I Don't Hate Atheists, I Hate High School

I have a few atheist friends, though I admit they're more like acquaintances. I guess I'm lucky though, for the most part I think my atheist friends are smart people. Five years ago I pretty much thought all atheists were idiots and they thought I was an idiot. Thanks to the great discussions I have at Shimer College, I've come to realize what it is that really bothers me with atheists.

I should say what bothers me with certain kinds of atheists. You see, no two atheists are the same, though they may share that one commonality of not believing in any conception of G/god. One atheist could be as different from another as a Methodist is from their Pentecostal neighbor. The problem I have actually extends to all kinds of people, not just atheists- today I'm just going to talk about atheists because the examples I've seen lately were atheists. Remember high school? I know that if you are like me, you try to forget and spend many nights crying yourself to sleep over the nightmare that was those four years of pubescent insanity. The most amusing thing about high school is the groups that students form. We've got environmentalists, Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA), a Bible study, anime club, sports teams, and so on. Atheists sometimes have a group, but unfortunately it varies based on where and how many students want to put their belief- or lack thereof on display.

My high school didn't really have an atheist student group, or if they did it wasn't well promoted. I certainly heard a lot from atheists though. Oh yes, I heard so much about how stupid I must be because I believe in God. In retrospect, a lot of the same people who said such nasty things to me about my faith were people who got burned by the Church in one way or another. At the time I thought all atheists were just bitter self-righteous individuals who were fixated on insulting every theist. It wasn't until very recently that I realized that those weren't atheists, those were bullies. They had to make everyone else feel miserable while bolstering themselves up as the only intelligent people to grace high school with their presence.

I can forgive the kids who were like this in high school, especially since I was no better in my high school days at representing the love and grace of Christ. What bothers me is people who call themselves atheists, but really they're just bullies. They are a disgrace to the wonderful and incredibly intelligent atheists I have had the pleasure of knowing- even for a short time. Bullies like this hide behind their "atheism" because they can hurl insults at people and claim that whatever they say is valid because they are the "free-thinking" ones. It's about as absurd as claiming that I am the most fashion-forward person because I wore the right shade of blue today.

What worse is that it isn't limited to atheists who have these bullies in their ranks. Christians can't even label themselves as such without their stereotypes being applied, especially the stereotypes created by some really insane bullies who called themselves Christians. Environmentalists, feminists, and so on and so forth. I used to think it was just because they were the most radical people of their movement, but radicalism (not to be confused with extremism) is not an excuse to be a bully. You can hold the view that people who eat meat are virtually cannibals without having to walk around calling people with a burger in their hand "savages" or something like that.

I'd just like to thank my atheist friends for showing me that one can hold the view that there is no G/god without being a complete idiot-jerk about it.

Peace that surpasses all understanding,
James

Racism: A Discussion That Needs to Happen (But Isn't)

When I was in elementary school, I thought racism was a thing of the past. We learned about the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, about the segregation of the 50's and 60's; the picture painted was that Dr. King curb-stomped racism when he marched throughout the south. I thought racism was only an issue that had existed in the south, that the north were people with some darn good common sense. Tack that in with the capitalist notion that all it takes to be successful in life is hard work, that everyone has an equal chance; racism couldn't possibly exist.

Fortunately, my parents abhorred racism and did their best to raise my siblings and me to be accepting of all people regardless of skin color. The problem that rose up was that racism was not discussed in the modern context. It wasn't portrayed as something that still occurred. Even when I was in high school, though by that time I knew that racism still existed I still had no idea how rampant and embedded it is in the American culture (if I can be permitted to express it that way). My position was solidified when I was falsely accused of making a racist comment towards a latino student at my school. I said, "is that so hard to understand?" and he heard, "do you speak English?" At the time, I was enraged that someone would have the audacity to claim that I was a racist. I felt like my entire essence was being put on trial and my value as a human being was being assessed. Ultimately, I was suspended for two days on account that I had only myself to support my side of the story while the latino guy had three black friends who said they all saw it his way. Do you see the way this story is shaping up? At the time, it seemed like the school was favoring the other guy simply because he was latino and yet it didn't matter that there might have been a conflict of interest when his three black friends stood up for him.

For years I harbored bitterness towards other ethnicities, not because they were different; I didn't really see them as being any more different than my German-Irish family is from my Scandinavian neighbors. I did not ask to be born of the privileged white male elite. I did not ask to inherit the history of an oppressive, evil, and savage stereotype. I did not enjoy looking into the eyes of a black man and feeling as though he might think I'm a racist "like all other white folks". I've grown up in a multi-ethnic church (though not necessarily multi-cultural). After the pastors' daughter married a man from Uganda and they started orphanage there, I became more and more accustomed to the differences in culture between my American self and the boys of Uganda. I actually had the privilege to spend time with some of the boys who came over here to study (and another who came over for medical procedures). Even then I was still so bitter that because I was white that I automatically must be a racist.

It wasn't until I went on a retreat with my chapter of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IV) that God began to work on my hard heart. I began to understand that God was calling me to leave my bitterness at the foot of the Cross and begin to see with the eyes of love again. My resentment towards my own elite status of color and sex were actually causing me to be less sympathetic that there is in fact a huge disparity between races and genders. It wasn't about who was a racist and who wasn't, it was realizing that God's heart was for the oppressed and overlooked- that included those victims of racism I so neglected to acknowledge.

Enter Kony 2012 trend...

When I first watched the film there was a conflict between my rational mind and my emotions. Emotionally I was ready to jump on the Kony 2012 bandwagon and do whatever Invisible Children (IC) told me to do. Rationally, I was thinking about how things weren't adding up that the only part of me that was moved by the video was the emotional side of me. I mean, who doesn't want to help scared children who are being taken away by big scary mean warlords? I was on their website, literally about to order the geo-tracking bracelet they feature in the film and a kit of about 30 posters. Just before I put the order in I stopped and thought about it. I asked myself if this is the kind of revolutionary action Jesus would take to end such a horrible thing? Would Jesus really drop Benjamins into the hands of other warlords to kill one warlord in the spotlight?

At the same time, I still wanted to do something. I heard people complain about the IC and the Kony 2012 trend and felt as though it was an attack on me personally. I felt as though all the awful things they were saying about IC were also being said about me. At that point I broke down and posted on my Facebook wall that I was upset that no matter how genuine I tried to be in my attempts to do good work in the world, there was always a critic to point out the flaw in my work. This status inspired a few people to respond sympathetically, but at least one person wanted to discuss it openly and honestly. From this talk, I didn't come away with more answers, but it did clarify something to me. Racism is an issue and it needs to be discussed.

Not just racism, but what does it mean to be American? One of my favorite authors from last semester, W.E.B. DuBois brings up the issue of being both African and American- not wanting to sacrifice being either. What does it mean for me, of German and Irish ancestry, to be living as an American? What is my responsibility as both white and male? What about white guilt? There are so many questions and so few discussions on this and many more issues... The scary thing is that the more we ignore these discussions, the more I believe we will see things like what Jezebel reported in this article.

In short, the article highlight that's people are feeling cheated because they invested emotionally into characters from Suzanne Collins book, The Hunger Games, only to see the film version come out differently than they expected. What was different? Was it missing plot points? Was it bad acting or misrepresented characters? No, it was because the characters were faithfully portrayed as ethnically diverse, in particular the character of Rue. Let me warn you that SPOILERS are ahead. Reading the book, almost everyone falls in love with Rue. It's hard not to. She's sweet, innocent, and most people can readily identify her as the little sister-type. When people went to the movies and saw her as a young black girl, suddenly they got upset. They got upset because somehow being emotionally invested in a black girl is bad and it's Hollywood's fault for portraying her as black. This speaks volumes about the underlying racial attitudes of white people in America. It says to me that racism is still alive and thriving, only now it is unspoken. It's not in-your-face-cross-burning that was seen in the 60's.

I don't have all the answers... I don't know exactly how to begin, but I encourage everyone to start thinking about racism and the questions we have when we think about it. Maybe you've been on the receiving end of racial slurs, maybe the one spitting them out; the discussion must happen if want to see a change. Sweeping it under the rug has not solved anything.

Peace that surpasses all understanding,
James

What Feminism Means To Me

When I was younger this image would have encapsulated my understanding of what "Feminism" is. What's even worse is that my experiences with feminists has been mostly negative. It wasn't until I met a few who weren't telling me about the evils of men or how everything I do can be pointed back to patriarchy that I realized that feminism deserves a second chance. It's at this point that I believe I should admit that I have not read anything about feminism specifically, but I have read In A Different Voice by Carol Gilligan as well as a few suffragist writings. The book I linked to heavily influenced my thinking and I plan to continue to learn and try to understand what this is all about. Just thought I'd give a fair warning before anyone jumps down my throat.

Feminism gets a lot of heat from conservatives, which is really unfortunate since feminism shouldn't be about conservative or liberal agendas; it should be about common sense. This wasn't clear to me until I started talking to my sister. We were brought up with conservative Christian values and as you might imagine, the thought now makes me gag, but all the same it's what we were raised with and I'm not ready to call foul-play on the people who raised us. Unfortunately, there's a rather nasty underlying implication about our upbringing that I am trying illuminate for you. Though it's never directly stated, and in fact many conservative Christians would deny it outright, but the narrative implication is that women are the lesser sex.

This is further complicated by the fact that my parent's church (but not the same church my sister went to) had a female head pastor. Our church was very unorthodox for a conservative Christian church. As a little kid I didn't know that it wasn't normal for women to be pastors, and frankly I had (and still don't have) a reason to think women can't be pastors. Still, I was taught that women do certain things, men do other things. Men lead, women follow. There's a lot of spiritual discussion that I'm leaving out of this, because this entry isn't meant to discuss theology from an egalitarian perspective. The point is that I realized that women in my life who were brought up as I was had been led to believe that they were inferior, and the most incredible thing was that they couldn't see how.


It's not like many of these conservative Christians are trying to be anti-equality. Many of them would make compelling arguments to the contrary, and I was one of them, but over the course of several conservations with my sister I began to find myself saying things like, "No, you have just as much right as anyone else to thing A and no one should make you believe otherwise." I'll use the example of dating because it's the example most forefront in my mind. For a long time and still today, many men and women of the conservative Christian camp believe that men should initiate and women can sometimes feel inhibited by this. I know that when I was high school I would tell my friends that if a girl asked me out, I would have to say no because I believed so strongly that a man should be the one to initiate. But why? Is a woman any less capable of asking me out on a date? Is she any less capable of coming up with something fun to do? Is it so wrong if she pays once in a while? Men have been painted by the conservative Christian narrative as being absolutely evil creatures who, if they don't have Christ and live according to this very narrow conservative interpretation of Scripture, are bound to cheat women out of everything they have. Women are taught that men who follow Christ are the leader, that they are to follow men down the aisle in marriage to the grave. Women are also taught that there is something wrong with them, that their body is somehow evil, and that if they don't cover every inch of it that they will cause a man to do something bad. Really? So if a woman in the nude walks past me, I will be compelled to do something to her? Don't I have say in this? Yes, yes, I do. I have a responsibility to keep my penis in my pants and my hands by my sides; a responsibility that is so much easier than my upbringing would have me believe.

The fact of the matter is that there are lot of great people who don't realize the damage done by these implications. I wouldn't be surprised if there are things I don't know about my conservative Christian upbringing that has taught me some misconceptions about women. It is my hope that more and more followers of Christ will critically analyze their beliefs about the roles men and women in our sub-culture and realize just what kind of nonsensical ideas we've been taught to believe. There's nothing wrong with wanting to treat women with respect, as it is phrased by many a conservative Christian man, but why not just treat everybody equally and then you won't have to worry about how you're treating women?

Peace that surpasses all understanding,
James

For God, Not So Much For Country

Since I was a little kid there has been no question that God and my country were linked. I was convinced that my duty was to God and then "Uh-MER'-kuh". I truly believed that God had given this country to those who sought freedom from oppression and those oppressed people were Bible-believing Christians. I remember church services around 4th of July when we'd sing nationalist songs such as, "God Bless America" and the Star Spangled Banner. It freaked me out to see people raising their hands and worshiping the same as if we were singing Tis So Sweet To Trust In Jesus. When did America become God's HQ for salvation and hope for the world? And when did it become acceptable for church to look like this? For a while, I tried to understand the logic and swallowed the bitter pill of conformity. I still had that inkling that something was wrong, but under my parents' roof and at their church I felt a lot of pressure to maintain the status quo (plus, I worked overnights and was sleeping during Sunday morning service). Strangely enough, it wasn't until I found a Christian group that I agreed with- at least I thought I did, that I realized what was wrong. They call themselves, "The Christian Left" and proclaim to be the liberal contingent of Christians in America. Now, I love the folks at TCL so please don't go bashing them, because I truly believe they want to do what God has called them to do. Shortly after getting all excited about discovering them, I was reading Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne and Chris Haw, and I realized that a major problem with the American Church is that politics has corrupted and corroded our sense of purpose as followers of Jesus. TCL, for all the good that it attempts to do, is tangled in the same messy business as the fundamentalist Christians are - politics!

I'm not asking for you all to become anti-American cynics blasting Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan in your trailer at some peace-commune. Please, don't think that I'm throwing myself in with the hippy cult-like "Christian" movements that cropped up in the '60s.

There are too many negative stereotypes surrounding this image.

And frankly I think it's quite appalling if we can't be a little more creative than to go from one stereotypical image to another. If we really want to be counter-cultural Jesus followers, the counter-cultural action has to start with the heart and mind. My personal conviction (read: what I believe I should practice) is that followers of Jesus are to live in peace with the government, not getting involved in the affairs of State so long as the State does not require you to do something against the teachings of Christ and His disciples.

I've now covered my feelings on violence: personal acts, mentality and the cycle, and military service. Though I'm probably still going to go on tangents about nationalism in future blogs (which often happens when I talk about violence), this entry should cover most of my thoughts on the subject. In addition to the book mentioned aboved, I would suggest the following for further reading:

Irresistible Revolution by Shane Claiborne and Jim Wallis
Generous Justice: How God's Grace Makes Us Just by Timothy Keller

Peace that surpasses all understanding,
James

Image sources:
God and Country picture
Hippy picture

Babylon

A couple days ago now, I was sitting in an empty conference room waiting for people to show up for the Bible study I'm supposed to be leading (but a leader without followers is only taking a walk). One of the campus security guards walked in when he heard me listening to Roots in Stereo by P.O.D. (featuring Matisyahu). We got to talking and I found out he's a Jamaican Rasta (and that he's got an amazing singing voice). He was telling me about why he doesn't have dreads due to the fact that his employer won't let him have dreads unless he had had them before starting the job. It's a sad state of affairs for him, since his spiritual beliefs tell him he isn't supposed to cut or comb his hair. Employers don't care what your religious beliefs are, so long as you'll be a good little grunt and do what you're told. That's the way of the world. In Rasta terms, that's the way of Babylon (or Babylon mentality). For Rastas, Babylon is the world we live in and the only hope there is for the faithful is when Jah leads them to Zion.

It got me thinking about the distress I've felt the past several months. Often times I'd say to my sister that we should run away to Switzerland. I told her she should find some guy she likes, drag him with her and I'll snag someone I know here and then we'll make for the Swiss oasis. Though I was joking about taking someone with us, a part of me was quite seriously considering what I would need to do to flee to Switzerland (without being deported back to America). The problem I began realizing this week was that no matter where I go, I'm still in the world. After talking to the security guard, I came to realize that moving from America to Switzerland may be a change in scenery, but it's still Babylon. What I really need is to break free from Babylon spiritually, mentally, and in the way I live and that means following Jah, not the Rasta interpretation of who He is, obviously. Still, we've been raised in Babylon; we talk like Babylon, look like Babylon, eat the things of Babylon, yet we aren't supposed to be Babylon. Romans 12:2, John 17:15-17, and John 15:19 all talk about how followers of Christ are to be in the world, not of it. I'm not saying hole yourself up in your house and do nothing but eat, sleep, and meditate.

Philippians 4:8 says, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."


Friends, we must remember daily that we are walking in Babylon. We cannot become complacent with this knowledge. We can take refuge in Lord who is our source of all good things. Remember though, that God doesn't have to miracle your butt out of situation just to help you get through things. God works in mysterious ways, ways beyond our understanding though we may attempt as best we can to. Think of the story of the man lost in the desert. He cried out to God for help. Not more than five minutes later a man in a Jeep drove by asked if he need a ride to the nearest town. The man politely refused and said, "No thanks, my God will save me." A few hours passed and the man was thirsty and hungry so He cried out to God for help. Just a few minutes later a family drove by in their RV and asked the man if he needed help, but he refused and stated that God would save him. Late that night, the man was freezing cold when a police chopper spotted him and called for a squad car to check out what the man was doing. The man told the police he would be fine and that God would save him. He died a few hours later. The man ran to St. Peter at the gates and yelled indignantly, "Why didn't God save me?!" St. Peter looked at the man with a confusion and replied, "What on Earth are you talking about? God sent you a nice stranger, a family, and the police and you were too obstinate to take their help."

Be Jah-minded, keep your head down, keep your eyes peeled; we're no longer captives in this Babylon.

Peace that surpasses all understanding,
James

Image source: http://www.covingtoncharities.org/

Thoughts on Violence Pt. 3: Why I Can't (Willingly) Serve

People who have known me for a while might remember just four years ago when I was convinced it was my solemn duty to serve in the military. These days I'm thanking God that I didn't get in when I tried (and tried again and again). I want to make it clear that I am not writing this to pass judgment on anyone else who serves, has served, or wants to serve. I am writing this to express my belief of why I cannot in good conscience serve in the military.

Since this blog entry is a part of a series on my thoughts about violence, I will suspend my criticisms of patriotism and focus specifically on the military specifically. The military is a force of individuals who do the bidding of their leader, but in America that is said to be for the sake of protecting the country. Now, what is required of an individual who serves in the military? There are a lot of little things (which add up to some big things) that I cannot talk about as an individual on the outside looking in, but I know a few more commonly understood things such as injuring or killing enemy combatants. This is obviously not all there is to military service, as I understand it there are four support staff working at desks for every military service member on the field. This says nothing of the kind of training one has to receive in order to be able to kill and kill efficiently without being killed.

But when I think about all the destruction that wars have brought I know I could not be a part of that, regardless of who is "right" or "wrong". I cannot be a part of an organization designed specifically for destroying life. Matthew 26:52 tells us of how Jesus handled a situation of violence and said the famous words, "They that live by the sword will die by the sword". Were it to come down to a draft, I would be a conscientious objector and the only reason I can see joining is to maneuver myself into a position that would not require me to kill anyone. I don't think I would flee the country, in part because I believe that that is not a very good solution. It puts me at odds with two countries. There are much more respectful and honest ways of taking a stand for peace and the value of life. The exception would be if there was a way to leave the country legitimately. When taking a stand for moral justice, one must be careful to abide by as many laws as possible so as to not tarnish justice with irrational haste.

Peace that surpasses all understanding,
James


Image source: "Want You to Stop War" on Minti

Reject

Reject. It's a powerful word that is used commonly to describe an outcast or the act of dismissing something. Interestingly, both uses of the word apply to Jesus. He was rejected by the religious leaders and he rejected the common interpretations of doing life God's way. Unfortunately, what was status quo religious activity isn't so different from that of today's world. This is really bad considering Christ did not just start a fashion trend, but a whole new way of doing life; yet humans seem to have a talent for turning everything into a mediocre counterfeit.


Image source: DoctorChibi - DeviantArt

Sometimes I wish it was as simple as to say XYZ is the problem, and once we fix that we can have our perfect little following of Christ and His teachings. Truth is that there is not one problem plaguing the Church. I can point out issues I see, but they're only a symptom of larger issues. Ultimately, the only cure for the disease is to put Christ back in the name of Christian. It's for this reason that I must point out something really bothersome about Christianity today (and no, I'm not talking about the magazine).


Image Source: cwgodzilla - Deviant Art

Let's face it, neither side really has the answer. We may feel passionate about specific issues which coincide incidentally with what one politician or political group purports to care about, but in the end there's so much baggage that has to go along with it. Let me use the hot topic of abortion as an example. All Christians, left and right, agree that murder is wrong. We also agree killing babies is bad, but the question comes up whether a fetus is actually baby. The Christian Right says that life starts at conception while Christian Left says it is up to the woman to decide what to do with her body. If it was really this simple, I wouldn't be writing this blog entry. The conservatives picket clinics where abortion procedures are conducted, and on the extremist end there have been bombings and murder; the very thing they supposedly want to stop. The liberals see the abortion issue as a moral decision which should be strictly up to the woman and that her right to choose is just as essential as any potential life while rejecting that a few multiplying cells in the womb constitute as being a human life.

What both sides fail to realize is that their views are politically, not Scripturally motivated. Oh, I'm sure it seems like God is ready to strike down every last abortion doctor and their whorish patients, right? Or perhaps those self-righteous Elephants need to get off their high-horse and start worrying about the hundreds of thousands dying daily from preventable causes? I've heard both sides of the argument ad nauseam. What we need to do is get back to this being about Christ, not a personal mission to legislate the government policies to fit our narrow interpretation of Scripture. The Jews at the time of Jesus were expecting political change too, you know. The Messiah they were expecting was going to liberate them from the evil Romans and restore Israel. We know the story, but we fail to apply to our own lives.

Friends, I can't tell you what to do, but I humbly submit to you that allowing your faith and following of Jesus to be manipulated by a political agenda is possibly one of the most damaging things you can do. Christians should not be fighting with each other over the politicized issues that do not concern us. Go back and read that sentence carefully before yelling at me about what concerns us (I'll wait). Things do need to change and there is lot of things wrong all around us, but if we wear political sunglasses, then we'll be unable to see the whole spectrum of problems and what is causing them. There is hope for humanity and the planet, but that hope is in Jesus and not in corrupt politicians waving flags and speaking flashy catchphrases.

With that, I leave you with this video to contemplate:



Reject the status quo and embrace the reject-Jesus.

Peace that surpasses all understanding,
James