On the Defense of Christianity
I once served as an Anglican priest and identified as a Christian. I profoundly understand what religious belief offers to people. To name a few: a community, a sense of purpose, temporary comfort and relief from the fear of death, fear of the unknown, and fear of feeling alone in the world. Religion, like anything else, contains both shadow and light. But at it’s core, religious identity is wrapped up in dogma and indoctrination. That’s the way it’s always been. What I find so fascinating about this time in history, where autocracy, fascism, and white Christian nationalism is on the rise, is this kind of endless stream of Christians decrying these times with a defense of their christ. I hear it all the time. In person and on social media. “This is not what Jesus is all about. This is not what Christianity is about.” I find this utterly fascinating for at least a couple of reasons.
First, all texts must be interpreted. For example, I just read Anne Applebaum’s amazing book, “Autocracy, Inc.” and while I feel I learned tremendously from it, I’m under no illusion that I read it through anything other than the perspective of my own worldview, even as loosely as I try to hold my ever-changing worldview. So for any Christian (or sect of Christians) to claim that they understand the original intent of the words attributed to a man who lived over 2,000 years ago seems ego-driven, at best.
Second, and furthermore, which words are we talking about when the defense is given?
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person’s enemies will be those of his own household.”
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, even his own life — such a person cannot be my disciple.”
Just to name a few.
I also have this strong sense that loving, well-meaning Christians would kind of like to pretend that Paul never existed or that somehow Christianity came into being without him. There are words attributed to him that rival Shakespeare in their beauty. There are also words attributed to him concerning women and slavery that are utterly monstrous.
My point is that trying to defend your god because people who say and do despicable things in the name of your god seems misguided and revealing. I understand why I used to do this. It was easier to be a believer than to do inner work and face my fears, my demons, my shadows. Religion offers people a way out of facing their fears, facing life, facing themselves. I’m not blaming people for this. I have deep compassion for people, myself included. It’s terribly difficult to be human. Conscious awareness is terrifying.
Humans are suffering abuse and violence at the hands of other humans? Full stop. I believe that many Christians actually agree with this but then revert to religious conditioning to try and make a defense for their version of the gospel. Which just perpetuates the problem. Imagine a world where we just felt the connection between us. Where each person loved themselves so completely that they also loved every human, plant, ocean, rock just as much because they felt that oneness so deeply. What if we no longer need all the ascended gurus that were in some way trying to tell us all of this? Do we really need a male deity to tell us to stop being shitty to ourselves and to one another and to our planet? We know it’s time to love ourselves and each other. We know this in our very being. I can talk for days about the mystery of the source of our being. But religion doesn’t like mystery. Perhaps it’s time to leave the (old and new) teachers and gurus behind us and get on with the business of loving, trusting, and expressing our full selves. And if we are running out of time, which could just be the case, defending one’s god and religion seems to me to be one of the most tragic wastes of time.