We're in the midst of an apocalypse. And that's a good thing.

[yallerdawg]

Reminder: Christianity ain't what it used to be!

Source: WaPO, by Nadia Bolz-Weber

*****

An apocalypse is a good thing, and I’m delighted to welcome you to this one.

In Greek, the word apocalypse means to uncover, to peel away, to show what’s underneath. That’s what this country has been experiencing in the past six months. There has not been a sudden uptick in sexual misconduct and assault in our country, the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements are simply exposing what was already there. The reality that some men comment on, threaten, masturbate in front of, intimidate and assault female bodies is finally being brought out of the dark ubiquity of women’s personal experience and into the light of public discourse. The male domination at the center of the sexual harassment issue — how those in positions of power (usually, but not always, men) have used that power to sexually gratify themselves at the expense of those who are subordinate to them (usually, but not always, women) — is being revealed apocalyptically in prime time.

*****

The heresy is this: With all the trappings of Christianity behind us, those who seek to justify or maintain dominance over another group of people have historically used the Bible to prove that that domination was not actually an abuse of power at the expense of others, but indeed was part of “God’s plan.” And there you have the appearance of Christianity (Bible verses and God-talk) contradicting its essence (love God, and love your neighbor as yourself).

Sexual harassment and misconduct persist in the United States for a reason.

The venom of domination runs deeply in us as a country and a people. And it does so because the fangs that delivered it were given not the devil’s name, but God’s. When the subordination of women is established as God’s will, when slavery is established as God’s will, when discrimination against queer folks is established as God’s will, when the CEO of the National Rifle Association claims the right to buy a semiautomatic assault rifle is “not bestowed by man, but granted by God,” it delivers a poison that can infect the deepest parts of us. Because messages that are transmitted to us in God’s name embed far beneath the surface, all the way down to our original place, our createdness, our source code.

*****

This is why I welcome our moment of uncovering; we need to see how deep the heresy of domination runs, and then remind one another that dominant powers are not ultimate powers. We Christians need to repent of our original sins, and see where we have embraced the appearance of Christianity only to reject its essence. This is not a new idea. Black Bible scholars, feminist and liberation theologians have done this work well and for decades now. So if those who came before looked to the Bible to justify their dominance then let us look to it to justify our dignity. It’s in there. Hebrew midwives who defy Pharaoh. Ethnic outsider women who insisted on their dignity. African eunuchs who knew where water was in a desert.

We must do this. The Bible, Christian theology and liturgy are too potent to be left to those who would use them, even unwittingly, to justify and protect their own dominance. And sometimes the origin of the harm can be the most powerful source of healing.

That’s how anti-venom works.


Read it all at:https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/03/14/were-in-the-midst-of-an-apocalypse-and-thats-a-good-thing/

[MineralMan]

1. Say It Loud!

Keep saying it, until everyone listens. Until religion heals itself, it cannot be a force for good.

[DemocracyMouse]

3. Yes, our ancient literature (including the Bible) are deep in our memeplex

... and all the memes of our culture which follow are rooted there. And like DNA, much of that material lies dormant until activated. The writer is so on it. This biological information systems afficionado agrees. Let us own the love, and the rebellion for the sake of love, which resides in our collective literature.

(I might also recommend we draw out the salient points in our Constitution too. Like the part the NRA keeps omitting about a "well-regulated" militia, and the right to life and happiness which the gun and hate culture also disrupts and disables.)

Deep in the DNA of civilizations across the planet are great insights into life and how to go about living it. That information is dormant if it isn't triggered. Why let the mentally disturbed Republicans monopolize our collective unconscious?

[MineralMan]

4. Be what you want to see.

That's the best advice I can offer.

[DemocracyMouse]

6. Be what you want, but you can be more effective doing it by rooting it in shared literature

[marylandblue]

8. Christianity may have started as a sort of counterculture

But once it became the dominant religion, it married itself to power and despite the occasional attempt at reform, never really separated itself from it. If the Bible is deep in our cultural DNA, so is the attraction between religion and power.

[Voltaire2]

10. There are no insights in dna.

[DemocracyMouse]

11. All things, in order to be understood, need everything else (so there are insights in DNA)

[Voltaire2]

12. But that is not what you wrote.

You wrote this:

"Deep in the DNA of civilizations across the planet are great insights into life and how to go about living it."

First, "civilization" does not have "DNA". Second, DNA does not provide any information about how to live your life, it provides specific information about how to replicate your genes.

[Voltaire2]

2. Nadia is right that religion is toxic.

I wish her the best of luck trying to defang this particular beast without killing it.

[DemocracyMouse]

7. She's suggesting we participate by referencing the better components.

[Voltaire2]

9. Yes I understand that.

As I said, good luck with that. I have far more hope that we will just grow up and shrug off this nonsense.

[Cartoonist]

5. Too late

Take the swastika for example. It once meant something else.

Now it means only one thing, Nazism.

Christianity means only one thing today, hate your neighbor.

Getting back to the swastika, I was taught in Catholic school that Hitler took the crucifix, broke the ends, and made it his symbol.

Today's evangelists don't need to break the ends. The cross works just fine the way it is.