I phrased it less clearly than I should have. What I'm hearing from friends, neighbors, the checker at the grocery store, the UPS guy, any time this comes up (and I don't start it. Most of the time I don't reply because it takes more energy than I'm willing to spare on casual acquaintances. Family and friends? I argue) is a defense of their perception of "Christians".
Church members, lapsed Christians, folks who have lived their whole lives hearing the gospel peripherally and who consider themselves "Christian" though they've never been inside a church or actually read the Bible--they believe that the word Christian refers to the "church people" who minister to the sick, collect money for missionaries to take food and clothing to the poor both here and in other countries, as well as the word of God, who do good works. This is historically what the concept of "Christian" has meant, in my community.
What I'm having trouble getting across to people who *aren't* familiar with the gospel and the tenets of any particular church, is that the political and social aims and goals of the dominionist groups are *not* Christian as Christ taught, and that these groups are draping themselves in holy robes to mask their ultimate goal: forcing the entire country to live as they decree, and punishing those who don't.
I don't equate dominionists with Christians, I never have. I know Christians, and good people. I used to be a Christian, and part of the reason I'm not now is that I *believed* all those stories in Sunday School, and I grew up to discover that those stories don't map onto the universe I live in. I am grateful for those whose universe does, and I'll fight for their right to worship as they choose, marry whom they choose, and have ultimate control over their own bodies and decisions.
I just want them to fight for my right to do the same. And to wake up and realize that dominionists, no matter what banner they hide behind, truly are *not* Christian, in the spirit of Christ.
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Date: 2006-05-12 07:36 pm (UTC)Church members, lapsed Christians, folks who have lived their whole lives hearing the gospel peripherally and who consider themselves "Christian" though they've never been inside a church or actually read the Bible--they believe that the word Christian refers to the "church people" who minister to the sick, collect money for missionaries to take food and clothing to the poor both here and in other countries, as well as the word of God, who do good works. This is historically what the concept of "Christian" has meant, in my community.
What I'm having trouble getting across to people who *aren't* familiar with the gospel and the tenets of any particular church, is that the political and social aims and goals of the dominionist groups are *not* Christian as Christ taught, and that these groups are draping themselves in holy robes to mask their ultimate goal: forcing the entire country to live as they decree, and punishing those who don't.
I don't equate dominionists with Christians, I never have. I know Christians, and good people. I used to be a Christian, and part of the reason I'm not now is that I *believed* all those stories in Sunday School, and I grew up to discover that those stories don't map onto the universe I live in. I am grateful for those whose universe does, and I'll fight for their right to worship as they choose, marry whom they choose, and have ultimate control over their own bodies and decisions.
I just want them to fight for my right to do the same. And to wake up and realize that dominionists, no matter what banner they hide behind, truly are *not* Christian, in the spirit of Christ.