THE INSTITUTIONAL CHURCH'S COMPLICITY IN EVIL AND SIN

The following is an edited article of a few years ago that I'd like to reprint here:

The Bible tells us that "pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18), and no better is this truth seen than in most of the institutional church's attitudes, rhetoric, and actions regarding the civil and sacramental rights, and the bearing of false witness, against Gay people.

The "pride" and "haughty spirit" that characterizes recent Administrations, with the all too willing complicity of the sycophants of the Democratic and Republican parties, have caused a conflagration in Iraq and Afghanistan that will never be resolved in the forseeable future. And that pride and haughty spirit characterizes the treatment of LGBT people both here and abroad as well!

Oppression is of one piece! As I've written so many times, when one group is oppressed, all other groups are at risk of being oppressed, and the oppression of women and LGBT people in Iraq and Afghanistan is inextricably interwoven with the oppression of LGBT people in the U.S. and elsewhere, as it is inextricably interwoven with sexism, racism, and homophobia both here and elsewhere. All of us, by our actions and/or by our silence, are complicit in this conflagration, in this horror, in this unspeakable evil, in this unspeakable sin!

This country voted for the cowardly politicians who roll over for it, and choose to give a blank check that furthers the humiliation and annihilation of people. We are the murderers, and our collective hands are bloodied by what is being done in Iraq and Afghanistan in our name, just as they are being bloodied by the horrors visited upon LGBT people both in the U.S., Uganda, Jamaica, and elsewhere when we remain silent in the face of such outrages!

While most of the institutional Church focuses on the theology of genital placement, and remains silent in the face of such outrages as seen in the above cited article, and as seen in the treatment of LGBT people, it is not only irrelevant to the issues of the day, but it is also complicit in those corporate and personal sins that cry out to God for vengeance, and for which it is largely responsible, due to its actions and/or silence in the face of such oppression, through its often destructive and hateful rhetoric, and through its enmeshment with the most reactionary forces in society.

So, sing your pious hymns, continue to raise money for building beautification, continue to concentrate and hammer on others' personal weaknesses, continue on in your incestuous socialization, continue to keep the juices flowing with sanctimonious and fiery rhetoric, continue to ignore and/or encourage the corporate evil done in our name and, frequently, in the name of God, and continue to preach the false gospel of exclusion through the often hateful rhetoric that garners even more money for the collection plate.

And, falsely continue to call yourselves "Christians!"

Share |