Lapsed
I don’t practice religion anymore. As I tell my Catholic friends, I haven’t been “blessed” with faith. I think it would be nice to have a firm belief in a God, a purpose, a plan greater than what’s seeable and feelable here in earth. The ability to ask and receive Godly forgiveness in this life would be amazing. But, I am not so blessed. It felt hypocritical, even as a teenager, to sit in a church pew, and recite all of the “correct” prayers, participate in all of the “correct” ceremonies, and sing all of the “uplifting” hymns. I always figured that, if there was a God, they’d know I was faking it. I surely did.
But I was raised in the Episcopal Church, and when I return (for weddings and funerals) the warm familiarity of the liturgy takes me back to my youth. It always reminds me of Mom, who had a real faith anchored in Roman Catholicism. Not only did we attend church on Sunday, but there was often a mid-week “youth group” meeting. And, back in the early 1960’s, there was even a once-a-week walk from school down to the church for instruction (though, unlike today, there was no fee to participate). Where we lived in Cincinnati, Clifton; the Episcopal Church was two blocks from the school, and only a block from our house.
And I have studied (and taught) many religions over the years, from variations on Christianity, to the other great religions in the world. Every time, I gained academic knowledge, but never felt a desire to become a practitioner. I have not been called to Faith.
Religions
What did I learn? That most religions are tolerant, and merciful. That most religions believe in charitable acts; of an obligation of those who “have” to help those who “have not”. And that most religions recognize that while “they” think they’re right, others with differing views of faith should be respected. Muslims call Jews and Christians “people of the book”, acknowledging that they share a common fundamental source.
So I grew up with a vision of Jesus Christ as merciful and forgiving. After all, he did wash the feet of his own disciples. And he “fed the world”, or at least the multitudes, with loaves and fishes. He even showed compassion for prostitutes AND tax collectors.
Now, to be clear, I don’t believe that the United States is a “Christian” nation. In fact a reading of American history indicates to me, that the Founding Fathers were intent on keeping religion out of our government. Sure, Jefferson attributed “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” to a Creator. But his version of Creator is not the traditional Christian one. In fact, Jefferson himself envisioned a “wall of separation” between church and state.
Even here in little Pataskala, we have Christians (of all sorts) and Jews, Muslims and Buddhists, Bahai and Hindus. Years ago Buddhists bought a local soybean field to build a sanctuary. The soybeans (sometimes feed corn) are still growing and the priests bless the field every year. But someday, when the time is “right”, there will be Buddhist sanctuary, to paraphrase The Music Man, “Right here in Pataskala City!!”
Nationalism
I worry about that. Many in our Nation are enamored with a form of Christianity that is linked to an almost rabid Nationalism. They use Christianity as a cudgel to control others, not just their adherents, but everyone else. “Judge not, lest you be judged” doesn’t seem to be a working tenet of their faith. Instead, everyone is “judged”; the LGTBQ, the migrants, urban versus suburban and rural. They are judged, convicted, and banished, even without judicial review.
I know we are in a time of great division and polarization. As an historian, I recognize the echoes of the 1850’s before the Civil War, and the turmoil of the 1960’s. That’s bad enough. That there seems for some to be, a “religious” basis for our current turmoil only makes things worse. There’s a difference between political views, and religious faith. We Americans have a long history of debating political views. But once faith becomes involved, one side believes the other side is “in sin”. And that changes everything.
Politics no longer is, as Ezra Klein proposed in a recent New York Times opinion, two differing opinions reaching for a common goal of American greatness. There really isn’t a common goal anymore. The Christian Nationalist view of America is antithetical to my own view of what our Nation should become. I guess that puts me, and many Americans, “against” their view of God. We are the sinners.
How else do we expect their adherents to react?
