Christianity is Divisive: Who Knew?
March 21st, 2008 | by Jet Netwal |
I’m not that fussed about Jeremiah Wright. I don’t think he’s done anything that hasn’t occurred in countless other churches for countless centuries. He represents to me the inevitabilit y of humanity to imprint and subjugate the precepts of Christ’s teachings. Our hands did everything from kill the Son of God to, well, the crusades, blessing wars, following warriors masquerading as popes, support for capital punishment, corporal punishment (spare the rod and spoil the child), slavery, invading and taking over countries under the guise of Christian conversion, supporting the systemic violence forcing women to be subjected to men, and an ongoing concerted persecution of gay and lesbians.
Love your brother, indeed.
Christ, on the other hand, the Lamb of God and Prince of Peace, is not about any of that. The Sermon on the Mount is about nonviolence and loving your enemies, an action he personified by facing his accusers nonviolently ; while violence was heaped upon him at the time of his murder he continued to respond nonviolently . His influence and lessons inspired the first centuries of pacifist Christian history. The Just War doctrine, first espoused by St Augustine (354-430 AD) declares all war s a sin even when declaring it occasionally a necessary evil is an example. Stopping the fighting between clergy and monks in the Middle Ages is another. There’s also that little issue of the persistent tradition of Christian pacifism still rearing its annoying head today.
Seem s like some folks want to hear the message and some folks want to make the message. Humility can be a real bitch; it’s simply not in our nature. Christ put so much emphasis on it and walked the walk to show it could actually be done. The gauntlet, shall we say, was thrown. It would appear that it’s much harder pick it up than it is to just throw things ourselves.
Getting back to Wright, I think this is a pastor who is as much a part of the human imprint on Christianity as he is Christ’s. The good deeds are there; he worked with the poor and helped the desperate. He’s also succumbed to the elixir of humanity. He blessed racial tension. The fact he’s a pastor mean little here, unless we are really ready to rip open the gay persecution in pulpits across this country, the subjugation of women in sects that have sent the popularity of full length denim skirts to new heights, and are happy to marry the 60 year old man to the 18 year old woman and not see the lechery and treachery within, or the conflict of mega churches and the money crazed foundation on which they are built.
Wright is a symptom of a problem with organized religion that supersedes race. That’s where his soapbox is, but we all can see that there are a multitude of soapboxes. Until we are willing to accept that there is a disconnect between the message and the messenger, that what we frequently hear in God’s house has strayed from the message of love we were given so long ago and fail so miserably to apply to our lives, we will continue to throw stones.
It’s just so much easier than picking up that dusty gauntlet in the corner.
Tags: BIO, Religion and Politics, Culture, christian, christianity , hypocrisy, politics, religion, truth
