Unity Does Not Mean Silence or Complicity

This has been on my heart now for quite some time and I believe it is long overdue. A number of years ago I had been receiving, unsolicited mind you, a plethora of emails from fellow Christians on various issues of the day: the war in Iraq, patriotism, gay marriage, prayer in public schools. The theme was decidedly conservative and very presumptuous. The conservative part I could forgive – everyone is entitled to their opinion, regardless of what I may think of it. But what really burned me up was the arrogant assumption that just because I attended the same church as they did, that meant I would automatically subscribe to the same line of reasoning

After several heated exchanges with a few “brothers” and “sisters” all of which involved replying to all in the email so that everyone had a chance to hear my heart, I received, shall we say, a very pointed and admonishing reply from a church leader – his name will not be posted here – who basically said that what I was doing was creating disharmony and disunity within the Body of Christ and that I should stop it. In other words, even if I didn’t agree with what the others were saying I should zip it as it were rather than cause dissention. Getting called out like that was one thing, but what I protested most was that this particular member held most of the same opinions that the others had. In other words, I was being reprimanded by an individual who already had made up his mind about where he stood on these issues and was not interested in hearing a differing opinion. How convenient.

Now to put it in context, this was the period of time between 2004 and 2005, just as the nation was beginning to ask some profound questions about the direction the country was headed. In other words we were beginning to emerge out of the ether of the post 9/11 haze. Many conscientious Americans were challenging the Administration’s take on the build up to the War and what it was continuing to cost us as a country to continue fighting. Some of those Americans were Christians. I had hoped I could find some within my church. Not only did my search prove fruitless, but now one of the leaders of the church, who has hardly hid his own personal bias mind you, blasted me for standing up to the consensus under the banner “United we stand, divided we fall.” It was a great song in 1970, but I felt slighted and betrayed because his words were far more self-serving than they were biblical.

Disconsolate, I contemplated leaving the church altogether. Not leaving Jesus, mind you, but simply finding a place where my own personal beliefs and convictions were not subject to biblical hostage taking simply for expedience sake. I decided to seek out some advice, so I went to see Steve at the church. I had called this church my home since, well, Christmas of 1991, and now I was planning on leaving it. Steve listened to my concerns and encouraged me not to leave; he said the people I was looking for were here, maybe not in the majority, but definitely here. They were worth seeking out. He introduced me to something he had been doing for quite some time: blogging. He said it was a great way of expressing yourself and that it was a great outlet. It could also be an opportunity to reach out and have dialogue with fellow Christians who shared my views and concerns.

His words sounded intriguing. I had no place else to go, and I did want to see if I could somehow salvage this thing. After all what if I left and found out that there were people who felt as I did? Not only that, but what if the next church I landed in ended up being worse? Also, though I disagreed with their opinions, I actually liked many people in the church. Maria and I both had friendships within the church that we would be leaving behind if we left. I decided to give it one more shot.

My first blog hit the blogosphere on Friday, September 2, 2005 under the banner Christians Against Hypocrisy and was well received by a handful of people, including Steve. Thank you, kind sir. Since then I have continued to speak out against what I perceive as hypocrisies within the Church and to call out certain belief systems that the conservative factions within the Church have embraced that are I believe at their core hypocritical. In this I have been undaunted and while I may not have found the audience I was looking for, the exercise proved extremely satisfying and therapeutic. Cathartic would be a better word.

I have also come to a realization that unity means different things to different people. For some it means that they are free to spew and defame the very faith they so fervently claim to defend, but the moment someone attempts to challenge them they are called out and made to feel like an outcast that is causing dissention and allowing “the enemy” to build momentum. Bull.

I have a differing opinion of unity. It goes something like this. We are all Christians who believe that Jesus is our Lord and savior, that he died on the cross for our sins, and that his resurrection gives us eternal life in heaven. After that we are free to hold any belief we deem important to us. Here are some of mine.

1. I believe that God gave us not only free will, but also the intelligence to reason things out and discover certain truths about the universe and how we came to be. Hence I do not think it is heresy to believe that the universe and all we can see is billions of years old, anymore that I think that interpreting certain chapters of the book Genesis as parables and not necessarily as historical references (see my blog on Genesis) is biblically wrong. If Jesus taught in parables why not us?

2. I believe that the government is NOT the antichrist and that this incessant mindset among conservative Christians that good old-fashioned self-reliance and profit motive alone can cure all that ails us financially is not only historically inaccurate, but biblically untrue. Will someone please find me the scripture that reads: “God helps those who help themselves.” Whether you are a fiscal conservative or liberal, the truth is that the government has played a crucial role with respect to dealing with poverty in this country that quite frankly, Adam Smith notwithstanding, the private sector is simply ill equipped to deal with, and that includes, gulp, getting involved in health care! BTW, the Bible does speak to this, if we’re willing to look for it (Hint, Matthew 25:31-46).

3. I am adverse to stances within the Church that oversimplify and misrepresent what the Church’s real calling ought to be. You are against abortion, gay marriage, the teaching of evolution in public schools, global warming, fine, that is your opinion. But must you narrowly define for millions of people what an entire faith represents? Of course not. So how about aid for pregnant mothers to carry their babies to term so that the number of abortions is reduced? Or how about teaching teenagers about the changes in their bodies and what that can mean to them, instead of just telling them to abstain from sex? Or how about not referring to doctors who perform abortions as mass murderers, thus inciting unstable people to commit murder in the name of a God they will never understand? How about not demonizing homosexuals, thus driving them away from the so-called salvation you wish for them? My own opinion on this has changed over the years. While I do agree that some men and women who engage in an alternative lifestyle do so because of some sexual abuse issues they suffered when they were younger; there are way too many of them to suggest that all of this can be simply explained as a form of deviant behavior, and until we know their hearts, or walk in their shoes, we should, none of us, be judging or condemning them. How do we know what happens in the birth canal? What if we discover that gender orientation is as genetic as hair color or pigmentation? What then? And while we’re at it, let’s stop the “God doesn’t make mistakes” line. People are born with birth defects all the time. Did God blink? As for evolution and global warming, here’s a suggestion: if it offends you to hear something that contradicts your interpretation of Genesis take your kid out of public school and place him in a religious school, instead of insisting that the science text books be rewritten to accommodate your narrow viewpoints; then buy some beach-front property and live there for the next twenty or thirty years. Send me a postcard when the water is knee deep in your living room. What I’m saying is this: instead of shouting out to the world what we’re against, let’s state what we’re for. Let’s start with love and compassion and then build from there. There is no room within our ranks for religious zealots with closed minds and closed hearts.

4. Stop the countdown to Armageddon! If Jesus didn’t know when He was returning, why are you so preoccupied with it? Put away your stopwatch and get a life! Waiting around for the Tribulation while there are starving children to feed, the homeless to shelter, and the sick to be cured not only goes against the teachings of Christ, it is perverse. We should be pro-active, not reactive. The book of James carefully outlines what our correct actions should be. Our faith needs to be lived out, not spoken out. We will be judged by what we did not what we said we’d do. You want to save someone’s soul, don’t preach about when you think Jesus is coming back, buy them lunch and pay their electric bill first. As a wise man once told me, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” There are plenty of preachers who shout down fire and brimstone from the pulpit; what we need more of are true Disciples of Christ.

5. Call it as we see it, or more appropriately, speak the truth in love. I am doing my part, such as it is, but we all have a responsibility to call out injustice, not only in other countries, but here at home as well. When we hear anti-Christian statements coming out of the mouths of supposedly Christian leaders, we must challenge and refute them. Paul did this consistently throughout his letters and the Church was better for it. Whether it is on facebook or Myspace, or other chat rooms or venues, stop being the silent, innocent bystander. Stand up and raise your voice when you see something that you know in your heart is wrong. Another old saying goes like this, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll go for anything.” Too many of our flock have been reluctant to speak out for fear they will not be liked. Get over it. When it was his time Jesus was not captured by the Romans, he delivered himself into their hands willingly and thwarted attempts by Peter to resist arrest. Speaking out against the intolerance of some of our leaders – even those in our own church - will be costly, but it pails in comparison to what Jesus suffered in our name.

6. We are all, each and every one of us, hypocrites in our own hearts. Left to our devices none of us can walk this walk. Only through the mercy of Christ and the conviction that is brought about by the Holy Spirit can we live out the promise that we see in the Gospels. By being the humble servant that Christ was during his time on Earth, we might just win over the hearts and minds of those who don’t have what we have, and in the process shame those who should know better into changing their ways.