Why Nothing Has Changed Since the SCOTUS Ruling on Same-Sex Marriage

The early church was defined by its efforts to follow the teachings and example of Jesus, both as individuals and as a community.  They were committed communities of discipleship and mission; characterised by simple living and generous giving; they prioritised ways of being good news to the poor, the powerless, the marginalised, and the oppressed; they were known as agents of reconciliation and peacemaking; and they were known for their commitment to nonviolent ways of living. 

In his book, The Heart of Christianity, Marcus Borg provides a different take on how the church is defined today; he shares how his [Oregon State] University students have a uniformly negative image of Christianity. "When I ask them to write a short essay on their impression of Christianity," says Borg, "they consistently use five adjectives: Christians are literalistic, anti-intellectual, self-righteous, judgmental, and bigoted."

Christians might object, rather defensively, that it's unfair to draw sweeping conclusions based upon the report of one person. If you think that way, you'd be right in your logic, but wrong in your conclusion.  A relatively new book called unChristian: What A New Generation Really Thinks of Christianity...And Why It Matters by David Kinnaman of the Barna Group, presents objective research that supports Borg's findings. 

Kinnaman suggests that these broadly and deeply negative views of Christians aren't just superficial stereotypes with no basis in reality. Nor are the critics people who've had no contact with churches or Christians. It would be a tragic mistake, he argues, for believers to protest that outsider outrage toward Christianity is a misperception. Rather, it's based upon their real experiences with today's Christians.

According to Kinnaman's Barna study, the top three descriptions of present-day evangelical Christians by people outside the church are:
1) Anti-gay (91%)
2) Judgemental (87%)
3) Hypocritical (85%)

Followed by:
Old-fashioned,
Too political,
Out of touch with reality,
and Insensitive to others.

So how does the church return to its roots?  How do we recover our identity as imitators of Christ; as subversive agitators of corrupt systems; as radical agents of peace?
Since we’re chiefly known for what we oppose, perhaps it starts with what we stop doing, rather than what we start doing.

Christians have been angrily blowing up the internet this year about the SCOTUS decision on same-sex marriage, abortion & Planned Parenthood, the 2nd amendment, and immigration.
But, please... one thing at a time.  

The conversation surrounding same-sex marriage and the LGBT community has been more than a growing issue of late (and to be honest, the church has arrived pretty late to the party).  It’s reached full maturity and is standing on our doorstep asking, “Well...are you going to let me in or not?”

Here are a few thoughts on this matter that have been simmering for a few weeks that I guess I’m ready to share:

Perhaps the first things that comes to mind concerning this - and other controversial matters - is that it might do some of us a whole lotta good if we remember a few good practices before we cyber-vent and put reactions out into the web-o-sphere that can never be retracted.
A few weeks on, and some of us are really looking like boorish clods right about now.

It’s amazing how emotion and outrage can cloud reason and accountability.  The idea that a State ruling - which is Constitutionally sound by the way - is somehow an attack on the faith of a nation is nothing short of embarrassing.  Brothers and sisters, this is the logical outcome of the religion of Christendom - what emerged from the fusion of Church and State (cf Emperor Constantine, 5th Century).  We cannot have it both ways; we can't cry out, "Christian nation, Christian nation," about marriage equality and abortion, and then, "Constitution, Constitution," about the 2nd amendment and immigration. No one can serve two masters (Matt 6:24).

Christianity is not under attack in the U.S.  American Christians are not being persecuted as a result of the ruling on marriage equality. If anything, the SCOTUS ruling reinforces the United State's conviction to allow people to freely live, grow, and worship as they choose (cf the First Amendment). 

This ruling does not change the message of Christ found in Scripture; it doesn't change the purpose of the Church. 

We can still love.

We can still live generously. 

We can still act justly, love mercy, and live into the narrative of God.

We can still feed the hungry and clothe the naked.

We can still be kind.

We're still free to congregate in churches to worship God the way we always have.

Oh, and incidentally, heterosexuals are still free to marry the opposite sex!

Finding the good (or the potential good) in every situation happens to be something that I do pretty well - sorry if that sounds arrogant, but it’s something I’ve discovered about myself.  For whatever reason, I tend not to look at the immediate circumstance(s) as the end of the story.  Perhaps I’m an eternal optimist, or perhaps I am victim to Nietzsche’s perspective on hope, “In reality, hope is the worst of all evils, because it prolongs the torments of man.”

Either way, I believe the current SCOTUS ruling on same-sex marriage could be exactly what Christians in the U.S. need. Maybe now that we can no longer focus our time and efforts on stopping others from getting married, we can finally take a long hard look at why our own marriages are failing.  For some time the divorce rate data that is typically used suggests that 50% of U.S. marriages end in divorce, and in all probability that’s a fairly accurate number.  The Americans for Divorce Reform estimates these figures to be accurate.  The Barna Research Group (George Barna) conducted a recent survey of 3,854 people from the 48 contiguous states and discovered that divorce rates among conservative Christians were significantly higher than for other faith groups, and much higher than Atheists and Agnostics experience.
Perhaps it’s time that we start focusing on our own marriages, because when looking at these figures, the argument that a gay-marriage is somehow defiling the sanctity of our third marriage, is as absurd as it sounds.
We now have ample time to begin focussing our time and energy on issues that actually impact humanity and grow the kingdom!

How is it that a faith so deeply rooted in love, grace, acceptance, and mercy, gets so easily absorbed into political agendas and social judgements?  We legislate biblical standards and ethics onto a secular society that does not share our beliefs. Our call is to reflect the kingdom of God so that others will see the beauty and glory of our Father in heaven.  Our job is not to impose our interpretation of kingdom values onto others by force. Jesus never did that, and if we’re being honest, most of us “Christians” can’t even agree on some of the basic tenants within our own faith.  

Our God is a welcoming God.  Regardless of our differences, we can and should be welcoming to the entire LGBT community - especially those seeking community with fellow Christians (this should never have been an issue to begin with).  Scripture is full of verses encouraging us to welcome people - all people - despite our differences. Galatians 3:28 is a reminder written to the early church.  It went against their culture to welcome people that were different from them (Greeks, slaves, etc), similar to how we sometimes find it challenging to do the same in today’s world.

Matthew 5:46-48 is a passage about welcoming everyone, not just fellow Christians or people like us. It's easy to welcome those that are like us, but what about those that are so different that we can barely relate socially or spiritually?  Welcoming those who have nothing in common with us is one of the defining qualities of Christians.

So if you’re done ranting and raging over a cause you’ve already lost… could you maybe start focusing on one of the meta-commands Jesus gave us?  We’ve got a whole lotta’ Jesus’ love to spread around this world, and we could use all the help we can get.

Let's Talk About Systemic Evil

This was an annoyingly long Facebook post that I'm putting here for easier access:

The tragedy last week in Charleston, SC has naturally sparked widespread debate about “guns”, and “racism”, and “symbols of racism” (the Confederate flag), and “White people”, and “mental health/anti-social behaviour” ad infinitum.  I’ve, uncharacteristically, participated in some FB threads concerning some of these issues, and as usual, have felt it quite unsatisfying and fragmented to contribute to a malaise that is never fully unpacked or interpreted in the context of the wholeness of each contributor.

One contributor to a thread I was in said something that made me want to write my own post.  She said, “our system is broken.”  Now perhaps I should begin by stating that I am not suggesting that guns are evil, or that the owners of guns are evil.  Instead, I’m addressing systemic evil, which may also be referred to as group or institutional evil.

M. Scott Peck writes in his book, People of the Lie: The Hope for Healing Human Evil, “Evil...is the force, residing either inside or outside of human beings, that seeks to kill life or liveliness.  And goodness is its opposite.  Goodness is that which promotes life and liveliness.”  With this as a working definition of evil, both individuals and groups have the capacity to commit evil acts.

The first exposure I had to the concept of systemic evil was in theologian Walter Wink’s book, Powers that Be. Wink points out that “Evil is not just personal, but structural and spiritual.  It is not simply the result of human actions, but the consequence of huge systems over which no individual has full control.”  Wink explains that systems of domination are “characterised by unjust economic relations, oppressive political relations, and the use of violence to maintain them all.”

So when we see these characteristics in our societies and communities, we see systemic evil at work.  Whether it’s unjust economic relations where a CEO earns more than 300 times what the average worker earns... or we hear of voter suppression laws where oppressive political relations are at work... or we recognise evidence of biased race relations in how differently the police treat black men than they do white men... or when we see patriarchal gender relations where women are oppressed and told that they are a “lesser cut of meat” (actual words of one state congressman)… Or this latest example of repugnant excess, the torture and slaughter of thousands of alligators so the likes of Beyonce, Kim Kardasian and Victoria Beckham can have the Hermes Birkin bag that retails for more than $50,000 (Beckham has more than 100 -- that’s $5M worth of alligator skin handbags at three dead alligators per bag!!!)... and there are a slue of areas within the retail clothing industry that exploit and abuse people in their workplace… we can point to each of these examples and say that systemic evil is present there.

And so it goes.  Wherever there are systems of domination over which no single individual has control, we have systemic evil.

The two primary factors that allow systemic evil to take hold are: selfishness and ignorance.  When combined they create in us a narrow-mindedness that allows us to deny, to not see, our connection to others.  For most of us, if we’re not directly affected by systemic evil in the moment, it’s pretty easy for us to focus on our own lives and on our own individual struggles and simply ‘get on with it.’  We’re like horses wearing blinders, undistracted by the evils of the world around us.  Meanwhile, we don’t see the oppression, death, poverty, and devastation that may be happening mere feet away from us.  If we have the ‘privilege’ of wearing such blinders, we’re not outraged because we’re not even paying attention.

Oh, but if we remove those blinders we may become immediately overwhelmed with the evil that’s all around us, and that we feel powerless against.  And so we put the blinders back on, and we become immune to it.  Evil becomes normalised.  We accept that the media continually uses the wrong gender pronouns for transgender people, and may even scoff at their own gaffe after doing so.  We participate in systemic evil if we have other options, yet continue to shop at major monopolistic supermarkets, knowing that they make enormous profits, but pay their employees a pittance wage.  We do it when we buy disposable pop music because it’s catchy and has a beat you can dance to, even though it tells women “your sexuality is your power,” or “you know you want it,” indicating that consent is really just about “blurred lines.”  Or when we go about our bottomless consumption while ignoring the damage we’re doing to Creation.  These are all ways in which we participate in systemic evil on a daily basis, and continue repeating to ourselves, “I’m just one person. How big of a difference can I really make?”  You’re either squirming a bit right now, or trying to decide whether or not to ‘unfriend’ me.  I know I’d be doing one of the two if I was reading this.  

As Peck points out, whenever…”it becomes possible and easy for the individual to pass the moral buck to some other part of the group [evil occurs].  In this way, not only does the individual forsake [their] conscience, but the conscience of the group as a whole can become so fragmented and diluted as to be nonexistent… The plain fact of the matter is that any group will remain... evil until such time as each and every individual holds himself or herself directly responsible for the behaviour of the whole group.”

And that my friends, is sweet redemption; our salvation: taking responsibility for the behaviour and actions of the whole group.  But how do we actually do that?  How can we hold ourselves accountable to a systemic evil that I’ve only just described as something that no individual has full control?  Of course no one person can take total blame for it.  But we can hold ourselves accountable for the ways in which we perpetuate the systemic evil, and by seeking to stop contributing to it when we can.  I mean removing the blinders, and allowing our hearts to break and our spirits to become outraged at poverty, injustice and destruction that’s going on in our respective societies as well as around the world.  For example, the U.S. could hold itself accountable by doing something to curtail the amount of gun-related deaths that happen annually on its soil.  

Let’s be honest.  

We have a problem.  

I can recall two stories in the last few months where a three-year-old found their parent’s handgun and fatally shot themselves.

Last year, handguns killed 263 people collectively in Japan, Britain, Switzerland, Canada, Israel, Sweden and Germany.  They killed 10,728 in the U.S.  That’s a collective population pool of 332 million people to the U.S.’s 319 million people.

Surely steps can be taken.

In the same way that selfishness and ignorance enable systemic evil, there are a few factors that can neutralise it as we seek to hold ourselves accountable.  The first is by educating ourselves.  Peck says, “The task of preventing group evil - including war itself - is clearly the task of eradicating or, at least, significantly diminishing [intellectual] laziness and narcissism… The effort to prevent group evil… must therefore be directed at the individual.  It is, of course, a process of education.”

Educate ourselves about the history of discrimination and oppression perpetrated by the justice system against the marginalised, minorities or asylum-seekers so that when an incident of injustice or brutality occurs, we’re able to understand the event in the larger context.  Educate ourselves as to the different Muslim sects so that we’re able to affirm the peaceful while condemning fundamentalism.

But while we educate ourselves, we do not want to, at the same time, emulate those who seek to oppress or advance the systemic evil; we don’t want to contribute to the evil - no ‘eye for an eye’ mentality.  Wink says, “Evil can be opposed without being mirrored.  Oppressors can be resisted without being emulated.  Enemies can be neutralised without being destroyed.”

Which leads to the second way we can address systemic evil in our lives: to engage our sense of wonder and curiosity.  “Really,” you ask, “Engage our sense of wonder and curiosity? That’s weird.”  Wink points out that, “Provoking a sense of wonder...tends to diffuse hostility.  It seems to be nearly impossible for the human psyche to be in a state of wonder and a state of cruelty at the same time.”  We can ask questions - of ourselves and those around us.  We can ask UKBA officials (or government officials where you live) how they might feel if it were their son or daughter being turned away at the border or denied access to medical care; or being shot to death at their own school.  We can write a quick email to a columnist or TV network when they refer to a trans person with the wrong pronoun, offering insight into the issue.  We can wonder aloud to our local government officials what will happen to our children, or our grandparents if benefits are cut, or if transportation services to poorer areas are reduced.  Even if we can’t change it, we can pay attention and wonder about the ways that we benefit from unearned privilege, due to race, gender, sexual orientation, economic class, education level, etc.  In so doing we are able to take responsibility for our part in systemic evil, and decrease our unintended participation.

The most important step in reducing our participation in the systemic evil that is all around us is the most practical, and likely the most challenging for most of us.  With more and more frequency we must remove our blinders and pay attention.  Allow ourselves to see things as they really are.  As a result, our empathy will not allow us to remain unengaged, and when our empathy is engaged, we will act in ways that affirm and promote the unsurpassable worth and dignity of individuals, as a well as honouring our place in this interdependent web we share.

Most people will read these perspectives as virtuous, moral, and good, and the truth is anyone can engage these virtues to initiate change.  But as Christians, we are compelled to oppose injustice - not merely for the sake of virtue or morality, but for the sake of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.  I find that we often lose sight of which kingdom we’re called to stand for and seek to advance; the kingdom of the world (or nation we live in), or the Kingdom of heaven.  Make no mistake - I do believe the two are mutually exclusive.  We have a holy and sacred text, and it’s not the Constitution (though it seems that it’s more vehemently defended than the messages of peace and self-denial that we find in the biblical teachings of Jesus).  Jesus never said, “Stand up for your rights; defend your rights.”  He did say, however, to stand up for the poor, the marginalised, the oppressed and the least of these.  He did say, however, to turn the other cheek.  He didn’t say, “Put away your sword...unless someone is coming after your family; then you can kill them.”  He did say, however, “He who lives by the sword dies by the sword.”

Now before you read my thoughts as unpatriotic, please know that I don’t hate the USA or Great Britain anymore than Jesus hated Jerusalem (which is not at all, in case you’re wondering).  I simply pledge my allegiance to the cross and to Him who overcomes it.

  

So those are my thoughts on the “real issues” we’re dealing with when we’re dealing with gun violence or racism or the general badness that we see going on in the world around us.