I want to open this post by saying that I honestly admire most people with any sort of religious faith. I know that it is personal and extremely precious to those who have it and I really do believe that it mainly brings goodness to the world. Pieces of this post may make Christian readers feel like I am picking on their beliefs, specifically. If that occurs, I am sincerely sorry. All faiths have positive and negative aspects and good and bad happenings in their history. I reside in the Middle of the USA and the fact is, I am surrounded by Christians; almost all of the religious behavior I have seen (loving and unloving) has been theirs and not that of Jewish, Muslim, or Buddhist people. When you read this, please know that I understand that harshness and close-mindedness is not unique to any religion, race, political party, sexual orientation, or other group.
After watching Michael Pearl be interviewed by Anderson Cooper, I just have to say: I’m so sick of people using their religion as justification for bullying and abusing. Michael Pearl beats his kids, and encourages his congregation to follow suit,by convincing them that God says it is okay when he says he wants children to honor their parents. Misguided individuals stand on college campuses calling people fags and hell-goers in the name of God. Sarah Palin tells her followers that women in the richest country in the world should have to pay to get rape-kits because the book that she reads doesn’t condone the Plan-b Pill. The families of Veterans have to deal with protestors screaming at funerals because those shouting people say God would happy that they are burying loved ones. These are just four examples of inexcusable behavior that people use faith to excuse. Let’s call a spade a spade, this is gross!
I am mostly agnostic but I have taken a class that required me to read and analyze a lot of the Bible. It is a text that encourages love, morality and forgiveness. Michael Pearl, Sarah Palin, funereal protestors and anyone who says different are both misreading and defiling it. God, in my opinion, wants of us to take of each other. Misinterpretation of scripture is not what bothers me most, however.
The year is 2011, we know, at least in part, the capabilities of the human mind to learn and evolve. You cannot use a book, no matter how holy you think it is, to explain away cruelty. Even if you believe the Bible says plainly that it is acceptable to hit children (which it doesn’t), you know better. Psychologists discovered a long time ago how damaging physical abuse is to a person’s mental health. Common decadency tells us that we all have right to mourn sons, daughters, lovers and friends in peace and that it is more than unkind to call people derogatory names. Common sense should tell us that a victim of rape shouldn’t be held to the same level responsibility as two consenting adults who decided to have unprotected sex. As a society, we need to stop accepting blind faith in a higher-power as a defense. People are choosing to be mean.
All of us regardless of what color our skin is, who we find attractive, what beliefs we have, need to tell the world what we tell our kids: IT’S WRONG TO BE MEAN, especially on purpose. Period. We can no longer afford to say: It's wrong to mean unless you really, really believe what you are saying. That line of logic not only makes no sense, but it is also one of reasons teens are killing themeselves, rapes are going unreported, parents are beating their children until they stop breathing. There is absolutely no excuse for any of that.
All of us regardless of what color our skin is, who we find attractive, what beliefs we have, need to tell the world what we tell our kids: IT’S WRONG TO BE MEAN, especially on purpose. Period. We can no longer afford to say: It's wrong to mean unless you really, really believe what you are saying. That line of logic not only makes no sense, but it is also one of reasons teens are killing themeselves, rapes are going unreported, parents are beating their children until they stop breathing. There is absolutely no excuse for any of that.
Cathleen, first I want to say I'm not writing here because I felt personally attacked as a Christian by your comments. However, I need to share my heart with you on this. I hope you know how I feel about you. So very many of my best memories have you in them. I do not know who Mr. Pearl is so I cannot comment on him. But please know that many people claiming to be Christians are not and have never encountered the true Jesus Christ. When a person does, though, he or she WILL be changed. There is always an immediate change in a person, but the process of becoming like Jesus is life-long. Part of that change is speaking what is true when you know people will be angry with you. I agree, yes, there are people who do wrong things in the name of every religion. What I say here is not in defense of any of those people. I reject all real cruel behavior. I have to tell you, though, that the Bible does teach some hard truths. It clearly tells us to spank our children (Proverbs 23:13-14) NOT to the point of injury. It also tells us that Jesus is the Savior of the world, and the only way to be reconciled to the Father(1 Timothy 2:5/John 14:6). Jesus tells us that if we reject Him, he will reject us and we will be separated from Him for all eternity in Hell (Luke 12:9). He said that he suffered and died FOR us, so that anyone who believes in Him can have eternal life with Him (John 11:25-26). I could spend a lot of time defending why I know the Bible is true, but that's not the point now. I do not tell you these things to convince you that it is true. You have to decide that for yourself. But I'm sure at this point I seem mean, narrow-minded and hateful to you or maybe your readers. We, as Christians are told to share what we know is true, not to be mean, but because true love is doing what is best for someone else, even if it means being hated for it. Wouldn't it be cruel to know what Christ offers and the consequences of rejecting Him and not speak out? Sometimes we are hated for defending what is right.
ReplyDeleteI love you and your family, too. I think many Christains, yourself included, spend time sharing their beliefs for kind reasons.Of course they should be allowed to. I'm even arguing that these people who I think are cruel shouldn't be allowed to say what they say. Limiting freedom of speech is much too slippery of a slope. I'm simply saying that as a society, if we see people being demeaned, for ANY reason , we should stand up and say "That's enough."
ReplyDeleteI think that loving Christain, Muslims, Jewish (etc) probably relize that you cannot scare people into your lifestyle.
I also want to say that even though most people who are well-versed in child-psychology are anti-spanking,and I am too, I don't think it's horrible. My mom swatted me a couple times, and I'm okay. Michael Pearl advocates, spanking kids as young as two months old, and teaches the people in his church to beat there children with what looks like a hallowed out cain. Three kids in the church have passed away. Other churches order his books by the box. It's scary.
That's the point, when we give people ANY excuse to be abusive (faith-based or not), bad things happen. We're seeing them happen.