As a regular participant in Democratic Underground, I frequently see many posts from participants who have a much different perspective on politics and religion than I do. Politically, this is the kind of diversity that is the strength of the Democratic party. From a religious perspective, I don't expect complete agreement, and, because I am a practicing Christian, I respect the religious perspective of others, all others, regardless of what it is.
To be fair, in a free society, I have a full right to my beliefs, and to my expression of them which includes explaining why I believe what I do, and to interact, when the discussion goes in that direction, based on what I believe. Within the whole scope of what is identified as "Christianity," the differences in what people believe are considerable. I have moved, in my life experience and education, from the narrow position of believing that what was allowable, to please God and to be a legitimate Christian, was a single track set of doctrinal and theological beliefs and behaviors, to realizing that, as the Apostle Paul describes it, "Now we see through a glass, darkly."
I have no corner on the doctrinal or theological "market." There are many others who, through their study of the Christian scriptures in their historical, cultural and theological context, know much more than I do, and have drawn conclusions and established traditions that are as legitimate as any expression of Christian faith in which I have engaged. Jesus himself left the door to what constitutes a "conversion" experience, if one chooses to call it that, or a life experience, which is a better description of what it is, fairly wide open, emphasizing virtues and values that bring human beings together in community, rather than emphasizing eternal existence as some kind of "reward" for right theology and doctrine, and right living.
In fact, in any form of orthodox Christianity, eternity isn't a reward for behavior or for getting doctrine and theology right, it is a grace gift of God, eliminating a sacrificial system of worship in place in most human cultures, and replacing it with a system that emphasized a set of higher values and moral character development. What Jesus pointed to was a way of life requiring the use of our intellectual and emotional capacity to understand characteristics and values that make life better, not just for ourselves, but for the entire whole of humanity. The Christian gospel and the New Testament are full of references to those characteristics. By preponderance of the written evidence, Christianity is living according to a set of values, immersed in freedom that results from humans being created in the image of God.
Of course, I was predisposed to believing in God by my parents and by the culture around me. I grew up in a small church, where I was able to discern that what people claimed to believe wasn't how they actually lived their life. I saw church leaders who used their position in the church to bring advantage to themselves. I saw people who would nod their agreement with the belief that the Bible was " the inerrant and infallible word of God" but who could not answer simple questions about its contents, and whose lives didn't really reflect what they claimed to believe. I grew up in a "faith" that was all about getting the doctrine right and obediently following the rules in exchange for pie in the sky by and by.
I've questioned my beliefs, adjusted them, filtered them through the education that I was fortunate enough to receive, including through graduate school in a state university where my faith was challenged by professors and students. They have been refined, supported and undergirded by some outstanding, faithful people whose lives reflected the full effect of the values and virtues that are at the very core of Christian faithfulness. I believe that being a Christian, by following the full gospel text and the apostolic narratives in the New Testament, is living in this world according to those values and virtues, all of which are prioritized in a theology that leads one to worship and acknowledge God as love and the acceptance of his grace that leads to the service of others through those values. I have concluded that the faith in which I grew up, and which has intersected with right wing politics to produce a heretical apostasy of the Christian gospel, was not for me and was not really Christian.
The Quaker influence over my faith emphasizes living immersed in the values of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality and stewardship, which touch the surrounding world to make it a better place and help others make it through this life. The Baptist influence, (historical Baptist, not "conservative, fundamentalist, evangelical Baptist) emphasizes Christian liberty, including freedom of the individual soul to worship God and choose the grace he has offered through Christ, freedom to engage in spiritual relationship with God by individual freedom to read, interpret and apply the principles of written scripture by faith alone, belonging to a local assembly of other Christians, "called out" as Christians into the ecclesia, or body of believers in Christ, and the complete independence, autonomy and freedom of that body, without any ecclesiastical authority or political power over it.
It's my faith. And I'm not interested in making you change your mind about it, or coercing you into believing exactly as I do. You and I, and everyone around us, are all human beings, and in my faith perspective, that means we are all created in the image of God, which is the core of our freedom and the essence of our humanity. I hope that I motivate others by my example, that I am an inspiration, not browbeating by using threats of eternal damnation, but showing and living by values that I believe make our lives better.
Jesus made two major points under which the rest of the Christian gospel falls. One, to love God with all of your being, and two, to love your neighbor as yourself. That's where living out those values comes in. That's real faith, giving relevance and meaning and a purpose to this life. There are long lists of the characteristics and qualities of living according to the gospel, along with passages about forgiveness of sins, not judging others, belonging to a faith community that mutually supports, cares for and encourages each other, written during a time when a totalitarian Emperor ruled much of the known world and a selfish, cruel and inhuman form of paganism was in control. I'm not going to argue the finer points of evidence for or against God's existence, the historical accuracy of the Bible, or the accuracy of science. I'm just going to live according to those values.
It is because I believe faith means living according to virtues that give our life meaning and purpose that I am a Democrat, who believes in democracy and all of the individual freedom that comes with it. I will stand up for it and fight for it.
I will also stand up for, and fight for a pure Christian faith in the face of an intrusion of apostasy and heresy that is distorting its doctrine, corrupting its theology and undermining the effectiveness of its mission and purpose. I'm talking about the intersection, and I use that word with deliberate smugness, of Christianity with right wing Republican politics and MAGA Trumpism, that has subverted loyalty to God and replaced it with loyalty to power and influence. It is not possible to be loyal to political leaders whose lifestyle is diametrically opposite the values and principles, mission and purpose of the Christian gospel. That is the main false, paganism of our time and place.
It is not necessary for anyone to intellectually challenge what I believe, or try to prove it wrong, or belittle it, or criticize me for believing it. If you're not a believer, that's OK. I'm not asking you to become one in order for us to agree politically, socially, or otherwise. But it's not necessary for you to justify your perspective by bashing mine.
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