PSA: I often point out that Christianity is a diverse tradition with MANY different theologies. Not because I'm #notallchristians, but because treating it as monolithic traps vulnerable people who don't want to leave their faith in damaging sects when there are alternatives.
There are Christian churches where LGBTQ+ people are respected, loved, and celebrated. Where abusers are held responsible and abuse victims aren't expected to forgive and forget. Where women are leaders & their autonomy is respected.
But if your hot takes say "Christian" and mean "this type of Christian" you contribute to making abusive theology normative. Don't let any one group "own" the title Christian and thus give them legitimacy.
And this is NOT about nonchristians I adore doing valid criticism, but about sloppy journalism.
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BC only Christians say this shit in the US: Fellow Christians call this shit out as bullshit EVERY TIME it happens. At coffee, at church, and sure as hell when government officials do it. First: it is a lie, and second it is straight up wrong. Little soap box 1/x
First. Prayer didn't go away ANYWHERE. You, dear fellow Christian can pray wherever the hell you like. What you cannot do is impose your prayer on OTHERS as part of a government sponsored community project like say EDUCATION. It's a constitutional violation of sep of church/state
AND it is a shitty thing to do to force (and to be clear if we are the majority and we lead kids in public school in prayer there is cultural force happening) people who are not Christian to participate in prayer that isn't their own. It is a violation of basic human decency...
Ho boy. Seeing again the "all Christian stuff is stolen from pagans" narrative and there are *so many* issues with that. First: it is literally an evangelical talking point that was used to strip ritual/liturgy and anything but Sunday morning worship from the church. 1/x
That right there should pull you up short but so much more. 1. Religions do not exist in vacuums. None of them. They influence one another, they exist within a matrix of culture that comes into contact with other cultures and is influenced by them. There is no "pure" Christianity
or anything else really. Influence is normal, natural, and not the issue here. 2. But on an even deeper level we literally *do not know* what most of the pagan religions people are referencing in these canards even WERE doing before Xianity. For example. Scottish pagans
I started today baking bread and saying goodbye to my lovely little church. It was sweet, and silly which is perfect for them. I finished the day with a breathwork session with my favorite teacher. Letting go, releasing. There is a lot of that for me right now. ...
And there will also be a lot of building. As I shed certain parts of who I have been, how I have been, to build something new. And this has me thinking about how tightly we hold to what we have. Traditions, sacred texts, liturgy, structure, even things as made up as economies...
If we hold on long enough they become fossilized. We feel we are betraying someone (ourselves, God?) if we let them go. And not everything needs to be let go. And yet there are always things that should be set down. That maybe were good once, but are no longer.
Used to be I only had to say this around Passover. Christians have no right to Jewish festivals. If your Jewish friends *invite* you to a religious service or home observance obviously you can go as a *guest* but we have our own cycle of feasts and fasts that are NOT JEWISH...1/x
So 1. Jesus was alive during the 2nd Temple period which ended with the destruction of the Temple in 70CE. Judaism today is *something different.* Jesus *did not* celebrate many of the feasts and fasts we see today. And he DEFINITELY didn't celebrate them as modern Jews do...
2. EVEN IF HE HAD we are not Jewish. Our spiritual ancestors made a specific choice to not be Jewish. It was literally our first big church fight. We chose "not Jewish." ALL of us are spiritually descended from people who LEFT Judaism or never converted (gentile converts).
Growing up in the church I was often frustrated by the things I heard leaders say "young people" wanted. I was RIGHT THERE and no one ever asked (they were wrong 90% of the time at least.) And the church has a similar problem with evangelism. ...
If we actually *talked* to nonChristians (I do, a lot) we'd find most of them find evangelism to be intrusive, harmful, even violent *no matter how we do it* because of the culture of Christian hegemony in which they are just trying to survive and stay themselves (nonChristian).
But the church doesn't ask "young people," when we decide what they want. And we don't ask nonChristians when we're talking about evangelism either or we would be having VERY different conversations about it. And that kinda tells me all I need to know. Listen first.
Wow, hello new folks! So probably should introduce myself. I am an Episcopal priest of the very progressive variety (some call me heretical), I focus on interfaith work (esp with Jewish folks), spiritual companioning, teaching spiritual practices (like breathwork meditation) ...
And writing about "practical theology" which is basically spiritual/religious topics that impact how we show up in the world. I'm not much interested in what happens after death, or splitting hairs on liturgy, or doctrine. I care that you know you are loved by the Divine, and...
how you treat your fellow humans, our plant and animal siblings, and this good generous Earth. I'm often snarky, have a sense of humor molded early by Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, and Are You Being Served (no I am not from the UK).