I've had 35 or more years of intermittent immersion in fundamentalist (evangelical) "Christianity." I really did enjoy the services at a mainstream church in the west end - quite a refreshing change - which a friend took me to for the past two Sundays, and of course, to each his/her own -- some people seem to enjoy the very small experiences with these "mom and pop" type evangelical churches and the opportunity they afford for friendships at least as long as they go to that particular congregation. I know there are some really good people out there who are embarrassed perhaps by the antics, hatred, and hypocrisy that goes on all over the world, but seems particularly prevalent in North America for some reason, where fundamentalism is almost political.
That's my fave hobbyhorse to ride at the moment but I'm not upset about it, just somewhat bemused.
There's a lot of fear, a lot of hatred, and a lot of misinformation. Will people ever change? Well, no. And that's my point. But we each can, in our own small way, attempt to shed light into darkness.
That being said, Judi's right, "there but for the grace of God go I..." I say that a lot with homeless and the downtrodden, and the misfits in society, but I didn't think to say it about the deluded. Of course, that includes me in recent past. Delusions are part of this illness, and how am I to know what untruths I harbor still? All the better to recognize those in others, which is a well known psychological trait - it's called projection, i.e. you hate and fear that which is in yourself.
Why I picked North America is because of the rise of the fundamentalist right in America from what I gather, but maybe they're just a very vocal minority. It seems that they've decided God is Hate, and miss the Spirit when pontificating about the Law - the only thing Christ really preached against in regards to the Pharisees which, if you'll recall, he relegated to hell in a handbasket. Not that hell in those days was meant to be eternal. The Greek word for "an age" was mistranslated as "eternity". Something like the priest who discovered in the vaults there had been a serious error in translation when the monks had copied the ancient scripts. "Oh, no,' the old priest sobbed, "It says Celebrate!".
It seems to me Islam has a very vocal minority, too. All this perhaps led to the rise of the Western extremes as well.
I prefer to believe in love.
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"But we each can, in our own small way, attempt to shed light into darkness." Amen and well said, Kenna. We can't stop world hunger, but we can buy a sandwich for a homeless person, right? What little we can do, we should do. And perhaps, we can pray for those in deception -- for we were also deceived, and probably still are, in some ways. And lest we become presumptious, there but for the Grace of God ...
ReplyDeleteI think too that in America(USA as Canada is America too we often forget) that we have a problem with viable leaders. We have Rush Limbaugh, who is the 'ring leader' of hatred and discrimination. He is followed by Sean Hannity. There is a station in Detroit, WJR that has conservative shows from 9 am until 5 pm. It starts with the local host Frank Beckmann,followed by Rush and then Sean. Finally, at 5 pm there is the local author, most know, Mitch Albom. Though he can be controversial he is more liberal of the hosts.
ReplyDeleteI told him on a call-in last week, we need more hosts like him on the show, and that I hated the station.
If we could get more leader types in the public eye, that would go a long way in decreasing hatred. It won't go away, but it sure could go a long way in bettering our outlook on life.
We don't need to keep bashing each other all the time. Once is cute, twice is obnoxious.