American Christianity's need for forgiveness

Christianity in the United States has much to atone for. I say this as a Christian, and I mean it. Our Founding Fathers (see previous post) deliberately founded a country on an ethic of religious freedom and acceptance of others' beliefs. We've moved a long way from this in 200 years.

Jesus was a man of tolerance, a man who ate with the despised and the outcast, a man who preached radical inclusion. But, at least for the past century, Christian America has proven to be intolerant, unwelcoming, and exclusive. Denominations discriminate against other dominations. People are excluded from Jesus' table because they are gay, black, divorced, and for just about any other reason a particular congregation or denomination chooses. Even the proper snakes to handle.

Christians of some denominations insist I am going to hell because I don't believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. Others make the same case because I am lesbian. The fact that I try to follow Jesus' teachings, and that I work for the very peace, and social and economic justice he espoused, doesn't matter. I don't pass the dogma test. That's all that matters.

It's even worse if you aren't Christian. Many Christians in this country hate and fear Islam. Our past Presidential administration, which claimed to be Christian, started horrible wars against people of Muslim faith and brought out the Muslim boogie man whenever they wanted a boost in the war effort.

Our history as American Christians is shameful. We forced Native American children into Christian schools, tearing them from their families for years at a time and teaching them that their Native faith was wrong. We imprisoned our own people, many of them fellow Christians, because of their Japanese ancestry.  We uprooted whole villages in Africa and forced them to do our bidding as slaves, while rooting out their indigenous faiths.

We have not behaved as Christians. We have not loved our brothers and sisters as ourselves. We have not treated others as we would be treated. As a result, the very word Christian has become devalued in this country. 

I often tell people it was easier to come out as a lesbian in my then Episcopal tradition than it was to come out as a Christian in the lesbian community.  Many African-Americans in this country flocked to the Black Muslims in the late 20th century because of Christianity's history of slavery.  Christianity in America has hurt a lot of people, including our fellow Americans.  And, while claiming to be building the Kingdom of God, we are driving people away from the church in droves. Once they leave, they usually never return. Great evangelism.

Instead of arguing over teaching creationism in schools, we should be teaching our children the REAL truth about other faiths. That they all have traits and beliefs in common. That they all preach acceptance, peace, and justice. That they all point to the same universal force, the one Christians call God. And, as a side note, that many of them have been as deformed in practice and belief as Christianity.

Christianity needs to ask for the forgiveness of those we have maligned and abused in Jesus' name. We also need to extend that forgiveness to those who have abused and maligned us. It's there in the Bible, in Jesus' own words, if you just read with an open heart and mind as the Founding Fathers did.