How many people did the Church kill today?

“They will know we are Christians by our love.” Jesus-inspired lyrics. Wonderful sentiment. If only.

And here we are.
        Before I get into this very far I want to stress up front that there are churches trying their best to do the right thing during this pandemic when it comes to keeping their congregants and community safe. Unfortunately those actions don’t grab the headlines like the churches that are hell bent on bringing harm to others in the name of worshiping Jesus.

First, do no harm! Too easy.
        Wear a mask. Protect other people.
        Something as simple as wearing a mask during a pandemic to protect fellow human beings was and remains beyond too many “Christians”. Wearing a mask to protect others is asking too much of some supposed followers of Jesus Christ, a man that led by example. A man that told his followers to spread the good news and to love one’s neighbors.
        I guess that I missed the part in the bible where Jesus said go forth and spread disease. It must have been in the same section where he said to gather in his name to endanger and kill one another. Followed by the ever popular “and make sure that the little children suffer too”.

It was a commandment not a suggestion.
        Love your neighbor. How complicated is that?
        Wearing a mask, if nothing else, is an act of demonstrating Christian love. But somehow it’s tearing communities and churches apart. They aren’t capable of caring enough for their own church members to wear masks and keep their physical distance let alone members of the community.

Typhoid Khristians.
        Since the very beginning of the current pandemic churches and church groups have been “hot spots” for spreading the plague to the rest of the community. Too many Christians have fought heroically to maintain this status. Let’s call them Khristians with a ‘K’ instead of a “C” in order to differentiate them from followers of Christ.
        Khristians are followers of the Liar. They are working for the Dark Angel. They are of the far-right Evangelical Party. Like the Liar they are perpetual victims. They are the Constitutional Khristians of the Amerika that they would recreate in their image. Their rights to endanger and kill in the name of Jesus come first.
        They are the death squads. They are directly responsible for tens of thousands of deaths. They work diligently to increase the body count every day—especially on Sunday.
        Like the Liar they accept no responsibility. Like the Liar they are victims. The Liar’s truth is their truth. It is the Liar’s vision that they spread. “We are Amerika!” is their guiding psalm.

The hoax that keeps on killing.

Ω How many people did the church kill, endanger or infect today in the name of Jesus?

Ω How many people in the community did the church spread the plague to today?

Ω How much damage to our Republic did the church do today in support of the Liar?

Ω How much economic damage did the church do today?

Ω What falsehoods did the church support and spread today in the name of Jesus?

        The above are not questions that should have to be asked at any time let alone on a Sunday morning yet here we are. Whether we like it or not these questions and worse are being asked by believers and non-believers alike.

Criminally negligent homicide.
        An ultra-conservative Christian group operates not far from where we live. Kanakuk Kamps has been in operation for decades. I copied the below statement from their web page.

“At Kanakuk, we live I’m Third—God First. Others Second. I’m Third. This foundational principle is integrated into each of our Kamp’s programming, equipping Kampers to be Christ-like examples who lead with responsibility and care.”

        They have been in the news because initially 40 of their “Kampers” and counselors tested positive for COVID-19. The number grew to over 80. In the end, the number of Stone County confirmed cases only went up one since all the rest were not from this area. They took the virus to their homes and communities across 10 states.
        In light of the above would you think that they stopped holding kamps at the outbreak? If you did you thought wrong.

“Others second” my ass.
        Holding a church camp for kids the middle of a pandemic should be considered criminal. (BTW their other camps are ongoing.) The kids and counselors interacted with others in the community. There is no way of knowing what the final toll or impact will be.

Leadership.
        How are pastors handling the mask question? How are they handling providing safe services for their followers? (I’m talking about the ones that aren’t openly flaunting their disdain for protecting others.) Are they going along to get along?
        Some aren’t. They are encouraging doing all the right things. Some are only having online services and holding meetings and studies using technology like Zoom. They’re using phone calls and emails and are wearing masks when necessary.

Others? Not so much.
        I’ve spent some time surfing religious sites and taking in some online services during pandemic time just to see what’s up. Pretty sad really. Some of the services that I watched are in areas where COVID-19 cases are increasing dramatically.
        If you think that I saw a lot of masks and people keeping a physical distance you’d be wrong. If you thought there wouldn’t be any singing you’d also be wrong.
        Why singing? What’s wrong with singing? Well, singing really projects the virus out there. It goes farther than 6 feet. It aerosolizes and hangs in the air longer and gets spread by the ventilation and movement in the air. It’s the churches’ way of really going the distance to spread the virus.

Ripples in the water.
        And get the virus out there they do. Time and time again we can read in local and national news where the virus was spread out into the community from churches. Pastors have died. Their congregants have died. People in the community have died. People also got sick and recovered. Some will have ongoing medical issues for the rest of their now shortened lives.
        One church leader, no name provided, wrote 1588 words about wearing masks. Whoever they were they were pretty worked up about it. Cited all sorts of scripture. Talked about congregants fighting with each other and how un-Christian it all was.
        Never took an actual position. 1588 words and couldn’t say something as easy and simple as “Wear a mask: it’s the Christian thing to do.”

Fear.
        Regardless of what happens we’re going to end up with fewer churches and fewer followers of the real Jesus as this pandemic runs its course. There will be pastors who, whether directly or indirectly, lead their congregations to dissolution. Some smaller congregations will simply lose too many people to COVID-19 to continue financially.
        There are already Christians leaving churches over the mask issue. Their fellow Christians won’t even wear a mask for bible study. Such a small imposition yet it’s dividing churches.
        Like it or not, if a pastor takes a position either way on masks and physical distancing there will be supposed believers alienated. People have already switched churches in order to go to a church that doesn’t treat the pandemic seriously and vice versa. Some just leave.

        WWJD?

Jesus had the courage of his convictions.
        Unlike too many pastors of today Jesus wasn’t afraid to speak out and take a position to save lives. Now Jesus could bob and weave with the best of them when it came to politics but ultimately he took a position there as well, and died for it. Without getting into all of the theology, with that act he put everyone else first. That’s in keeping with the trinity. He put others before his own wellbeing.
        When alive he cured the sick, injured and lame. He didn’t kill people. He didn’t endanger people. He cured lepers. He didn’t spread leprosy. He wasn’t afraid of losing his church.
        Simply put, Jesus would have worn a mask. His followers would have worn masks as well. Jesus would have worn a mask even if it meant a personal sacrifice to his wellbeing. He carried a cross for us. Wearing a mask would have been easy.

Schrodinger’s End Times

Radio

^        When I was growing up the folks had this truly magical, as far as I was concerned, radio. It was kind of a creamy white with a gold colored dial. The top half of the dial was AM radio. The bottom half—the world! It could not have been an expensive radio if the folks had it.

^        The bottom half of the dial was a wonderland. We could get stuff from all over the world especially late at night or under certain atmospheric conditions that we knew nothing about. It required a delicate touch on the bottom half of that dial that foreign voices would speak out from along with conversations from Ham radio operators. The slightest twitch and the carefully tuned in station was lost.

Panic in the streets.

^        It was on one of those searches of the radio cosmos that I tuned in a preacher talking about the “END TIMES” that we were living in and that very soon life as we knew it would be over. Other than going to church with my grandma when I stayed with them in Missouri sans parents we were not religious folks then. I was scared enough to ask my dad about it the next day. Dad said, “They’ve been scaring people with that crap since I was a kid. Don’t worry about it!”

^        As far as I was concerned then Dad was the final authority. Case closed.

Kill the white man!

^        My last duty station is the Army was in Giessen, Germany. We were housed in old German barracks. The Germans were housed in the new barracks. That’s where I spent the last 5 months of my four year hitch. The Army would send people close to getting out overseas to a better duty assignment. Guys would like what they saw of Europe and reenlist. Then the Army would send them to Viet Nam. I passed on reenlisting. I’d had enough fun.

^        I was in our four man room late one night writing a letter home. All the other guys were either out on leave or at their duty station. It was quiet. One of their radios had been playing all day. I didn’t bother turning it off. One of the brothers had it set on a pirate radio station. This station was transmitting from somewhere off the coast if I remember correctly.

^        Anyway a program came on where some guy was saying over and over, “We must kill the white man. We must rise up and kill the white man. We must kill the white man. Kill the white man. Kill the white man.” Over and over and over. Non-stop. It was just playing in the background and I just ignored it and kept writing. I should mention here that there were some racial tensions in the Army during the time I served. As I was writing along I remember thinking yes we must rise up and kill the white man. I had to stop and look down to make sure that I hadn’t actually written that. I was and in fact am white. That’s when I realized that perhaps I should get up off my ass and turn the radio off.

^        A couple of my room mates were brothers and good friends. I would listen to the sermons that Will’s church sent him via audio recordings. They were great. I mean foot stompin’ “Yes, Jesus” great. Will was also a loan shark. I was also their barber. I couldn’t cut a white guy’s hair to save my life but I could cut a modified (short) afro easy peasy.

^        There weren’t any uprisings of mass killings while I was there. The point is in case you’re wondering if there is one is that having the same message delivered over and over can have an effect. It does. That’s what we’re living today.

Not an expert.

^        When I first started to read the bible in earnest it seemed obvious to me that the people of the time thought that Jesus was coming back sooner rather than later. Some thought that he would come back in their lifetime. I had explained to me later that this was not in fact the case. Obviously. Two thousand years have passed. Men that had a much deeper understanding of the bible than regular people have figured out a way to explain the discrepancy of a few thousand years.

^        So if somebody just finds a bible and tries to figure it out or apply what they have learned on their own they will more than likely get it wrong unless they have an expert or at least someone more knowledgeable on hand to explain things to them.

 Experts needed. Apply within.

^        In other words when I read that God had a plan for that one guy and thought that God just had a plan for that one guy I didn’t know that I was wrong about that. God in spite of our free will has a plan for all of us. So when I a guy steps out and gets hit by a bus God planned that. Miscarriages? God’s plan.

^        Where I might read a verse and think that it’s okay to kill a disrespectful kid an expert can explain that this is not the case and perhaps just a good talking to and grounding might be more appropriate. Or if you’re a Southern Baptist just give the unrepentant tot the thrashing of their life.

^        I’m just going to leave that whole the proper way of sacrificing of animals alone other than to say that they must have had very sharp knives back then. What a mess! Interestingly no one ever talks about who is going to clean that mess up afterwards. I’m going to guess a woman or women depending upon the size of the sacrifice.

^        Suffice it to say that the bible isn’t really a standalone book unless an expert happens to have left a really really good set of Cliff Notes with it.

^        We need guidance! Case in point right here.

 Back to the End.

^        I talked about the End back at the beginning of this. Technically people that didn’t know any better have thought that they were living in the End Times since the time of Jesus. So we are both living in the End Times and Not living in the End Times until we are actually in the End Times whether we know it or not. So the people that are always predicting the End Times are both right and not right unless there’s a cutoff point at some point in the past that I haven’t had explained to me yet by a person that knows.

^        There could be a cutoff date say a few hundred or thousand years back where those that predicted the End Times were actually deemed to be wrong. Expiration date exceeded. Out of warranty. Sorry buddy or budette take that class over.

^        This is how guys like Copeland end up making $300 million dollars off of rubes. He knows. Or at least he says he knows. Try and prove him wrong. Can’t be done. Can’t prove him right either. Well there is a way.

Jesus.

^        He either has to show his face or he doesn’t. Depends upon the time frame. We’re either deep into the End Times or just starting. Depends upon what expert you’re dealing with. If you like scary apocalyptic movies go with that expert. They know. Or they don’t. Could be that they’re just a fake prophet or smoking a little too much of the good stuff. Depends upon what their Godometer is forecasting at the time.

Who’s to know?

^        Here’s what I do know.

^        Don’t drink the Koolaid!

^        If your pastor is telling you that you need to all get close together in the middle of a pandemic they are bat shit crazy and endangering people including all the innocent bystanders that come into contact with the flock. LEAVE. Jesus doesn’t want you dead! Jesus doesn’t want other people to die because of you.

^        Team Trump jesus may not care if you’re dead but the real Jesus doesn’t want you dead. Jesus doesn’t need the Constitution to be believed in. Not a part of the Good News.

^        Holy Spirit is with you wherever you are. Jesus is not confined to four walls. Pray to God wherever you are. God is there.

Go with God.

 

True to the word [RELIGION]

    

        What do I think about Queers in regard to the Christian faith? I want to establish here in the beginning that I’m not going to use the alphabet designation. Queers keep adding groups. And that means more letters and/or symbols. It’s starting to remind me of the name of Mr. Mxyzptlk in the Superman comics. No vowels there either. I can’t keep up. We haven’t even got into sub categories. I’m an oldster. I come from a simpler time. Now I have to ask my wife what in the world we’re talking about when a new gender comes up. She’s very patient. She explains. I’m just reverting back to using the word Queer.

        I consider myself fortunate that I’m not a pastor. I’m not a theologian. Don’t know Greek except for really liking those sandwiches that aren’t pronounced like they’re spelled. I have read the bible. I have several. When I see the scholars talking or writing about the bible it sounds to me like they’re just making up words. Then I look up the word and sure enough it means something. I don’t know all of God’s different names. It’s just easier to stick with God. Let’s just avoid getting into the trinity. This should be enough to establish that I’m not any kind of expert. I’m willing to sign papers.

        So I just read what those people-that-are-all-the-things-that-I’m-not have to say on the subject of the bible. Here’s a little of what I’ve learned. They can’t agree on stuff either. They load up their scripture canons and fire it at the other side. The other side loads up their canons with context and fires back. There’s a lot of contextualizing skirmishes going on at any given time. Except for when we get to the earth being flat and a big dome being over us that holds back the water. That’s kind of a downer. But there you are.

        As long as the sides are just haranguing each other it really isn’t a problem. Well, except for when real world consequences start happening. How about a nice Spanish Inquisition? Or the Protestant Catholic wars? People of color not being allowed? Divorcees being second class Christians? Women not having a place in the church other than a pew seat and fixin’ food? Or women being subservient?

        One thing I can tell you for sure is that if I had known then what I know now I would have asked for a pre-save agreement when I accepted Jesus and was held under the water. One thing for sure is that I would have had it down on paper how long I could have been held under. There would have been language in there that I wouldn’t do anything hurtful or stupid to people should something come up that was open to interpretation. My right to exercise my free will; to come and go as I please would have been guaranteed. GUAR - AN - TEED! I would have used someone like Sheldon Cooper to work out the details. It would have been ironclad.

        I can remember some of my first conversational questions with the pastor of the Southern Baptist church that we belonged to at that time. I asked the good reverend what if a man living in a faraway country that never read a bible or had access to knowledge about Jesus but he was a good man and lived a good life when he died would he go to heaven? He answered “no.” he explained that was why missionary work was so important. My first thought at his answer? Well, that’s bullshit*.

        Queers can’t get married in the church. Queers can’t be pastors. Queers are an abomination. Queers are second class Christians. “Love the sinner. Hate the sin.” Bullshit! That is one awesome load of bullshit! That is bullshit to infinity! Yes that’s right, we’re talking bullshit to infinity and beyond here.

        Wow! It only took me seven paragraphs to get to what I’m talking about. If I remember correctly this is supposed to be done in the first paragraph. Hey, like I said. I’m not a scholar but I do know bullshit when I see or hear it. So do unbelievers.

        Look, we already sound crazy enough with that whole bible story about the virgin birth without dragging in all this other stuff. What stuff? This ‘love the sinner, hate the sin stuff.’ It really doesn’t make any difference if those of the faith are name calling each other. It does matter if those not of the faith are using words like intolerance, bigotry, racist, homophobic, etc. Especially if they’re right.

        I have been perusing religious, news and social media sites. The sanctimonious comments are awe-inspiring, especially when combined with self-righteous back patting. Thank you for being piously “true to the word!”

        I think everyone should have the opportunity to be singled out and have a sermon based upon Romans 1 directed at them. Doesn’t really start off all that bad but the dude starts getting worked up around verse 18 and ends a long list of accusations with saying the person being talked about is worthy of death. I was that person. I wasn’t even Queer. Well, as it turns out I was, according to the good reverend.

        After serving in the Army for four years I had let my hair grow out after I was discharged in 1970. This was back in the day when I had hair. Since my faith in God had served me well by helping me through some difficult times in the Army I decided to get back in touch with my roots. Though I was saved in a Southern Baptist church there was a regular Baptist church just down the street. It was the one that my first wife and I had gotten married at. I went alone. I am glad that I went alone.

        Unsurprisingly, I was the only long-haired hippie there. Also, I was dressed waaay too casually. The pastor gave a sermon from Romans 1. He talked about long-haired freaks in general before getting to the bible verses and then just scattered verses like confetti throughout his attack. The congregation ate it up. Ate. It. Up. I didn’t get really uncomfortable until I realized that he really was directing his comments at me and really was pointing and gesturing at me. Just briefly I thought that I was being a tad paranoid until I realized that the congregation was staring at me as well and I was at the back of the church. I thought about leaving but thought instead noooooo, I’ll just stick it out. I didn’t think they would really go so far as to kill me on a sunny Sunday morning. After the service I did walk out. Kind of glad that I sat at the back. That would have been a much longer walk if I had been at the front. No one thanked me for coming. No one talked with me at all. I do remember thinking that the time would come that the church would need long-haired hippie people in their congregation. That church is barely hanging on now.

        I left church for 40 years. And I am of the faith.

        Just what a faith in decline needed! More negative publicity! What will come of this?

        Well, for one thing there’s going to be a lot of collateral damage. These kinds of actions don’t affect just the UMC. The number of people actively engaged in Christianity will continue to decline across the various sects. Clergy will have their lives destroyed. Families will feel betrayed. Thousands of churches across the nation will be fractured, some hopelessly. The UMC is going to have more empty buildings to put on the market. Smaller congregations will go away. Individual UMC members are already leaving their church. Emphasis on ‘their.’

        People need to understand that whether its churches or the government the hardline conservative elements are perfectly willing to see it all burned to the ground as long as they stay TRUE TO their interpretation of what THE WORD means. They have the headlines. They have the bully pulpit. Their way or the highway. The conservative elements of the UMC will only increase in power as progressives leave. The UMC will continue to encourage hating Queers in Africa. It’s gaining them power and strength not only there but here as well. Religion used as a force multiplier for intolerance.

        The multitude of good works being done by churches every day will continue to go unnoticed and be unknown to the general population. Church people will continue to minister to the poor, sick, needy, immigrants, and those needing love in general.

        But what do the people not of the Christian faith that are sitting out there taking all this in think? What do Queers, their family, friends or just general non-believing public think? Are they thinking “oh yeah, I want to get me some of that! I really want to see what people that call me an abomination have to offer me!” Obviously bigots that don’t like Queers in the first place will be drawn to the message. There isn’t any way to measure what the population thinks other than what they do with their feet. They will continue walking away from organized religion.

        What do the rest of us do?

        Move to the front of the bus.

*I really like that word. I don’t use it much. A few years back I kind of gave up cussing because I liked it so much. Let’s just say I finally reached the conclusion that it was off putting. This is probably why I like Pastrix Nadia Bolz Weber so much.

        I have written a number of other articles about homosexuality and the church including “TheTwo Great Commandments” at my Blog. I posted one titled “TheChurch of Just Us” at “Happy to be a Presbyterian” on facebook. That essay was based upon "The Truth of our hearts" where I wrote about what the UMC was doing to Pastor Frank Schaefer. I’ve written several others on different topics like “Losing Jesus”, “Did Jesus brush his teeth”and "Finding Jesus in Charlottesville" to mention a few. These links are provided so anyone that wants to know a little more about me can.