A few years ago my
partner and I were having dinner with a friend. The topic of
"reclamation" as a thing that humans do to the earth, to possessions,
and to themselves came up. We were talking about this in the context of how
messed up the world seems to be in terms of humans. Jokingly one of us said
that we should start something called the Sixth Day Reclamation Project to help bring human kind back to a good place. Not
knowing what that would look like the joke lingered around for a few years.
Then, on election
night, as it seemed that President Obama was probably going to win, I made a
post on Facebook that went something like this just before I went to bed.
“I'm gonna just say
that chances are Obama wins. So...fuck off to all you hateful motherfuckers who
voted for hate and bigotry. Maybe in the morning I'll learn that Romney won,
but I doubt it. If it turns out Romney wins then I hope your new religious
partisanism fucks you over in the next 4 years and you realize that your god
doesn't endorse your politics of hate, bigotry, and absolute stupidness."
I got mixed comments,
some positive some not. But, two stood out. First was "this is the most
hateful thing I've read during this whole process" and the other one was
"Wow Rob. Hope you're doing well too." Both of these comments were
from some fairly moderate Christian friends I have. Honestly I kind of felt a
bit bad for writing something that offended some of my friends, but at the same
time I think what I wrote is true if a bit "spicy." I don't see my
opinion as hateful and here's why: I do hate hatred, and I hate bigotry, and
mostly I hate injustice which, both hatred and bigotry as well as religious
fanaticism lend themselves to. They call that indignation. So no, I wasn't
being hateful I was being indignant which in my opinion is perfectly
acceptable. Although I do agree that the way one goes about expressing
indignation can be harmful to making ones point.
So
what is The Sixth Day Reclamation Project? What I want to do is provide a space
where political, social, and religious issues can be expressed through a
Christian lens, but not a fundamentalist form of Christianity. More from the
point of view of how probably the majority of Christians view them. My problem
is that there is this hateful breed of Christianity that gets so much press and
attention because of how fanatical it is. And there seems to be this sense that
our nation is either far to the right or far to the left, but the reality is
that most Americans fit right in the middle. Being presented with only two
options, Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, helps promote this idea that we’re so
deeply divided when in fact most people fit somewhere in between when it comes
to social issues and even religion.
I
want people to be able to submit thoughts on issues and events in a way that is
fair and non-fanatical.
As
a former youth minister it’s sad to see what Christianity is becoming. It’s sad
that our youth are being taught a story of God that teaches exclusion, bigotry,
and closed-mindedness. I personally do not have any relationship with
Christianity anymore. However, when I was a youth minister I always taught what
I called a Gospel of Love. God created us out of love and Jesus taught love.
And I want to provide this platform for people to read that there is a
practical and maybe even more pluralistic theology as an alternative.
Here’s
an example of where I’m coming from. In the book of Micah, God was having an
issue with the Israelites. Rather than offerings of cattle and rams and
firstborn children, God said that all he requires of them is [Micah 6:8]“to do
justice, and to love kindness, and walk humbly with Him.” Humility is not
passive aggressive comments like “Wow, I hope you’re doing well”, which seems
to imply “I’ll be praying for you because you’ve clearly lost your way.”
Kindness is not holding signs that say God Hates Fags. Justice is not taking
away social programs designed to help those who have been given no
opportunities to help themselves because of racism, classism, or whatever other
–ism might be the problem.
So,
while I do not identify as a Christian or anything else for that matter, I
don’t like to see injustice and I don’t like to see the Bible used to promote
hatred and exclusion because it has always been my belief that God’s love is
meant for all as well as the salvation he gave through Christ.
Let
the journey begin!
