How I "fell away," as the saying goes.

[raisedbymoogles]

With the national discourse unable to stop talking for ten gorram seconds about Teh Gay, it was pretty inevitable this episode would pop up in my head. Gather round, kiddies, it's Storytime With Moogle.

Comments

[uguardian]

Somehow, this was what I expected to hear. A lot of the time, the main thing that drives people away from the church is the people that hang around it.

Terribly sorry you had to witness that.

Very simply put, people take what verses say and make them rules. Then they use these rules not to better themselves, but to say "I'm better than you because I don't _____". In doing so, they are committing the sin of pride, and are blind to it. It's a cancer that kills many a church. :/

[femme4jack]

*hugshhugshugs* so much of this story could be mine... except that I'm (I hope) Pastor Anne, and just couldn't take it any longer. I've been a part of some amazing communities, ones that give me hope, and ones that tore me and others apart, but... it was more complicated than simply being weary about churches splitting and hating one another over who people choose to love. I also just could not continue to say what I felt I had to say about Jesus any longer, couldn't recite the neat formulas and the exclusivity stuff that I think would have made him ill.

And, like you, I found myself preferring to hang my hat among people who did not want to have anything to do with church, but had a whole lot to do with love.

Thank you for sharing this.

[dragontail]

Defiance of God's self-styled interpreters is not a denial of God.

That's a line from a comic book, of all things. Batman: Holy Terror, in fact (a very good AU tale, if you ever feel inclined to track it down). It's also the central tenement of my own personal faith and accord with the Man Upstairs. I got in a lot of trouble for saying that at school (Christian private school... ties, blazers, the works). I got into even more trouble when I was questioned by the priest who insisted I couldn't be Christian without going to church. "I'd rather talk to the organ grinder than the monkey," I responded. I earned a Saturday detention for that

[ravenology]

You know what makes me angriest about this whole mess? That good people like your Pastor Anne are either burned out or demonized or so frustrated with trying to do what I would call the right thing that they step down or give up or whathaveyou, and then the not so good people are free to move in. I don't blame them for throwing their hands up and saying "you know what? I can't deal with this shit any more" since I'm all too familiar with what burnout apathy with my fellow human beings feels like (though not only/specifically in terms of religious communities. Yes I grew up a Christian, not many people know that), but I just look at all the good people burning out and all the not-so-good people moving in (and I'm not just talking about religious communities, it happens fucking everywhere) and I just get even more into the negative numbers with my faith in humanity. The uplifting stories are so few and far between and they're always fighting an uphill battle either way. We are, in general, apparently FUBAR'd

[lunatron]

*Hugs.*