My disillusionment with Christianity
Part 2 - Culture
Christian culture today is a wonderful, big and diverse mess. As I said in my last post, most Christians are kind, loving people but I am often astounded by the animosity of Christianity’s voice in society. I think that a Christian’s idea of what they represent to the world is very different to how the world views Christianity. I don’t think this is often the fault of the individual, but the culture in which they are entrenched.
Sadly today political Christian causes seem to have become entirely about limiting other peoples rights. In the last 50 years what political causes has Christianity championed? Limiting sex-ed in schools (the only place some children might receive this education), limiting what science can be taught in schools, limiting access to safe abortions and contraception, preventing gay marriage and limiting LGBT rights…
In the United States for example, many churches and celeb pastors have vocally come out against minority rights and minority movements. Black Lives Matter for example. Black Lives Matter is a valid response to (first and foremost) the substantial amount of unarmed black men that are killed by police, as well as massive disparities between black and white incomes, incarceration rates and prosecution rates. For example:
- Unarmed African American men are 7 times than more likely than white men to be killed by police gunfire
- African Americans are incarcerated at nearly 6 times the rate of whites
- In 2010 African Americans were almost 4 times more likely to be prosecuted that whites, for marijuana possession
- In 2010 the median household income for blacks was $43,300; for whites this was $71,300
But somehow fighting against Black Lives Matter has become a Christian (American evangelical) cause. Unfortunately a lot of American Christianity is screaming “blue lives matter”; unable to accept that the policing institutions that keep them safe may not be operating without bias.
The very reason the Southern Baptist Convention was formed in the USA was because it split away from Northern Baptists who believed slavery was wrong. Christianity cannot be afraid of a diversity of thought - every institution needs it’s assumptions challenged. To quote spoken word artist Propaganda (speaking of studying Dutch and German Theologists, on whose theology modern evangelical theology is based): “There’s no way God only spoke to Dutch dudes… You know, your professor is like a 30 year veteran and a Phd in church history, he’s got a room the size of the Library of Commerce, of writings about the Gospel, the puritans, and the valley of vision and the whole time you’re going, “wait, why didn’t they stop slavery then?””
Another example of Christianity’s voice being used to champion a cause to limit others rights is mainstream Christianity’s approach to LGBT rights (a charged discussion which deserves a blog post of its own). Not that I really have any authority to talk about this (I can only offer my narrow, straight, male, Christian perspective). But let’s do a thought experiment anyway…
- Here in NZ (and in most western countries) the laws of the nation protect freedom of religion. But what if NZ’s government suddenly decided it would start enforcing the Sharia law on all NZ women that they must wear Hijab’s (head covering) when in the presence of adult males who are not in their immediate families. Christians (and a lot of other people) would be rightfully upset; why should they have to live a certain way because of a religion that they don’t even belong to?
- The same is true for gay marriage (not to say that there aren’t gay Christians). Why shouldn’t they be allowed to marry based on someone else’s religion, in a country that protects religious freedom? Marriage exists in countless other religious cultures so the argument that marriage originates from or belongs to Christianity or the Church does not hold water. I have also heard the argument that gay marriage did not exist in any ancient societies, so why should it now? Well, I don’t know that we should get our morals from societies gone by… and neither do you (if you need me to elaborate jump a couple paragraphs up). And lastly, there is the argument that being gay is not natural, however, homosexuality occurs at roughly the same rate in all mammals. About as natural as can be).
Although gay marriage is now legal in a lot of western countries (C’mon Australia), I think the prejudicial attitude towards gay people often found in the Christian community is harmful to Christianity itself as well as to the gay community and society in general. I understand that a lot of Christians believe that being gay is a sin and to limit gay activity is somehow tough love. I urge you to respect gay people’s intelligence and convictions enough to let them make their own decisions. Imagine how it would feel to have your love with a consenting adult restricted because of someone else’s religious beliefs.
How can Christianity’s treatment of these people claim to represent the teachings of a brown, Jewish Rabbi who preached love and tolerance, met people’s physical needs (rather than just doing some “soul collecting”) and eviscerated religious conservatives who did nothing for the oppressed? We must accept that there is dangerous, hateful theology that can make it’s way into mainstream Christianity, which we would do well to call out and resist.
If anyone is really interested in thinking about these important questions more deeply, the Liturgist’s have recorded some really insightful discussions on these topics, which you can find below:
Black and White - Racism in America
LGBTQ
1 Corinthians 13:13
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
