Another article that resonates mightily:
No Longer a Christian
by Karen Horst Cobb
I was told in Sunday school the word “Christian” means
to be Christ-like, but the message I hear daily on the
airwaves from the “christian ” media are words of war,
violence, and aggression. Throughout this article I
will spell Christian with a small c rather than a
capital, since the term (as I usually hear it thrown
about) does not refer to the teachings of the one I
know as the Christ. I hear church goers call in to
radio programs and explain that it was a mistake not
to kill every living thing in Fallujah. They quote
chapter and verse from the old testament about smiting
the enemies of Israel. The fear of fighting the
terrorists on our soil rather than across the globe
causes the voices to be raised as they justify the
latest prison scandal or other accounts of the horrors
of war . The words they speak are words of
destruction, aggression, dominance, revenge, fear and
arrogance. The host and the callers echo the belief in
the righteousness of our nation’s killing. There are
reminders to pray for our “Christian” president who is
doing the work of the Lord: Right to Life, Second
Amendment, sanctity of marriage, welfare reform, war,
kill, evil liberals. . . so much to fight, so much to
destroy.
Let me tell you about the Christ I know. He was
conceived by an unmarried woman. He was not born into
a family of privilege. He was a radical. He said, “It
was said an eye for and eye and a tooth of a tooth,
but now I say love your enemies and bless those who
curse you.” He said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those
who mourn for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the
meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are
the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children
of God.” (Matthew 5: 3-9) He said, “All those who are
called by my name will enter the kingdom of heaven.”
He said, “People will know true believers if they have
the fruit of the spirit–love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, gentleness, self control.”
He knew he would be led like a sheep to the slaughter.
He responded with “Father forgive them.” He explained
that in Christ there is neither Jew nor gentile, slave
or free male nor female. He explained that even to be
angry is akin to murder. He said the temple of God is
not a building, but is in the hearts of those are
called by his name. He was called “the Prince of
Peace.” His final days were spent in prayer, so that
he could endure what was set before him, not on how he
could overpower the evil government of that day. When
they came for him he was led away and didn’t resist
his death sentence.
This is a stark contrast to the call of the religious
Christian right, who vote for war and weapons, and
suggest towns and villages be leveled to bring freedom
and peace to the people. They proudly boast this
country’s superiority, suggesting God has blessed our
nation. Today, as I listened to a popular Christian
news network, I was reminded that in the last days,
even God’s elect will be deceived, (II Timothy 3:13).
When the religious media moguls preaching prosperity
spout their rhetoric, I am reminded of the difficulty
Jesus described of a rich man’s ability to enter the
kingdom of God. (Matthew 19: 24)
(http://www.4religious-right.info/rr_economics.htm)
Some who believe they are fighting evil will cry to
the Lord, and he will say “I never knew you.” (Matthew
22). They will have a form or godliness but will deny
the power (II Timothy 3:5) to move mountains through
prayer. (Matthew 17:20). Jesus explained that he has
not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of power,
love, and a sound mind. (II Timothy 1:17) I wonder if
the innocent moms and dads, brothers and sisters, and
aunts and uncles, and grandmas and grandpas who were
the victims of US military weapons (the never reported
collateral damages we are protected from in the
“liberal” nightly news) felt the love of Jesus with
the shock and awe. I wonder if the surviving family
members now understand His radical love and that they
no longer have any need for weapons or defense.
The solutions to the social issues used to manipulate
good, decent people have no resemblance to how Jesus
responded to the social concerns of his time. He never
once mentioned the “right to life” the year he was
born King Herod ordered the execution of all babies.
(Matthew 2:16). He knew that passing laws does not
change the heart. As a follower of his teaching I
believe in the right to life, including the children
in Iraq who stumble onto land mines, cross the street
at the wrong time, or who are snugly tucked within the
warm bellies of their wounded or grieving mothers as
US fighter jets fly overhead. These are living,
breathing children. The killing of these little ones
are never even reported, and our tax dollars pay for
these bombs. I believe in the right to life for those
in the United States who are unwanted and
impoverished. I believe in the right to life of the
naive kid who was promised by the recruiter they could
choose a desk job and still get their education paid
or could see the world or could accelerate their life
or could play a very realistic video game from a
cockpit.
I’ve worked at a shelter, and I know first hand the
reality of unwanted children. I know the reality of
this right wing rhetoric when week after week I begged
and pleaded with people to give up only one night
every three months to sit with these unwanted living
children for a few hours while the overworked house
parents had a night off. Of the few I found, many
changed their minds when they discovered that they
would need to wear rubber gloves to change the babies
diapers. These “believers” stand on the street corners
holding right to life signs and then vote against
medical assistance for the mothers and their unwanted
children creating an impossible existence for them.
The few of these abortion activists who might adopt
some of these unwanted children generally want the
white and the healthy. The ones with hydrocephalous,
tracheotomies, emotional/ mental problems and
communicable diseases along with their life long
medical expenses can be someone else’s problems.
I cringe as many christians vote for policies that
deny help to the poor in our own county, who vote to
support the war and military strength, assuring the
latest weapons are developed and that the heavens will
be dominated by the military of the United States. We
develop electromagnetic weapons to shatter skulls ,
split the earth (http://www.raven1.net/emr13.htm) and
silently destroy a body as a thief in the night.
Studies are even now searching for the frequencies to
override the freewill. These unbelievable technologies
are a reality and DNA specific weapons can or soon
will target a specific nationality
(http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/981116/1998111619.html
).I weep as the waters Jesus walked on become
contaminated with uranium.
(http://www.greendove.net/resources3.htm) I grieve as
the missiles fly through the atmosphere on the
continent where Jesus rose into the sky, defying death
and the grave and where the Holy Sprit first
descended. I cry out at the horrors of war and the
indignity of the prisons so close to where He took
captivity captive. So I am no longer a Christian if
Christianity has become what is presented to us by our
Christian president and Christian media. I cannot
support the right of the United States and Israel to
develop and use the most heinous weapons ever
imagined. I want no part of a temple built on the
blood of the innocent. The sheep have been lead astray
by the teachings of prosperity and misinterpretation
of the final battle between good and evil. Many no
longer can recognize the voice of the good Shepherd.
Some “good Christians” even work at weapons
facilities. It is not a stretch to say that a woman
who tightens a last rivet on a shiny new missile just
off the assembly line might be the same woman who
licks the gold star on the attendance chart in morning
Sunday school. The missile could be launched by the
kid in the youth group who reads the invocation and it
will find it’s destiny at a “target of interest” which
might or might not have been a result of good
intelligence. The collection plate circulates children
are taught to love their enemies and bless those who
curse them.
The statements and lifestyle of Jesus are difficult
for me to understand. What would he say to evil
dictators? This God would not justify 15,000 or more
deaths. Even the wrathful jealous God of the old
testament spared whole cities for a few righteous
souls. For Christians, to support mass killings as a
way to prevent future deaths is not at all like
Christ. He would not say,”When I am talking about war
I am really talking about peace,” like the self
professed Christian President proudly states. Who but
God has the right to determine what price a people
should pay for their freedom? The religious leaders on
the airwaves today respond to the voices of the few
brave peacemakers who dare to speak out. They say that
pacifism is insane, and that it doesn’t make sense,
but what is forgotten is that logic and faith are
separate entities. I believe in the example of Jesus
and his admonition to love your enemies and bless
those who curse you . Do I understand how this works
on the global scale? Do I know what Jesus would say to
all the world’s leaders? No, nor do I totally
understand how the example of Christ’s life and his
message of love works in the world today. That’s why I
need faith. Am I always correct in my assessments and
actions? No, that’s why I need grace. Am I brave and
unafraid? No, that’s why I need the perfect love that
casts out fear. Some put trust in Chariots and some in
horses but I will remember the name of the lord our
God–the Prince of Peace. Perhaps politics has no
place for imitators of Christ.
Who will show the face of Christ to the world? Who
will speak His radical message? I hear from these so
called imitators of Christ that the pacifists are a
collection of kids, hippies, socialists and communists
who haven’t got a clue. Some of us, however, have come
to our beliefs as a result of careful and prayerful
study of the scriptures and admonishment from our
elders. Many are Mennonite, Amish, Quaker and other
Anabaptists, whose ancestors did not resist their
torturers and were drowned, burnt at the stake and
flogged for their pacifist stand. They truly followed
the example of Christ, and their resistance against
the catastrophic effects of the merging of church and
state cost them a great price. Churches today have
signed onto the government plan and have agreed to
look the other way in exchange for tax free
privileges. The true message of Christ still exists to
some degree in the quiet of the land to peacemakers,
but sadly these good people have been deceived by the
angry words from a righteous sounding religious media
majority broadcasting in cars and trucks and tractors
all over our land ironically preaching the “good news
of war for peace” and convincing 24-7 “liberal”
bashing. I suspect there are many who share my sorrow
at the loss of what it means to be Christ-like, but
our voice is seldom heard. The blaring rhetoric drowns
out the still small voice of the mighty God. Peace
used be the opposite of war, Conservative used to mean
the tendency to conserve resources. Liberal used to
mean kind and generous, and Christian used to mean
like Christ.
So I am no longer a Christian but just a person who
continues trying to follow the example of Christ. I’ll
let him call me what he wants when I see him face to
face. Until then, I will pray that someday people like
me will be able to reclaim the meaning of Christ’s
identity, and the world will see the effects of the
radical message of Christ’s love–the perfect love
that casts out fear.
Karen Cobb is a freelance writer and artist in Santa
Fe, NM and can be contacted at cairnhcobb@msn.com.