These. Are candid words. They will be offensive to some. I speak my truth. Sometimes truth hurts.

I was raised Southern Baptist. It wasn’t until working for the denomination, in my fifth communications position, that I saw true Christian love demonstrated and realized that I wasn’t raised to believe in a religion of love. I’d been raised in a religious culture of judgement. That’s at least two other stories/blog posts involving the family system in which I was raised and the transformation to my, then, faith, politics, and way of being that happened when I worked out of Atlanta. I covered North American Christian social ministries missionaries—their hands dirty, their hearts overflowing in service to destitute Appalachia, urban hell-hole projects, Native American reservations, homeless encampments, and more. I’ve mentioned some of these life experiences in posts elsewhere in this blog during the last dozen years.

In brief, to get us to now: At age 25, I became a universalist while interviewing the organization’s executives who jockeyed statistics about “the unchurched,” Catholics, church plants, and conversions. I’d hold onto Christianity “as my faith tradition” for two-plus more decades until I let go at age 46.

I am grateful for my upbringing in a myriad of ways. It was what I needed at the time to evolve to this now. It protected me in some ways. In others, I’ve spent decades understanding, unlearning, healing. No woe, no victim. My path. I am grateful that it gives me the perspective of the Christian conservative mindset-fundamentals. But, you know where this post is going….

Dear evangelical Christians, what, in Jesus’ name are you doing? You are irreparably damaging your faith in the eyes of our country, if not world. In fact, most the world outside of our national bubble has seen through the constructed confines of “one way.”

Today’s evangelical Christianity is sheer and utter Machiavellism….If abortion is why you cling to the *white-washed* Christian nationalism of the Republican party, then demonstrate a lifestyle of service and support of policies that protect life after birth! How could you support an administration that puts brown children into cages? (Remember that children’s song we sang:

“Jesus loves the little children, all the children in the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.”

…If bring-it-on-rapture is your jam, then where is the salve of Jesus in the horrific harm being done to divine creation of planet earth and her people? Where is the love in that?

Despite the all of the heartbreaking destruction, I chose to applaud your efforts in that you are helping bring the end of the patriarchal man-made construct of religion that we need to transcend. If you’ve not gotten the message, religion is dying. And, surely you do know that churches are dying….And, it is because a new earth is evolving through the burning of man-made constructs of religion, patriarchy, racism, the inequitable economic rape of capitalism, human dominance over mother earth….You better bet this pandemic is her slapdown of us. This is our chance to learn, evolve and transcend to the divine love of which we are made. Through blood-shedding strife, it is happening all the while these oppressive forces push back harder.

Tell me, where is the love in evangelical support of our current presidential administration? Where is your Jesus in hate speech from the highest office? Rhetoric that’s inciting violence? Policies that promote harm to innocents? SMH.

#WWJD

PS: I know he’d be crying.

image: ©LeisaHammett.com