I don\u2019t practice religion anymore.\u00a0\u00a0As I tell my Catholic friends, I haven\u2019t been \u201cblessed\u201d with faith.\u00a0\u00a0I think it would be nice to have a firm belief in a God, a purpose, a plan greater than what\u2019s seeable and feelable here in earth.\u00a0\u00a0The ability to ask and receive Godly forgiveness in this life would be amazing.\u00a0\u00a0But, I am not so blessed.\u00a0\u00a0It felt hypocritical, even as a teenager, to sit in a church pew, and recite all of the \u201ccorrect\u201d prayers, participate in all of the \u201ccorrect\u201d ceremonies, and sing all of the \u201cuplifting\u201d hymns.\u00a0\u00a0I always figured that, if there was a God, they\u2019d know I was faking it.\u00a0\u00a0I surely did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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.\u00a0\u00a0Not only did we attend church on Sunday, but there was often a mid-week \u201cyouth group\u201d meeting.\u00a0\u00a0And, back in the early 1960\u2019s, 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).\u00a0\u00a0Where we lived in Cincinnati, Clifton; the Episcopal Church was two blocks from the school, and only a block from our house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I have studied (and taught) many religions over the years, from variations on Christianity, to the other great religions in the world.\u00a0\u00a0Every time, I gained academic knowledge, but never felt a desire to become a practitioner.\u00a0\u00a0I have not been called to Faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What did I learn?\u00a0\u00a0That most religions are tolerant, and merciful.\u00a0\u00a0That most religions believe in charitable acts; of an obligation of those who \u201chave\u201d to help those who \u201chave not\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0And that most religions recognize that while \u201cthey\u201d think they\u2019re right, others with differing views of faith should be respected.\u00a0\u00a0Muslims call Jews and Christians \u201cpeople of the book\u201d, acknowledging that they share a common fundamental source.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I grew up with a vision of Jesus Christ as merciful and forgiving.\u00a0\u00a0After all, he did wash the feet of his own disciples.\u00a0\u00a0And he \u201cfed the world\u201d, or at least the multitudes, with loaves and fishes.\u00a0\u00a0He even showed compassion for prostitutes AND tax collectors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, to be clear, I don\u2019t believe that the United States is a \u201cChristian\u201d nation.\u00a0\u00a0In fact a reading of American history indicates to me, that the Founding Fathers were intent on keeping religion out of our government.\u00a0\u00a0Sure, Jefferson attributed \u201clife, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness\u201d to a Creator.\u00a0\u00a0But his version of Creator is not the traditional Christian one.\u00a0\u00a0In fact, Jefferson himself envisioned a \u201cwall of separation\u201d between church and state.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even here in little Pataskala, we have Christians (of all sorts) and Jews, Muslims and Buddhists, Bahai and Hindus.\u00a0\u00a0Years ago Buddhists bought a local soybean field to build a sanctuary.\u00a0\u00a0The soybeans (sometimes feed corn) are still growing and the priests bless the field every year.\u00a0\u00a0But someday, when the time is \u201cright\u201d, there will be Buddhist sanctuary, to paraphrase\u00a0The Music Man<\/em>, \u201cRight here in Pataskala City!!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n I worry about that.\u00a0\u00a0Many in our Nation are enamored with a form of Christianity that is linked to an almost rabid Nationalism.\u00a0\u00a0They use Christianity as a cudgel to control others, not just their adherents, but everyone else.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cJudge not, lest you be judged\u201d doesn\u2019t seem to be a working tenet of their faith.\u00a0\u00a0Instead, everyone is \u201cjudged\u201d; the LGTBQ, the migrants, urban versus suburban and rural. They are judged, convicted, and banished, even without judicial review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I know we are in a time of great division and polarization.\u00a0\u00a0As an historian, I recognize the echoes of the 1850\u2019s before the Civil War, and the turmoil\u00a0\u00a0of the 1960\u2019s.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s bad enough.\u00a0\u00a0That there seems for some to be, a \u201creligious\u201d basis for our current turmoil only makes things worse.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s a difference between political views, and religious faith.\u00a0\u00a0We Americans have a long history of debating political views.\u00a0\u00a0But once faith becomes involved, one side believes the other side is \u201cin sin\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0And that changes everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 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.\u00a0\u00a0There really isn\u2019t a common goal anymore.\u00a0\u00a0The Christian Nationalist view of America is antithetical to my own view of what our Nation should become.\u00a0\u00a0I guess that puts me, and many Americans, \u201cagainst\u201d their view of God.\u00a0\u00a0We are the sinners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How else do we expect their adherents to react?<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nationalism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n