The feeling
of embarrassment has nothing at all to do with who Jesus was and what Christ represents,
but rather with how some Christians have committed and are committing
horrendous acts of violence, oppression, exclusion, and meanness in Jesus’s
name. I am speaking primarily about right-wing fundamentalist and conservative
Christians (let’s call them RWF2Cs for convenience’s sake) who seem to have
lost the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus Himself and His followers: that God loves everybody and God’s grace is for everyone and God wants us all to love one another in a spirit of
tolerance, inclusion, compassion, and mercy, without judgment or condemnation.
Of course, God wants us to repent of our sins. Repent means to turn back to
God. Sin is that which separates us from God. And what separates us from God?
Selfishness, mainly. Fear. Greed. Lust for power, control, and domination. All
of the specific acts that we characterize as sin, such as murder, theft,
adultery, sexual exploitation, lying, and so on, have their roots in these. No
Christian, RWF2C or otherwise, would argue with that.
So what
happened to us Christians to make non-Christians regard us so lowly that some
of us become embarrassed to be associated with the religion that is supposed to
proclaim the Good News to the world? Here’s what I think: Before Jesus, the
dominant cultures of the world were patriarchal; men ruled, and women were
second-class citizens with few or no rights. Of course there are individual and
some cultural exceptions, but the Greco-Roman culture that dominated the Near
East, most of Europe, and Northern Africa, as well as the Jewish culture into
which Jesus was born, were male dominated. Then along comes Jesus, proclaiming
salvation and grace for the world, a gift from God available for all: men and
women, Jew and Gentile, slave and free. No exceptions or exclusions. Everyone.
Period. All we had to do was open our minds and hearts to this gift and accept
it. It was impossible to earn.
This must
have been the most radical, liberal, left-leaning message anyone could have
proclaimed in that day. No more merit-based pathway to God’s favor. Suddenly
something that had been the exclusive domain of a select few who could either
maintain the self-discipline to keep all of the 600+ Jewish laws, or afford the
best sacrifices to make in the Jewish temple, was open to women, foreigners, “unclean”
Gentiles, uncircumcised men, eunuchs, and anybody else who would receive this “Good
News” and simply start having a personal relationship with God through faith in
Jesus. No requirements to make sacrifices in the Temple; Jesus did that for
everybody, once and for all, with His death on the cross. Those 600+ Jewish laws
were replaced with two simple ones: love God with your entire being, and love
others as much as you love yourself (think about that: the more you love yourself,
the easier it is—and the more obligated you are--to love others; the less you
love yourself, the harder it will be for you to love others).
No wonder
the Pharisees hated Jesus so much! He turned the status quo upside down and
posed a bigger threat to their privileged positions than even the occupying
Roman government did. So they had Him crucified, thinking that was the end of
it. Hallelujah, it was not! Jesus’s followers continued the Good News movement,
and it spread like wildfire throughout the Near East and North Africa and
Southern Europe. In the beginning, it was more of a lifestyle change than a new
religion. Many Jewish believers continued to practice their religion according
to their traditions, and that was fine. But Gentile believers were not required
to observe Jewish practices and traditions, and that was fine, too. There were
disagreements and conflicts, to be sure; just read Paul’s letters in the New
Testament for proof of that. He and Peter had an epic falling out over
circumcision and dietary restrictions, but they eventually resolved their
differences. The Good News did more to bring diverse people together than it
did to drive them apart.
But
something changed a few centuries after Jesus, and the Church seemed to
regress. It’s almost like the Pharisees simply put on new hats and moved to
Rome. The patriarchal movement gained force, resulting in women’s voices being
silenced, dissenters and free-thinkers being persecuted, Jews and Muslims being
driven out or executed, gay men being castrated or killed for not being “man”
enough, and more. The coffers of these patriarchs grew along with their power
and influence, and the suffering of innocent people grew in proportion,
especially after the discovery of the New World, a land and people ripe for raping
and plundering. The Church still preached God’s love and forgiveness for the repentant
sinner, but the Good News was veiled by a mandate to be good enough for God by
being good enough for the Church. To become a Christian was free; to be a good
Christian, though, required conforming to the expectations of the Church
patriarchs.
In my
opinion, a cult of masculinity emerged during those early years of the Church
that has pervaded the right-leaning segments of our faith to this day. These
patriarchal Christians have re-created God in their image. The Bible says God
is Spirit; God is both masculine and feminine; God loves everyone and all the
world—all are equal in God’s eyes; when God made people and the world and
everything in it, God said it was good—and God is not a liar. But the god of
the RWF2Cs seems more interested in the advancement of American democracy and
capitalism by force, the ownership of personal firearms, the conversion of gays
and lesbians to the straight lifestyle, and the control of women’s wombs than
in spreading the message of love, mercy, forgiveness, and inclusion to all
people regardless of their gender identity, socio-economic status, nationality,
religious background, sexual orientation, physical and intellectual condition,
or whatever. To be acceptable to God, one must be like the RWF2C patriarchs.
And so,
when non-Christians who did not grow up in a Christian environment hear the
word “Christian,” for many the first images that come to mind are the most
negative ones they see in the media: the Westboro Baptist Church members
picketing soldiers’ and shooting victims’ funerals, proclaiming God’s wrath on
America for our growing acceptance of gays; Southern preachers publicly burning
copies of the Koran to send an angry message to Muslims; anti-abortion pro-“life”
activists displaying huge posters of aborted fetuses to make a gory point; death
penalty proponents quoting scriptures from the Old Testament and celebrating
the execution of convicted criminals while hypocritically claiming they are
pro-life; people whining that they are being persecuted for their Christian beliefs
because courts uphold the Constitutional separation of church and state; and so
many more images and messages that show us Christians at our worst.
Admittedly,
we Christians have acted worse in the past. We no longer burn epileptics at the
stake because we think they are demon-possessed. We don’t imprison scientists
who discover facts that contradict our superstitions. We no longer condone the
beating of wives and children. We no longer own slaves. But we do still
demonize people for being different in ways we do not understand. We do often
hinder scientific discoveries that could improve the lives of millions because
we are afraid of “playing God.” We do deny women the right to life and dignity,
and we deny children the right to education and healthcare. We do take unfair
advantage of workers, both on our own soil and abroad, by not paying them a
fair living wage.
When my
non-Christian friends think of the term “Christian,” this is what comes to
their minds, and that is why I feel embarrassed to be affiliated with a very
vocal and confrontational segment of American Christian society that embraces a
religion that seems far removed from the truths I have discovered about God in
my own faith journey. God help me to live my life in such a way that others will
see the Christ in me and feel welcomed, included, loved, and valued, because I
believe that is what being a follower
of Christ is all about.
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