I relate to so much of this...including this part: "I go to church many times and bristle at some of the familiar evangelical songs that my liberal Methodist [liberal Presbyterian, for me] co-congregants have appropriated for the contemporary worship service...But I think most other folks, who have far less spiritual baggage, enjoy these songs, and who am I to deny them their joy with my bitter heart." I feel so seen, lol.
I don't know that dominant white American evangelicalism is redeemable, but I think some form of Christianity is...which I want to think is what the majority of well-intentioned evangelicals tried to sign up for in the first place (maybe?)...
I think that en masse people will always look for spiritual tribes, including agnostics and atheists. That's how you get the techbros, our current plague. So maybe we're better off without religion but color me skeptical. It's a human problem, I think.
I grew up experiencing the spiky, judgmental, hateful side of Southern Baptism and ended up pretty cynical about Christianity as a result.
But even though on a good day I regard religion as quaint superstition and on other days as a potential active threat, some of my best friends make it part of expressing their best selves. Expressions of faith tend to the primal, so they expose people at their best and worst.
Sometimes i think religion brings out a person’s inherent nature, whether good or bad. I think many good Christians would probably be good atheists too. I definitely think religion makes a narcissist even worse.
Holly. I was riveted to your writing this morning. Deora was so observant and vibrant. I grieve at her loss and all the lives lost and damaged in the name of religion. I am glad that you hold on to a hope that is based on Jesus, the one who loved and taught and showed us a way not based in fear. And I just realized how annoyed I am at the dainty cross hanging around the neck of one who shares so many lies.
Hi Holly, I really enjoyed this post! I too thought the same thing about the song, "Imagine", when it came out. And several years ago, I listened to the song with different ears and heard a deep and beautiful message. It brings tears to my eyes when I hear it now!
Unlike you, I no longer attend church, but often wonder if I should. I loved reading about why you go and the conflict it brings up in you. I have a lot of the same struggles that you mention and have trouble coming to terms with it all. I grew up in a very Fundamental Baptist church / Christian school and agree with you ...
"I far prefer the non-religious people I encounter, who seem more open, more curious, more accepting, more tolerant, more harmless, more fun, less angry, less burdened, less awful. As I myself have gotten less “religious” in the way I was raised, I have become a happier, healthier, more joyful, more peaceful, more creative person with richer relationships and a more meaningful life. Without even knowing what will happen to me when I die! Imagine!"
The Jesus that I see is so far different from the Jesus that I grew up with. Thanks for your posts! I really enjoy the intersection of faith and politics. My father was/is very political and I really wrestle with the far right ideas that I was raised with and hear you when you say "that we’d all be better off in a pluralist democracy without any religion at all, as people choose to abandon it."
"And because white evangelicals’ faith, and their very identity, has been built on certainty and 'winning,' they are now faced with an existential crisis. They are dizzy with fear. And as they stumble around trying to keep their balance, they are crashing into walls that have turned out to be the pillars of our democracy."
Thank you Holly, for another amazing piece of writing. I also find the cross necklace of our nation's PR person very annoying.
I have been to the Shanksville Memorial twice. The first time, it was just the benches with the names of the passengers and crew. There was a stone wall where people had put coins and knick knacks in remembrance. I put something there also. I also went into a small hut that had a transcript of the crew communication with a control tower, up until the very end. It was quite chilling to read. The area of impact was marked with an American flag. The second time I went, the new Memorial had been completed.
I was in college when Imagine was released. Amazing to think that the FBI was worried about John Lennon who loved the USA and created some wonderful songs.
Re a Jewish person saying much about Christianity - well it amuses me.
As a lapsed Catholic who still sings in a church choir, I still love some of the trappings - so a quiet church with sunlight coming in from the stained glass windows. I assume a Jew does not have the visceral sense of Christianity the a person born in a faith does. And similarly a Protestant and a Catholic will have different senses of their respective Churches. Black Christians with lively worship surely must find Catholic quiet odd. In fact for many Catholics -we get as much sitting in a quiet and empty church and reading a devotional passage.
I feel similarly about folks like JD Vance who are late comers to Catholicism - also Ross Douthat.
My point is that we experience different churches - and likely cannot really understand what we did not grow up with. And even when we leave a church, Jews remain Jews, Catholics remain Catholic and so on.
I listened to the writer on several podcasts. I suggest the he romanticizes what the church did. He also discounts social changes that took us away from the old ways - the pill, the new role for women, civil rights etc.
But I still love a quiet catholic church - and fully understand the attachment to the religion of childhood.
On the topic of repentance, you might like this book from my favorite internet rabbi. It's from a Jewish perspective, but I think you'd connect with a lot of it.
Thank you for this. Only just read it now, though I was at the summit, too, and have been processing how all of this stems back to Christian nationalism and just haven’t had the words. Really appreciate the work you’re doing in the world. 💜
This could be my own spiritual biography. Thank you for voicing what so many of us feel.
I relate to so much of this...including this part: "I go to church many times and bristle at some of the familiar evangelical songs that my liberal Methodist [liberal Presbyterian, for me] co-congregants have appropriated for the contemporary worship service...But I think most other folks, who have far less spiritual baggage, enjoy these songs, and who am I to deny them their joy with my bitter heart." I feel so seen, lol.
I don't know that dominant white American evangelicalism is redeemable, but I think some form of Christianity is...which I want to think is what the majority of well-intentioned evangelicals tried to sign up for in the first place (maybe?)...
Your not the only one
I think that en masse people will always look for spiritual tribes, including agnostics and atheists. That's how you get the techbros, our current plague. So maybe we're better off without religion but color me skeptical. It's a human problem, I think.
I grew up experiencing the spiky, judgmental, hateful side of Southern Baptism and ended up pretty cynical about Christianity as a result.
But even though on a good day I regard religion as quaint superstition and on other days as a potential active threat, some of my best friends make it part of expressing their best selves. Expressions of faith tend to the primal, so they expose people at their best and worst.
Sometimes i think religion brings out a person’s inherent nature, whether good or bad. I think many good Christians would probably be good atheists too. I definitely think religion makes a narcissist even worse.
Holly. I was riveted to your writing this morning. Deora was so observant and vibrant. I grieve at her loss and all the lives lost and damaged in the name of religion. I am glad that you hold on to a hope that is based on Jesus, the one who loved and taught and showed us a way not based in fear. And I just realized how annoyed I am at the dainty cross hanging around the neck of one who shares so many lies.
Sorry jan 😆 just don’t watch. I try to avoid ms press secretary but sometimes i am still assaulted by her image
Hi Holly, I really enjoyed this post! I too thought the same thing about the song, "Imagine", when it came out. And several years ago, I listened to the song with different ears and heard a deep and beautiful message. It brings tears to my eyes when I hear it now!
Unlike you, I no longer attend church, but often wonder if I should. I loved reading about why you go and the conflict it brings up in you. I have a lot of the same struggles that you mention and have trouble coming to terms with it all. I grew up in a very Fundamental Baptist church / Christian school and agree with you ...
"I far prefer the non-religious people I encounter, who seem more open, more curious, more accepting, more tolerant, more harmless, more fun, less angry, less burdened, less awful. As I myself have gotten less “religious” in the way I was raised, I have become a happier, healthier, more joyful, more peaceful, more creative person with richer relationships and a more meaningful life. Without even knowing what will happen to me when I die! Imagine!"
The Jesus that I see is so far different from the Jesus that I grew up with. Thanks for your posts! I really enjoy the intersection of faith and politics. My father was/is very political and I really wrestle with the far right ideas that I was raised with and hear you when you say "that we’d all be better off in a pluralist democracy without any religion at all, as people choose to abandon it."
Thanks for your voice, as always!
Check out this song by Common Hymnal. I’m sure you will also resonate with a lot of their other countercultural music
https://commonhymnal.com/songs/the-kingdom-is-yours
Very lovely
"And because white evangelicals’ faith, and their very identity, has been built on certainty and 'winning,' they are now faced with an existential crisis. They are dizzy with fear. And as they stumble around trying to keep their balance, they are crashing into walls that have turned out to be the pillars of our democracy."
What a marvelous encapsulation. Thank you, Holly.
Thank you Holly, for another amazing piece of writing. I also find the cross necklace of our nation's PR person very annoying.
I have been to the Shanksville Memorial twice. The first time, it was just the benches with the names of the passengers and crew. There was a stone wall where people had put coins and knick knacks in remembrance. I put something there also. I also went into a small hut that had a transcript of the crew communication with a control tower, up until the very end. It was quite chilling to read. The area of impact was marked with an American flag. The second time I went, the new Memorial had been completed.
I have no words. You used them all! Thanks for sharing this.
Great read.
I was in college when Imagine was released. Amazing to think that the FBI was worried about John Lennon who loved the USA and created some wonderful songs.
Re a Jewish person saying much about Christianity - well it amuses me.
As a lapsed Catholic who still sings in a church choir, I still love some of the trappings - so a quiet church with sunlight coming in from the stained glass windows. I assume a Jew does not have the visceral sense of Christianity the a person born in a faith does. And similarly a Protestant and a Catholic will have different senses of their respective Churches. Black Christians with lively worship surely must find Catholic quiet odd. In fact for many Catholics -we get as much sitting in a quiet and empty church and reading a devotional passage.
I feel similarly about folks like JD Vance who are late comers to Catholicism - also Ross Douthat.
My point is that we experience different churches - and likely cannot really understand what we did not grow up with. And even when we leave a church, Jews remain Jews, Catholics remain Catholic and so on.
I listened to the writer on several podcasts. I suggest the he romanticizes what the church did. He also discounts social changes that took us away from the old ways - the pill, the new role for women, civil rights etc.
But I still love a quiet catholic church - and fully understand the attachment to the religion of childhood.
thank you, Holly, for your fearlessness. it inspires me.
This is beautiful and important. Thank you.
On the topic of repentance, you might like this book from my favorite internet rabbi. It's from a Jewish perspective, but I think you'd connect with a lot of it.
https://a.co/d/6ko1qJV
Oh i follow her on some platform! Honestly the more i see and learn about judaism the more i see that Jesus was a Jew.
Thank you for this. Only just read it now, though I was at the summit, too, and have been processing how all of this stems back to Christian nationalism and just haven’t had the words. Really appreciate the work you’re doing in the world. 💜
Right there with you Holly. Your words are heard.
Stunning. Preordered your book and I’m excited to read more from you.
aw thanks, I have yours on my (massive) stack…. too many good books!
That's so kind, thanks!