Awesome God; human institutions, not so much
Easter, for me, isn't much about bunnies or peeps. It's about God and how freakin awesome it is that she (or he; whatever, it's not as if God is petty about gender) bothered to understand the human condition first-hand, every stinking, nasty part of it, including excruciating death.
And I'm sure the folks at church have a lot to say about this. That's what they do, after all.
Except lately, I'm a little weirded out by religion. See, I'm Catholic. I'm almost ashamed to admit that the abuse scandal (I really hate that term, by the way: a "scandal" is somebody sleeping with a co-worker or cheating on taxes; this is more like a massacre of innocence) has dimmed my enthusiasm for church. Not my church in particular; things there seem to be aboveboard. But any church organization that would ignore the cries of victims and instead, in a very zero sum way, seek to further itself just doesn't seem to be what Jesus would have had in mind. Jesus, after all, was all about taking care of folks who were very young, very old, sick, and poor.
I feel that my church has betrayed him.
On this day when Christians celebrate the most fundamental tenet of our religion -- the notion that Jesus Christ was, and is, divine -- I'm not going to church.
And I'm sure the folks at church have a lot to say about this. That's what they do, after all.
Except lately, I'm a little weirded out by religion. See, I'm Catholic. I'm almost ashamed to admit that the abuse scandal (I really hate that term, by the way: a "scandal" is somebody sleeping with a co-worker or cheating on taxes; this is more like a massacre of innocence) has dimmed my enthusiasm for church. Not my church in particular; things there seem to be aboveboard. But any church organization that would ignore the cries of victims and instead, in a very zero sum way, seek to further itself just doesn't seem to be what Jesus would have had in mind. Jesus, after all, was all about taking care of folks who were very young, very old, sick, and poor.
I feel that my church has betrayed him.
On this day when Christians celebrate the most fundamental tenet of our religion -- the notion that Jesus Christ was, and is, divine -- I'm not going to church.