As I have gotten older, autism’s grip has loosened a bit in some respects. In other ways, as I have come to care less about what others think about me and grown comfortable in my own skin, it may have worsened. Feardoesn’t keep me in line like it used to. Twenty years ago, the worst thing in the world would be having peoplethink me stupid. Now, if I would not take advice from them, I don’t care what they think. I would have to respectthem for that.
At the same time, my theological perspectives have slowly but surely shifted leftward. In college, I could havesigned an American Baptist theological statement. Now, I support women pastors and in every other position ofauthority, gay marriage, ordination of LGBTQ+ pastors, and although I believe God inspired the Scriptures, I donot hold them inerrant in their original form. God chose to use us, and we mess up.
I do not take the story of the Garden of Eden literally. Maybe, evolution holds water, maybe not. Regardless,we know that the earth predated the Genesis account by millions of years and life has progressed from lesscomplex forms to the more advanced. Life has achieved more and more attributes of the Imago Dei untilhumanity. But when did homo sapiens cross the line to bear that full image? When did we first have spiritual orreligious beliefs? Where did we start looking after each other’s well-being without regard to our utility? I thinkthat’s why God gave us that story about the man, the woman, the snake, and the fruit. Our little brains can’tcomprehend all of that. Where accepted, that story probably improved womens’ lot in life for thousands ofyears. Not so much in the last couple hundred years. Now, “a helper suitable,” does not receive interpretationin the sense of Psalm 121:1-2, but in the context of justifying females as inherently inferior and subservient tomen—although the Hebrew word, ezer, is the same in both places.
I hold onto the exclusiveness of Christ. He made claims about Himself that leave us no wiggle room (John14:6 among other references). We accept Him as Lord–or reject Him as either insane or a diabolical liar. SeeC.S. Lewis’ “Lord, Liar, or Lunatic” presentation in Mere Christianity. When a culture becomes “Christian”,however, it loses all power and authenticity. The Holy Spirit inhabits individuals, not institutions or societies.
I do not believe the pope has any legitimate authority. God could user the pope for good in the world. Or not.The Catholic Church has done unspeakable evil through the ages. Behemoth, world-wide Protestant denominations governed centrally also cause problems for the samereasons. Inevitably, when diferent parts of the world try to work together under the same banner, one group willcall the other liberal/conservative. If they continue to work together, the “compromise” will almost universallyfavor the more conservative, exclusive, and fearful group. And so progress stalls in the institution.
Similarly, the US calls itself, “Christian,” while efectively trying to return to The Law of the Old Testament (theTanakh). As an American, I can say, “we.” We seem to think that we and Israel are one and the same. Ratherthan granting religious freedom for all as God granted us free-will, however, the empowered GOP seeks to stripwomen of their rights and restore full, unmitigated straight, white, male privilege. They want to own women asproperty again—our bodies, especially our wombs, and our minds. They don’t want us to be able to questiontheir authority or have the right to vote, hold ofice, or even live independently from a man. Seeking to revokefreedoms people have obtained in Jesus is a sure sign of a false gospel—see the entire book of Galatians whenJewish Christians insisted upon circumcising Gentile believers. We resemble Laodicea described in Revelations 3:14-22, esp 17.
So, I believe that Jesus, “is The Way, The Truth, and The Life,” but a believer could wear a turban, or a sari, orhijab or any other cultural “uniform.” They could have the darkest Sudanese skin, the palest Irish complexion,or absolutely anything in between—or have albinism or vitiligo for that matter. They can eat whatever kind ofamazing food they love and listen to whatever kind of music they want unless their conscience tells them otherwise. They could have any gender identity or sexual orientation, so long as they do not abuse the rights ofothers and they treat their body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. As humans, we need fellowship with others, andwe need fellowship with a faith community as well. But the Holy Spirit determines what works for a givenperson in the context of their culture. Not an institution. Not the world-wide United Methodist Church, the Baptist Church, etc. Certainly not the American versions thereof.
At this time, I greatly appreciate my Canadian citizenship. My marriage may not have lasted, but now, I live in Ontario. While Netenyahu and Trump create the next generation of antisemites, at least I can watch from theother side of the border—hopefully with both of my daughters. I got my health card about four-days afterarriving here. Guaranteed health coverage. Abortion access that my 52-year-old uterus will never need to use,but I’m glad is accessible to others. Actual equal protections for women under the law. Actual freedom of religion.
The US could have had all this, but we didn’t nip racism in the bud after the Civil War and allowed unbridledcapitalism to squelch freedom for the majority with Citizens United. Trump just brought in white Afrikaners as refugees from South Africa. He wants the US to become anapartheid state. I never want to hear someone call the US a Christian nation again.
I’ve run into some anti-woke people here in Ontario—white people who won’t stand to hear about whiteprivilege, etc. But they don’t share the institutionalized, anti-Black racis in the US. Both the US and Canada have anti-Native racism, but Canada wasn’t founded on slave labor. Peoplehere aren’t inherently better or more moral, but they have a better government that consistently meets theirbasic needs. Humans treat each other with more kindness when they’re not sick, hungry, broke, tired, andafraid. Canada also hasn’t spent the last hundred years meddling with the governments of other sovereignstates in order to protect what they perceived as their interests abroad. They haven’t felt compelled to dominate the rest of the world either. Meanwhile, while the US cuts of foreign aid and deports refugees whohave made it to US soil, lots of the churches here sponsor refugees to immigrate to Canada outside of UNHCRmandates, which local governments often subvert. Canada doesn’t call itself a Christian nation, and itshouldn’t, but at least they don’t sufer from the same cult of Christian Nationalism we do in the US.
