Excuse Me, Christians...
I came across an article entitled, “The Perils Of Patronizing” by Michael Gerson, who wrote the following:
“Christianity was the religion held by slave masters -- often distorted into an ideology of oppression. But African Americans found a model of liberation in the Exodus. They discovered that Jesus more closely resembled the beaten and lynched slave than their pious oppressors. And African Americans -- by their courageous assertion of God's universal love and man's universal dignity -- redeemed a nation they had entered in chains.
But black liberation theology takes this argument a large step further -- or perhaps backward. The Rev. Wright's intellectual mentor, professor James Cone of Union Theological Seminary, retreats from the universality of Christianity. "Black theology," says Cone, "refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him." And again: "Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy." And again: "In the New Testament, Jesus is not for all, but for the oppressed, the poor and unwanted of society, and against oppressors."
The black community is in large part driven to Christianity, or had it handed down to them rather, from a very young age. It’s the crux of our community to a large degree as we gather together on Sunday mornings to commune, worship and socialize. It may be perhaps where we are most connected, especially if one doesn’t reside in a predominantly black neighborhood or community. As a child, for instance, the church was the only place I was exposed to my culture as a whole.
So, given Gerson’s words, I have to ask, what is your take on your religion? How do you feel about it and define it? What are your views?
Gerson, M. (2008). The Perils Of Patronizing. Retrieved April 24, 2010 from The Washington Post. Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...
“Christianity was the religion held by slave masters -- often distorted into an ideology of oppression. But African Americans found a model of liberation in the Exodus. They discovered that Jesus more closely resembled the beaten and lynched slave than their pious oppressors. And African Americans -- by their courageous assertion of God's universal love and man's universal dignity -- redeemed a nation they had entered in chains.
But black liberation theology takes this argument a large step further -- or perhaps backward. The Rev. Wright's intellectual mentor, professor James Cone of Union Theological Seminary, retreats from the universality of Christianity. "Black theology," says Cone, "refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him." And again: "Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy." And again: "In the New Testament, Jesus is not for all, but for the oppressed, the poor and unwanted of society, and against oppressors."
The black community is in large part driven to Christianity, or had it handed down to them rather, from a very young age. It’s the crux of our community to a large degree as we gather together on Sunday mornings to commune, worship and socialize. It may be perhaps where we are most connected, especially if one doesn’t reside in a predominantly black neighborhood or community. As a child, for instance, the church was the only place I was exposed to my culture as a whole.
So, given Gerson’s words, I have to ask, what is your take on your religion? How do you feel about it and define it? What are your views?
Gerson, M. (2008). The Perils Of Patronizing. Retrieved April 24, 2010 from The Washington Post. Website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...
“So, given Gerson’s words, I have to ask, what is your take on your religion? How do you feel about it and define it? What are your views?”
Maryanne: What a profound series of questions. People write books about the subject. I think it will be interesting to see what kind of response you get.
What is MY take on religion?
It can be a highly personal, intimate, sincere search for the presence of the Living God.
Or it can be membership in a group of like minded people in a community.
It can be liberating and loving. It can be rigid, intolerant and tyrannical. it can be deeply spiritual. Or it can be mechanical and superficial. It can be real and it can be phony.
I think it all depends on the individual seeker.
But, the bottom line is that every individual has the freedom to practice religion as he or she sees fit. Or to practice no religion at all.
How do I feel about it?
As the worlds most ancient scripture, the Rig Veda says, ‘GOD IS ONE. WE KNOW HIM BY MANY NAMES.”
Seeking the divine presence in my life, my words and actions is something I strive for. I strongly believe the essence of the divine is expressed in 1 John 4:16—“GOD IS LOVE. AND HE THAT DWELLETH IN LOVE DWELLETH IN GOD AND GOD IN HIM.”
How do I define religion?
It comes from the Latin word “religio” which means to care for, to respect.
The Latin root of the word “religion” is the Latin word “ligare”, to bind, to yoke, to join, to connect. We get our word “ligament” from “ligare”. It means any bonding structure, any connecting element.
So, I define religion as a system of thought and a way of life that connects, binds, unifies a person with the divine.
However, there isn’t only one definition. Everyone has the opportunity and the right to define it as they see fit.
Just a word of thanks for presenting such a serious, momentous question. You forced me to think about the subject more deeply. It is possible to give a quick superficial answer to your question. But that doesn’t do justice to the search for God by all humankind throughout the ages on every continent.
What a question!!!
Thank you for offering it!