Bruce, if Christianity doesn’t matter, why do you bother with it?
Good question.
On one hand, Christianity doesn’t matter. The Bible doesn’t matter. Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God, the Church, none of it matters.
If Christians want to worship their God, I have no objection. I subscribe to the “live and let live” school of thought. Each to his own. May Jesus be with you. May the force be with you. May nothing be with you. I don’t care.
However . . .
I do care about the influence Evangelical (and conservative Catholic) Christianity has on our culture and government. I do care about the damage done to society in the name of the Christian God. I do care when people are hurt, maimed, and killed in the name of the Christian God.
When Christians want to turn the United States into a theocracy . . . it matters.
When Christians want their religion to have preference over any and all others . . . it matters.
When Christians demand atheists and agnostics be treated as the spawn of Satan . . . it matters.
When Christians attempt to teach religious dogma as scientific fact in public schools . . . it matters.
When Christians attempt to force their religious moral code on everyone . . . it matters.
When Christians attempt to stand in the way of my pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness . . . it matters.
When Christians abuse and molest children in the name of their God . . . it matters.
When Christians wage wars thousands of miles away in the name of their God . . . it matters.
When Christians mentally and emotionally abuse people . . . it matters.
When Christians expects preferential treatment because of whom they worship . . . it matters.
When Christians support fascism, white supremacism, and anti-LGBTQ policies . . . it matters.
As long as Christians continue to force themselves on others, and as long as they attack and demean non-Christians . . . it matters.
As long as pastors and churches get preferential tax code treatment . . . it matters.
That said . . .
As to whom you worship and where? It doesn’t matter.
As to what sacred text you read and follow? It doesn’t matter.
I want all Christians to have the absolute freedom to worship their God.
And . . .
I want that same freedom to worship another god, or NOT worship any God . . .
And as long as that courtesy is not extended to me and to every human being on the earth . . .
It matters.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES….
As long as one child is shamed, blamed, cajoled/begged to believe in woo-woo, it matters a great deal. Christians should know that although I feel it fine for them to live their belief that I term a delusion, I will fight with them forever to leave children alone and let them be. Childhood deserves a basic autonomy. If you believe you have a right to brainwash your child with any belief or lack of it, then you are wrong. Human beings must be free to choose or not in these matters. Children are human beings. They need your love, not your religion or lack of it.
For all of the reasons you say, yes it matters a lot.
Thank you for your work on the front lines. You are appreciated.
I find your site to be interesting and being from a similar background I identify with a lot of your experience. I also have moved away from a lot of the dogmatic and oppressive culture of that brand of “Christianity”. I’ve seen others like yourself who have gone from one extreme to the other – to me, it seems you simply traded in one dogma for the opposing dogma. But I can understand why, having been there myself. Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts, it is helpful to me on more than one level! I wish you all the best!
John, what “dogma” are you talking about? what dogma does atheism have per your claim?
So well articulated. I don’t care about what anyone believes until those beliefs start to become actions that affect others.
One condition I think you would agree with: if a Christian practiced “love your neighbor as yourself” and was kind and helpful to the rest of us, we would probably be all right with that!
Excellent post to read at this time as the criminal thug plants his departure bombs at the White House.
Partially, the Trump has revealed American Evangelical Christianity and it is being shown to be what it has always been but it is naked now and cannot be ignored. Let the disdain, the shame and blame, the hatred sold as love, whither and die.
And Christians will read this and offer it up as proof that they are being persecuted
I always enjoy reading your posts, Bruce, and I like to research topics, and am inspired to look up facts and names in the blog daily. This time of the year I’m reminded of the Pilgrims, Puritans and that frightening theocracy the had at the time. New England as a region has had an aversion to religious things ever since. Fascinating place to visit. Been there several times. Wish I could afford to live there, lol. In the last few years, fanatics claim there’s no desperation of church and state. That Santorum from back East says people don’t have the right to be left alone. His words. The above list you compiled certainly applies. Besides, losing the separation as we’ve known it, would open the door to Sharia Law or a new Inquisition. Not just Christian Fundamentalism. People HAVE tried to get a foot through this door. More on that later. I don’t see your blog as anti-Christian, unlike your Fundies commenters. It’s anti-fanatic. And that is a good thing, much needed. Thank you for persevering with this cause, even when you’re not feeling well. It is very hard to do at times.
For many years I lived in the original Boston, UK. My house was a few hundred yards from a building which was open to the public because it had the jail cell in it where the Pilgrim Fathers were held after their abortive attempt to sail from Holland to the new world, They got shipwrecked off Boston. (Later of course, they were successful, sailing from Plymouth UK.) I researched their beliefs. They’d fled the UK and did have some measure of religious freedom in Holland. That wasn’t enough for them, as you say, all-out theocracy or nothing…..now who does that remind you of in this present day?
Catholic Bishop Brennan has said Catholics should not use the coming anti-covid vaccine because it used HEK293 cells, which may have come from a previous abortion.
Every person who does not use the vaccine endangers themselves and all people with whom they have contact.
In my opinion anyone who does this and gives the virus is committing first degree murder.
Thak you
Thank you so much for saying that. People are free to believe as they choose. I even help and participate in some of their celebrations. Because respect and being a good neighbor. I do not understand these so called Christians. I think they must be reacting to centuries of abuse and fear. We are all survivors.
These are all the reasons I read this blog. The Puritans who fled England were of the same faith and beliefs as the people who participated in the English Civil War. Charming bunch, they may have started with legitimate complains against the Stuarts, but it went sideways rather quickly.