Unfundamentalist

Above All, Love

Sheri Faye Rosendahl

Let’s Talk About Priorities, White-Jesus Nation

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

Do you remember how Hitler gained power through his grand nationalistic ideals? Really, the Nazi party was simply trying to make Germany great again. So as they gained power through increasing intolerance, and even though they were kind of rigid and fascist, people turned a blind eye, they stayed silent as tensions within became darker than they could have ever imagined. They had only wanted their nation to be great again.

Sound familiar? I hope it does, because as someone who has studied and taught history, what we are seeing in our own self-proclaimed “Christian” nation today looks disturbingly similar. We aren’t at the point of total fascism with a side of genocide, but we are well on our way.

I’m sure most Germans also thought it would never get to the point of mass extermination of people groups in their “civilized” society.

This year—2017—has been overwhelming to the point that there is no longer a great shock value in any of the actions of our new administration. Nothing really surprises me in that realm at this point.

What does surprise me is the fact that we apparently have not learned anything from history as we watch the masses either defend the oppressive nature of our current regime or sit silent, trying to find some middle ground, calling themselves peacemakers at the expense of the suffering of others.

Yeah, I am a bit fiery right now, but I think we all need to be. I mean, let’s look at what has become the norm in our “great nation.”

It’s… [Read more…] about Let’s Talk About Priorities, White-Jesus Nation

No, Our Non-Profit Is Not a Ministry

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

Christian friends often call the non-profit that my husband and I run a ministry. I know they mean well, but I would like to explain why we are not, and never will be, a ministry.

First of all, The Nations is a non-profit organization — not a religious organization — that works with awesome people who happen to be refugees from the Middle East, because they are amazing humans who our society tends to screw over, dehumanize, and often be straight-up jerks to.

Ministries are usually run by churches or religious organizations that generally have particular goals in their work that we do not.

You see, our goals are to love, serve, and learn from our neighbors who are refugees. It’s that simple. There is no hidden agenda or deeper purpose.

Some of y’all might think, “Lots of ministries in our church try to learn, love and serve, so what’s your problem with being called a ministry?” That’s a valid question.

The term “ministry” is often used in our White-Jesus Christian nation in a manner that implies there is an underlying secret (except everyone knows) agenda: conversion.

To be honest, this idea of converting makes us wildly uncomfortable. We are in no way about the manifest-destiny-like conversion life. We are point-blank trying to love, learn, and serve others, not bring people to religion. To be real, we are not into religion ourselves.

However, we do try to follow the ways of Jesus because he’s a bad ass.

And the thing is that Jesus straight-up said that his greatest… [Read more…] about No, Our Non-Profit Is Not a Ministry

Dear Resistance

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Spirituality

To those who feel their voice is lost in the wind, I hear you. To those who feel inherently disqualified, I believe in you. To those who choose to Love first when our world tells you that you are naïve, I stand with you.

That whisper in your ear that you are unqualified, not smart enough, brave enough, faithful enough, theologically educated enough, cool enough, charismatic enough, articulate enough, are all blatant lies. Hear me when I say, you are exactly the voice we need to hear.

Living in the pursuit of red letter Love will come with great critics. You will be cut down and criticized by many who back their attacks with a smoke-screen of logic and theology. You will be rejected and the world will hate your words as they contradict our culture of egocentric independence. You will indeed be a sheep among the wolves.

I hope you know to the depths of your soul, your efforts are not fruitless. You were not put on this earth to live a life of apathy while building a small empire of comforts that leave no imprint on this world.

You have willingly lost the life our world tells you that you are to want, and found a deeper source of life in the pursuit of bold sacrificial Love. The narrow path that follows the red letters is not easy, but the rewards are great.

Your efforts to live this life won’t appear logical. The ways of Jesus don’t align with our culture or our world. Your words will directly and indirectly challenge the Western bubble of comfort. But my friend, the value… [Read more…] about Dear Resistance

If We Don’t Want to See Another Charlottesville, Silence Is Not an Option

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Current Events

When will we all truly speak out against the blatant racism that embodies this self-proclaimed Christian nation? We just watched hundreds of white supremacists, adorned in KKK and Nazi gear, stroll through the University of Virginia with tiki torches shouting phrases like “blood and soil” as they encircled and even attacked counter-protesters. We then watched the following day as up to a thousand white fascists rallied in this small college town and as they were met with the resistance of, you know, people not okay with blatant racism, violence broke out and a white terrorist drove a car into the crowd of counter-protesters killing one woman. We should all be vocally outraged — silence is not an option.

I can’t fathom the fact that still so many are silent. Still, this past Sunday, we saw many Christian pastors refusing to take an active stance against the clear violent racism in this nation. I’m sure some won’t speak out because they probably also hold some racist ideology, but other pastors won’t speak out because their fear of losing some of the support of their congregation has overpowered their desire to follow the ways of Jesus.

In following the ways of Jesus, it should not be hard to speak out against racism. There is nothing brave about it, it’s simply a clear distinction between right and wrong. Seriously, those who are still in denial about how deeply ingrained this issue is in our nation: what more do you need to happen before you stop hiding in… [Read more…] about If We Don’t Want to See Another Charlottesville, Silence Is Not an Option

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

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

To My Conservative Christian Friends

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

Those who support the Muslim Ban, are adamantly against universal healthcare, support drone strikes that kill thousands of children abroad, yet call themselves “pro-life” — I am trying to understand where you are coming from because I can’t for the life of me figure out how this perspective aligns with the ways of your savior.

From what I can see, it appears life before birth is something you consider a cause worth fighting for — but, in the same breath, you fight vigorously against a system that ensures healthcare to all children domestically and are totally cool with policies that condemn to death children abroad, deeming them “collateral damage.” When is life precious and when is it “collateral damage?” Real talk — I need an explanation to understand the logic.

I struggle because, from where I’m standing, it seems that you like the idea of pro-life, but not at the expense of threatening your sense of self-protection and first world comforts. You can picket abortion clinics and call young women murderers and you lose nothing. There is no personal cost to you. It’s not like you’re out there offering these young terrified women who feel there is no other option another way out. Think about it, if this was truly a cause you cared about so ferociously as “Christians,” wouldn’t it make more sense to look to the ways of Jesus and extend love instead of condemnation?

In the meantime, there is a clear tendency to find any possible reason to oppose anything that… [Read more…] about To My Conservative Christian Friends

The Racist God of America

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

I remember the first time I realized that the god of the majority of American Christianity was basically racist. Someone dear to me was trying to make a case for Christian Zionism and, as I stood in a dim-lit hallway listening intensely, I felt this sort of “what the fuck, are you actually being serious right now?” type of confusion.

With no hesitation and I’m sure no chill, I responded with a couple of blunt, but serious questions: “Are you telling me that God cares for one group of people more than others based on their bloodline? Well how pure does one’s blood have to be at this point to be part of this group of chosen ones? Wow, so what you’re telling me is that God is prejudiced based on factors completely out of our control?”

By the end of the conversation and after my fiery disposition had wound down, I had come to a new conclusion, which I calmly expressed, “If the Christian god is essentially racist, then I have no interest in your god.” It wasn’t a declaration of atheism, but a declaration against the idea that God could be a bigot.

At the time, I was deeply lacking in my understanding of the way of Jesus. For all I knew, he was a raging bigot. Eventually, I had a major paradigm shift as I discovered that the Jesus of the red letters was vastly different than what I saw in American Christianity. This Jesus wasn’t a religion, this Jesus is love. They were wrong, as was I.

With our lovely regime change last November, it’s hard to deny the… [Read more…] about The Racist God of America

I Don't Want to Be an American Christian, I Just Want to Follow Jesus

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

This guest post is by Sheri Faye Rosendahl.

The label “American Christian” is largely and globally associated with negative connotations. How many American Evangelical Christians supported the Muslim ban? Who are we bombing today? What was that reason we can’t love the most vulnerable? American Christianity far too often looks nothing like its Savior.

I grew up in your typical American Christian home. I was exposed to Evangelical Christianity my entire life, but somehow I never got into religion. I think I picked up on the hypocrisy at a very young age and, in all honesty, it took me a quarter of a century to figure out who Jesus truly is.

Regardless, deep down I always believed the basics after essentially yelling at Jesus to get into my heart when I was four or five because I was terrified of hell. However, I have never in my life wanted to call myself a Christian. These days I try to follow the ways of the red letters with everything in my soul, but the idea of putting myself under that label is still beyond uncomfortable.

The truth is, I don’t relate to the general American Christian population because I can’t relate Jesus to many of the actions and beliefs of the general American Christian population.

I mean, come on now, the American Christian elite have managed to bring to power a literal bigoted-misogynistic-racist sexual predator as the “leader” of this nation. Conservative Christians stand firmly against health care for the vulnerable, but they are… [Read more…] about I Don't Want to Be an American Christian, I Just Want to Follow Jesus

It's Okay to Love Your Religion without Forcing People to Convert

by Sheri Faye Rosendahl in Christian Issues

Why does the idea of simply trying to follow Jesus, loving others, and NOT trying to convert people upset so many Christians? I posed this question on social media and naturally it rubbed quite a few people the wrong way.

“What about the Great Commission? What about preaching the gospel?” they said.

Why has the goal of conversion overridden the Great Command of Jesus? You know, that love others thing that he said was on par with loving God. I mean, if I am going to go out and teach the things Jesus taught, wouldn’t it revolve around bold love?

The Christian agenda to “get” people is so weird to me. Having these strategizing meetings to best figure out how they can convert whomever and convince them of the “truth” they hold. I imagine Christians having a conversation with whomever non-Christian they want to convert, sitting there not listening but waiting for any chance to strategically insert their beliefs. It’s uncomfortable–that’s not how normal people have a conversation.

I’m not saying to never talk about your faith and beliefs. I really like Jesus and I talk about him all the time, but not with the agenda to convert anyone–that’s where it gets weird. Awkwardly inserting your religious ideals or straight up arguing why someone needs Jesus so they won’t go to hell is kind of creepy.

What if, instead of focusing so much on how we can convert, we focused all that energy on how we can love more boldly, like Jesus? Seriously, have meetings to figure out how to love our… [Read more…] about It's Okay to Love Your Religion without Forcing People to Convert