Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

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No, We Should Not Stop Speaking Out Against the Ideology of Our Brothers and Sisters in Christ

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

This past election was one of the most divisive in American history, and the ongoing ideological conflict seriously sucks. But stop telling us that we are not peacemakers when we vocally oppose the American Conservative Christian ideology that directly leads to the oppression of others.

I will never be cool with a system that advocates egocentric fear while literally hurting thousands of people. I just won’t.

With that said, I have many close family members who fall into the category of Conservative Christianity. I love them and think they are awesome people. We have great relationships regardless of the fact that we have some seriously polar opposite core beliefs.

But though I love them, I still vocally oppose their ideology that leads to hurting others. I don’t quiet my voice so as to not offend them and I also don’t directly try to change their views.

It’s not like I am going around trying to find people with opposing views and personally attack them. I may protest in the streets but I’m not picketing the homes of right-wing Christians and I am certainly not trying to make enemies.

But, unless there is a vocal opposition to the oppression committed by the American Conservative Church, there is no chance of change.

Think about the Civil Rights Movement; it was white “Christians” who blatantly fought against desegregation. It was white “Christians” who carried out lynching and spit on black children as they made their way to school. And it was a black… [Read more…] about No, We Should Not Stop Speaking Out Against the Ideology of Our Brothers and Sisters in Christ

Equality Isn’t Fair

by Natalie Ringsmuth in Christian Issues

Equality. What comes to mind when you hear that word? Perhaps you first think of gender. Or marriage. Or race.

Does the word “fair” come to your mind? Some folks define equality along the lines of everything “being fair.” But, really, is that possible? And is that even the goal?

“What’s equal is not always fair, and what’s fair is not always equal.”

When we make the mistake of thinking that fairness and equality are the same thing, we ask questions like these:

Why isn’t there a straight pride parade? That’s not fair.When is white history month? That’s not fair.

My gut instinct is to post this as a response:…but, I can’t really post that on the interwebs if my goal is communication and dialogue. (However, maybe I’ll try this one out on my kids next time someone argues about who got more mac and cheese in their bowl.)

What I can say are some of the things I have said to the people that desire “fairness” for straight and white Americans. We don’t need straight pride parades because straight folks aren’t beaten up and killed for being straight. We don’t need white history month because most of the history that was taught for decades in American school was white history, and mostly white male history at that.

We must know and come to grips with the fact that it is easier in this country to be straight than it is to be gay. Is it easier to be gay in this country than in others where gay folks are openly persecuted? Yes. But, the reality… [Read more…] about Equality Isn’t Fair

Faith in the Fog: Love as Our Compass

by Emma Higgs in Christian Issues

This guest post was written by Emma Higgs and is part of her Faith in the Fog series. You can read Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, or follow the entire series on her blog.

“Deconstruction” is a bit of a buzzword at the moment in some Christian circles. For various reasons, many of us have found ourselves dismantling our belief systems and questioning long-held assumptions.

For some people, the deconstruction experience can be overwhelmingly positive and freeing. They are able to see things from refreshing new perspectives and discard aspects of their belief system that were oppressive or harmful.

For others, faith deconstruction can be like losing a parent: utterly devastating and disorientating.

My experience has been a bit of both. Sometimes, deconstructing feels great. It feels like I’m standing on the edge of a whole new world of possibilities. My faith is renewed and I am filled with hope, content to revel in the mystery and wonder of it all.

Other times I feel like I’m stumbling around in a dense fog, desperately grasping for something to help me find my way, something to give meaning and assurance. (I plan to address the emotional and mental health issues surrounding faith deconstruction later in this series.)

I used to find meaning and assurance in my firm beliefs, based on the solid foundation of the Bible. My belief system was the anchor of my faith, and offered a neat, static framework within which to… [Read more…] about Faith in the Fog: Love as Our Compass

Too Many Churches, Not Enough Christians

by Buzz Dixon in Christian Issues

 

Canaries die first in coal mines, cockroaches last.

Humans are neither, but can glean lessons from them.

Canaries, more sensitive to toxins, accompanied coal miners to warn them of poisonous gas.

When the canaries stop singing and keel over, get out fast!

Cockroaches, meanwhile, keep skittering around.

Much has been written, and much will continue to be written, on the ever widening implosion of Christian churches in the West.

The canaries in the churches have given their warning, and those savvy enough to pay attention to such things are evacuating the premises.

I have good friends, dear friends, who worry about such things and wonder what they can do to lure people back in.

For the love of all that’s sweet and holy — no.

Get those people out!  Get them to safety!

The very structure of organized religion is the toxin!

Now, if you think this is a call to abandon Christianity, think again.

The structure of our various churches and denominations now work against the fruitful practice of Christ’s teachings.

If we want to be more Christ-like, we need to get further away from the lower-c churches and back to the real Church, i.e., the true body of Christian believers.

The Church with no earthly hierarchy, no taboos, no pre-judgment.

We strive to treat others the way we wish to be treated.

We strive to act with compassion and empathy and mercy… [Read more…] about Too Many Churches, Not Enough Christians

Problematizing Biblical Inerrancy

by Matthew Distefano in Christian Issues

It seems safe to say that most Christians — whether Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Anabaptist, or something else entirely — believe they are generally correct in their doctrinal views. Otherwise, why would they have them? This is not necessarily a bad thing, since there is nothing wrong with loosely holding onto beliefs we find credible. However, many of these folks — mainly Protestants who affirm an inerrant Bible — are not simply convinced about their beliefs, but are certain they are correct. Which makes those who differ wrong. Dead wrong.

In this piece, while I am not going to put forth a particular way to approach Scripture (I’ve done that here, here, and here), I am going to be a bit of a rabble-rouser and simply problematize things for folks who consider themselves inerrantists. After all, the first step to solving a problem is to admit there is one. And Houston, inerrancy has and is a problem.
Problem I: Jesus Takes a Back Seat to Scripture
If we begin our theological pilgrimage (as Karl Barth might call it) with an inerrant Bible, then we aren’t beginning with Jesus. And if we fail to start with Jesus, instead opting to start with a certain view of the book — or rather, books — that testify about him, how can we ever know the way in which Jesus himself approached his Scriptures? Is it enough to say that “because he quotes from Scripture, he therefore affirms it all?” Well, that would be highly irresponsible of us, as it assumes… [Read more…] about Problematizing Biblical Inerrancy

For the Invisible People

by Darrell Lackey in Christian Issues

People need to be seen. People need to know they exist, that they matter. People need to know they have gravity, weight, that they bend space and time. It is a slow, quiet death when a person feels like no one can see them. Imagine knowing you exist, have feelings, dreams, and desires, but are treated like a ghost — you can see others, but they can’t (or won’t) see you.

A significant damaging effect of the fundamentalist (evangelical?) mindset is its tendency to make some people feel invisible. It happens in many ways, but here are just a few:

When we see people in a strict, black and white world of “saved” and “lost,” there is a tendency to dismiss the views, opinions, and feelings of those considered “lost.” Not only does this make them disappear, it reveals a pride, as if nothing could be learned from a “lost” person (Remember the Magi in Matthew 2?).

When we treat certain sins as more “sinful” than others, there is a tendency to treat the people who commit those “sins” in a way that makes them feel invisible. This is a paradox of sorts, because on one level they are actually made to feel more visible, exposed, shamed, and guilty, so there is also a sense of being paraded about — or being made very visible.

What this does, however, is make the people being shamed (for instance, gay people) want to shrink away, to hide, to become invisible. Think about it. Why do you think it is called coming out of the “closet?” The closet exists to hide in,… [Read more…] about For the Invisible People

Do You Mean to Mock Me?

by Marguerite Sheehan in Christian Issues

This year on July 5th I stumbled into a place and a time out of time that caught my soul and will not let me go. The place was a local church. The occasion was a public choral reading of a speech by the abolitionist Frederick Douglass in Rochester New York July 5, 1852.

The spirit of Frederick Douglass was with us in his passionate words, in the life size painting of Douglass by local artist Louise Minks, and in the walls that wept as we sang My Country Tis of Thee. The pews were crowded with friends, neighbors, and strangers. It was a minor miracle that I found a seat in the front, where I was swept up into the past and my life resonated with his words.

I heard Douglass call on his mid-19th century listeners to bear the truth of racism and slavery and to own their need to crush that evil. Douglass reminded them — and now us — of the bravery of the revolutionary fathers, and he called on them to bring that bravery forth again to topple what he called the snake nursing on their own breasts: the breasts of the white pre-civil war population that benefited from the institution of slavery, just as White America still benefits from race hatred.

In his words: “I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn… Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today?”

Douglass has been invited by his fellow abolitionists to speak on July 5th against… [Read more…] about Do You Mean to Mock Me?

The Middle Ground of Racism

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

Telling me to lay off of calling out racism within white American Christianity is like telling someone to lay off the Nazi party shortly before the actual start of their genocide. I mean, I’m sure some of them were decent people, just trying to make Germany great again, right?

In my recent article, The Racist God of America, I caught a lot of drama from white people regarding two things. The first was my calling out racist tendencies in American Christianity … because of course not every American Christian is racist.

The other was this statement I made: “What about the video after video we see of flagrant police brutality and murder of our black neighbors? In those cases, we see white Christians actually defending the murder while crying their ‘all lives matter’ crap in complete ignorance of their own racist mentality.”

Surprisingly, it was this short paragraph that caused the most outrage. Multiple white folks literally tried to justify police brutality by stating, “black people commit crime at a higher level.” What the hell?

I can understand some snowflaking tendencies when a group you identify with employs racist ideologies. It makes sense to become defensive and give your input that not every member of the group thinks this way. However, attempts to justify murder are unacceptable.

I believe that many of these people who are essentially justifying racism are probably decent people — not all of them are raging bigots. But seriously white people, in a… [Read more…] about The Middle Ground of Racism

Can Christians Be Good Americans?

by Natalie Ringsmuth in Christian Issues

Every couple of months, another round of people on Facebook discover the “Can Muslims be good Americans?” diatribe, and copy and paste the reasons explaining why the answer to that question is no:

Nearly every time I have come across a posting of these “truths” along with a fearful call to war, it has been posted by a Christian. Being a Christian myself, I have challenged my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who have posted this, only to be unfriended, told to “chill out,” and warned that maybe I’ll “learn when I get raped by a Muslim one day.” My simple question back to them is: Do you know any Muslims? Answer: Silence.

A couple of years ago, I didn’t know any Muslims either. Now, I can happily say that I do! The area of the United States that I live in (Central Minnesota) has seen a boom in the number of our neighbors that are Somali, and for the most part, Muslim. I feel blessed that my children get to grow up with classmates whose parents are from a different country and who practice a different religion than them. Unfortunately, there are many of my fellow white, Christian parents that either don’t know what to think, or wish that their Somali neighbors would “go back where they came from.” I have tried to appeal to their hearts, speaking of the radical love that Jesus had for all people, and that works sometimes. But, I realize that not everyone thinks as much with their heart as I do. So, perhaps it’s time to present… [Read more…] about Can Christians Be Good Americans?

4 Reasons Why I Gave up Bible Debates

by William Stell in LGBT

Don’t get me wrong: I’ve done my homework. I’ve been reading the Bible for as long as I’ve known how to read, and I studied it in classrooms for nearly a decade. I studied the biblical languages of Hebrew and Greek, studied the cultural contexts in which these ancient texts were written, studied hermeneutics and histories of interpretation and theology and all that convoluted jazz.

And I loved it. That’s part of why I was so willing to share my views on same-sex love, Christian faith, and the Bible after I came out as gay (around the time I started seminary). For several years, I eagerly corresponded with anyone and everyone who asked me questions about my pro-LGBTQ beliefs: a childhood friend here, a former professor there, with an acquaintance who I hadn’t seen in, like, twelve years thrown in. Some of these people were nice; others were nasty. Regardless, I considered engaging in this correspondence to be an essential part of my ministry.

But after several years, I started to say, “No thanks.” Most of the time now, I just refer them to a few published resources, then walk away. Here’s why:

The Bible debates can drain your soul.One of my seminary professors, Rev. Dr. Yolanda Pierce, once told her students: “I’m not going to talk with you about why women can speak in church, because talking about that actually reduces who God made me to be.” Tempting as it is to defend ourselves against every attack on… [Read more…] about 4 Reasons Why I Gave up Bible Debates