#ex-evangelical

[prettygaefae]

I should’ve known something was up with me spiritually when at church camp I felt closer to “god” in the woods than in the actual designated chapel

[witchthewriter]

𝐄𝐯𝐞 & 𝐀𝐝𝐚𝐦

And Eve loved her husband, as she was made to do. Although she did not know it; her days were full of servitude, and obedience. Not just to her husband, but also, god, who she believed to be good.

  Who she believed was mighty and kind.

    Who she believed knew her better than herself.

        That he knew every thought before she thought it, that he knew every hair on her head. 

               That he had a destiny for her. So, surely all her actions were ... the right ones?  Because in truth, Eve was as she was made to be.

  The young woman’s curiosity was ripe. Riper than the pears and oranges and grapes. Riper than the trees, and the flowers. However, her faith never wavered, as she knew nothing else. Because everything she could ever want was before her.

  The garden of Eden was beautiful. It was a paradise. (But whose paradise?) As she cooked and cleaned for Adam; he lay in the sun. Day after day, it was the same.

And when she asked god, “is this life?” he would say, “yes Eve, isn’t it good?”

It must be good? How could it be anything but? Adam would hunt while she foraged for berries. And when Adam came back empty handed, she would make something from her own findings.

 This is good, she thought, every morning when the sun rose.

Now, there was one rule in The Garden; Adam and Eve must not eat the fruit from a particular tree. The reason? Unanswered. 

  And one day, an animal that Eve knew as a snake, told her to give in to her curiosities. That was all. The snake told her that god was all-knowing, all-loving. So, he would already know she would take a bite from this tree’s fruit. 

It all made sense. Her destiny was known, and this was it. How could it not be? Because surely her life was not to live in servitude! 

 And so she ate, and it tasted good. Like no other fruit in The Garden. And when she did eat, it was if a part of her was unlocked. Wisdom... she had wisdom. This is what this tree was ... one’s way of gaining their own opinions, their ... their freedom. She did not need to rely on god for the answer, as now she knew them. 

Eve ran to Adam, wanting him to claim his own autonomy. Hesitation was in his eyes until he looked into Eve’s. He trusted her, and so he ate. 

  When both gained clarity, god appeared in a mighty fury. 

      “The rule has been broken.” His voice boomed and chilled them, surrounding the two naked individuals as if they had been plunged into water. 

“Yes. I broke the rule,” Eve stood forward, daring to face god. “And now I do not need to rely on you. Is that what the rule was for? So that you had someone who needed you?” 

Adam was silent. Looking from Eve to god and god to Eve. He said nothing as the both of them were cast out of The Garden. 

It took him a long while to understand Eve’s words. And a while longer when he realised that just like god, he too needed someone to need him. 

[sk3let0rz]

All religions have some truth because we’re all humans dealing with the same problems that come with existence and that pushes people to create similar framework for coping with their reality. BUT that is not proof that a religion is actually true because having a lot of believers or sharing similarities across cultures/countries doesn’t mean your /religion/ is true. It means that humans are all very similar and respond to things like pain, loss, change, morality, exploitation and oppression in similar ways. The solution is ALWAYS other people. Anything that encourages you to ‘other’ another human being is bad. It’s harmful, it’s wrong, and it will not provide you with the peace you seek.

People need a framework to cope with reality and people across the world invent religion to cope. Religion is NOT where you find the truth. People are where you find the truth.

[theinnermeyoullneverknow]

I'm usually not an "evils of religion" person (in fact I usually get really exasperated at those type of arguments), but uh... USamerican evangelicals being taught that it was absolutely necessary for the Israelites to completely wipe out the Canaanites when they reached the Promised Land... I'd say that's a significant part of current problems.

[spurgie-cousin]

Enforcing the separation of church and state

Tl;dw: it's illegal for churches or any other religious, tax-exempt organizations to openly endorse specific political candidates. It's a direct violation of their religious tax-exempt status. Ones who do can and should be reported to the IRS.

[kingethera]

Teacher: Would you rather have an ice cream cone or a bible?

PreSchooler: I’d rather have money.

[justhereforfandomandfriends]

On Queerness, Religion, and Wedding Cakes: An Open Letter to the North American Evangelical Church movement

(this is actually a real letter I am writing to my former church and sending to their staff meeting)

Hello to my beloved former church,

I can't bake a cake for you to serve at this event. Because it could make someone feel so welcomed, who will eventually find out that all of them isn't welcome. I appreciate your desire to accommodate the needs of gluten free folks. It's truly, truly so thoughtful and kind, and that thoughtfulness and kindness is why I still have so much love for all of you. But I've decided that even if you paid me, I can't make that cake.

It's the reverse of bakers who can't ethically make a cake for a queer wedding while honoring their beliefs and interpretation of scripture. If my younger, GF and queer self showed up to the local IF Gathering, that GF cake would make me feel so fucking loved. I would feel like my unique needs were thought of, anticipated, cared for. The tenderness and intentionality of that love would probably make me cry, tbh.

And I know as my ex-Evangelical self without a doubt: that love is real. That thoughtfulness is real. That intentionality is real. Your love for me and my hypothetical, younger GF and queer self is real. I know you and your love. I've loved you for years. Your love sustained me through some tough shit.

I know you're just trying to love people well and honor God.

But eventually I would find out that my queerness couldn't stay. That my queerness wasn't welcome. And I know for a long long time, me in my queerness would be welcome to sit in the pew and learn, to break bread and discuss, to volunteer even! And I would cherish that, it would become my beloved community!

But eventually I would learn that me and my queerness were no longer welcome. Not as a pastor. Not as a teacher. Not as someone to be trusted with children or teaching theology.

Because I'm me! I am not content to be loved only! I want to love and give back! Love isn't love without reciprocity, Jesus teaches that! Do unto others as you would have them do to you!

So someday my younger queer self would ask to be a allowed to love this beloved community back, actively. I'd ask to be a Sunday school teacher and you'd tell me I couldn't, not since my hypothetical self was married to my beautiful hypothetical wife Erin.

And it would devistate me. That gorgeous gluten free cake would haunt my soul. Because it's a symbol of a love that was REAL. That was intentional. That anticipated needs and met them. That was so kind.

And it was a love that demanded I kill part of myself, my God given desire to be in loving, intimate relationship and marriage, starve that part of me away to be welcome.

Because if I'm not welcome in the pulpit, is all of me ever really welcome at all? For you who are women, As a woman who preaches and teaches, do you truly believe you are fully welcome in a space that won't welcome you into the pulpit?

Because really. The hurt is the same. Whether my hypothetical self married my beautiful nerdy wife Erin, or my real self married my beautiful nerdy husband Aaron, the knowledge that WHO I AM is not fully welcome hurts. It's devistating.

Because there is absolutely zero difference between me married to Erin and me married to Aaron other than my partner's gender identity and how that shapes us as a couple.

Because my orientation isn't something I DO it's part of who I am, who God intentionally designed me to be. It's not a choice about who I marry, it's about who I am.

And the very kindness of that love would haunt me because it's a love I have to do without. If I choose to accept that measure of love, I have to accept that that love can only love me actively to a point. To the pulpit.

I will have to live knowing that that love cannot fully love every inch of me. And I will long for what my life could have been like if that one, specific beloved community had welcomed all of me. I will miss that beloved community until the day I die.

And I trust that your love for me was real, and is ongoing. So I know hearing this will cause pain. Please know that it pains me to write it. I would have loved to make you that cake, for free even, if things where different. I think we all wish things were different.

Lots of love,

Me

[blacksheepsden]

I don’t want heaven.

I want to explore and see people grow and change and maybe come back once, twice, a dozen times to keep reading the same story over and over again but in a different skin this time, in different settings, a different life. I want to see other stories and read, read, read their ups and downs and see how they learn and how they fight and how they live and love and thrive.

I want life, not a pretty paradise.