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The Sins of American Christianity

These are some of the sins of the cultural Christianity widespread in the United States:

Promoting American Exceptionalism – when Jesus says, “Whoever wants to be first must be the last and the servant of all.”

Promoting injustice toward the LGBTQ community in the name of religious righteousness - when Jesus says, “Do not judge and you will not be judged.”

Promoting the Prosperity Gospel – when Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor.”

Promoting Rugged Individualism – when Jesus tells the parable of the vineyard where all workers receive the same wage no matter how many hours they worked.

Idolizing the Second Amendment – when Jesus says, “whoever lives by the sword, dies by the sword.”

Denying unconscious, systemic racism – when Jesus says, “Stay awake!”

Baptizing consumerism – when Jesus says, “Do not accumulate treasures on earth.”

Promoting public prayer – when Jesus says, “When you pray, go into your secret room.”

Promoting Christian religious freedom at the expense of the religious freedom of others – when Jesus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Using the Word of God as a weapon – when Jesus says that all God’s words are summed up in one word: love.

The sins of cultural Christianity have driven people from church. They have driven people from the Bible. They have made people ashamed to be associated with Christianity.

But there is hope for Christianity. It is the Spirit of Jesus within those who claim to be Christians, empowering them to see the truth and follow in his way. It is the voice of Jesus calling to those who have left Christianity to do the same.

Religious Freedom for Abortion

Progressive Christianity understands social justice as a gospel value. It is rooted in the prophetic tradition of Jesus and all the prophets who proclaim the Word of God in sacred scripture.

In a just world, women have agency over their own bodies and their own lives. This includes the freedom to choose abortion.

Of course, this is not just a matter of justice for all women. It is also a matter of a deeply personal moral choice for individual women, who must weigh many factors in making an often agonizing decision.

Is this decision right or is it wrong? This is the ultimate moral question.

Who should decide whether it is right or wrong? Progressive Christians believe that women should, not the government.

Women of faith are guided by their own faith traditions.

Some faith traditions, like Judaism, believe that abortion is actually a religious requirement in certain circumstances. Progressive Christians could come to the same conclusion. But regardless of the conclusion, we believe that government must never interfere with this moral choice.

And so the recent Supreme Court ruling is a violation of religious freedom.

But what if you believe that a full human being exists from the moment of conception?

That is a belief, not a fact. And what if you don’t believe it? Or what if you believe the health of the mother has priority? Or you believe the quality of life for a future child, for the mother, and for the family are essential moral considerations?

Religious freedom requires that all women must be free to exercise their beliefs in making decisions about their own pregnancies.

Progressive Christians take religious freedom as seriously as Conservative Christians do. So we must advocate not just for reproductive justice but for religious freedom itself.

Don't Be Afraid of Fear

In the Gospels, Jesus says, “Do not be afraid!”

He also says, “Stay awake!”

Being awake, or conscious, is essential if we don’t want to live in fear. If we are not awake, we will not recognize our fear and it will control us.

We will worry about our possessions and money in the name of security and self-protection, not seeing that we are driven by fear.

Suspicion, resentment, and hostility will make our lives small and guarded because we do not see that we are driven by fear.

Our prejudices will divide us from our souls as we divide the world into us and them because we do not see that we are driven by fear.

We will silence our souls in the face of injustice because we do not see that we are driven by fear.

Division, violence, and injustice in our world will thrive because we do not see that we are driven by fear.

Maybe our most basic fear is the fear of seeing the fear that drives us.

But Jesus tells us over and over not to be afraid of opening our eyes. He teaches us that the truth will set us free if only we can see the truth.

He knows we don’t need to be afraid of the fear that drives us when we see it for what it is and trust the power of his Spirit within us to find freedom from it.

The Scary Book of Revelation

My church's year-long Bible study just finished, with the final book of the Bible: Revelation.

Most of us in the study had avoided reading this strange revelation to John from heaven, filled with violence and scary visions of beings with multiple eyes.

We all knew that modern day prophets had used the Book of Revelation to condemn everything and everyone they didn't like in the world.

We had all heard these interpreters refer to the rapture and identify who be taken to heaven by God and who would be left behind. (Although the word rapture doesn't appear in the book of Revelation.)

What helped us face the Book of Revelation was knowing its historical context. We learned that this book is really a letter written to churches being pressured by their culture to worship the emperor as a god. There were temples dedicated to the emperor in the cities of some of these churches. The people throughout the area of the churches believed worshipping the emperor was simply a patriotic duty. Worshipping the emperor was seen as important for the safety and prosperity of the people.

The writer called John called Christians in these cities to refuse to worship the emperor as a god. Even if they were merchants who might lose business. Even if they were laughed at and rejected in social circles. Just as Jesus had suffered for the truth, they might be called to suffer for the truth. But ultimately, in the end, the truth would prevail and God's Kingdom would come to earth as it was in heaven.

Once we understood the context of the Book of Revelation, we could draw parallels to our own cultural pressures to worship the idols created by empires: military might, nationalism, white supremacy, exploitation, and more.

Understanding the context helped us hear what "the Spirit is saying" not just "to the churches" addressed by the author (Rev 2:7), but also what the Spirit is saying to to our own church.

Progressive Christianity takes the historical context of the Bible seriously, so that we hear what God is saying to us in our own context.

How to Read the Bible

You don’t have to be a scholar to understand what the Bible says. But you do have to be a person of good will, seeking to grow in faith, hope, and love.

Then you will prioritize certain scripture passages.

And you will dismiss other passages.

You will take some passages literally and understand some symbolically.

You will not use the Bible to prove you are right and others are wrong. You will not use it to scare people or threaten people.

You will search for passages that inspire you, help you to trust in God, and help you to grow in compassion.

You will use the Bible to find common ground between your faith tradition and other faith traditions.

If you are Christian, you will use the Bible to understand the heart and mind of Jesus and seek to share his heart and mind.

You will laugh at humor. You will puzzle over paradox. You will find yourself in stories.

In the lives of ancient people, you will find meaning for your own.

You will never find a reason to hate anyone.

All of this depends on good will. On the desire to grow in faith, hope, and—especially—love.

All Lives and Jesus' Teaching

My church is considering hanging a rainbow banner on our sanctuary building. Why do that? Shouldn't we just hang a sign saying, "All are Welcome Here"?

Well, consider a banner already hanging on our sanctuary building. It says, “Black Lives Matter.” The day after we hung the banner, someone left the church an angry voicemail. The message said we need to take down that sign and put up a sign that says, “All Lives Matter.”

What does Jesus call us to do? What does Jesus teach about singling out particular people for a blessing?

In the Beatitudes, he says, “Blessed are the poor.” Don't rich people matter? He also says “blessed are those who weep.” Don't people who laugh matter?

In one of his parables, he says that the Good Shepherd will leave behind ninety-nine sheep to focus on the lost one. Don't the ninety-nine matter?

Why does Jesus single out certain people for a blessing or for salvation?

The same reason a loving parent singles out a child in need—as the father in Jesus' story of the prodigal son does. The father singles out the prodigal son by throwing him a party. The ever-faithful son complains that he never had a party thrown for him.

Jesus singles out those who need reassurance of God's love for them because the world seems to tell them they don't matter.

The expression “Black Lives Matter” means Black lives matter, too. The expression is a response to the treatment of Black lives in the hands of some police officers, in a system that encourages officers who do not abuse their power to be loyal to officers who do.

LGBTQ people are considered criminals in some countries. In most churches they are ostracized even if they are allowed to come to worship. They are restricted from full participation in the church: they can't take leadership positions, and in many churches, they can't even serve in the church's ministries. Their spouses and families can't be recognized and celebrated. They are told that their relationships are condemned by God, according to the Bible.

A rainbow banner on a church building is a way to protest such treatment as counter to the gospel. It proclaims to the LGBTQ community: unlike the vast majority of churches in our city, country, and world we recognize your God-given dignity and welcome your full participation in our church.

It is a powerful message because it is specific. It means when our church says "All are Welcome" we specifically mean LGBTQ people, too.

Jesus knew that being specific takes courage. When you are specific about who is blessed or saved, about who matters, people get angry.

Being specific about who is blessed or saved or matters means challenging the status quo in our world. Challenging the status quo is a political move. So Jesus was political. Opponents lined up against him. They got him killed. But God's truth prevailed and Jesus conquered fear of death and lives again.

Maintaining the status quo is also a political move. It's much safer. But Jesus offers us not safety but life to the full. A life shaped by his own compassionate, courageous life.

Bible Phobia

It’s easy to fear the Bible.

You could open it up and immediately find a description of a wrathful God destroying the wicked or commanding someone else to destroy the wicked. Such a God could scare your faith away.

Or you could turn to an indecipherable passage in Paul’s epistles. You might be afraid to misinterpret something in all that mystical theology. You might be afraid that you can’t be a Christian if such an important part of the New Testament makes no sense to you.

Then there’s a lot of information about the ancient world. Do you have to master that in order to understand the Bible? That’s a little scary.

And what do you do with statements that don’t seem very inclusive of other faiths? In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” He also seems to require belief in him in order to have eternal life. This could make you afraid of offending your Jewish friends and atheist friends. It could also make you afraid they will be denied salvation.

Then there’s the fear of being judged by other Christians for not coming to the same conclusions they come to. And the fear of being judged by sophisticated people who scoff at all Bible readers.

And you might be afraid that you will find nothing to inspire you but much to discourage you.

Well, something Jesus says in the Bible more than once is “Do not be afraid.”

If we admit that we are afraid in any of the ways I’ve mentioned, if we are honest about our fear, we can let God touch our hearts with reassurance and courage.

We can learn to move beyond our fear as we explore scripture with curiosity and confidence that its bottom line is Love. No matter what anyone says. Whatever seems to contradict God’s love in the Bible is the work of human writers struggling to find God themselves. It is often the result of human fear.

Fear that we are prone too, ourselves.

Good Bible Proof-Texting

Proof-texting with the Bible is usually not advisable! It usually means searching for scripture passages to show you are right and others are wrong. Even to prove others are condemned by God.

Using the Bible as a weapon is a misuse of the Bible. The most fundamental truth of the Bible is that we humans are not alone. God created us and called us good. God loves us unconditionally. God calls us to love. And God empowers us to love.

So, I think there’s a good kind of proof-texting. If we search for passages that encourage us, inspire us, and challenge us to grow in love, we’ll find them left and right.

We’ll be encouraged by Jesus’ words, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.” And by God’s words in Psalm 46, “Be still and know that I am God.”

And by hundreds of other passages.

We’ll be inspired by the story of Ruth and her commitment to her mother-in-law Naomi when she says, “Where you go, I will go. Your people will be my people. Your God will be my God.” We’ll be inspired by Joseph the dreamer who found a way to turn his betrayal by his brothers into a blessing for them. And by hundreds of other stories.

We’ll be challenged by Jesus’ words, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart” and his words, “Love your enemy. Do good to those who hate you.”

If we search for passages that direct us to love, we can cite scripture texts left and right to our hearts content.

The only thing that could make such proof-texting inadvisable is the desire to prove we are right and others are wrong. To prove that others are condemned by God. Then even in quoting passages about love we will be using the Bible as a weapon.

The Bible is Not God

It might seem obvious to say that the Bible is not God. After all, the Bible didn’t create the cosmos. And we don’t have a personal relationship with the Bible since it’s not a person. Nor do we worship it. All this might seem obvious. And yet, Christians sometimes equate the Bible with God. This can harm people who struggle to understand the Bible. It can harm people who’ve been attacked with the Bible.

It can even harm those who equate it with God. Because they limit God to a book. Which they believe they must understand and master to know salvation. This makes it hard to surrender to a Mystery beyond our comprehension. A Mystery that frees us from having to understand everything and allows us to surrender to grace.

When we acknowledge that God is infinitely bigger than the Bible, we might approach the Bible more often, with more curiosity, with more imagination. We might be more willing to listen for what God is saying through the Bible if we’ve been resistant to it. We might be more willing to enjoy the spiritual practice of interpreting as we seek connections between the Bible and our lives, and God’s presence in our lives.

The Bible might not be God. But it can help lead us to God.

When You're Over the Bible

It’s possible to be too close to the Bible to experience its power.

For example, if the Bible has been used against you–to judge or shame you–it might be too close for comfort. Or if you find yourself overwhelmed by all the Bible’s information. So many references that make no sense to you. So many strange names, so much strange, Biblical language. And you can’t see the forest for the trees.

Or maybe you are very, very familiar with the Bible. You’re so close to it that nothing in it surprises you anymore.

To discover or rediscover the Bible’s power, sometimes you have to change perspective, step back, see it from different eyes.

If the Bible has been used to judge or shame you, search for passages that you could use to judge or shame in return. Then search again for passages that would keep you from judging or shaming in return. The Bible will stop feeling like a weapon and begin feeling like a powerful source of healing.

If you feel overwhelmed by the Bible, hunt for passages that will help a friend who needs hope or guidance or courage. You’ll find verses and chapters and stories. You’ll find the luxurious forest instead of just tree after tree.

If nothing in the Bible surprises you anymore, search for passages that would surprise a Buddhist or an atheist or you yourself, when you were just a child. You’ll discover how to let go of your preconceptions and find inspiration.

Another way of seeing is what faith is all about. It is what Jesus’ teaching is all about. It is what the Bible is all about.

Bad Religion and Good Religion

Bad religion divides people into insiders and outsiders, the saved and the damned. Bad religion then justifies treating the outsiders as less-than.

This treatment can take the form of literally casting outsiders out of the faith community. It can also take worse forms—abusing outsiders. Or even killing them in the name of religion, as religion-inspired terrorism demonstrates.

Bad religion can make people flee from any kind of faith tradition. It can make people think that all religion is bad religion.

But that's not true. There is such a thing as good religion. Good religion connects people rather than dividing them into insiders and outsiders. Good religion never justifies treating people as less than.

Most importantly, good religion insists on love. There can be no compromise on love. There can be no rationalizing the failure to love.

There is nothing to rationalize about when it comes to good religion. There is only something to do: love.

The True Easter Spirit

Christians love Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies as much as anyone in our culture. We don’t get upset and try to remind our society of the real reason for the season, as some Christians do when Santa Claus seems to take the place of Baby Jesus.

Maybe there’s a good reason for that. After all, a case can be made for connecting eggs with resurrection. Eggs symbolize new life. And so do bunnies, known for reproducing prolifically.

And purchasing chocolate bunnies for a few Easter baskets can’t compare with the commercialism of Christmas shopping sprees for electronics and power tools. So, I think Christians see our culture’s version of Easter as harmless.

I like it that Christians are not judgy at Easter time, the way we can be at Christmas time. It gives me hope that all Christians can grow beyond self-righteousness to recognizing the goodness in all people.

To recognizing that all people live and move and have their being in God, like fish in water or birds in the air.

To trusting that our connection to God’s life will never be broken, not even by death, which is the message of Easter. A message of good news for all people, whether they are Christians or not.

As I celebrate the resurrection of Christ, who promises my own unbreakable connection to God, I say Hallelujah to that.

Now pass me a chocolate bunny!

Us and Them

Christians have often divided the world into “us” and “them.” Christians, on the “us” side, have tried to convert the rest of the world, on the “them” side, often for very good reasons.

For example, to offer them the gift of Jesus and his spiritual path. Or to offer them a supporting church community. Or to offer a way to heaven, for Christians who believe that's the meaning of salvation.

But what if we Christians didn't try to turn them into us? What if we believed we are called to serve them? What if the world felt blessed to have Christians around to lend a hand, to encourage the hopeless, to feed the hungry, to care for the sick? To stand in solidarity with oppressed people? To work for just laws and policies. To work for peace?

To do all of this simply because we love the world. Because God loves the world.

Some may want to join us in serving, in learning the way of Jesus, in being part of a supportive community for the sake of service.

But most will simply wish to be served rather than to be recruited.

How would this change the way we Christians see the world? And how would it change the way the world sees us?

The Word “Christian”

The word Christian doesn't evoke pleasant feelings for many non-Christians in the U.S.

Maybe they could imagine a megachurch filled with joyful faces, but they could not imagine among those faces those of their lesbian friends who like to hold hands.

Maybe they could imagine Christian missionaries zealously building a school in a Nigerian village, but they could not imagine wanting to join them in teaching that wives must obey their husbands.

Maybe they could imagine devoted parents homeschooling their children—while wondering if it was to protect the little ones from critical race theory.

Maybe they could imagine a spirited church group marching in a Fourth of July parade, but they could not imagine the group's banner with the words “God Supports All Troops.”

Would non-Christians even wonder about the possibility of another kind of Christianity?

One that affirms LGBT people? One that rejects patriarchy, even though it is presented as a norm in the Bible.

A Christianity that sees Jesus as a transformer of consciousness and challenger of injustice? A Christianity that loves the poetry of scripture about the goodness and wonder of an evolving universe? One that affirms the people of all nations?

A Christianity that offers a spiritual path in a twenty-first-century world. And, at the same time, a Christianity that has returned to its roots, its radical, unconventional wisdom.

Maybe non-Christians wouldn't wonder about such a Christianity because they had no idea it existed. But it does, and I want to make it known!

Why a Cross?

The cross is the dominant symbol for Lent. In Lent we prepare ourselves to take up our cross, as Jesus took up his.

We know the cross involves suffering. But the cross doesn't glorify suffering. The cross symbolizes love. Love involves suffering.

The suffering that comes with letting go of judgment, suspicion, and resentment in order to love.

The suffering that comes with opening a tightened heart in order to love.

The suffering that comes with feeling the pains of others in order to love.

The suffering that comes with inconvenience, exhaustion, even persecution when we love.

Jesus stretched out his arms on the cross to embrace the world, just as he had embraced the world his whole life. He embraced even those who sentenced him to die and those who nailed him to the cross.

He made the cross a symbol of love and love's great power to transform individuals and the world.

The Myth of Redemptive Violence

Jesus never said, “Violence will set you free.”

Jesus never said, “If you want to save your life, use violence.” He never said, “Use violence to save the lives of others.”

Jesus never told his disciples to guard their possessions even if it meant using violence.

Jesus never responded to violence with violence, not to defend the lives of others, not even to defend his own life at the end.

Then how can so many of us disciples of Jesus sanction violence today?

Is it because we believe our world is much more dangerous than the world that killed Jesus?

Is it because we believe Jesus had no access to weapons?

Is it because we believe Jesus was too frightened to defend his property or to defend others or himself?

Or is it because we believe God required violence against Jesus to redeem us? That God required the violence of people with evil intentions. The violence of those we might call bad guys.

So why don't we believe that God approves of “bad guys” who use violence today? Why don't we believe that God wills innocent people like Jesus to die at the hands of the violent?

Because we believe a myth: God required a sacrifice in order to save the world from eternal damnation. The world that God created and loved but chose to damn. God required the death of his son to save that world. God required the death of just this one innocent person to save the world. That's the myth of redemptive violence.

And when we believe it, it's not so hard to say that now things have changed, now we should protect all innocent people by using violence. And now it's not so hard to play God in deciding who is innocent and who is not. And it's not so hard to sanction all kinds of violence in the name of goodness.

Even in the name of Jesus.

The Real Guilty Pleasures

Lent is our equivalent of Jesus' 40 days in the wilderness. Who knows what led him there. Most likely a painful event in his life that made him question his priorities. Like a brush with death. Or a struggle with depression. Or the end of a relationship. Or a faith crisis.

He went to the wilderness to do some soul searching. To rethink what matters in life and what simply turns to ashes.

We enter the 40 days of Lent to do the same thing. Soul searching. Rethinking what matters.

And to face our temptations, as Jesus did in the wilderness. Our temptation to replace what matters with what simply turns to ashes.

We tend to associate temptation with guilty pleasures related to sex, food, or decadence.

But what if our temptations include the following:

The temptation to disbelieve in God's unconditional love for us?

The temptation to disbelieve in God's unconditional love for those who hurt us?

The temptation to demonize those who disagree with our politics?

The temptation to focus on changing others rather than ourselves?

The temptation to substitute politeness on the outside for compassion on the inside?

The temptation to deny a connection between our compassion and the state of the world?

Jesus faced his temptations for 40 days. He faced the lies we all tell ourselves about what really matters. He rejected the lies and set out to show the world what truly matters.

In Lent we do the same soul searching so we, too, can show the world what truly matters.

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