WWW.KIRTELEWIS.COM: Recent Episodes
Kirt Lewis
Your regular dose of my own personal takes on matters of faith, social justice and popular culture along with other miscellaneous life-inspired musings. Basically it is my personal 'social commentary' intermingled with some life journaling.
Excerpts from a FB and IG post on January 11, 2025
So-called “social media” has been a part of my life since 2009, mostly with Facebook and more recently with Instagram, with a few brief episodes on other platforms (Twitter/X and Snapchat). That's approximately 30% of my 50 years of living.
I’m saying goodbye to Meta (Facebook and Instagram). I'm doing so for two primary reasons…
REASON #1
While there are some aspects of social media I've enjoyed (as an avenue of self expression, connecting with others, etc.), I believe there is credible evidence of significant harm.
On a personal level, I've struggled with self-management of social media, and it's often induced anxiety, depression, insomnia, and disconnection with others in the present moment, to name a few unpleasant side effects. It's telling that some of social media’s creators sharply limit or even ban the use of their products by their own children.
Beyond this, it has become an avenue of spreading extreme hate and ignorance. As Zuckerberg’s recent announcement indicates, hate and ignorance are very profitable to him and his fellow digital wannabe demigods. As has long been true throughout the history of the elite ruling class, especially since the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the big business oligarchy class in the US, we all know that the health and wellbeing of us, their customers (not to mention the planet), are far from their top concern (e.g. tobacco, sugar, coal and oil, or more recently healthcare and airline industries, just to name a few).
REASON #2
Related to that, the exploitation of the vast majority of us by the cruel, egotistical, greedy, morally bankrupt elite ruling class and their pet politicians has hit an emotional and economic breaking point. While we struggle to just keep a roof over our heads and food on our tables, they have amassed disgusting amounts of wealth and lived lavish lives.
And since the aforementioned politicians (on both sides of the aisle) are by and large hopelessly bought and paid for, that leaves us with only a few other options to fight for equality and a decent standard of living.
One of those options is if we, en masse, STOP USING THEIR PRODUCTS/SERVICES. Aside from them using (abusing) us for their labor, that's how they make their money off of us.
So I'm done with Facebook and Instagram and I won't be switching over to another platform (sorry Blue Sky for my brief fling with you). And I encourage you to consider similar choices that begin to check these greedy bastards.
I'm not going entirely electronically dark. I still have my blog where I occasionally publish. I also have my YouTube page where I do Livestreams or post short videos from time to time. But even the latter might be on the chopping block as it's owned by Google and I have serious problems with that monster (consider yourself put on notice, Google).
If you would like to follow me, go to my website (www.kirtelewis.com) and subscribe. I don't do newsletters too often, but if I do you'll get an email update. You can also subscribe to my YouTube channel.
Sincerely,
Kirt Lewis
4 Steps to Defeating the Elite Ruling Class and Winning Back the Safety and Equity We DeservePREFACELike so many of you, I’m angry. I am pervasively unsettled. I know this life can be better for myself, my loved ones, and the world around us. As a parent, I fear for the future of my two children (who are 15 and 10 at the time of this writing). As someone who strives to be an empathetic and compassionate human being, I am grieved by all the unnecessary suffering in this world and the foreboding diagnosis that we are careening toward a future where this will likely get exponentially worse.
I also feel torn and stretched thin by so many injustices. A world that we are dependent on that we continue to poison. Unspeakable cruelty towards our fellow humans and other sentient animals and plant life. I just can’t speak of them all!
For some of you as you read this, you can immediately think of a wrong in the world. You can see it, in tragically vivid colors, feelings, and images. They are permanently imprinted on the deepest core of your being because they are personal. You have been wronged, or someone or something with whom you share life has been harmed…or you are part of a community that has been the victim of systemic abuse, some for centuries. I feel tears and rage surging as I think of you. I am so sorry. And, again, I am so angry! I want to do whatever I can to make you feel seen and to stand with you in your fight.
So there is a tragically and infuriatingly long list of social injustices out there, each representing causes worth living and, if need be, even dying for.
But recent events (e.g. United Healthcare CEO, meet Luigi) have highlighted that there may be one social injustice that is foundational to most if not all of the others--that being the rampant GREED and greed-inspired power and resources grab at the hands of this elite ruling class. Or as many have noted, the 'ah-ha' epiphany has been that it's, "not left vs right, but top versus bottom”—that is, class consciousness.
Like others, I am arguing that the primary focus of our voices, energy, and resources ought to be challenging the rule of oligarchs and a world defined by plutocracy. We, the masses, need to prioritize this Top vs Bottom cause. I would argue that much of the frustratingly slow progress—or even lost ground—on other social justice issues can, in part or in whole, be traced back to the resistance of the elite ruling class. They are in the way of progress, and they need to be moved out of the way.
What I write here is not a research paper. It's a synthesis of my thoughts on the current, exponentially expanding gap of inequality that we are experiencing particularly here in the US, and what we should DO about it.
My voice is not new, and it is not alone. I hope that those who read this find it encouraging. I dream that we can cry out in unison with our voices and in the power of our collective action with such volume and force that the ones who seek to exploit and control us retreat and we once again have the opportunity to lead the world forward.
who is the enemy?There's a long history in the US, particularly since the Industrial Revolution, of a few individuals amassing substantial wealth and therefore power (J.P. Morgan, Carnegie, Rockefeller, etc.). That ‘power’ is defined as the ability to influence or control the daily life experience of the vast majority of us, usually subdivided into ‘the working class’ or ‘the poor’. (Note: I don't like the assumption or implication that the poor aren't ‘working’, but that is the current common language.)
But from what I've read on the subjects of economic justice, what I have observed in my career in social work, and what I've personally experienced as a member of the working class, there is an undeniable rapid escalation of the consolidation of wealth and other assets into fewer and fewer hands, particularly since the 1970's.
A new class of Robber Barons are putting the OG roster to shame. They go by names like Buffett, Gates, Musk, Bezos, and include multimillionaire and billionaire politicians (just look at the names of politicians on both sides of the aisle that likely come from families of great wealth and have significant net worth).
These are who I am referring to as ‘the elite ruling class’: A small number of individuals or families and the institutions, businesses, and organizations they run, who have amassed affluence and influence on an unprecedented scale, resulting in incalculable harm to the rest of us and nearly everything else on this planet.
They are the mega-wealthy leaders of the corporate world (CEO's and C-suite leadership, board members, and other senior staff who make ungodly amounts of money) and the wealthy political establishment that protects the former's interests as well as their own wealth and power.
OUR POWERAs powerful and seemingly confident as they may seem, this elite ruling class is terrified at the prospect that the majority of us will wake up and realize our collective power.
They effectively need four things from us in order to maintain and expand their power:
- our money (spending it how they want)
- our labor (that we continue to produce more and more for them as their "human resources")
- our blind obedience to their order (that we do not break from the culture and patterns of daily living that benefits them)
- our ignorant or compromising ("lesser of two evils") vote to select for them their desired political leadership
We have a simple message for those who seek to rule us through our money, labor, daily schedule, and vote. In the words of one of their own, "Go fuck yourself. GO. FUCK. YOURSELF!"
We can bring them all to their knees FAST, and dramatically move this world towards the kind of planet we want to live and love on, IF we are 1) focused (unified) in what we want and 2) organized for maximum collective impact.
OUR DEMANDSTheir power—leveraged by their wealth and the position it buys—has been effectively used to...
a) control public policy (laws and regulations) via campaign contributions, lobbying, litigation, “gifts” (aka bribery), etc.
b) control the narrative via corporate media censorship, corporate-funded 'research', PR and marketing firms, etc.
Why do they do this?
It’s all about establishing the rules and the political relationships most favorable to their materialistic and egotistical greed and ambition and ensuring that there is no viable challenge to that established hierarchy.
They know that government mandates and protections are the surest way to force the masses into their system.
Controlling the narrative is critically important to defending wealth and position as well. Their goals are to Deify, Divide, Distract, and Demoralize. They actively want the masses to either…
- idealize or glorify (Deify) the wealthy and their greed, knowing full well that it will be, for the vast majority, a fool’s errand after an impossible dream OR guarantee that the few “success stories” join their oligarchical club
- fight among themselves (Divide), i.e. blame the real or perceived threat on “those people” instead of those who are actually exploiting all of us
- preoccupy themselves with entertainment and amusement (Distract), to numb the pervasive pain inherent in their subservient existence to the elite ruling class
- resign themselves to their current reality (Demoralize) so there is no will to muster opposition to their oppressors.
This power must be checked and the gilded age of plutocrats and their puppet politicians ended.
We can have conversations, and no doubt vigorous debate, on what replaces the void once their tyranny comes to an end (e.g. social, political, and economic contracts/systems).
But if there's one thing the vast majority of us can agree on, it's that there should not be people out there who make more money in a year or even a few hours than most of us make in a lifetime, or who have amassed so much wealth that their posterity for generations could hypothetically skate by on lives of leisure and luxury while the rest of us toil to just 'get by'.
In short, Beverly Hills and Skid Row should not exist on the same planet.
Beyond amassing this kind of wealth, the vast majority of us likely agree that the wealthy should also not have unique access and influence on our civic decision-making process and platforms for public discourse.
But that leads me to state the obvious: If there is one thing at the heart of greed and corruption, it is money, and lots of it. So the best way to fight against the elite ruling class is to hit them in their pockets and bank accounts. More on specifically how we can do that below.
But what should we be demanding they change in return?
As the great Frederick Douglass once said…
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
— Frederick Douglass The goal of our demands is simple: to take away their excessive power. We do that by demanding or more accurately forcing them to make changes that level the playing field economically. Put bluntly, we need to make them poorer and the rest of us wealthier (until humanity figures out a better way of existing without currency).
Specifically, we should demand the following from the elite ruling class and its handmaid political establishment:
- WE DEMAND THAT all employees be paid a LIVING wage and the same benefits the ruling class enjoys. They want us to embrace a scarcity mindset. They want us to feel content with pitiful raises, bonuses, or the occasional ‘generous’ unplanned day off or staff party. Or that the office gets remodeled (really just an investment in their assets and branding) or other perks that they know are pennies on the dollar expenses in comparison to what it would cost their compensation, their net value, and their shareholders’ value should they actually compensate all of their employees with a living wage and healthy benefits (robust vacation, sick and maternity leave, hybrid or remote work, etc.).
(Note: By ‘living wage’ I mean a compensation that is adequate to secure quality housing, safe food and water, necessary transportation, adequate communication tools, and have sufficient money left over to enjoy some leisure and to plan for larger, long-term expenses. And we shouldn’t have to work two or more jobs to earn a living wage.
To see what a living wage would be in your area, check out MIT’s Living Wage Calculator. If you are in California, you can also check out United Way’s Real Cost Measure.)
As part of this demand, our elected officials would require by law that employer-sponsored retirement plans offer employees the ability to invest this tax-free benefit in other non-market-based strategies or special savings accounts limited to the purchase of larger assets (e.g. homes, cars, etc.). The current stock market is a ruse to make the middle class believe that they are making smart, long-term investments when in reality it's just giving the ultra-wealthy more of our money for legalized gambling. 2. Conversely, WE DEMAND THAT compensation for CEOs, other C-suite staff, etc. be slashed to levels more common to, say, those in similar positions before the mid-1970s and earlier. (Read this just to get a sense of how out of control it has gotten since that time period.) This should especially be true for industries that provide essential goods and services—that is, housing, food and water, healthcare, transportation, communication technologies, and our common defense. Corporations or NGO’s that are the recipients of Federal contracts would be mandated by law to cap senior leadership compensation to a reasonable percentage above that of the company’s entry-level employees. Required annual audits that find a violation of this requirement or any misuse of funds would lead to the immediate termination of the contract. 3. WE DEMAND THAT social safety nets be secured and strengthened to ensure that those who are unable to meet their LIVING expenses from employment are guaranteed access to safe housing, healthy food and water, comprehensive medical (including dental) and behavioral healthcare, access to essential transportation and communication resources, and education and training (to empower their exploration of what they would like to create or contribute to this world during their life). Guaranteed access to these things is our baseline expectation of our social contract. 4. WE DEMAND THAT the goods and/or services sold by businesses (especially large businesses) don't further the suffering or death of other living things (humans and other animals, plants, land, ocean, sky, and space). We're simply asking that the health and safety of our bodies and the environments we depend on and enjoy not be compromised. We want laws on the books that put the wanton pain and loss of life that comes from business ‘decisions’ to be on par if not more punitive than current criminal punishments. And law enforcement needs to be properly resourced when it comes to pursuing those who commit ‘white-collar’ crimes. 5. WE DEMAND THAT robust laws and policies be established and enforced that ensure that wealth does not grant unique access and influence in public decision-making. This includes a legal mandate (perhaps even a Constitutional amendment) of zero-tolerance for elected officials engaging in conflicts of interest and bribery. Those who do must be barred from public service for life and potentially face other civil or criminal punishment, with no possibility of a Presidential pardon. Also, no lobbying of elected officials by anyone other than citizens of a representative’s district, State, or other municipality. Additionally, our government must strengthen and vigorously enforce antitrust laws, including the breaking up of mega-corporations. We cannot let a select group of corporations and their leaders monopolize markets and therefore acquire the kind of power that only invites the exploitation of their employees and customers as well as political corruption.
OUR ACTIONS (CHOICES)The elite ruling class is obviously not going to volunteer to give up their wealth and power and concede to these demands.
So what specific actions can we take to Robin Hood these fuckers? Like many others, I'm personally committing and encouraging others to make the following four choices…
DON'T BUY THEIR SHIT - This is especially true for those of us who can afford non-essentials, i.e. the “middle class” and higher. We need to coordinate targeted boycotts of greedy and abusive businesses and industries. And let’s not give our money or volunteer our time to nonprofits that are perpetuating or enabling inequality, especially for those with leadership sporting obscene salaries. Conversely, we ought to reward ethically good businesses with our patronage and support other organizations that don't further or enable inequality, greed, and corruption.
DON'T SWEAT (OR BLEED) FOR THEM - Unionize, walk out, be a selective conscientious objector (i.e. refuse to do unethical work or follow unethical orders in the case of military service), or resign if able. Or refuse to work for corrupt companies or organizations in the first place.
SHUT IT DOWN - Peaceful but disruptive civil disobedience (e.g. marches, human blockades, etc.). Their superiority is based on us following their order and rhythms. They are designed to maximize our ‘productivity’. When life doesn’t go ‘business as usual’, they lose money. We need to throw off their groove and show them an untamed dance that reminds them that our bodies and voices matter more than their profits. We take it to the streets to bring the gears of economic exploitation and political domination to a grinding halt.
Lastly, PROMOTE PRINCIPLED LEADERSHIP THAT LOOKS LIKE US. Only elect TRULY principled representatives who pledge to root out and make illegal any attempt by the elite ruling class to buy out and therefore benefit from a corrupt government. Rid the government of the greed of corporations and the mega-wealthy, and we will see a positive domino effect across most if not all other social justice issues. To that end, we expect our leaders to produce results through legislative and administrative actions.
Note: Follow the money before and after they are elected. If they themselves have a net worth in the millions of dollars, or are supported by the elite ruling class, they will not get our vote. Period. Commoners need only apply, thank you. How about a rule that no aspiring or established politician gets our vote if their median net worth is more than 20% of the average, middle-class, working adult (approximately $190,000-$200,000).
CLOSING THOUGHTSExtraordinary individuals, organizations, and organic and grassroots movements have been and continue to be leading this fight against the elite ruling class. And there are leaders yet to emerge.
Like never before, we need to unite across common divides, stay focused on our demands, be compassionate and encouraging towards one another in this fight, and be well organized in the coordination of our actions so as to have maximum impact.
Our children and those to come, and all that lives and breathes on this planet that we share, deserve better.
For the members of the elite class, brace yourselves. Either recover your sense of conscience and be a part of our movement, or watch as we tear down your empire bit by bit until you aren’t sure how you will pay for your next month’s rent or put food on the table.
Welcome to our world.
I was honored to have the opportunity to share some of my story, especially as it pertains to American Christian Nationalism, on The Deconstructors Podcast!
Along with YouTube (see link below), you can follow them at…
- TikTok
- Spotify
- Apple Podcasts
Click here to watch on YouTube!
After years of deconstructing and reconstructing from evangelicalism and religious trauma, hear where I find myself now on the biggie questions of life.
Mel and I had such a great time having a wonderful conversation with Stacie and Dee, discussing our journey of deconstructing together from our times in the cult of Evangelical Christianity. Make sure you check out this and other great podcasts on YouTube and you can follow Dee and Stacie on IG as well.
Kirt and Mel on Stacie’s Mom Podcast!
I had such a blast talking with my two great friends, Rola and Kara, on Kara’s podcast, Reframing Our Stories. Click on the link, settle in and enjoy the conversation!
Had a great time with Michael Wiseman and Apostacie on Skeptic Haven’s Secular Soapbox show! You can find all the Skeptic Haven social media links here and follow Apostacie on Instagram. Enjoy the conversation!
Here is sit down with a fellow member of The Clergy Project to share my story with a few more first time revelations as I continue to unpack leaving the Christian religion. I hope it encourages and challenges you.
I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to share my story on this episode of UnOrdained’s weekly show (click on the image below to take you to the YouTube video). I hope it is an encouragement to others. If you were in ministry and have left it and religion (for atheism, agnosticism or other forms of spiritual understanding and expression), or you are still in ministry but have secretly stopped believing and are just lost at how to re-align your life with who you truly are, I highly encourage you to connect with this group. Here is the link for our Facebook group. Also make sure to subscribe to the YouTube channel and turn on the notifications. There is great content already up there including several of my friends who have shared their deconversion story. And there is much more in the works! Also, several other great resources and communities are referenced in this and other episodes.
Love you all!
Kirt
P.S. I know I have been quiet on this blog for a good length of time. Expect that to change. I’m ready to start writing again and I got several ideas in the hopper. More to come!
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The first in what will be a running series where I interview Melody and she shares things that she is passionate about that are helping me to be a better dad and all around human being.
In this first installment of Conversations with Melody, she shares her thoughts on sign language.
“Hell” by Dieric Bouts (1450)
“scratching the surface”I cannot begin to tell you how many times my memory has been jogged about another biblical story that has typified the God of the Bible as a shameless and arbitrary taker of human life (not to mention the destruction he visits upon other species). Up to this point, we’ve only looked at a couple of acts of divine genocide, one by water and the other at the hands of his people, along with a story about God getting a father to nearly kill his son followed by another in which God ‘The Father’ follows through on his promise to wack his own Son via one of the world’s worst forms of lethal torture. While each of these are among the most prominent examples, there are so many other stories which again and again depict a blood-thirsty deity in the Jewish and Christian religion’s Scriptures.
Like the time where one of God’s elite prophets, Elisha, ordered a heavenly hit job on forty-two kids, all because they were making fun of the fact that he was bald. I mean, I AM partially bald! It’s not one of my favorite physical traits. But I’m pretty sure that if a child, let alone a large group of children, teased me about it, my sense of justice would not lead me to direct God to sick a pack of carnivorous animals down on them!
Several years ago a clever YouTuber provided a concise summary of God’s executions in the style of a 1990’s video game. Before we move on, here it is for your temporary amusement…
A loving, omniscient God can't think up a better solution than slaughtering his creation? (originally uploaded 27 March, 2011) These stats are based on Steve...
I said temporary, because it is one of those things you laugh at and then quickly recall how appalling it is that this legacy of death is associated with an allegedly all-loving Supreme Being, and even worse that such horse shit is passed off to children.
Yet in my opinion, as fucked up as all of this is, it pales in comparison with the epic act of violence we will turn to now.
“The End”There is a subdivision of Christian systematic theology called ‘eschatology’, which literally means the study of the end times. While there are books of the Bible (e.g. Daniel) and passages (e.g. Matthew 24:3-31) that are considered important texts in constructing a comprehensive biblical view of ‘the end’, none looms as large in my opinion as the Book of Revelation, the final book in the Christian Scriptures.
Now for those of you not steeped in Christian theology as much as I unfortunately am, let me spare you the trivialities of the meaningless debates Christians engage in over their nuanced understanding of how the world ends—things like premillennialism vs postmilliennialism, pretribulation vs posttribilation, la la la la la la…nobody in their right mind fucking cares about this anyways. Instead, let’s cut to the heart of the matter. Specifically, we are going to look at two key takeaways on how God supposedly closes the curtains (kinda) on his perfect saga of redemption and what this says about him as the proposed ultimate hero of the story.
Jesus ain’t so meek and mild anymore!By “God” I also mean Jesus, as in the Christian doctrine of the Triune God—Father, Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit (not going down that rabbit hole of nonsense here). For the sake of time, we’re going to bypass the wrath of “God” or the “Lord”, which I take it to most often mean the Father. Let’s just say that Sky Daddy has managed to ‘save the best for last’ when it comes to his biblical record of rage. Rather I’m going to highlight only the destruction, suffering, and death that comes at the hands of Jesus—most often referred to as the ‘Lamb' in Revelation—or the agents of his wrath. For sure, the more popular self-sacrificing, forgiving, pacifist (“turn the other cheek”) Jesus of the gospels is getting his full Old Testament God on in Revelation! Or as was classically satirized by Saturday Night Live, let’s just say that as the Bible is taking it home, Jesus is seriously tapping into his inner Quentin Tarantino!
Jesus (Christopher Waltz) is back, and he's pissed! The newest historical revenge fantasy from Quentin Tarantino - with Brad Pitt (Taran Killam), Samuel L. J...
So let’s take a brief stroll through the final pages of the ‘Good Book’ to see how far Jesus has come since his meek-and-mild-crucified-hippie-carpenter days of the ‘first coming’.
- In the sixth chapter of Revelation, Jesus unleashes the four horseman of the apocalypse where they, we are told, “were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth” (v.8). This included the ability to “make people kill each other” (v.4). It got so bad that people “hid in caves” and “called to the mountains and the rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!” (v.15-16).
- In chapter nine, Jesus releases a plague of locusts who “were not allowed to kill” the remaining people of the earth “but only to torture them for five months” with an extremely painful but non-lethal sting like that of a scorpion (v.3 and 5). As in the previous example, those on earth sought “death” but were denied this reprieve so they could enjoy the full extent of the suffering that Jesus had planned for them (v.6). Later in the chapter, at least a third of the population is graciously put out of their misery by means of “three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur” (v.18). Still, those who remained did not heed this divine discipline and continued to practice things like worshiping “idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood” (v.20)—God get’s really insecure when people do that in the Bible—or other things like “theft” or “sexual immorality” (v.21), which from elsewhere in the Bible we know includes homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22; Romans 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Of course, all of these acts are certainly worthy of the mass suffering and death just witnessed!
- While this is most likely a statement of the judgment to come from God (the non-Jesus parts), in chapter fourteen we read a final warning to all those who were still stubbornly not on Team Trinity. We are told that they “will drink the wine of God’s fury” and, notably, that “they will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb” and that the “smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever” (v.10-11). Apparently, Jesus loves the smell of a good eternal BBQ of human flesh.
- Lastly, no way is Jesus going to personally miss out on this party! That brings us to chapter nine-teen, where he who is “faithful and true” (v.11), the “word of God” (v.13) and “the king of kinds and lord of lords” (v.16) rides in on a “white horse” with eyes “like blazing fire” and dressed in a “robe dripped in blood” (v.11-13). From his mouth he takes “a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations” and that “He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty” (v.15). Now some of you might not be aware of the historical reference for this analogy of treading the winepress. Basically, the most common way in ancient times to extract the juice for grapes in order to make wine was to literally crush the grapes with bare feet. This is understood by most Christian theologians to a be fulfillment of a prophecy found in Isaiah 63:3, where the coming Messiah will say in the climactic final moment of his judgement on his enemies, “I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing.” So according to the Bible, Jesus will personally and brutally kill off the rest of humanity in a blood bath befitting the scale of ‘the great flood’ of Genesis. Well I suppose we have to at least give God points for consistency.
as if the first time wasn’t bad enoughSo all of this is pretty horrific. To use another biblical metaphor, God’s body count could best be described, “as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore” (Genesis 12:17). But no exposition on the bottomless cruelty of the God of the Bible would be complete without a look at his oven of unspeakable suffering that we all know as ‘Hell’. Yes, for a final ‘curtain call’ God brings everyone back to the stage for one last final review (Rev. 20:11-13). Just to be clear, this is after all of us have already died once, some of us previously taken out directly by God’s lethal whooping stick. Now for the ‘elect’ who have believed in Jesus (John 3:16) and acted in ways that appeased God (like don’t kill and also don’t be gay; Rev. 22:12, 14), this resurrection is good news. For the rest of us, well…yikes. We all get thrown in “the lake of fire” which is then described as “the second death” (Rev. 20:14-15; see also 22:15). Yes, God is apparently not content with killing off his enemies once. He’s got to do it twice. And this time he ups the ante big time!
Now there is some debate over whether each of us, according to God’s judgement, go to either Heaven or Hell immediately after we die the first time. Most conservative theologians believe we do, with a smaller number who believe in something called ‘soul sleep’, where the souls of those who have died are unconscious until the final judgement described in the twentieth chapter of Revelation. If you are with the majority, does that mean that God drags the dead, who were already damned to Hell, out of the pool of fire only to issue a cruel ‘psych’ and then throw you back in the deep end? Either way, it does seem to be worse than whatever punishment they had previously experienced. Maybe God just turns up the burners for round two.
So what is ‘Hell’ like? Christianity.com has an article that draws upon the teaching by Andy Naselli, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology and New Testament at Bethlehem Seminary. He identifies four primary descriptions of Hell.
- One, it is very dark. Like at the bottom of the Mariana Trench dark. The article references Jude 1:13 that describes it as “blackest darkness”. I remember this one time growing up when my family went hiking in the lava tubes of Lassen Volcanic Park. Our flashlight ran out of juice before we got back to where we could see sunlight. All we had was that little red light on our VHS camcorder that indicates you are recording. It was only a few minutes of feeling our way out with the assistance of that small red glow, but it was pretty scary. I’m assuming Hell’s darkness is much worse.
- We are also told elsewhere in the Bible, including by Jesus, that there will be “weeping” and a “gnashing of teeth” in Hell (Matthew 8:12). The weeping part is pretty straight forward. Gnashing of teeth? Well if Acts 7:54 gives us any clue, it could mean that basically people are angry and mean as…well, Hell in Hell! Maybe everyone in Hell is either crying in the fetal position or scratching, beating, and biting everyone within striking distance.
Great, we are only half way there!
- Thirdly, Hell has an “unquenchable fire” (Isaiah 66:24). All I know is that at worst I think I might have had a second degree burn once or twice. The images I have seen of third degree burns are awful. Perhaps in Hell, whether literal or symbolic, it feels like like you body is constantly being burned to these extremes. Nice.
- Lastly, you are utterly rejected and kicked out of “God’s presence”. Now I’m already thinking that not being around a guy who would take countless souls and submit them to the first three qualities of Hell is probably a good thing. But giving believers the benefit of the doubt that somehow, despite all the we have observed about God even in just this short series of five writings, he is all-loving, all-just, all-powerful, etc., I can imagine that not being allowed to hang out with such a cool Cosmic Dude again would really suck.
But wait, there’s more!
All contestants who failed to win in The Price is Unquestioned Obedience to a Tyrannical God get all four of these prizes…wait for it…FOREVER!!! That’s right, it’s an eternity supply of Divine ostracization, extreme burning, unending tears and violence, all in a state of complete darkness!
Note: For a sincere defense of this soul-less and barbaric doctrine, check out this article by Greg Morse on John Piper’s website, DesiringGod.com. Morse does well to follow in the footsteps of Piper, one of my ‘favorite’ theologians who has made his mark as a chief apologist for intolerant and bigoted Scriptures. Also, yes there are some who hold to anialationism, like Seventh Day Adventists. It’s a minority position, but I guess it makes them feel better that while they are all rocking out in Heaven, at least their friends and family members who didn’t make the cut only experienced a brief moment of extreme, torturous punishment before God wiped the universe of their very existence.
ONE LAST TIMEOK, back to the final book of the Bible. As we’ve done in the previous installments, let’s return one final time to our favorite Christian parent’s cult conditioner, the YouVersion’s Bible App for Kids, to see how accurately they displayed some of the unpleasantness of the Book of Revelation.
We start off with a rather pleasant sub-title for the story of Revelation, “A Forever Promise”. And who doesn’t like “new”! Look at that city! We’re off to a great start. Hmm, that’s odd. The verses that are the focus of today’s story time are from the first and second to last chapters. We’ll come back to that.
OK, this is a really cool scene where Jesus shows up to give the Apostle John a vision of the great things to come! Notice that Jesus apparently decided to go with the non-blood stained robes for this visit. Probably a good call.
In the next graphic, we get to hear Jesus brag about how at least he knows he will live forever. Damn, it must feel good to be God!
So OK kids, brace yourselves! Here comes scary Jesus! This is going to be really rough, but we want you to know everything about God, even the part where he kills off and then torments forever all those who dare oppose him, including very likely many of your friends and family members if they aren’t down with JC. Ok are you ready?
FAST FORWARD!!Just kidding, we have to work up to this. What’s needed are years of slow and steady desensitization to God’s violence, like a father who gradually over time escalates his levels of physical abuse with just enough ice cream cones and the occasional trip to Disneyland to keep you psychologically paralyzed. You know, until you get to the point where your identity is so wrapped up in all of this shit that you will tolerate just about any level of dysfunction.
So given we have not gotten our precious little ones to that stage of indoctrination yet, let’s censor out all of the carnage that we just skimmed earlier and get straight to, “and they lived happily ever after!”
First off, we are treated to some lovely images and descriptions of all the cool “new” stuff! After all, who doesn’t love that new earth, sky and golden city smell. Very subtly, the old is simply “gone”. And as we just said, the kids aren’t quite ready for the details on that.
And we’re also told it will be like a wedding, except in this case those who are not invited are…no! Not going there.
But the BEST part about Heaven is not Earth 2.0 or the blinged-out New Jerusalem! No, its who get’s to hang with the Big Man for all eternity.
Catch that boys and girls? “His people”…
“His people”Make sure you don’t forget that. You definitely do NOT want to be NOT one of His peoples. We will fill you in later on what happens to those people.
But back to the happy stuff! So what awaits those of us who are “His people” (again, don’t forget that)? Well, you’ll never get sad, get an owie and most importantly you will never die! High fives everybody!
(Little Billy raises his hand)
Children’s Pastor: Yes Billy?
Little Billy: What happens to all my friends who don’t believe in Jesus?
Children’s Pastor: OK, Billy. Like I said, you can trust us to teach you more about that later when you are ready. Lot’s of ‘grown up’ things there. But let’s just say that they do live forever, but that it feels like a really bad owie. Now you don’t want your friends to feel like that forever, do you?
Little Billy: (Tears forming at the sadness of his good friends being in horrible pain forever.) No, I don’t!
Children’s Pastor: Well then, you need to do whatever you can to bring your friends to church…so they can become one of God’s people.
Little Billy: (With an anxious look on his face.) OK Pastor.
OK, so just to underscore the point one more time, remember that God says that Heaven is only for those people who are “My Children, those who are faithful to me.”
Oh, and Heaven is one really long pool party that just so happens to look like a perfect balance of ethnic and racial groups, with the exception of God-approved modest apparel with white and tan colors only.
Lastly, let’s review! And this won’t be hard kids…there is just ONE QUESTION you need to know the answer to from today’s lesson…
And there you have it boys and girls…
To hell with…me?So where does this leave me? I’m not only a person who once confessed to be a Christian who now has essentially come to be an atheist, but I was once a leader in the church. AND now I’m trying to influence others to embrace secular humanist thinking, especially my own children! I’m pretty sure that puts me on the Hell Express (Luke 17:1-2; James 3:1)!
I know there are some who have reacted to my decision like Buddy the Elf when he finds out his dad is on the “naughty list”.
Most, as far as I can tell, have manifested the ambivalence of David Puddy towards Elaine once she finds out that her boyfriend seems OK with her being Hell-bound.
“The Burning” - Seinfeld (Season 9, 16th episode)
But now I want to put all humor and sarcasm aside. The things I have labored to set before you here and in the other four parts of The Murderous God actually represent a source of profound grief. I believe that both the stories of God’s violence and the doctrines that have underpinned the culture and actions of the followers of this Homicidal Maniac have, in reality, brought Hell to earth in far too many ways. The ‘good’ that allegedly comes from religion is, in my opinion, massively overestimated, a subject I have spoken on in other writings and will likely continue to explore in the future. I’ll just say for now that much of the ‘law and order’ we are supposed to cherish is nothing but a smug superiority and ‘civilized’ system of abuse that is intrinsically connected to religious thinking. We have seen this old hymn played on repeat over and over again throughout history, from a global and societal level in religiously fueled wars and racist colonial aggression to the individual level of spiritual, physical and psychological abuse.
And I cannot speak of this kind of Hell without owning my part of it. Many ‘know’ me for my life in the public eye, ‘leading’ in ‘ministry’ (before I left) and in general the non-profit space. In my own little world, I was greatly admired and looked up to. And yet I now view my years in ‘ministry’ as ones in which I mostly promulgated the very spiritual and psychological religious abuse that I experienced as a child, much of which I view as a natural result of worshiping a God of such vile nature. This includes encouraging the development of broken mental constructs in my two daughters, particularly my oldest daughter, that may take many years to dismantle. Some they may never recover from, only to repeat the very same mistakes in their public and personal lives that I have made.
So I want to conclude by asking, begging even, that we all take a very long and painful look at the God of the Bible. He is not the benign source of inspirational love he is often portrayed to be. Then we should begin the even harder work of looking inward to see how we individually and at all levels of community have, in both ostentatious and in more subtle ways, become the horrifying realization of the legendary murderous God of the Bible.
Consider the following to be a private service announcement for the public good. It’s directed towards a truly special subgroup of crazies within the church at large. They manage to take the insanity to a whole new level. Congrats on that!
give me liberty and give me deathTheir newest rendition of the ‘religious freedom’ crusade is to risk the health and well-being of the rest of us with at least half a brain and a quarter of conscience by saying that their special standing with God makes them exempt from the laws of science or rules of common civic responsibility during the worst global pandemic of our lifetime. How dare we ask them to forgo their gatherings of sweaty snake handling preachers and their mindless sheep with unresolved psychological issues who bend over every Sunday to receive a special “word from the LORD”! Don’t we know the King James inspired Scriptures: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).
sacramento (area) represent!I’m sure you have already seen the news of at least a few of these pastors and parishioners as they make a courageous stand for Covid nine…I mean Christ. Right here in Sacramento we have a few notables, like the Slavic mega-church Bethany Missionary, where I ironically spoke years ago when I was still in the evangelical funny farm. They were slow to end their services and allegedly continued to encourage small group meetings in homes. Their Senior Pastor landed in the hospital with the coronavirus, a bit of ironic justice that I am not ashamed to admit brought a smile to my face. Or consider the example of real life Looney Tunes character (pick your favorite stupid one) Pastor Doug Bird and his band of merry idiots at Abundant Life Fellowship Church, who gave science and the State a Holy Spirit inspired middle finger by tarrying on with a Palm Sunday service. The result from these acts of ‘faith’ no doubt have contributed to the fact that as of April 3rd, approximately one third of all confirmed cases in Sacramento were believed to have been contracted from church gatherings.
DWJJDSo I know that when it comes to this group of inbred circus clowns, any kind of opposition is affirmation to their eternal state of victim-hood. So I thought I would help them out and give them a bit more encouragement by joining with others who think these fucking idiots should be arrested, fined, tax-exempt status revoked, liability insurance suspended, and ultimately evicted should they not own the property on which their dangerously ignorant and arrogant asses sit.
Now let me be clear, I’m not opposed to these nut jobs or the broader religious community owning property and under normal circumstances gathering to espouse their bull shit, though as I have written elsewhere I do NOT think they should be tax subsidized with rare exceptions. But when you clearly threaten the safety of the rest of us, that is where I draw a line. Because after you all do your Corona-infested group Jesus hug, you go out and shop with me at the grocery store! Now if you want to isolate yourselves on a special compound and Do What Jim Jones Did, please do! But until then, keep your blood cult gatherings on the world wide web.
David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images
take actionSo for the rest of us, should we see cars pulling in church parking lots this Easter Sunday or any other time while we are trying to survive this thing, here are two simple steps you can do.
- Call local law enforcement and elected officials and let them know about these threats to public safety
- Check out the Freedom From Religion Foundation’s special Covid 19 page and contact them to report these kinds of violations
This concludes my private public health service announcement.
Crucifixion by Giotto di Bondone (c.1320-1325)
It Doesn’t Get Bigger Than This‘Good Friday’—we will come back to that title later—and Easter together are the Super Bowl of the Christian calendar. The act of Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross and subsequent resurrection ‘three days’ later is the centerpiece of Christian beliefs. The Apostle Paul himself described bluntly in 1 Corinthians 15: 14-19 how essential the resurrection (and by necessity the crucifixion) is to the validity of his and every other follower of Jesus’ faith and hope:
And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain. Moreover we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.
“Vain”, “worthless” and “pitied”! Getting Paul’s point? This is serious shit! If this didn’t happen, game over! Now of course, he is highlighting its importance from a theological standpoint. This substitutionary sacrifice and dirt or cave nap breakout is God’s Plan A with NO Plan B when it comes to you and me getting ‘saved’ and going to a sparkly, happy place called ‘Heaven’ some day. Either way, if this didn’t happen, Paul is basically saying, we’re fucked! And this has been echoed throughout the history of the Christian Church, whether Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic. When it comes to more recent descriptions of core dogma, one of my very first posts on this blog described the evangelical tradition’s quadrilateral of non-negotiables—one of them being ‘crucicentrism’ (they love to make up big ‘ism’ words). Basically that’s their way of saying that if there is no crucifixion of Jesus, there is no faith.
But I am not seeking to give here a repudiation on the historicity of Jesus as an actual person who was sentenced to death, crucified, and then came back to life, though there are plenty of reasonable arguments to seriously doubt if not outright dismiss these biblical texts as yet another religious myth (see, for example, chapters fifteen and sixteen of Dan Barker’s book Godless). But like the other pieces in this series, we are giving the benefit of the doubt to the ‘believer’ and rather exploring what these popular stories of Scripture reveal about the moral character of a supposedly loving and just God. Specifically, we are going to look at the crucifixion.
So let me cut to the chase and just say that among the vast collection of stories in the Bible that reveal a God we are supposed to entrust our entire present life and eternity to, there is no tale as ethically horrific than Jesus’ torture and murder on a Roman cross.
OT v NT GodBefore we look more closely at this, I wanted to briefly comment on our transition from the ‘Old Testament’ to the ‘New Testament’ part of the Bible. Conservative and particularly evangelical theologians (professors, pastors, etc.) will go to great lengths to argue the congruity of one timeless and unchanging God of the Bible. The most popular verse cited is probably that of Hebrews 13:8, which reads, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
There are clearly some differences in what they might call God’s ‘plan of salvation’ as it unfolds. For example, the bulk of the Old Testament focuses on God’s working through the people/nation of Israel, whereas the New Testament transitions to a more diverse and global people of God known as the ‘Church’. Moving away from this kinder way of pointing out what appears to be a fundamental difference, God in the Old Testament seems to be pretty comfortable with spilling infinite buckets of blood (see the previous parts of this series) in comparison to the body count of the New Testament…at least until the book of Revelation (which will be the focus of the next and final installment in this series).
Liberal theologians, who are not tied to the more rigid fundamentalist view of the Bible as the inerrant ‘Word of God’, embrace a more sociological and evolutionary perspective of the Scriptures. Put simply, they have no problems throwing the Old Testament under the wheels of the New Testament. The former is just more primitive and has, therefore, less real God in it than the New Testament God (this logic falls apart in so many ways, but that might be the subject for another time).
My proposition is pretty simple: the God portrayed in both Testaments is fucked up.
Proportionate JusticeAccording to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, this basic concept of justice is that, “those who commit certain kinds of wrongful acts, paradigmatically serious crimes, morally deserve to suffer a proportionate punishment.” In more popular language, ‘the punishment fits the crime’. Hell, even the Bible seems to teach some concept of proportionality with its famous “eye for an eye” command (Exodus 21:24).
But here is where the Bible get’s wildly inconsistent and blatantly violates common sense and decency. This is especially true when it comes to the most extreme form of any punishment, the death penalty. The Israelites were instructed to stone to death disobedient children who ate and drank too much (Deuteronomy 21:18-21) or anyone who dared to embrace their homosexual identity (Leviticus 20:13). These are just a few of far too many examples of God’s ease with ending human life for reasons ranging from what might be recklessness or immaturity in the former to someone’s natural expression of who they are in the latter. These are indefensible. And while I never advocated for these extreme actions during my time in the cult of evangelicalism (because these commands were only under the ‘Old Covenant’), I still defended a god who would see this preposterous barbarism as consistent with any sense of goodness or holiness. For those who in any way sat under my leadership, I was wrong and I am so sorry for the damage I caused you. Worst of all, this includes my own children.
Beyond these specific examples of acts that God has deemed death-worthy, we know that just in general any sin warrants the ultimate judgment, both in this life and even in eternity. As the ‘Apostle’ Paul states in one of his most quoted teachings, “the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23). And the ‘prophet’ Isaiah, as is taught in many other biblical texts, ensures us that even, “our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Perhaps it is this wildly arbitrary sense of justice in the mind of the biblical God that allows for the flagrant accounts of Genocide in the Bible that I have previously discussed (with Jericho and the flood). And we aren’t even talking about the history of the church to follow! The same teachings have allowed ‘the bride of Christ’ to go on and kill who knows how many others in their own acts of mass murder, such as with the near extermination of Native American peoples at the hands of white Christian colonizers.
Then we come back to Jesus and we take it to a whole other level! Here we are supposed to have the only perfect human being, sinless in every way. Sure, he’s the incarnated ‘Son of God’ in that cluster-fuck of a doctrine known as the Trinity (we’ll come back to the divine family metaphor in a minute). But let’s just set that aside and think about this. The all-knowing, all-wise, one-and-only Supreme Being of everything cannot figure out any other way to forgive his prize creation of their ‘sins’ against him (some that we have already identified as being either ridiculous or offensive) other than to take all the punishment they supposedly deserve and place it on an innocent person?? In what other relationship would any Christian think that is OK? Someone wrongs me and the best way to ‘clean the slate’ is to find the closest really nice guy and whack him? I’m pretty sure there are other reasonable and moral ways to achieve reconciliation.
More Dysfunctional FatherhoodBut what continues to disturb me the most is the use of a parental relationship in this ‘good news’. In part 2 of this series, we looked at what is essentially, in biblical literary studies, the ultimate example of foreshadowing. If that is indeed what was intended, then what we see in the Crucifixion is God the Father keeping his promise and this time finishing the job by killing his own Son instead of providing a ram in his first sick object lesson. So basically, take all the horrific messages that the story of Abraham’s near murder of Isaac taught and then God-size them.
At least with Isaac we have a hint that he fought back against his dad (Abraham had to “bind” Isaac; see Genesis 22). But in this lovely Father/Son story, dear old Dad has intellectually and emotionally manipulated his Son to willfully do everything in his power to set up his own execution. I know, I know! Apparently some kind of three-way cosmic conversation happened in the past where the Father, Son, and Spirit all got on the same page without any arm twisting. Now I feel much better!
Seriously, the dysfunction at play in this story, if re-framed in any ordinary situation between a parent and his or her child, would cause any outside observer with a shred of decency to call Child Protective Services. But only in the religious mind could such depravity be exalted to the defining moment of the salvation plot-line while being given the title of ‘Good Friday’ as the supreme example of God’s holiness.
Hey Kids, What Time Is It?It’s time to watch supposedly the only completely innocent human being to have ever walked this earth die via one of the most horrific forms of lethal torture ever created by humanity! YEAH!!
If, for the reasons above and likely many more, we come to realize how appalling this story is, we should be even more repulsed at the idea that we then turn it into a children’s story. So as we have done in previous installments of The Murderous God, let’s enjoy a few cartoon images from the Bible for Kids app’s retelling of Mel Gibson’s wet dream. Take your time looking at each one and just contemplate how a child might take them in.
A meditation assignmentWe know how the rest of the story goes. So let’s summarize the obvious in the form of two questions:
- For a group of people supposedly so concerned with the effects of media violence on the minds of children, what exactly are they hoping will be the result in these young developing minds by showing them images of an innocent man being beaten, whipped, suspended to wooden beams by nails through the flesh, and then leaving this person there to slowly die in front of a crowd of onlookers?
- What kind of mind-fucking is being executed on any child who hears about this story as not only a normal but supremely good example of love?
I would encourage you take some time on this ‘Good Friday’ and Easter weekend or whenever you read this to reflect on these questions and the reality that the defining moment of the Christian religion—a religion that has dominated the world culturally and politically for two thousand years—is in essence the celebration of a an infinitely sadistic God. When you do, you might find like I have that allot of the ills of this world really start to fall into place.
scars that lastMany of us have scars somewhere on our skin that will always be with us until our bodies decompose. You can still faintly see a few on my shin and knee from when I got stitches as a child. Scars last. And according to the biblical account, even Jesus’ glorified, resurrected body bore the scars of the crucifixion. But as we have just barely explored here, this appalling act of cruelty is traumatic in not only the extreme violence it portrays but more so in the abusive relationships if justifies, first between individual human beings and their God and then between human beings as they put into practice the toxic ideology central to Christianity. These scars will last and run far more deeper that any momentary cut or strike to the flesh. I carry them as do far too many people I know and care about. But it does not have to be this way. We can individually and collectively, while we seek to find some modicum of healing from religious trauma, advance as a society the most basic of moral principles which stand in stark contrast to the message of the cross.
The Fall of the Walls of Jericho by Henry Hugh Armstead as part of Dalziels' Bible Gallery (1881)
Welcome back to this series examining the violent God of the Bible as often taught to young Children by their religious parents and in the congregations they attend. If you haven’t done so already, I recommend going back and reading Part 1 and Part 2 before diving into this piece.“and the walls came a-tumbling down”As with the stories of Noah’s Ark and Abraham’s near murder of Isaac, the battle for Jericho (Joshua chapters 3 and 6) has inspired a great number of coloring sheets, cartoons, and peppy songs.
I remember singing as a kid…
Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho
Joshua fought the battle of Jericho
And the walls came a-tumbling down
…
Up to the walls of Jericho
They marched with spears in hand
"Come blow them ram horns," Joshua said
"'Cause the battle is in our hands."
If you are not familiar with the tune, you can join over 180,000 others and listen to ‘Old Holy’ and friends musically regale the moment.
Joshua Fought The Battle Of Jericho, an animated singalong with lyrics below. https://youtu.be/NRQPW9mQDjQ?list=PLXnXq48dJ0W-nM1zDzELakSz200Yjqm_d Sing along with us to one of our favorite songs!
This and other videos are meant to, “teach your children…Christian Bible stories through animations, songs, (and) nursery rhymes in a fun (and) joyful learning process. As a parent, you can trust our animated characters to keep your kids entertained and educated about Christianity.” Personally as a parent and a combat veteran, I’m struggling with the words “fun” and “joyful” and “entertaining” when describing, in this case, an act of war. But we will come back to that later.
Of course, the popularity of this video and YouTube channel pales in comparison to the colossal success of VeggieTales. The evidence for this was humbly on display in an April 2019 press release celebrating a new partnership between the entertainment property’s parent company, Big Idea Content Group, and the juggernaut of conservative Pentecostal media, Trinity Broadcasting Network. Bob, Larry and Co. are, “the most successful faith-based children’s franchise of all time…having sold over 75 million videos, 16 million books, 7 million CDs, and 80 million music streams.”
VeggieTales presentded their take on Israel’s famous military conquest of Jericho in Josh and the Big Wall. One of the most telling lines of this short film is when Larry, here playing our hero Joshua, tells a couple of guards on the wall that, “God has given us this land for our new home. So well, you are going to have to leave.” This may be the most charming and innocent depiction of genocide I have ever encountered.
From Big Idea Entertainment (1997)
As we have looked at in previous installments, this story is also featured in the Bible App for Kids. Below are a few of the slides from their version.
I can’t help but notice how pleased and happy they appear once God had busted down the wall. Perhaps they were excited that the ensuing blood bath could now begin!
And now for the rest of the storyI take it that it is fairly obvious that these G-rated depictions don’t exactly square with the hard-R reality of the Bible.
On a lighter note, I love it when children’s renditions leave out the more sexual components of Scripture. VeggieTales probably cut for time the part about the two spies being sent to get a read on Jericho’s defensive posture and how they were hosted by a woman named Rahab. The Bible App for Kids mentions her but conveniently leaves out her profession. In the words of the great philosopher Deadpool, Rahab would “bump fuzzies for money”. She also was apparently willing to sell out her whole town in order to make good with the invaders. That certainly makes her a worthy addition to the genealogy of Jesus (Matthew 1:5).
Far more serious is the omission or outright lie these retellings pass on to little ones when it came to the fate of the people of Jericho. Here is what the text said would and did happen once the city’s barrier of protection had been breached:
The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys. (Joshua 6:16-17, 20-21 New International Version)
What genocide really looks likeI’m going to set aside the fact that this story is mostly if not entirely fictional (see also this article). Again, the point of this series is not to address the historicity of biblical events. Rather, it is to raise serious questions about the moral character of the God of the Bible. That challenge stands whether you are a literalist who is convinced this and other stories of the Bible are factual records or if you are a progressive that still wants to uphold the idea that Jericho symbolically contributes to the overall narrative of a loving and redemptive God.
If indeed God’s chosen leader, whose name ironically means “YAHWEH is salvation”, ordered the annihilation of “every living thing” in Jericho, then God, through his people, committed genocide. And even if we accept the argument that the author of Joshua, in keeping with the literature of that period, engaged in “hagiographic hyperbole”, is that supposed to somehow relieve our conscience since not “every” child, for example, was run through with a sword that day?
Let’s focus a little closer on just the children of Jericho who were executed as well as those who survived if the Bible is indeed prone to literary exaggeration. They probably numbered in the hundreds and a series of questions come to my mind that should push us beyond data to the raw, human experience of genocide.
For those who died…
- Did some of them see their mommies and daddies’ throats slit or bellies split open or pierced by the blade of ‘the children of Israel’ as Larry the Cucumber called them?
- What dread befell them as they ran and tried to hide from their attackers?
- What physiological and psychological trauma occurred as some felt and heard their own final blood-gurgling gasps?
For those who survived…
- How did their minds process what they witnessed that day, chiefly the death of one or more of their parents, siblings, extended family, and friends?
- What PTSD symptoms did they manifest in the days and months if not years after the horrific event? For example, could an ordinary fire immediately recall the smell of burning flesh as Israel’s fighters torched the town (Joshua 6:24)?
worse than physical genocide?But since the focus of this series is on the early childhood education of biblical barbarism, let us return to consider the impact of such stories on young human beings who are not the victims of such physical atrocities but who rather are simply listening to their parents or Sunday school teachers or pastors teach them from the Bible. The question to that point is simple: What kind of psychological trauma will this cause to our children as we teach them stories such as this one?
I will return and share more detailed thoughts in the final piece of the series. But generally speaking, we all should be able to recognize as reasonably rational adults that any proposed answers pertaining to the existence and more importantly the character of God can have a massive impact on a child’s foundational sense of reality. I would argue that closing the door of curiosity in a child’s mind is a form of cognitive murder, or if done on a broader scale, genocide. And I would further contend that nothing would more effectively achieve this than subjecting children to a system of belief that demands their unquestioned love and obedience to a God who has often been found killing kids just like them.
bringing it homeSo we have witnessed the carnage of the God of the Bible again, this time in the ancient city of Jericho through a divinely directed act of ethnic cleansing (see also Numbers 31:7-16; Deuteronomy 2:34, 3:4-6, and 20:16-17; Joshua 8:24-25; 1st Samuel 15:3). We’ve tried to empathize in particular with the trauma the children of the town experienced. Then we reflected on how teaching such stories to our children in the present day might scare and shackle their developing intellects. There really is only one more question that should matter for you at this point…
Does all of this make you sick to your stomach and overwhelmed with sorrow and rage?
If it doesn’t and you instead try to emotionally detach and rationalize through some theological or pseudo-logical gymnastics both the injustice of a violent God and a mandate to call young children to worship him, then you are in need of help. Indoctrination aside, there is no sane defense of genocide. Even war-mongering humanity has decided that civilians, obviously including children, are 'off limits’ when it comes to military action in a conventional war. Yet when I and others have challenged the goodness of a ‘God’ who would do exactly that, we are often charged with hubris. “How dare you, mere mortals, cast judgement on the Almighty and His Word!” To which I would say, if there has ever been a case where the chief sin of pride is more than vindicated, this is it.
postscriptOne of the most well known acts of genocide in recent human history is that of the Rwanda genocide of 1994. The Associated Press did a pictorial retrospective as this year marked twenty-five years since the tragedy. The images are troubling, but I would encourage you to view them. If we are disturbed and oppose any such violence in our time, we should, if we are being consistent, reject any similar viciousness in ancient religious texts.
The Sacrifice of Isaac by Caravaggio (1602)
Welcome back to Part 2 in our series on The Murderous God. If you haven’t gotten the chance yet, I recommend reading Part 1 first.from 4 billion to 1Previously we looked at the popular children’s Bible story of Noah’s Ark in which God apparently murdered around four billion people, including hundreds of millions of young children and pregnant mothers. Now while a few of you might join me in having some difficulty following this reasoning, some responded to my charge of mass murder against the supposedly benevolent God of Scripture by pointing out that really the enormous body count shouldn’t matter. If God is infinite in love, knowledge, and wisdom, we just have to trust him that such sacrifices, whether one or one million, are not a violation of his holy and immutable character when deemed necessary in order to further his long-term redemptive plan.
While I hope that this argument is utter nonsense and appalling to anyone with even the most basic understanding of common sense morality, let’s look at another story that is routinely used to help form an understanding of true faith in the minds of our little ones. And this time, God is only guilty of nearly killing another single human being.
happy father’s day!I effectively left the church in December of 2017, though I was still identifying as a Christian or ‘Jesus follower’ up until earlier this month. Unfortunately, for quite some time after discarding the assembly of the faithful I unfortunately chose to not oppose or discourage my wife from taking Melody and Ellie to the church where I once served as a pastor. However, I was in the regular routine of asking my oldest daughter Melody what she was learning in ‘Sunday school’. After she would share, I would often follow with additional questions that would encourage some of the independent, critical thinking I had tragically discouraged for far too many prior years.
It was in June of 2018 that a similar situation played out on, of all days, Father’s Day. When I posed my standard opening question, Melody informed me that they had looked at the story of when Abraham almost sacrificed his only son, Isaac. I honestly am embarrassed that it took till that day for me to realize the absolutely disgusting cruelty on display in Genesis 22:1-19. But the process of deconstruction does inherently imply that there will be a significant number of revelations over time as we painfully peel back the layers of religion’s duplicity.
In my prior life as a Christian, where I was conditioned to be agreeable to such ethical dissonance, choosing to highlight such a story on the day we celebrate dad-hood would have made total sense. Though horrific now, it is truly a father-son story. And it featured a dad who is held up as a giant of godliness by all three major mono-theistic religions! I can’t speak for other religions or traditions within Christianity, but if you were a protestant, evangelical kid growing up in the American church in the 70’s and 80’s, you regularly sang the catchy tune…
“Father Abraham had many sons. Many sons had father Abraham. And I am one of them, and so are you. So let’s just praise the Lord!”
But now I was having the ghastly realization that my children went to church on a day where they are supposed to honor, in part, my role in their life, only to have held up as a shining example of fatherhood a man who would willingly agree to kill and burn his only offspring in order to appease God.
abraham: god’s hit manA good technique to reveal to a believer the reality of biblical hypocrisy is to begin by first describing a hypothetical situation that essentially plays out the plot points of a Scriptural narrative. Once their intuition rightly condemns the behaviors of the principal characters, draw the parallel to the Bible’s version and see what happens.
Or we could place it in another context: jury duty! I’ve been called several times. And while I have never ended up making the final cut, everyone who has reported for this mandated civic responsibility has likely joined me in imagining how we might respond if called to render judgement where a felony crime had allegedly occurred. Most would assume that the worst of all of these would be an accusation of murder or, slightly lesser than that, of an attempted murder.
With that in mind, it’s not hard to imagine a scenario where, say, a mob boss or gang leader decides to test the loyalty of a new member by having them knock off an equally violent rival competitor. Though I can’t recall a particular film, I’m almost sure I’ve watched a scene where a crime lord hands a protege a gun and instructs him to put a bullet in the head of his tied-up enemy. Maybe it turns out that the gun was intentionally not loaded, so as to avoid the gruesome cleanup while still ensuring that the new recruit was willing to pull the trigger.
Now whether this is purely a fictional case study or an actual legal case, I think you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would not render a conviction of attempted first degree murder for both the one who ordered the hit and the one who attempted the execution. But have the job come from God and carried out by one of his obedient servants? Now that’s totally justifiable!
When the punishment fits no crimeAdd to the insanity of this biblical story the fact that it appears that the unfortunate soul (Isaac) hadn’t done anything that would warrant a slap on the wrist let alone death by dad! At least with Noah’s Ark there was the declaration that, when it came to the billions who were about to drown, “every inclination of” their “thoughts…was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). Contrary to the common artistic depictions of Isaac as a little boy at the time, most biblical literalists believe he was somewhere around twenty years old. But even then, there is no prior record of Isaac committing any grievous offenses. No, he just so happened to be born in the wrong time to the wrong parents.
reality vs the Saturday morning cartoon versionAs we did with Noah’s Ark, we will also do with this story. Let’s move past the conveniently and comfortably vague text of the passage and try to breath some possible real world humanity into the moment. In particular, I want to focus on two verses.
“When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.” (Genesis 22:9-10 - NIV)
Now I’m going to assume that once Isaac realized that he was going to be the sacrifice, he probably ceased being an obedient son and struggled to resist his dad’s attempt to bind him and place him on the alter. Visualize for a moment the horrific trauma of that moment. Was Isaac forced to hit his dad during the assault? Did Abraham have to subdue his son by striking him unconscious? If so, how many blows did it take? Or did he manage to bind him while fully awake?
Let’s just say that Isaac was alert. Thankfully I and most other people in the world have never been threatened, let alone stabbed, by a blade. I can’t even imagine how he felt as he saw his dad take the knife out. How long did that moment last before the “angel of the Lord” intervened (v. 11)? What words did Isaac cry out towards his dad in a desperate attempt to talk him out of slitting his throat or pushing the dagger deep into his chest?
Now hold this in contrast to the Bible App for Kid’s version of “Abraham’s Big Test” as they call it. (Click or tap on the image below to see how they depicted this repulsive moment).
When it comes to such examples of biblical violence at the hands or commands of God, I have a theory as to why staunch supporters of the Bible often resist reflecting and depicting to others the brutality of these moments. Even to believers with the most blunted of sensitivities, these bloody images might prove unsettling of their most cherished assumptions of an all-loving God.
a test of faith or sign of insanity?Most of my close friends and family members know I have long had a love for the game of baseball. Years ago I got to visit Cooperstown, home to Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame. The stories of not only great athletic but especially human accomplishments, such as Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier, were enjoyable and inspirational.
The eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews is often referred to as the ‘Faith Hall of Fame’. You would think that such a chapter would highlight the noblest of faith-inspired acts of love and compassion. Yet prominently featured in this biblical ‘Who’s Who’ list is Abraham, and specifically the moment he almost killed his only son to prove his allegiance to a cruel and narcissistic God. As damning as that is for Abraham, how much more is it of the one who is called elsewhere in the Bible the ‘Heavenly Father’.
My conclusion is simple: if that is what it takes to get into the Scripture’s ‘Hall of Fame’, I hope to fall far short of its standards. Moreover, I have no desire be known as a child of either Abraham or the God he worshiped nor do I wish to follow in their footsteps as a father.
POSTSCRIPTSometime back I found a YouTube channel that goes by the handle ‘nonstampcollector’. The animation is very simple, but the script is some of the most well thought out and entertaining satire I have found challenging a number of biblical stories and doctrines. Below is his retelling of the story of Genesis 22. Enjoy.
I think it's very important to remember that a god can do whatever it wants - a god could even come up with a better thing to be impressed by than a human's willingness to stab and burn their own child. (Read on...)
Gustave Dore’s The Deluge(1866)
“Jesus loves me, this I know……for the Bible tells me so.” Right? Just like a children’s lullaby, the sweetness of the chords and rhythm of this staple of Sunday School singing ushers in a sense of gentle love and strength that is so important to a child’s need for safety and care. Yet even young children are likely discerning enough to spot the jarring contrast between messages like this when placed beside the pictures of violence so replete throughout the Bible. Ironically for a community that is so often found bemoaning the brutality of video games and shows on the big and small screen, Christians turn right around only to desensitize their children to unconscionable atrocities within ‘God’s Word’. And it’s not that the savageries witnessed within the pages of Scripture are merely descriptive of sinful mankind. No, for a God who commands his prize creation to “not murder” (Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17), he seems to excel at doing exactly that.
And that brings us to the purpose of this series, The Murderous God. In each part, we will look at a narrative from the Bible that is among the most popular when it comes to adult Christians teaching their children about God. With each story, we will be exposed to a God whose apparent comfort at the ending of human life, either directly by his own hands or through other human beings acting on his behalf, should give any rational and moral person great pause.
I’ve chosen to highlight five stories, each of which is included in the Bible App for Kids. It should be noted that this app is not alone, as even a brief scroll down Google Play lane reveals a profuse number of apps designed to educate children on ‘the Good Book’.
But the Bible App for Kids is truly in a league of its own with over ten million downloads. This tool for raising the next generation of godly (i.e. obedient) human beings is brought to you by YouVersion, the minds behind The Bible App that itself sports over one-hundred million downloads! As it says on the ‘About’ screen, the Bible App for Kids is “Designed specifically to engage children with stories from the Bible…” Their vision is to, “help your kids fall in love with God’s Word…”
What I find interesting is that at least one quarter of the 40 stories currently featured on the app include instances of God killing human beings. How could we not want our kids to “fall in love” with that!?
the good ship ‘genocide’This brings us to our first tale, commonly referred to as the story of Noah’s Ark (you can read it in its entirety here). In the Bible App for Kids, it has the cute title of “Two by Two”. Now I have come to see a significant number of major scientific and historical problems in this story that squarely push it into the realm of fantasy. But I’m going to be giving the benefit of the doubt to Bible-believing Christians who are certain that this and other biblical events actually occurred and that they happened precisely as they are described within the pages of Scripture. The question we are wrestling with here is not the historicity of the Bible but the moral and ethical character of the God revealed in its pages.
Setting the tableBefore we tackle that issue, let’s try to set the statistical table. Of course you will never find 100% consensus among even a like-minded group of people when it comes to ancient dates and data. That certainly is true among those who hold a very high view of the Bible, to include the proposition that the it is completely accurate in any historical information it provides.
When it comes to the date when the flood occurred, even a cursory look at the kinds of charts that are standard inside most ‘study Bibles’ show significant variances of opinions or lack thereof. My parents gave me a New International Version Study Bible my first year at Multnomah Bible College in 1994. Then in 2003 my brother and sister-in-law gifted me a New American Standard Charles Ryrie Study Bible. The biblical timelines covering the early chapters in Genesis are clearly not ‘on the same page’. Ryrie takes more of a detailed stab at possible dates of events prior to Abraham while the NIV study Bible intentionally leaves it vague.
1994 NIV Study Bible
2003 NAS Ryrie Study Bible
With that said, most conservative theologians—particularly creationists who adhere to a very literal reading of the Bible and unequivocally reject any understanding of the book as myth—will place the flood somewhere between 2400 and 2300 BC. You can find this understanding on popular creationist websites, such as this page on creation.com that is dedicated to identifying the historical timing of the flood. So just so we can continue to keep this moving forward, we will go with the date that is proposed there—that being, 2304 BC.
The last number we want to try to identify is that of the global population at the time that the rain started to fall. Widely accepted secular historians estimate that there was approximately fourteen million people on the planet at the start of 3000 BC, with that number increasing to twenty-seven million by the time a new millennium started in 2000 BC. I calculated a projected rate of growth in each century and was able to determine a global population around fifteen-and-a-half million by around 2300 BC.
But given we are intentionally going with the beliefs of those who hold the Bible as not only spiritually authoritative but factually flawless as God’s history book, what do they have to say on the matter? Well there is the mathematician and self-proclaimed ‘Bible Science Guy’, William T. Pelletier. After crunching a number of factors, including the extremely long life-spans and average numbers of births according to biblical genealogical records, he concluded that the global population could have been as high as ten trillion. Thankfully, his theory appears to be an outlier among more serious creation ‘scientists’.
To this we turn to arguably the modern era’s ultimate Christian home-schooling celebrity of creationism, Ken Ham. An article on the pre-flood population found on his Answers in Genesis website says the following:
If the growth rate in the pre-Flood world was equal to the growth rate in 2000 (0.012), there could have been about 750 million people at the time of the Flood. However, given the extremely long lifespans prior to the Flood, the growth rate could have been much higher. Increasing the rate by just 0.001 would put the population at close to four billion at the Flood.
Now we have already alluded to the fact that the Bible shows people prior to the flood living very long lives (see additional chart below). Assuming that is accurate, it seems like four billion is, as the above quote implies, very conservative. So let’s just go with that number, shall we?
Here is the link to the chart.
a body count of truly biblical proportionsSo there you have it! God, through the execution of his divine right to be judge, jury, and executioner, killed four billion human beings minus the eight he found worthy enough to save. Actually, it should be noted that the text only indicates that Noah, “was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God” (Genesis 6:9 NIV). It doesn’t say anything about the seven other family members. This glowing praise appears to have not been warranted for one of his sons, Ham, who according to some traditions would later sexually assault his father when he was passed out drunk (Genesis 9:18-28). I guess when it comes to God’s corporal punishment, the old maxim proves true: “It’s all who you know.”
But maybe Ham ‘fell away from the Lord’ during that long year bobbing around on the water. It happens! Surely at the time of the flood, the rest of the four billion deserved the death penalty. After all, we are told when it came to these wicked masses, “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). Yet I have to wonder, what about the unborn?
According to Ken Ham, Adam and Even were created approximately around 4000 BC. That means the global population grew from one man and woman to four billion within 1,700 years. How many women were pregnant outside of the ark when Noah and his crew shut the doors?
While it is far past my math abilities or even patience to figure it out, I did identify that in 2014 there was 128,845,000 babies added to a then global population of 7.2 billion. That’s almost 1.8% of the total population. If that percentage held in 2003 BC, that would mean that there was seventy-two million babies born that year. Given the average term of pregnancy, let’s say that 3/4 of that number were actually unborn during those weeks and months that the water kept rising. That’s 54 million expecting mom’s drowning to death by God’s hands. That means that God terminated almost the same number of pregnancies in one act of ‘justice’ as the total number of abortions in the US since the Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision over forty-five years ago. If conservative Christians (Protestant, Catholic, etc.) believe that life begins at conception, what does this story do to their image of God being ‘pro-life’?
Oh and by the way, if you reject the creationist’s figures and accept the secular historians data, that’s still twenty-seven million people that God holds under water, with around 209,000 of those being pregnant moms (using the previously mentioned 2014 birth rate).
(Note: I personally am supportive of a woman’s right to determine whether or not she wants to continue a pregnancy, but I am playing out the argument to show the hypocrisy that Christians must flippantly embrace in order to maintain a biblical argument for a ‘loving God’.)
now let’s get personalSo far we’ve only dealt with numbers. But let’s bring this down to a very personal, visceral level and talk about what it must feel like to drown.
When I reflect on drowning, all I can think of is Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian refugee who died on September 2, 2015. His name and story would have likely never been widely know had it not been for the decision of the photo-journalist, Nilufer Demir, to capture the moment the young boy’s lifeless body was discovered on a beach in Turkey.
At the time I was the Director of the Sacramento field office of World Relief, which was rapidly growing to become the second largest refugee resettlement agency in the nation by 2017. And in fact just nine months earlier I had traveled to Lebanon to personally visit a few of the million plus Syrian refugees in that country. So it wasn’t as if I was just being exposed to the grim realities many refugees face. Yet like so many, the image brought my heartbreak to a new level. Certainly being the father of six and one-year-old daughters added a sense of emotional proximity.
Visiting a Syrian refugee family in the Beqaa Valley, Lebanon (January 2015)
In the field of social work, we often discuss the very real possibility of workers experiencing ‘secondary trauma’. Looking back, I can now see that I was evidencing the signs and symptoms of this psychological diagnosis. Fits of depression and sleeplessness were not uncommon. Unbeknownst to the people with whom I went to church back then, one of the triggers was a video loop which would play as the backdrop to the lyrics of our ‘worship’ songs. The film showed an ocean beach with the waves gently coming ashore. No one knew that all I could see was the image of Alan while we sang about the love of God.
We’ve likely all had the experience of having a little water go down the windpipe. Perhaps we were swimming with a friend who surprisingly dunked our head under water. To not be able to breathe can be a horribly panicky feeling, if even for a couple of seconds. This is especially true for very young children who have not learned how to swim yet. I vividly recall taking each of my girls into the swimming pool for the first time. The looks on their faces said it all; these moments represented a real test of courage to overcome a very genuine fear! And this is within the comfortable confines of a highly monitored situation with multiple life guards looking on.
Now replace that with cold darkness in the context of a desperate attempt to stay alive.
The internet is full of scientific descriptions of the process of drowning and the recounting of what it felt like to those who nearly died this way (click here and here for a few examples). Of course, all of the latter came from young adults or older who had at least some modest ability to fight to keep their heads above water and to get to a place of safety. A young child doesn’t even have these tools. They are entirely dependent on a grownup in those kinds of situations. A raw cry for help is their only recourse.
I don’t want to think about what it was like for three-year-old Alan as he drowned. And how many times did an experience like that play out during God’s great act of retribution? Today, about 25% of the people in the world are fourteen and younger. If that was true in Noah’s day, that number would have been around one billion. How many of these were younger children who couldn’t swim? The answer is likely hundreds of millions. And what was it like for their parents to try to save them only to then face the horror that they were going to fail?
There is a brief but powerful scene in director Jame’s Cameron’s Titanic where a young Irish mom, knowing that it is inevitable that she and her two young children are going to drown, decides to tuck them into bed and tell them a story instead of expose them to the class-driven battle to survive that was raging above deck.
From James Cameron’s Titanic (1997 - Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount Pictures)
As touching as that scene is, a realistic depiction, had it been played out, would at some point have had to show the children waking to their cabin being flooded with the near freezing water of the north Atlantic. What would the mother be saying to them then as they prepared to go under? But at least the film depicted part of this dreadful situation that was faced by the fifty children who died on the Titanic.
Not so for the Bible App for Kids’ rendition of the largest act of genocide in biblical history! Their cartoon images safely cut away from those realities.
In contrast is the art I featured at the beginning of this piece, Gustave Dore’s The Deluge(1866). It far more accurately captures the pure desperation and terror of those desperately seeking safe ground. Over the apparently several months it took for the flood waters to reach its zenith above even the tallest mountains (read here and here), moments like this would have repeated themselves over and over again until the last of four billion people (not counting an incalculable number of animals) was snuffed out.
“Little ones to him belong…they are weak but He is strong.” Yes, remember that kids, especially next time you hear the story of Noah’s Ark. Parents, pastors and priests, and children’s ministry directors and volunteer teachers, perhaps when you again recount the perilous journey of Noah and his family, you can integrate into the story the depiction of billions screaming in their final moments. Maybe you can have children act out the involuntary convulsions that are experienced as the body is starved of oxygen and the heart goes into cardiac arrest. Adults and children can lay still on the floor so as to depict the multitudes of swollen and rotting carcasses that likely surrounded the ark for days if not weeks after they expired.
And above all, remember that this is entirely the result of a loving God. For as the song concludes…
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
Yes, Jesus loves me
The Bible tells me so.
click here to go to part 2
Confession of Bern Cathedral, Bernardine Cathedral In Lviv Church Of Saint Andrew, Vodnik, January 2007
At the time, it was one of the proudest moments of my life. Now it represents one of my biggest regrets.
“The Beginning of the End”Usually that expression means that the final stage of something has begun, such as the last act of a story, the waning years of a career, or even the final phase of a human life. What I mean by it here is that new beginnings come at the end of every ending. And so yes, what I say now marks the end of a long journey but more importantly the embarking on a new one. The irony is that in doing so I am apparently letting go of the ‘hope’ of my prior convictions, only to find myself more hopeful than I had ever been. As the famed author and cartoonist Ashleigh Brilliant once said, “I feel much better, now that I’ve given up hope.” Those who ‘get me’ know that this isn’t a logical contradiction.
What I have to say now might not come as a surprise to many of you either. If you have been an attentive listener to some of the things I have written since my departure from evangelical Christianity, you might have been connecting some dots and all but concluded that this was inevitable. But just to remove any ambiguity, let me be clear at this point: the story that has ended is that of my journey to first come to understand, then believe, and ultimately doubt and reject the Christian faith. Now a new story begins, and yes it means a very different Kirt Lewis as well. I guess you can say that I am now a ‘born again’ post-Christian.
what i am notAPOLOGIZING forThe primary purpose of this piece is to ask for forgiveness, but I want to make it clear that I am not apologizing for my decision to leave Christianity.
I know that for many close friends, family members, and colleagues over many years of ministry, this choice I am making will likely evoke a wide range of opinions and emotions. Some will choose to share these thoughts and feelings with me, including a number who will feel compelled to say things that are not so pleasant. It might even lead a few to end their relationship with me. This isn’t foreign to me as I’ve already experienced this in my exit from the evangelical church. The point is that however they choose to respond is their choice. Therefore, I will also not apologize for any mental or psychological turmoil they experience as a result of their response to my decision.
I should note that I fully expect to feel great anguish as well from some of these reactions. It’s already been far harder than I’ve let on to see once profoundly close and long-lasting relationships struggle and some even part ways. Yet I’m not going to ask that they apologize to me for this. Among the many reasons for my departure from Christianity, one of them is the perpetual deployment of expressed disappointment and passive-aggressive distancing, including the ultimate threat of separation and eternal judgment in Hell. I will no longer let these threats of shame and rejection control my choice to be authentically me. Nor will I hoist that burden upon others…at least that is my aspiration, although I know I have much re-programming to do. But above all, I will seek to honor the freedom of thought and choice.
And I wish that to be true even when I consider another’s thinking and choices as bat shit crazy! I might try to persuade people in my sphere of influence to consider rejecting what I see as lunacy. But unlike the dogma and wide-scale practice of all exclusive religions, I hope that I never coerce someone into agreement with my beliefs and lifestyles by making that conformity a pre-condition of my basic responsibility to fully accept and love them as fellow living beings. This leads me to the very sincere and sobering apology I do want to make today. But I’m not quite ready to share that before I first talk about those who influenced me to embrace Christianity in the first place.
embracing and rejecting my rootsEven though the number is rapidly decreasing, there are a lot of grown-ups out there who, like me, can say they “grew up in a Christian home.” That was true of my own parents, with my mom brought up in the fundamentalist General Association of Regular Baptist denomination and my dad spiritually hailing from the more progressive United Methodist Church. As far as I know, their parents—my grandparents—were raised in the church, as was my great-grandparents. You get the picture. And surrounding them was a small constellation of other family members, which for me included an older brother and several aunts and uncles, cousins, and a smattering of other shirt-tail relatives. With rare exception, they were all devoutly seeking to follow Jesus with the rest maybe best described as ‘Christmas and Easter Christians’.
Either way, it is undeniable that my family had a significant role in both exposing me to Christianity as they understood it and inviting me to follow in their faith footsteps. Indeed, a good number of them likely felt they had a biblical mandate and calling to “train up” their children, nephews, nieces, etc. “in the way” they “should go” (Proverbs 22:6 KJV). This burden is universal to most if not all religions of the world.
I want to say definitively right here that I have an amazing family. No, they are not perfect, myself very much included. But as someone who has spent most of his professional career in pastoral and social work, I have seen my fair share of families that are facing a shocking amount of brokenness including rampant abuse in all its varieties. Those kinds of struggles have thankfully been fewer and farther between in my familial tribe. And while we have at times been less present in each other’s lives, there has also been tremendous love and compassion extended to one another in seasons when one or more of us were facing great struggles.
Since it would take a small book to unpack all of the various influences of my entire family on my life as a Christian, I will just speak of two individuals here, those being my parents, Jim and Lorrie Lewis.
As I have written about elsewhere, my mom passed away a little over four years ago. After successfully fighting off cancer five—yes, I said FIVE—times, her sixth bout proved to be too much. My mom and I had a special bond, probably not unlike many sons and their moms. She had an uncanny ability to read me in a way that only a very few others have managed to match and only one was able to eclipse. And she was deeply moved by what she understood as the love of her Savior, Jesus Christ. More than that, she considered this love to be the foundation upon which her life of extraordinary service would be built.
My dad is one of the kindest and most compassionate human beings you will ever meet. To this day, his heart still beats to serve those with developmental disabilities as he and my mom did for over forty years. Beyond these fantastic qualities, he’s got a wonderfully dry sense of humor and a demeanor that puts even the most apprehensive of souls at ease. When people say that I remind them of my dad, I take that as a very high and humbling compliment.
Now I have come to believe that the admirable aspects of my mom and dad and so many other members of my family are less attributable to their faith than they believe and more likely the result of a strong sense of basic human decency. But setting that aside, I fully embrace their abundant examples of love and seek to share this legacy with my children.
Now comes the hard part. I’m angry at my parents for passing on to me the Christian faith and the manner in which they did so. Some of you who have known my parents personally are probably getting really upset right now at the gall I must have to be angry about the faith that my parents so genuinely presented to their children. But as you will see in a few minutes, I fully recognize that the same standard must be applied to myself.
leading others astrayWhen discussing regrets, people will often imply that, if they could, they would magically go back in time and alter the history of how they lived to more pleasantly align with that which they now hold as true. But in the end we all know that no amount of regretting can change our past. More importantly, it’s likely impossible that we would have ever even come to ‘see the light’ as it were had it not been for our past failures. Our evolution, individually and as a species, seems to require ‘trial and error’. With that in mind then, effective regret is rather a sober recognition that one was once a fool and no longer wants to continue being one. It’s also a admission that he or she not only hurt others because of their foolishness but likely led others into the same folly, exponentially furthering the negative consequences which come from any delusion and it’s inspired behaviors.
It seems like this is especially true when you are in a position of leadership or ‘authority’. An essential practice of those in these kinds of roles is that of teaching. We ask questions and share what we believe to be the answers to those questions. Even when we aren’t providing answers, we often heavily influence the outcome of the learner’s inquisition by framing the discussion and providing the ‘good’ sources where he or she may go to discover the truth. This might be why the Scriptures not so subtly threaten that, “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly” (James 3:1 - NIV). While that verse wrongly encourages teachers to comply with divine dictates in view of potential punishment from a vengeful God, the principle can be rightly applied to a more mature habit of self-reflection and accountability for any of us who hold, formally or informally, a mentoring function in the life of other fellow human beings.
Now like my parents, I have come to wield this tremendous power, first as a pastor and then eventually as a parent. And while some of this influence was regrettably directed towards other adults, it is the impact I had as a ‘spiritual leader’ to youth and children that I grieve the most. I now see that the world I formed in their impressionable minds was so small, so comfortable with contradictions, so desensitized to religious bigotry and violence, and so steeped in undeserved shame and judgment. If I was ever your Bible study teacher or Youth or Children’s Pastor, I humbly ask for your forgiveness.
While I deeply mourn this, it comes nowhere near the disgust I feel at having so naively passed on to my own children such a convoluted world view. This is especially true of my oldest, ten-year-old daughter, Melody. Which takes us back to the beginning.
Towards the end of August, 2015, she and I shared a moment that I thought was going to be one of the proudest of my life. Most Christian parents are deeply moved to see their children decide to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and to mark that decision by following in the ancient ritual of baptism. Fewer still get the opportunity to personally baptize their children, but that is precisely what I got to do as a pastor at the church our family then attended. Now I look back at that moment and regard it as the culmination of a grievous offense. So I would like to finish here by speaking directly to Melody.
I taught you what I thought you should believe but failed to teach you how to think. I told you to be curious and explore and then, in the name of God, put blinders on that vastly limited your ability to discover and become who you are meant to be and the potential you have to display truly unconditional love without abandon. And as your true dad, I held up for your admiration the image of a ‘Heavenly Father’ who, for all his claims to be all-loving and just, is largely found to be vain, volatile, and violent. For all of this, I am very, very, very sorry.
You have every right to be confused and angry towards me about this, just as I am justified in being angry with my parents and other adults who taught me about Christianity at a young age. It’s especially o.k. for you to feel this way towards people who are close to you, as the deepest anger is usually reserved for those we love the most. Yet I hope that, in time, you will forgive me and that we can together explore a much larger universe full of new wonders and purposes. And please know that, in the end, I will take great pride in you not based upon the standard of you thinking and living like me, but in you freely and fearlessly becoming all you desire to be and all you want to accomplish.
I love you very much,
Dad.
Mom and I - circa mid 1970’s
It’s about as important of a question as they come. Who is my family? It seems synonymous to another question: Where do I belong? Apparently Jesus instinctively paired them together as recorded in the twelfth chapter of Mathew, verses forty-six through fifty.
While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
damn, jesus, that’s cold!I’ve written elsewhere about my close connection with my mother. While it is not universally true, there does seem to be a special connection between mothers and their sons just as there often is between fathers and their daughters. I can certainly attest to both. When it comes to the former, that is what makes these supposed words of Jesus all the more shocking. Certainly by all biblical accounts, Mary and Jesus did not have a cold and distant relationship. Mary is portrayed as having both a warm affection and subtle reverence for her son as a young child (Luke 2:19). And Jesus, even while in the deepest of agony while he hung on the cross, was so committed to his mother that he took time to appoint a disciple to care for her in view of his immanent death (John 19:25-27).
And yet on another occasion when informed that his mom, along with his brothers, were waiting outside and wanted to speak to him, Jesus basically told the crowd that his gang of often clueless disciples were more family than the woman who gave birth to him and raised him! I mean, damn, Jesus, that’s cold! He goes on to clarify that what qualifies someone as a member of his family is if they do “the will of the Father”. But wasn’t the very fact that she was his mother based on an angelic declaration of God’s favor on her life (Luke 1:30)? Isn’t it fair to assume that said favor is based, at least in part, on a fair amount of effort on Mary’s part to follow a righteous path? But none of that mattered now in this moment for Jesus and Mary. On that day, Mary and her other children wouldn’t receive from Jesus even the attention commonly provided to distant relatives.
the loss of familyWhat caused Jesus to be so harsh? Well we get a hint in another passage in the book of Mark (3:21), where we learn that apparently the fever pitch of Jesus’ self-ascribing Messianic talk had gotten too extreme for the family, even though Mary was given plenty of advance warning about Jesus’ unique, God-ordained mission (Luke 1:32-33). According to Mark, Mary and Jesus’ brothers thought he was “out of his mind”.
Well I am NO Jesus, believe you me! But in this story I find some sense of a shared experience and therefore some fellowship with this man from nearly 2,000 years ago. The last few years have been very hard because I have grieved the loss of so many loved ones, not from physical death but by a separation of conscience and will. This has included literal blood relatives along with those who I had thought were fellow ‘brothers and sisters’ in God’s family, the Church. Having grown up in a devout Christian home, these two families were very intertwined. I recall singing both in my house and at church on Sundays the Bill and Gloria Gaither contemporary hymn, Family of God. The chorus goes like this…
I'm so glad I'm a part of the Family of God,
I've been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood!
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod,
For I'm part of the family,
The Family of God.
But now many in both my literal and my supposedly spiritual family seem estranged. I look at them and think, ‘I don’t even know who you are!’ And to be fair, I know they are thinking the same. The cause of this divorce? We have a shockingly different understanding of ‘the will of the Father’. I am convinced that many of them think that God’s will is synonymous with the idols of which I have previously written about. Their patriarch and prophet is now Donald Trump. In contrast, I had one of my former pastors say that my conclusions about evangelicalism were either “brilliant or crazy”, and it was clear by the tone of the conversation that he was strongly leaning towards crazy. Either way, the end result is the same: we’ve drifted apart as we pursue two diametrically opposed agendas.
finding new familyAnd yet among the loss, I have much to celebrate! For I have found new family members I never knew existed. Or perhaps I knew they existed but they were, you know, ‘those people’ that needed the saving. Curiously it turns out that they are more eagerly practicing the kind of unconditional love I was told was supposed to be a central conviction and way of life with my former family. So my new ‘brothers and sisters’ are the likes of liberal atheists, members of the LGBT community, and Muslim refugees, whether they live next door or half a world away. To them I say thank you. I am cherishing our new fellowship and growing every day as I am inspired by your courage and strength. And above all, I am exceedingly honored to be called your ‘brother’.
Holding a ‘nephew’, a precious Syrian baby in a refugee camp in Lebanon (2015)
So we've looked at why evangelicals might consider a financial boycott of their church (Part 1) along with certain 'Christian' media companies and schools (Part 2). In the conclusion of this series, we turn our attention to two more evangelical industries that you might want to take a second look at when it comes to doling out your dollars.
CHRISTIAN BUSINESSES (other than media)You've got to love the not-so-secretive code sign: the Jesus fish! Ah yes, just subtlety slap that baby on your company truck, business card, or website, and your prospective evangelical customer is sure to get the message. "Have us mow your lawn, do that kitchen remodel, or cater that wedding (so long as your not gay!), and you can be sure that your money isn't going to support some pagan business that is probably operating unethically because the owner doesn't have Jesus in his or her heart."
But don't make the mistake of assuming that the sell of religiously superior ethics is the only thing in mind when it comes to most evangelical leaders in the market place. No, there is a far greater cause that has been cemented into the psyche of many Christian business men and women. Make sure you check out a previous article I wrote that looks at the evangelical idol of power. The piece includes an especially revealing video made to inspire Christians to "take back" the seven mountains of culture. In it, there is a particular emphasis on Christians reclaiming leadership in the domain of business so as to effectively resource the effort to return America to its Christian heritage. Whether stated explicitly or not, this is one of the chief visions fueling this call to join the cadre of Christian capitalists, perhaps only eclipsed by stories of saving lost souls through a God-style economy. You can find 'fellowship' in this effort through one of any number of Christian business associations, like The Christian Business Network, Christian Business Fellowship, or Convene. The fact that the old religious right's culture war narrative is lurking not to far below the surface of these networks of success-hungry crusaders is made pretty obvious when the home page of the Northern Californian Christian Business Directory features a video promoting the Genesis Apologetics App. This mobile tool will equip your good Christian teens to pretend like they know what they are talking about in the fight against public school teachers and their evil doctrine of evolution.
Our mobile app includes dozens of videos that debunk evolution theory taught in public schools.
But let's get back to ethics, where I am sure that the Bible has something to say about things like fair wages (Jeremiah 22:13 and James 5:4) or that Jesus taught his disciples to not embrace violence (Matthew 5:38-45). Among a list of household name companies that are owned by the devout, most of them evangelical Christians, there are some interesting practices that makes you wonder if the Scriptures are their 'final rule for faith and practice'.
Like Chick-Fil-A Chairman and CEO, Dan Cathy, who has a net worth of 3.8 billion dollars. And yet according to Glassdoor, his average entry level employee makes eight to nine dollars an hour and a store general manager pulls in just $49,500 annually! That's paycheck to paycheck and public benefits territory.
Or take the maker of rifle scopes, Trijicon, whose revenue, by the way, comes in part from supplying the U.S. military. It made some news awhile back when it came out that Bible verses were subtly inscribed on their products. Yes, now you can "love your enemies" by blowing a whole in their head through the sight of your high-quality, Scripture-emblazoned Trijicon scope.
These, and a myriad of other hypocrisy ridden companies that are supposed to be built on the bedrock principles of God's Word, are in my opinion not worthy of your business.
CHRISTIAN HUMANITARIAN ORGANIZATIONSLets turn to safer territory, literally. What about Evangelical humanitarian organizations who are often seeking to undue the effects of greed and war? As most of you are aware, I previously worked for World Relief, an organization that serves as the humanitarian arm of the National Association of Evangelicals. They, along with many other evangelical relief and development organizations, are chalked full of amazingly compassionate and creative people who are daily evidencing a true love of neighbors. But that doesn't mean these institutions are not infected with the idols of evangelicalism and therefore in need of substantial reform. And as we said in part one, economic withdrawal is the most effective way to achieve this kind of change. So I suggest that evangelical Christians who are grieved by the same things that I am may want to reconsider their generous contributions to some of these organizations.
I'll give two examples of grievous practices that warrant a retraction of financial support.
- Proselytizing: Among many if not all of these organizations is some level of exploitation of uniquely vulnerable people for the purpose of winning converts. This is something I previously covered in a piece entitled Evangelical Ambulance Chasing.
- Intolerant Hiring Practices: It was indeed a sad day when one of the largest global evangelical humanitarian organizations, World Vision, folded under the threat of economic withdrawal by the religious right and reversed what would have been a morally courageous decision to openly hire members of the LGBTQ community. Or in my time at World Relief, I found it to be a violation of the Character of Christ and an embrace of the paranoia of conservative evangelicals to, as a matter of policy, deny Muslims the opportunity to work with the organization even though it was tasked with serving predominantly Muslim refugees. I also feel that while currently legally allowable, this is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. You can find more of my thoughts on this in the two-part series on The Public Subsidization of Religion.
As you consider supporting humanitarian organizations with an evangelical affiliation, you have every right to investigate whether these and other policies and practices born of ignorance or bigotry are present before you write that next check.
final thoughtAs we conclude, remember that just because you have chosen to not personally support a local, national, or international evangelical non-profit, whether humanitarian or educational, you may be indirectly resourcing them through your church. So make sure your congregation has thoroughly vetted it's ministry partners. You may find that you are indirectly resourcing an organization that is violating values that are important to you. For example, if you are here in Sacramento you may be attending one of the over one-hundred churches that financially support William Jessup University, which as we discussed previously is a school whose leadership is blatantly embracing the idols of power and superiority. If that is the case, it's yet another reason to reduce or withhold your tithe.
In the end, the congregation, like Congress, holds the 'power of the purse'. Individually and collectively, exercise your rights and responsibilities as true principled disciples. Give only to that in which you truly believe.
In Part 1 of Boycotting Bad Religion, we talked about the justification for evangelicals to withhold their 'tithes and offerings' from their local church. Again, if you are a part of another Christian denomination or an entirely different faith all together, I leave it up to you to decide whether this is necessary. But for those who are choosing to stick with the evangelical tribe and who want to employ economic withdrawal as an instrument of reform within evangelical institutions, you will have to focus on more than your local church. There is the world of so-called 'para-church ministries' that I would argue have in some ways caused even more damage to true faith as they aligned with the religious right's despotic march towards the gospel of America. So put on your Robin Hood hats as we look at the first two of four evangelical industries that should be starved of our 'offerings' until they fully reject their idols or perhaps more ideally just go away (we will cover the last two in Part 3).
'Christian' EducationAs Proverbs 22:6 says, "Train up a child in the way he should go, (and) even when he is old he will not depart from it." Well that's all good...unless you are training them to embrace ignorance and intolerance. And so goes the first golden calf of conservative evangelicalism--that being, private Christian education. Aside from taking over the Supreme Court, evangelical schools is their most cherished bulwark against the liberal hordes who dare threaten their ethno-religious dominance.
Fighting against the LGBTQ community has been a particular hallmark of their bellwether educational institutions, the term 'bellwether' being oh so fitting given that it originates with the image of a castrated ram leading a bunch of sheep. Their 'stand' on 'the sanctity of marriage' and 'biblical sexuality' is a great way to narrow down your list of where NOT to send your children and your money. Simply locate a list of schools claiming Title IX exemption and you'll find my alma mater, Multnomah University, or a college just a short drive from my house, William Jessup University, among many, MANY others. The majority of the list is a veritable who's who of evangelical academia.
What is particularly maddening is that even if you choose to not support these schools by contributing to your son's or daughter's tuition or through other charitable gifts, you are still supporting them through paying taxes, thanks again to that wonderful legal loophole of Title IX exemptions. If you would like to learn more about that injustice and what public policies would set things right, make sure to check out my two-part series, Church $ State: The Public Subsidization of Religion.
In the meantime, let's make sure they don't have one more penny than that which we are legally required to give them.
'Christian' MediaIn the same way that Billy Graham had previously figured out that television and radio would be essential tools in his evangelistic efforts, the religious right knew they needed to leverage these modern mediums to indoctrinate the evangelical masses on their paranoid and politically power-hungry world view. And so was born outlets like the Christian Broadcast Network, started in 1960 by a godfather of the religious right, Pat Robertson, followed in the 70's by the Trinity Broadcasting Network. The latter has become notorious for controversies. Staying in the charismatic wing of the evangelical mad house, there is print media like Charisma Magazine, which I once heard described as 'Breitbart in Pentecostal drag' as it continues to spew out one Trump puff piece after another.
Then you have massive media conglomerates like the Salem Media Group. Print, web, radio...hey, there is no tool they won't use to vomit up either lies or hypocrisies! Their 'Christian News and Talk' stations, most of them either called "The Answer" or "The Patriot", are my personal favorites (sarcasm!).
And here is the thing my evangelical friends: when it comes to so-called 'Christian' TV and radio, you don't have to even send them money to pay for their idol-making machines. All you have to do is listen. That's all it takes to get their ratings up which in turn attracts more advertising dollars which begets more lies and hypocrisies.
teaming upNow what is really fun is when these two--Christian media and education--team up! I'll use a local example to make my case--that being the glorious marriage of 1380 The Answer and William Jessup University. It was the height of hypocrisy when in 2017 John Jackson, the President of William Jessup University, gave a cowardly back-door rebuke of myself and other local evangelical leaders. In a video calling for 'unity' in the Church, he claimed without conveniently naming names that me and my friends were placing our Democratic or progressive causes ahead of the cause of Christ. "If you are not a Christian first and a Republican" or "Democrat" or "progressive second, third, fourth or tenth," then we are entering into demonic "deception". Meanwhile, both before and after the video was made, his University, in partnership with 1380 The Answer, was trodding out one partisan event after the other, such as...
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a Republican rally held a few weeks before the 2016 election called "Doomsday or Redemption Day" with an image of Hillary Clinton under 'Doomsday' and Donald Trump under 'Redemption Day'.
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or in October 2017 they joined forces to host a stop on "The Fake News Tour" featuring conservative talk show hosts Larry Elder and former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh, with the event description declaring, "President Trump and Conservative talk radio have outed the liberal biased media and their fake news!"
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or more recently they co-hosted former Press Secretary Sean Spicer's book tour!
Yes sure John, you certainly have moral credibility on your ability to stay above the political fray!
in part 3Well, that's enough for this installment of Faith v Religion. Do you have other examples of specific Christian media and educational organizations that you think should be boycotted? Make sure to share them in the comments below.
In the conclusion of this series (Part 3), I'll share with those remaining on the evangelical Titanic two more classes of institutions that you should consider denying access to your bank account.
click here to go to part 3
click on these links to read or listen to part 1 and part 2 of this seriesGod, I love the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off. If you haven't seen it, then you are just wrong. Rent it online or go to your local used DVD store and pick it up. For those of us who are 'children of the 80's', this film--directed by an honorary philosopher and poet of our generation, John Hughes--was practically a right of passage. Into what, I'm still not sure. But damn it, it gets you there!
One of the iconic moments of the movie is barely over a minute long and yet it effectively launched Ben Stein's career in entertainment. In it he brilliantly portrays the droning, high-school history teacher that we have all had in various manifestations. As he blathers on about the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act, the students boredom-induced responses run the range from one girl's threatening death stares to another guy waking up in a puddle of his own saliva. Recalling this moment in the film got me thinking. As much as I wish that life was like ditching school, stealing a Ferrari from your best friend's dad, joy-riding it all over Chicago on a perfectly sunny day, and pulling of an epic lip-syncing of Twist and Shout surrounded by a half-dozen beautiful women and thousands of parade-goers, more often than not...it's not.
couldn't leave well enough aloneSo several months ago I wrote a two part series that sought to define what I believe to be the mutually exclusive terms of 'faith' and 'religion'. I thought I was done. But then, like in Hollywood, I couldn't leave well enough alone. I felt compelled to make The Dark Knight Rises...or hopefully something better, like Toy Story 3. OK, no more movie references! Let me get on with it and share two more defining characteristics, one each for faith and religion, which will hopefully serve as either encouragement or a warning sign as we tarry on in our spiritual journey.
"Are you not entertained?"OK, I lied. One more movie reference! Remember the classic scene in Gladiator where Russel Crowe's character, Maximus, fights his first match in a literal theater made for human barbarism? After slicing and dicing his way through an initial barrage of competitors, the reluctant warrior screams at his blood-thirsty audience, "Are you not entertained!?" This isn't done to join with the crowd in celebrating another good show, but rather to shame them for sinking to such depths of depravity.
DreamWork's/Universal Studios' Gladiator (2000)
You see, there are two forms of entertainment: one that engages and inspires change and impact and another that simply passes the time and numbs us to responsibility by appealing to our shallowest of desires. When it comes to the latter, I cannot think of a finer example than that of the modern American 'worship' experience.
welcome to the show!Chairs are important. Got to have the newest, thickly-padded chairs. And when it comes to worship as a "living sacrifice" as the Apostle Paul described it, we all know that lighting is the key to achieving true transformation. Red and magenta are sure-fire winners. Oh, and if you can add a fog machine! Boom! You are almost guaranteed to enter the Holy of Holies...every...single...time. Mix in the most charismatic and least-offensive preacher you can find and keep the whole show...I mean service...to ideally seventy-five minutes or less, and someone on Yelp is bound to declare that this church has 'a great worship service'.
Think this sarcastic rant is an unfair characterization? Ask pastors what percentage of their congregants participate in other activities of the church that happen outside of Sunday morning. Quickest way to shrink your attendance? Announce an all-prayer meeting or service project. Want a cult-like following and status as the newest 'must see' church in town? Hire a rock star 'worship leader' who previously scored and occasionally still moonlights as a professional recording artist in the half a billion dollar Christian music industry. I've personally heard former colleagues in 'the ministry' say that if you can't "knock it out of the park" on Sunday morning, your church is as good as dead.
And don't make the mistake of assuming that this is a new development. Religion has always rallied to supposedly sacred ceremony as the pinnacle of worship, thereby reducing faith to a form of holy entertainment. Even the ancient practice of the Eucharist--which in the end entails stuffing and slurping down our gullets some Costco sample-sized bread and juice--is declared in Catholicism as "the source and summit of the Christian life." Human nature, being what it is, will always gravitate to the least amount of pain and boredom it can conjure up. Religion just keeps coming up with new and creative ways to 'give the audience what it wants.'
faith is...In contrast, faith is boooor-iiiiing! Seriously, the best word I found for it is 'mundane'. As an edjective, the word means, "dull and ordinary" and "relating to ordinary life on earth rather than to spiritual things."
That's perfect! Faith is inherently worldly. The words 'faith' and 'spirituality' are actually antonyms. We are always trying to connect faith to a grand eternal plan, when the real essence of faith is grounded in the common now. It's found in somehow rallying the will to be loving to my cat when it has yet again desecrated my front porch with the partial remains of some poor, unfortunate rodent. Faith is seen in working when I don't want to work. It's helping out some jack-ass who forgot to put gas in his car. I could go on, but I think you get the point. Faith is loving when you are tired of doing it and you see absolutely no light at the end of the tunnel. Maybe the light is you surprising yourself that you somehow managed to put up with life without being a total dick in the end.
the high call of exploring boredomI actually feel excited about exploring ordinary boredom as the supreme act and pinnacle of faith, like a student who is 'expecting God to show up' as he or she faithfully sits through an annoying presentation on voodoo economics. It just feels like there is real depth there in contrast to the more aesthetically pleasing presentation that passes for 'worship' these days. Who knows!? Perhaps by mowing my lawn along with trimming my neighbors overgrown weed garden on Sunday morning, I've actually been engaged in worship more than lifting my hands in exaltation to the almighty projector screen.
Warner Bros' The Matrix (1999)
But perhaps you would rather "take the blue pill". If that's the case, then let me conclude by sharing with you something I would like to call, 'The Honest Benediction'. You are free to pass it on to your pastor or priest next time you see him or her, or to use it yourself if you are professional clergy. It goes like this...
As we leave this house of worship, may you quickly forget all that was said and sung but for the general, warm feeling of non-committal contentment.
May your 'constructive criticism' on how to improve the service, which you inscribed anonymously on the back of a connection card, be well received by the spiritual leaders to whom the care of your soul is entrusted. May you be endowed with Divine patience and an open checkbook as they seek to find a better Worship Leader and a more entertaining children's ministry Director.
May God's favor lead you to the best parking space and the shortest line at your favorite post-service restaurant.
And may God's blessings but not his commandments be present with all of us each day, until we meet again.
Amen.
We begin to explore some foundational concepts and the first three stages of systemic injustice.
Dear EVANGELICAL Christianity,
Images from The Truman Show(Paramount Pictures, 1998)
Sincerely,
Kirt E. Lewis
Take a few minutes to listen as a reflect on an American addiction and consider the pro's and con's.