The American Church Needs an Enema
The Joker once proclaimed that "This town needs an enema". I'm proclaiming that the Church in America really does.
In the wake of yet another school shooting I’ve seen a number of well-meaning people, and a number of people who I don’t believe are well-meaning, talk about the solution to gun violence being more religion. They’ll point to lack of school prayer, low church attendance and the lack of what they refer to as “values” tied to the increase in violence.
Mostly, they assume that all of the problems of US society would be solved if we all just went back to church.
Except it’s not nearly that simple.
First, let’s state the obvious, states with higher rates of church attendance are the same states with the highest rates of gun violence.
So this is one problem with that thought. Of course, state-level statistics don’t necessarily represent the individual people involved. Maybe it’s just the young men who leave a church and feel left out who are likely to become shooters. Of course that just points the finger at the members of churches who are so hurtful to people outside of the church, doesn’t it?
The second issue I’m going to have is that it’s the American Church itself that is seeking to alienate and punish people who don’t think like they do. “Don’t Say Gay” bill supporters are rife with claims that LGBTQ people and their supporters are groomers. They are predators. Teachers who talk about race are a danger to children, and are just trying to radicalize them.
Those folks also tend to include a lot of gun owners.
It’s this part of the church that needs an enema. It’s churches who ascribe to Christian-Nationalism that need an enema. It’s the preachers and members of churches who proclaim that America is destined to be a white, Christian, nation who have so misrepresented Christianity that rather than inviting more people to God’s love and community, it has pushed them away and shunned them for being different.
If we are looking for a solution to violence I hardly think encouraging people to get more involved in an institution specifically designed to shun and hate others is a good way to do that. Sadly, much of the American Christian Church fits that description.
Encouraging more people to live like Jesus might make a difference, but that church doesn’t represent Jesus anymore. The Jesus of the gospels, who fed the poor, accepted the outcasts, turned over the tables of money-launderers, preached about the rewards of being meek, offered rest to the weary and challenged the self-righteousness of religious leaders would not hang out with Christian Nationalists. A brown man born in the middle east wouldn’t even be welcome.
Until true believers turn away from this blasphemy most of us would do well to stay away from suggesting that the solution is more religion. It’s doing more damage than good.