Would He Want His Religion Back?

One cannot be involved in gay activism it seems without running head long into the foul and nasty far right version of Christianity that places denigrating gays and disseminating hate as its principal stock in trade. The irony is that its participants and proponents claim to revere Christ and the Bible, yet mirror the mindset and conduct of the Pharisees described and roundly condemned in the New Testament in nearly everything that they do. This religious form seems to know nothing but fear and hatred towards anyone and everyone who is different or refuses to embrace it exclusionary and generally toxic dogma. Be it evangelical fundamentalists, the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy or the leadership of the Mormon Church, the main precepts are all about condemning others and/or encouraging self-loathing and a sense of worthlessness. Ken Wilson,the senior pastor of the Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan (who holds a real college degree as opposed to a Bible college faux degree), has written a new book that might merit a read, although I have not read it as yet. It's entitled "Jesus Brand Spirituality - He Wants His Religion Back" and looks at what has happened to Christianity since the rise of the Christian Right and the adverse impact that rise has had on Christianity. Wilson describes his reasons for the book in this way:
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I wrote Jesus Brand Spirituality: He Wants His Religion Back to present Jesus as the treasure buried in field of religion for people who are curious about Jesus, maybe even dedicated followers, but not drawn to contemporary Christian culture.”He Wants His Religion Back” is an acknowledgement that over the past thirty years or so there has been a kind of trademark infringement on the Jesus Brand.
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If you’re the kind of person who doesn’t lean conservative politically or culturally, if you’re the kind of person who enjoys National Geographic or Discover magazine, and doesn’t have a bone to pick with mainstream science, if you’re the kind of person who finds Rush Limbaugh annoying; in other words, if you’re about half the U.S. population, the part of the population that is most turned off to American Christianity, then you’ve been given plenty of good reasons not to pay attention to the Christian message…or to be a Christian who feels like a fish out of water in the current Christian culture, because the people with the loudest media megaphones have been defining the Jesus brand in a particular way that doesn’t include you.
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Wilson goes on to state the following about the state of Christianity today:
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Jesus wants his religion back. And he wants it back from the orthodox, the Bible-believing, and the defenders of faith as much as from anyone else. So it can be for the world again. . . . . How would I begin to pursue faith today? I’ll tell you what would put me off. I’d be repelled by the witch’s brew of politics, cultural conflict, moralism, and religious meanness that seems so closely connected with those who count themselves the special friends of Jesus. It’s a crowd that makes me nervous. Beneath all the talk of moral values and high principles, I don’t think I could get over the hissing sound.
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Morality has become a wedge word since the self-righteous majority started using it to promote their particular version, a version that conveniently leaves out concern for the poor and justice for the oppressed.
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Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens represent the return of outspoken atheism to the public square. They make the case that religion is the greatest source of evil in the world and that we’d all be better off if we imagined and then brought into being a world without it. Their voice is amplified by the vengeful resurgence of religious intolerance expressed in religious warfare. No doubt about it, religious zeal is one of the great threats to human welfare these days.
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It is encouraging to see someone of deep religious belief rejecting the worse elements of today's Christianists. Unfortunately, we need many more voices of liberal Christian denominations to drown out the poisonous versions of the faith that seems to get all the media coverage. Quietly trying to do the right thing is not, in my view enough. Yes, many Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists and others are supportive of a non-hate based form of Christianity. But unless and until they confront the professional Christians of the far right, the ugly image of Christianity will continue to predominate and more and more of the younger generations will embrace spiritualism but believe that institutional Christianity belongs on the trash heap f history. A view that I share.