Taking Jesus Back

¡Hola! Everybody...
Okay, so pending confirmation from my sister, we might move the picnic over to her house. It’s closer to public transportation for those who don’t have cars. I’ll be sending an email later today, so stay tuned.

Today? I’m taking Jesus back!

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-=[ Kidnapping the Baby Jesus ]=-

Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

-- Matthew 5:1-12 (New Revised Standard Version)

I have a friend, let’s call him Thomas. Thomas curses like a sailor, smokes cigarettes, occasionally enjoys getting his drink on, and is one of the funniest people I know. His commitment to social justice and the work he has done has done more to ease suffering than most people you will ever meet. He doesn’t “give a shit” about whether you accept Jesus as you savior or not. His main concern is your problem and how he can help you solve it.

Aside from the great work Thomas does what sets him apart from most of my friends is that Thomas is actually Father Thomas. He’s a priest and one of the most spiritually evolved people I have ever had the good fortune to meet.

One day I was speaking on social justice at a law school in Manhattan. It’s considered the top law school in the land (it competes yearly with Harvard for that distinction). After, during the question/ answer section, a gentleman rose and identified himself as being from the “faith-based” community and his question was to the point: “What can we in the faith-based community do to help stop the madness of mass incarceration.” My response was equally to the point: “Get up and tell the politicians to stop justifying these unjust policies in your God’s name. Tell them, ‘not in our name.’” I went on to explain that though I don’t identify as a Christian, I do know that a major theme as articulated in the life of Jesus is the concept of redemption.

This gentleman insisted we meet so that we could collaborate, and I accepted the invitation. However, when I looked at the program he was running, I immediately realized that this man wasn’t working toward social justice, he was pushing religion. A large part of his program involved coercing program participants into accepting Jesus as their savior, regardless of their spiritual backgrounds. When I visited some of his facilities, I knew I wanted no part of their program and let him know.

Two people, two Christians, each having a different impact on their communities.

I have no problem with another person’s faith. It’s none of my business. I do have a problem with individuals who, though they may like me, or respect my work in social justice, will continue to see me as incomplete because I will not accept Jesus as my savior.

As far as I’m concerned, this preoccupation with conversion experiences is a pathology. It is a plague on our nation and world.

As a young man, I remember learning from a Hindu teacher that all paths are valid. He taught that -- although they use different names and different religious methods -- they all point to the same goal. The poet Gibran described religions as fingers from the same hand.

For too long, we have allowed the neoconservatives to kidnap Jesus and twist his teachings to suit their particular brand of intolerance, injustice, and bigotry. We need to take back Jesus, developing a wider view of Christianity that includes respect not only for other religions but also for science, logic, and reason.

Many of you would think that the two, science and religion, could never be reconciled, but I dispute that claim. I believe spirituality speaks truths that are different from the truths of science. The bible should never be read literally. If you believe in a higher power, then you must certainly believe that higher power created human minds that could think critically and unearth the mysteries of the universe. Only a demented fool would stick to an idea even after it has been irrefutably dismantled. Still, many spiritual stories have metaphysical lessons to teach us -- truths that have nothing to do with science. Let science be science and spirituality be spirituality.

Evolution is a scientific theory like gravity, which has been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. Leave the child’s understanding of a universe created in six days behind, people. Personally, I do to believe in a Divine Hierarchy that must be prayed to in order to curry favor and so many of you would consider me an atheist or an agnostic., I am neither. I quite literally don’t give a fuck. My spirituality is more closely aligned to what would be called an evolutionary spirituality and no -- please! -- don’t come at me with that bullshit Intelligent Design! That’s not what I’m speaking of when I say evolutionary spirituality.

But I digress. What I want to talk about is a Christianity where science and religion are compatible. A Christianity that allows one to read the bible metaphorically rather than literally and respects the scientific method. Doubt, my friends, is the handmaiden of faith and love is the primary Christian value, and it is directly related to the promotion of liberty and social justice. There are many valid paths to the spiritual mountain and Christianity is only one of them.

I will address three hot button issues in the coming days and make a case for Christianity for those who identify as progressives or liberals. I will say this much, if you think what I have written above to be a pipe dream, please know that there at least 60 million Christians who identify with what I have written here today.

There is, after all, hope....

Love,

Eddie

Jesus was a Radical (Progressive)!

¡Hola! Everybody...
A little sumptin’ for the Holy Rollers amongst us...

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-=[ Jesus’ Radically Progressive message ]=-

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Gospel of St. Matthew 5:3-10

[Warning: this posting is violent and has simulated sound effects]

DANG! I have to make several meetings today, so I won’t be able to give this post my usual care...

So, let me start out by getting to the significant part: I have huge issues with the neoconservative characterization of Jesus’ ministry. I will say upfront (and I do not say this with rancor): anything less than equal rights for gays is at best hypocritical -- especially when mouthed by people of color. If you want to see the consequences of creating a separate set of rules for a class of people just look at the photograph above (t/h to Rippa). That’s what separate means. Separate is never equal. People against gay marriage are espousing a view that would create one set of laws for “straight” people vs. a set of (unequal) laws for “the gays.” In other words, such a view is bigoted.

Now, back to good ole Jay-sus(!)

I get a little confused because conservative Republican policies favor the wealthy and ignore the needs of the poor. Their policies are often grounded on greed, with no concern for the environmental or societal consequences for their actions. These values go counter to the teachings of Jesus. The Jesus I know taught that the love of money is the root of all evil. If one were to believe the neocons, Jesus would fit right in with the Likes of Lush Rimbaugh, Glenn Beck, and Ann Coulter. LOL!

Yeah! Jesus was a social conservative! He was born in a red state, hunted, drove gas-guzzlers, hated people of color, kicked the poor while they were down, and probably sent down the AIDS plague to punish the queers!

SMH...

Consider the following:

I can make a strong case that Jesus was a radical progressive (with socialist/ anarchist leanings)! I kid you not. Allow me to get all New Testament on yo asses!

According to my own “research,” Jesus came with a new progressive vision, saying repeatedly, “You have heard that it was said to those ancient times... but I say unto you... ” (see, for example, Matthew 5:21-22, 5:33-34)

BAM! (<-- sound effect)

Instead of an eye for an eye, he asked us to turn the other cheek (Matthew 5:38-39)

PANGANA! (<-- Spanish for “BAM!”)

Instead of loving just our neighbors, he called upon us to love our enemies too. (Matthew 5:42; Luke 6:27, 35)

KA-POW!

He spoke of a new testament, distinct from the old testament that came before (Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20 -- King James version)

::BODY BLOW::

When the apostle Paul described Jesus’ New Testament, he explained that it was “not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life.” (2Corinthians 3:6)

::SUPLEX::

Jesus was not a fundamentalist in the sense of being a biblical literalist. He would break one of the Ten Commandments when he thought is was a humane thing to do, as when he worked, healing people, on the Sabbath. The Jesus I know would never say, “Sorry about that lame leg, hooker, but can’t you see it’s the Sabbath?!! Don't bother me and get back to me some other time.” He did what he had to do as motivated by love, not scripture.

BOING!

As he CLEARLY said, “The Sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:27)

KNOCKOUT!

Which brings to the issue of relevance: What would Jesus do? Better yet, what should we do? Should we blindly follow Old Testament laws that encourage a belief in a jealous and vengeful God or follow the words and deeds of that old radical Rabbi, Jesus? Old Testament or New? Which depiction of Jesus do you think is more correct? Are the actual words from the New Testament still relevant?

So what was it: was Jesus some tame bible literalist as he is depicted by the neocons of today, or was he a radical progressive who tended to the most despised, the unforgivable, and the dispossessed? Was he the biblical conservative they make him out to be? One who would deny gays their rights, or was he a radical teacher, espousing a new way of seeing the world so radical and deemed so dangerous, the biblical literalists and pagans of his day had him crucified?

:;blank stare::

In the4 coming days, I am going to make a case for a radically progressive Christianity, a Christianity based on the core teachings of a man who was motivated through love, not hate, nor bigotry.

Love,

Eddie