Why Tolerance Has Failed.

Whether it is the arguments over marriage equality, the rampant Islamaphobia or the anti-emigration sentiment in our country it is becoming very clear that at its very heart tolerance has failed. When we think about it for a moment it should not be a surprise, tolerance has been doomed from the beginning because tolerance simply does not go far enough.

Essential to the divisiveness of the topics mentioned above is the labeling of someone else as the other. Tolerance allows this to continue to happen; we tolerate the people who are different then us. They are the other but that is ok. Tolerance fails right there, we must instead of seeing people as the other, see them as essentially human and valuable. It is this much more radical approach that is called for by the Christian faith.

We are called to see the image of God all around us, particularly in people we come into contact with each day. What this means is recognizing that all have the divine spark, divine value. This goes far beyond simply being ok with differences; this means celebrating differences, seeing those differences as an essential part of what it means to be human. It means breaking out of the binary world we have all been taught to believe in.

This becomes all the more challenging when we consider those we disagree with on the deepest level. We are however called to treat them with the same respect and recognize the same divine spark within them. This is what Jesus was talking about when he called us to “Love our Enemies.” It is easy to hate when we can label people as other. It is much harder to hate when we see that divine resides in those who disagree with us as well.

The practical reality is that if we can move beyond tolerance and move to a place where we see people as worthwhile and valuable it will open the door to true conversation. We will not always agree and we may in the end continue to make each other mad, but by not labeling each other we can at least come to the table. In coming to that table maybe find more common ground than we expect on which to stand and make the world a better place.

I Got to Get This Off My Chest

As I started to think about what I was going to do for my first post I was thinking of ways to introduce myself and I realized that all labels I was going to use to describe myself had baggage attached to them, especially the ones that mean the most to me. So I decided that my intent in this blog is not so much to talk about my self but my thoughts about the topics and issues that are on my mind. So instead I'm going to talk about the baggage that I'm ready to unload.

I'm a person of faith, a Christian and my thoughts are coming from that perspective. That word, Christian, has a lot of baggage attached to it and much of it is well deserved baggage. I once heard a person describe it as being a Christian but. "I'm a Christian but I don't..." you fill in the blank. I want to claim the name Christian, I work in a church so I carry around much of that baggage. So today I want to get some things off my chest. I have wanted to do this for years and am happy to have the opportunity.

I want to start by saying I'm sorry...

I'm sorry for all the ways that Christianity has hurt and oppressed people over the history. I would really like to name each of those grievances and apologize for them individually but I could not name them all the wars, the violence, the misdeeds that have been done mistakenly in the name of God. You may say that I have had nothing to do with these but I say because I want to claim to name Christian, I must too accept the history that comes with it. So for these things I am sorry.

I am sorry for the actions that some Christians take that alienate people. These actions are unequivocally wrong and there is no excuse for them.

I am sorry for every person who has been hurt by the Church (universal use of the word) in any way. I wish I knew all your names and could personally apologize to you for this in person. You are a person and are therefore worthwhile. Don't let anyone tell you differently. It should be the Church of all places where you should be accepted. I specifically want to address the LGBT community and say that grievous things have been done to you by some Christians and for that I apologize.

For every person who has been judged in any way by Christians I apologize. We often spend too much time obsessing over the spec in others eyes when we have planks in our own. I wish I could hear each of your stories and learn about you as the person which is what each person deserves.

For each person who has not been told they are wrong because Christians to often assume we have all the answers I apologize. Truth is that as Christians we are on a journey just like everyone else and we are trying to figure things out. We should not be arrogant enough to believe we understand everything. So for the claim Christians have it all figured out I'm sorry.

To those who have suffered from the us vs. them attitude that Christianity has sometimes taken I'm sorry. The truth is there is no reason a christian can not be a christian and also take science seriously. There is no reason to leave our reason at the door, in fact it is important that we do not. We need to be thinking persons.

I'm sorry that we have not often had a sense of humor about our own foibles. As Christians we do take our faith seriously but we must be able to laugh at ourselves when we realize that there is much to laugh about.

Mostly I want to apologize for I have been hypocritical. I try to live my life the best I can to the principles I talk about. But the truth is I don't always succeed in this so I apologize when I myself have done harm to the name Christian.

It feels good to get that off my chest. I have always wanted to make these apologies but have never had a forum to do it. Now I know that by apologizing I don't right all these wrongs, but at least I can shed a little light on them.

I also don't want people to think that I am ashamed of my faith because I am not. My faith feeds me, and I can not measure the importance that it plays in my life.

The last thing I want to do in this first blog is to say that one of my hopes is that the things I write start a conversation so always feel free to comment.