup...we're all bozos on this bus! [A reference to a popular comedy LP from the early 70s that we both liked]

This beautiful, older individual often gave a room in their home to recently paroled/released felons who identified as gay. A few weeks later, they were brutally murdered by one of their "guests" who had asked for help.

My (late) ex-husband was a neighbor, and could identify the killer. That person was still loose when my mentor was eulogized; the pastor at that congregation asked me, and my son (also a veteran) to provide personal security for my ex, and his small family. We did. It went OK.

The point is that I think I know whereof I speak, at least from within my sphere of reality. I have come to the conclusion that:

Organized religion, of any flavor, has done more damage to the core of humanity than good.

Sure, just about every "church" (and I'm using the term broadly, including all religions) has programs to help the homeless, feed the poor, operate a thrift shop, or in some cases provide tutoring in actually non-religious subjects that helps them get work, or get better. Those are the good parts, the only good parts, from the aspect of the human community.

The rest is bling. Seriously. "Churchy" folks use terms like "smells & bells!" (for the high mass censer and bells) to describe some of the more esoteric of ritualistic practice. While the Catholic faith is the one most think of in this respect, such things apply to Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, or whatever as well.

Is there something wrong with such ritual? No, of course not, if that's what you think your God really wants...to spend the collective money on smells, bells, gold, and all the rest, when those resources (ie., money) could be going to food, shelter, restorative justice, and a dozen other things that make the community better.

Those things make people better. Bling doesn't. It only generates a false sense of "we're better than y'all 'cuz look at all our bling!" along with a sort of visceral jealousy from those who have no bling.

There is, effectively, no longer a constitutionally mandated separation of church and state.

I am not going to waste oxygen on this argument as to what the amendment "really" meant. It meant what it says, and we collectively are allowing a demonstrated ~35% of the population to bully their way to control of all things "moral." Those who are part of that minority don't believe they're a minority, for one thing...but they also would not care, even if they did accept that. They believe that their god is the only valid god, that it's different than the others, and if you don't believe the same things and follow their rules, you're a sinner...and dangerous.

That's why we're seeing dozens of state legislatures, where GOP persons control the house(s), racing to pass bills that infuse evangelical "Christian" principles into administrative and criminal law.

Christ wasn't White. He was Palestinian Jewish, dark-skinned. He was later called "rabbi". He actually resisted being remodeled into the head of a "church." It was the leaders of the communities involved that promoted that structural model, so that they would have control, and since he was no longer around they could get away with it.

Seriously.

We're really going to have to take a long, clear look at what each of us really believes, and try to not base it all on what any "church" tells us, and then treat others the way they would want to be treated.

We're also going to have to make a stand to not allow our schools, especially, but all of our personal freedoms, to be bastardized into ineffective oblivion by a relative handful of ignorant, greedy, bigoted White Nationalists.

Vote.