Kim Burrell is a gospel singer and minister who wants us all to know that she thinks gay people are ickie. But in displaying her homophobia, she’s accidentally illustrated something about where her religion is going, and why.
We’ve been talking about the various ways that Christianity has used coercion to convert and retain members through the centuries. Its legal clout has faded and its political power has waned, its credibility as a world faith is faltering more quickly than anybody could have guessed, its members leave by the thousands per day, and churches close by the hundreds per year. Its leaders and adherents alike know that clearly, something must be done! But when there is nothing in their toolbox but coercion, then that is the tool they shall use–even when coercion only hastens their end.
We’ve been talking lately about the various ways that Christianity rose to power as the dominant Western religion in the 2nd to 5th centuries. But the fun couldn’t last, and now that power is declining sharply with every passing year. As Christians began losing the power to force people to comply with their demands, they also became increasingly desperate to regain that power.
What would happen if Christians suddenly understood that the entire mythology of their religion is just that–a series of myths and metaphors?
You know that sinking feeling you get when you realize that a lot of hard work is ahead of you that you really don’t want to do?
But there’s one part of their vision of Christmas that is particularly grating: the idea that their favored holiday, Christmas, represents some kind of “free gift” bestowed upon humankind by a generous, gracious god. I’ll show you that this “free gift” is anything but free, and certainly is not a gift in any way.
Christmas fast approaches, and with it the usual litany of Christian sermons about what they (mistakenly) imagine to be the reason for the season. Christian narcissism and ignorance are annoying at any time, but around the holidays, both telescope into levels you’d swear were caricature or parody. In one example of this exact narcissism and ignorance, we see why Christianity, as a religion, is such a mess.
We’ve been talking lately about the early history of Christianity and how different it is from the history offered up by most Christian apologists and leaders. This definitely is not a history I learned growing up Catholic or as a fundamentalist lass!
Its evangelists competed hard for followers and resources in a culture marked by a huge diversity of beliefs and gods. Because its leaders completely lacked the power to coerce people into joining and staying Christian, however, it wasn’t making that much progress. It would take a series of events in the fourth century to bring it not only to legitimacy, but dominance.
Its evangelists competed hard for followers and resources in a culture marked by a huge diversity of beliefs and gods. Because its leaders completely lacked the power to coerce people into joining and staying Christian, however, it wasn’t making that much progress. It would take a series of events in the fourth century to bring it not only to legitimacy, but dominance.