I saw the tears of the oppressed
It's that time again. I have been having thinky thoughts for the better part of a week and a half now about Christianity, and if I write them down, maybe they'll make more sense. Or not. It is religion.
I am frustrated a lot of the time with certain aspects of my religion, and I have come to realize that it's not my religion, it's the other people also in my religion. It's the people who think they're being persecuted when Christianity is the dominant religion in the United States, the people who think that letting gay people get married will somehow hurt their own marriages (which that line of reasoning I cannot follow at all, because, what?!).
And it's the people who are using Christianity as a weapon. Those are the ones who really get me. They are taking a religion that includes an awful lot about love and helping the poor and generally doing good, and they are using it to hurt people. And I don't know how to show them that this is not the way we do this. That Christianity means we love others. And I know I should be showing them love too, but they make me so frustrated and angry, and I want to explain that I flinch when I see their hostile bumper stickers when I'm driving down the highway. That I flinch because it gives the religion we both share such a bad name.
Because that is not how you do Christianity. Or it shouldn't be.
We shouldn't be cruel. This is not about who has the bigger toy truck, or whose playgroup is better. This about being loving, caring human beings. And getting our heads out of our asses long enough to realize that hurting other people isn't okay.
And I am going to try to learn patience and grace. Because I'm a little short on those things at the moment.
I am frustrated a lot of the time with certain aspects of my religion, and I have come to realize that it's not my religion, it's the other people also in my religion. It's the people who think they're being persecuted when Christianity is the dominant religion in the United States, the people who think that letting gay people get married will somehow hurt their own marriages (which that line of reasoning I cannot follow at all, because, what?!).
And it's the people who are using Christianity as a weapon. Those are the ones who really get me. They are taking a religion that includes an awful lot about love and helping the poor and generally doing good, and they are using it to hurt people. And I don't know how to show them that this is not the way we do this. That Christianity means we love others. And I know I should be showing them love too, but they make me so frustrated and angry, and I want to explain that I flinch when I see their hostile bumper stickers when I'm driving down the highway. That I flinch because it gives the religion we both share such a bad name.
Because that is not how you do Christianity. Or it shouldn't be.
We shouldn't be cruel. This is not about who has the bigger toy truck, or whose playgroup is better. This about being loving, caring human beings. And getting our heads out of our asses long enough to realize that hurting other people isn't okay.
And I am going to try to learn patience and grace. Because I'm a little short on those things at the moment.