On my way home yesterday, I once again realized how angry I am with Christianity. I thought of a much more outrageous title for a diary and immediately realized that I certainly didn't want that title going down in posterity associated with myself. However, reading just a few comments in fishoutofwater's current diary, forced me to post my own.
First of all, I am a former Christian. Christianity, or rather my spiritual connection to it as a child, helped me to survive a very troubled family. I was serious about my faith as a child and teenager, but left it behind in college. Frankly, learning what the Christian church had done throughout history was enough to turn my stomach and make me swear off organized religion. William Blake is my sort of Christian.
Both read the Bible day and night
But thou readest black where I readest white.
By the end of college, I became interested in Zen and Taoism although very quickly declared myself failed at those practices. I am not suited to a philosophy which asks me to accept suffering as inevitable or which asks me to shy away from protest. However, Christianity's best practices still appeal to me, and I have been known to retreat to a Catholic Monastery for a few days of rest and contemplation.
But there is something called responsibility and American Christians of good heart have not kept up with their responsibilities.
If you are a practicing Christian, it is your responsibility to confront what passes for Fundamentalist belief in America in the past few decades and call out the un-Christian beliefs and actions of this brutal, repressive, sexist and murderous segment of the church.
Let's be honest about it: 'good' Christians, liberal Christians, kind hearted Christians are afraid to confront the ugly, hate filled churches that have taken over this nation. However, fear of these churches, their leaders and their congregations does not absolve 'authentic' Christians from their responsibility to stand up.
Yes, Christianity is very varied; yes it has a 2,000 year history of division. Nevertheless, to allow a certain segment of haters, brutes and criminals to define Christianity in politics, in the media, in the public sphere is a betrayal of Christ's principles.
As a former Christian, I do not have the spiritual authority to speak to other Christians and talk them down from their aggression. This is the responsibility of fellow Christians, no matter what their denomination.
Get real. I have talked to wonderful pastor who felt that this hateful strain of 'christianist' ideology had ruined the church in America, but he was clearly frightened of confronting it directly. I know that fear has driven good people into silence.
Tell everyone that Christ would not want political candidates using their religion as a weapon to win elections. This includes Obama.
I am not advocating religious war. I am advocating standing up in the public sphere, in the media, in politics and addressing the hatred. At the very least: stand up and define your Christianity in a public way. At the very least: go on talk shows and decry the intrusion of fundamentalist religion in the political sphere. Do this in an organized way. Anything less is unethical. Anything less is un-Christian. Christ put himself between the moralists and stoned woman, so should enlightened Christians put themselves between christianists and the rest of us. Only enlightened Christians can do this. Stop worrying about attacks from atheists and agnostics, here and elsewhere, and start worrying and addressing the christianists. It is your responsibility. No one else has the moral authority to do so.