We Can Start Now
Father Richard Rohr is a world-recognized ecumenical teacher, and someone I admire very much. With so much horror showing itself in our country, our society and in the world at large, I often think of one of Father Richard’s quotes. He says this:
“Christianity is a lifestyle – a way of being in the world that is simple, non-violent, sharing, and loving. However, we made it into an established ‘religion’ (and all that goes with that) and avoided the lifestyle change itself. One could be warlike, greedy, racist, selfish and vain in most of Christian history, and still believe that Jesus is one’s “personal Lord and Savior” . . . The world has no time for such silliness anymore. The suffering on Earth is too great.”
Father Richard is a Christian, speaking out about what he sees happening in our world. I feel that his thoughts can be applied to anyone of any faith or belief. At first, his observations can seem like a harsh admonishment and judgment – that is until we take an honest look at our world. There we see what in Biblical language is called “the wages of sin”. Predatory capitalism has a man weeping as he counts out $700 to pay for his grandmother’s asthma medicine as the other customers feel his pain and squirm uncomfortably in line behind him.
Racism had the residents of Flint drinking lead-poisoned water for years, while Flint town officials claim immunity from being sued for their part in the water contamination. Brown-skinned asylum-seekers are separated from their children, living and dying locked in cages without access to sanitary supplies, toothbrushes, doctors, while the government argues that they have no right to soap, bedding or toothbrushes. Our love for war justifies assassination and questionable military actions, endangering soldiers and civilians alike. Selfishness has us punishing and shaming children whose parents cannot give them lunch money, no matter how many successful business people offer to pay the debt in full with no strings attached. Greed has us cherishing materialistic values and dismissing unethical and manipulative behaviors that prioritize “shiny objects” and money first, people second, or not at all. Again, as Fr. Richard says:
“The world has no time for such silliness [from us] anymore. The suffering on Earth is too great.”
Our country and our world must face the great dangers of predatory capitalism, racism and white supremacy, climate destruction, and the forever war economy. Like Fr. Richard, I worry when humans use their faith and spiritual beliefs to shame, other, exclude, and annihilate other human beings. I am saddened when I face how my own Christian faith has been used in the past to enslave humans, deprive First Nations of their land, their cultures, and their children – all in the name of White Christian superiority. I see how the christianity (I purposely use a lower-case ‘c’) espoused by so many of my fellow Americans is used to ‘other’ and punish brown people, asylum-seekers, immigrants, and basically anyone who is not like them. It is used an excuse to not take care of our one and only Earth. It is used as a cover for the wages of sin: predatory capitalism, racism, and power through militarism.
This kind of “christianity” has nothing to do with the good news proclaimed in the Christian scriptures. It has everything to do with desecrating spiritual beliefs to protect one’s status, political power and economic privileges. For example, White slave owners used the Bible to bless the institution of slavery, while calling on slaves to accept their lot as ordained by the ‘Christian’ God. Why? To protect their profits, their status, their political power. Slave master christianity was “good news” only for white slaveholders, primarily white men with religious, monetary, and political power. This form of christianity has done great harm to our country politically, intellectually and spiritually. Politically, it puts its status and leverage in the halls of power, imperiling the health of families, increasing the suffering of those unjustly incarcerated, in our prison system and in the concentration camps on our borders. Intellectually, it is dishonest in denying science, scholarship, academic integrity, and the reality of environmental degradation. It has devolved so far as to celebrate and deny obvious dishonesty and purposeful violence. It is as if espousing fundamental belief with Jesus as a “personal savior” frees one to wreak havoc on other human beings for personal, societal and political gain. I have to be honest; I do not see God in any of this.
What can we do?
I wish for a reset to a truly gospel understanding of Christianity:
“Christianity is a lifestyle-a way of being in the world that is simple, non-violent, shared and loving.”
I wish for us as humans to focus on using our way of life, including whatever beliefs we live, to do something good in the world, to serve others. I wish for a modern reset where we think of our faith or beliefs as a pathway to help us live more humbly and helpfully with our fellow creatures, human and otherwise. What can we do? We can work towards a living wage for all humans. We can let someone in front of us in traffic (after all it is a public road we all pay for, not an inherited birthright). We can stand in compassion for others, and defend our fellow human beings from racist, heterosexist, and classist attacks. We can recognize the pain we all experience, accept and reckon with this country’s use of bigotry to maintain a caste system. This is after all, the land of the free and the home of the brave. We can see each other as equal and worthy of dignity and respect. We can start now.
Be well,
Bill