Garbage and Worship

 

This was posted on an atheist facebook that I'm a member of. It's private, so you might not have seen it. They didn't if it was in a church, or where they found it. That doesn't really matter. It's the kind of thing that people who say "God is energy" or "God is love" say. It's better than saying that God hates all the same people you hate, so I don't want to critique it too harshly. But, this is my blog. I say things here that I might not say in polite company. 

Someone else commented that "at that point you see the Divine in yourself and others. Not really worship. Just acknowledgment." Good point. Let's set aside what "worship" means, or give it your most generous interpretation of something kind and generous. I agreed with the comment, adding that when you learn to love the stranger, even the enemy, you see that religion doesn't support that. If you want to hang on to your religion, you need to distance yourself by creating an other, some other version of religion that isn't the one you are trying to articulate.

Some go even further, saying they are spiritual, but not religious. That even has an acronym, SPNR. In all cases, these are stepping stones. They are a recognition that there are aspects of religion, or religions, or the origins of your religion, that need to be jettisoned. There is no right way to leave religion, or as it's sometimes called, "deconstruct", but for me, the above is preferrable to being angry at the lies, manipulation, history of abuse, and anything else someone might experience or find out. 

I'm still working this out. If someone has something that caused anger, I can't say to not have that feeling. The meme here though, is an opening. It's a chance to dig into what it's talking about. It's an admission that somewhere, some church person has treated people like garbage. Other comments noted that God killed almost everyone in a flood and recommended stoning as a cure for problems. So, there's that. Maybe, take a highlighter to a Bible and start crossing the parts that encourages treating people terribly.