"My Emancipation From American Christianity"

justabubba · Apr 5, 2018

https://johnpavlovitz.com/2015/12/0...ource=facebook_page&utm_medium=John Pavlovitz

this was a great read. it resonated with me, expressing much of what i have come to believe over my 65 years:

I’ve outgrown the furrowed-browed warnings of a sky that is perpetually falling.
I’ve outgrown the snarling brimstone preaching that brokers in damnation.
I’ve outgrown the vile war rhetoric that continually demands an encroaching enemy.
I’ve outgrown the expectation that my faith is the sole property of a political party.
I’ve outgrown violent bigotry and xenophobia disguised as Biblical obedience.
I’ve outgrown God wrapped in a flag and soaked in rabid nationalism.
I’ve outgrown the incessant attacks on the Gay, Muslim, and Atheist communities.
I’ve outgrown theology as a hammer always looking for a nail.
I’ve outgrown the cramped, creaky, rusting box that God never belonged in anyway.
Most of all though, I’ve outgrown something that simply no longer feels like love, something I no longer see much of Jesus in.

however, it also causes me to recognize that many of the nation's congregations meet this expressed standard:

If religion it is to be worth holding on to, it should be the place where the marginalized feel the most visible, where the hurting receive the most tender care, where the outsiders find the safest refuge.
It should be the place where diversity is fiercely pursued and equality loudly championed; where all of humanity finds a permanent home and where justice runs the show.

and my fear is that such churches will be overlooked by the prospective Christian because they are not so financially, politically, and socially prominent ... because they are not so loud. will they wither as a result?

soylentgreen · Apr 5, 2018

justabubba said:
https://johnpavlovitz.com/2015/12/0...ource=facebook_page&utm_medium=John Pavlovitz

this was a great read. it resonated with me, expressing much of what i have come to believe over my 65 years:

however, it also causes me to recognize that many of the nation's congregations meet this expressed standard:

If religion it is to be worth holding on to, it should be the place where the marginalized feel the most visible, where the hurting receive the most tender care, where the outsiders find the safest refuge.
It should be the place where diversity is fiercely pursued and equality loudly championed; where all of humanity finds a permanent home and where justice runs the show.

Click to expand...

and my fear is that such churches will be overlooked by the prospective Christian because they are not so financially, politically, and socially prominent ... because they are not so loud. will they wither as a result?

Another appropriate quote from karl marx.

The foundation of irreligious criticism is: Man makes religion, religion does not make man. Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man – state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopaedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d’honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion.

Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.

The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo

You think religion is still worth holding onto? Why? When you can still have your needs for a god fulfilled without it you can have diversity, equality, a home and justice without it.

justabubba · Apr 5, 2018

soylentgreen said:
Another appropriate quote from karl marx.

You think religion is still worth holding onto? Why?

absolutely
religion has been a civilizing force throughout history
without having to moderate our behaviors to comply with a greater good, this would be a dog-eat-dog world, and we would all be wearing dogbone underwear [apologies to cliff claven]

When you can still have your needs for a god fulfilled without it you can have diversity, equality, a home and justice without it.

if those needs are met, then one chooses not to subscribe to a religion, like you and me

soylentgreen · Apr 6, 2018

justabubba said:
absolutely
religion has been a civilizing force throughout history
without having to moderate our behaviors to comply with a greater good, this would be a dog-eat-dog world, and we would all be wearing dogbone underwear [apologies to cliff claven]

if those needs are met, then one chooses not to subscribe to a religion, like you and me

Nonsense humans survived for hundred of thousands of years without a religion. Religion is a fairly new experience. The oldest temple discovered so far is only around 12,000 years old.

Prior to that there was the concept of spirituality but surviving evidence of that such as cave paintings point to a practice where man considered themselves no more or less better than the spirits of animals.

Religion was necessary for civilisation to come into existence. Not because of any moderation to behaviour but instead because religion has an ability of creating a unifying force bringing together large groups of people who have nothing else in common but a religion. After all slavery was also necessary fir the creation of civilisation and religion had no problem with slaves. The bible gives advice on how they should be treated not on how slavery should be banned. No coincidence that we start finding remains of temples around the same time we find remains of large cities.

Religion very rarely worked for the greater good. It works for its own good by claiming a greater good.

zyzygy · Apr 6, 2018

justabubba said:
absolutely
religion has been a civilizing force throughout history

Would you like a list of all the religious wars and conflicts?

"My Emancipation From American Christianity"

justabubba

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soylentgreen

justabubba

long standing member

soylentgreen

zyzygy

"My Emancipation From American Christianity"

justabubba

long standing member

soylentgreen

justabubba

long standing member

soylentgreen

zyzygy

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