A priest in her own church addresses the most powerful man in our country and calls for mercy for the vulnerable in our society. His followers and other performative Christians revile her. Pastors have been driven out of their churches for having taught the Sermon on the Mount. Clear-eyed Bible scholars who faithfully attempt to accurately translate what the text of the scriptures are trying to say to their people are upbraided for not conforming to “official” church dogma.
What does this say about our society and about the state of modern Christianity in our world?
When Christianity began, it was a revolutionary movement promising liberation, calling for the sharing of resources with the poor, divesting of wealth, care and healing of the sick, praying in private rather than publicly, and for love, forgiveness, and – yes – mercy.
A representative of their god has been identified with a secular ruler. A lying rapist full of malice and greed can now be called a tool of their god. Our Christianity of today has become largely a tool of the state and the status quo. It’s not really a new phenomenon. Christianity’s Bible has been used to justify America’s killing and removal of the Indigenous people of this land, and the enslavement, segregation, and oppression of dark-skinned people. Despite its lofty rhetoric, ideals, and mythologies, this country was built on genocide, theft, slavery, and rule by a landed aristocracy at the expense of the working poor. It’s the same ideology that used biblical texts to approve of slavery, genocide, segregation, exploitation of the vulnerable and poor, and persecution of minorities of any kind. And wealth is seen as virtue rather than a responsibility to help the less privileged.
After two thousand years, this strain of Christianity has become not a prompt for uplifting humanity but a justification for the worst instincts of the selfish and greedy in humankind. This occurs when it’s been taken by a government as a façade to defend against those who would speak truth to power.
What god are they worshipping?
Theirs is not a god I would celebrate, let alone worship. These “Christians” are not the people with whom I’d want to spend eternity in any heaven or hell. Their presence has already created hell on earth for many people. It’s no wonder congregants leave their churches – churches that lack relevance to today’s needs and promote religion over spiritual development.
It seems that all through history, genuine spiritual movements get hijacked as they become institutions more interested in their own dogma and survival than the revolutionary spirituality that gave them birth, which makes them easy targets for manipulation by secular leaders.
Blessed are those who speak truth to power, and who advocate spiritual exploration rather than conformity to dogma.