The Church is Becoming Christian Again

In the last few weeks several news articles about religious responses to social justice issues have caught my eye in a way, that, for the first time in a long time, led me to believe that there may be some hope for the Church. Pope Francis’s speeches on poverty and social justice issues that were the matched by his actions during the recent visit to Brazil also caught my attention. Suddenly, the voices preaching the message of the entire Bible have begun to rise above those that limit their message to the passages that provide a theological basis to match their views.

The Belief Blog on the CNN website recently gave voice to one who explained why many were leaving the church from anecdotal and survey data. While the article focused on millennials, the author recognized that it applied to people across generations.

Changes within the Church do not happen rapidly, but the theological foundation of the worldwide church has historically swung between extremes. When the the pendulum goes too far, the ideas are rejected and it goes back the other way. The political involvement of some of the most extreme religious leaders backing legislation that violate contemporary ideas of justice may have been the tipping point.

As a lifelong protestant from a conservative denomination, I have rarely paid attention to the Pope. The things he does did not affect me beyond the way his words and actions, as the most prominent face of Christianity to the world, shape the world’s view of the faith. When Pope Francis was elected earlier this year, the stories of his humility fascinated me, but the skeptic in me doubted it would continue into the papacy.

So far, the Pope’s actions - rejecting the elaborate attire worn by most pontiffs, rejecting the lavish papal apartment have lived up to the stories of his piety. The tone of his messages reflect a shift from social conservativism to social justice. The content may be largely the same, but the tone indicates he views scripture from a different side of the verse than his predecessors. Whether protestant or Catholic, the tone makes a difference.

Protestants deny the authority of the Pope, but the reality is that his voice carries authority to almost twice as many people as all the protestant denominations combined. When that many people begin to shift their thinking in the faith, it influences the thinking of others. Not only does it shape the thinking of others, it also gives weight to other religious groups who share a similar message.

Pope Francis has only been Pope a few months and broader media coverage focusing on Christian groups that promote social justice has only emerged more prominently in recent weeks. The restrictive voices of faith have not gone away but there has been enough shift that my hope for the Church has begun to flicker. I see signs that the Church is becoming Christian again, accepting the big message of the Bible, rather than focusing on small messages found in various passages.

We are not there yet, but I am looking forward to the day when I can again say, “I am a Christian” without feeling the need to add an explanation of my beliefs.

When the President Thinks of Me...

         …he considers me equal.

         Today I watched the second inauguration of President Obama. It was the seventeenth inauguration in my lifetime and the first time I shed a tear. Some presidents I voted for. Some presidents I voted against. Some presidents I was too young to understand or care what it meant.

         This was the first inauguration that mentioned me, a gay American, as fully equal in citizenship.

         The key word is equal. I, and others in the GLBTQ community, do not seek anything special. We want to be equal, not lesser than. We simply demand that discriminatory laws that prohibit equality be repealed. President Obama gets it:

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.

It is now our generation's task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law – for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.

         I could not control my tears. As a social justice Christian, as an educator, and as a gay man, the words of the President moved me to a new point in my life. The dialogue of nearly one-half century convinced me that our leadership would never accept me, much less embrace me, as a full citizen of the country. Nevertheless, the President likened my desire to be considered an equal citizen of the country to that same struggle of women and ethnic minorities in past centuries.

         Contrary to what the naysayers scream, there is nothing special about equality.

         Equality is bland drudgery compared to discrimination. Seneca Falls, Selma, and soon Stonewall, have shown this.

         In physics, negative energy leads to nothingness. In theology anything that does not build-up destroys. Both science and religion recognize the power of positive and negative.

Hatred consumes the hater.

Love energizes the lover.

Discrimination limits the discriminator.

Light overcomes darkness.

That the President understands the difference signals a change of perspective greater than I expected to see in my lifetime. More and more people understand just what he means when he says, “We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths – that all of us are created equal – is the star that guides us still….”