Bearing Witness: A Few Stories

[brooksmoses]

A month or so ago, several of my friends set up a community called "Bearing Witness", "for liberal Christians to bear witness to the message of 'God is love'", and bear witness about our Christianity. Too much of discourse about Christianity in American culture (and politics) assumes that it is the Christianity of those who speak most loudly about one-true-wayisms, and so it was important to us to make our voices heard too. In particular, they chose today -- Pentecost Sunday, the Sunday in the Church's liturgical calendar celebrating the story of the Holy Spirit descending upon Christ's disciples and empowering them to speak for Him throughout the world -- as a day to post our stories of what Christianity is for us.

I'd like to point at this post by julesjones, and this post by zeborah.

Likewise, I've posted a small bit of my own. Links here for the LiveJournal version and here for the Dreamwidth version.

I find it difficult and a bit scary to speak up for my beliefs when it's not something I see as shared with a lot of my friends, particularly when, as now, it's also about trying to reclaim a word that many see only as associated with hatred and bigotry. But sometimes it's more important than it is difficult.

Comments

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Thank you for being brave and posting this. I'm not a Christian, but this is exactly the kind of thing I've been hoping that Christians would do - speak out against the radical hate-mongering fringe, let everybody know that you can be a true Christian and not believe the agenda of xenophobia. I'll be reading the posts, and posting about this in my LJ too, because I think it's very important to get this message spread as widely as possible.

[julesjones]

We do speak out, but it's not a message that's welcomed by much of the mainstream US media. Things like Slacktivist's dissection of the Left Behind mythology don't sell. :-(

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that sounds interesting. Is it online, or a physical book? If online, do you have a link? if book, I can has title?

[brooksmoses]

Online, as part of the Slacktivist blog: http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/left_behind/ is just the Left Behind entries -- though, as is usual for blogs, they show up in reverse order there.

[tiger-spot.livejournal.com]

It's an ongoing series of posts at Fred Clark's blog Slacktivist (http://slacktivist.typepad.com/slacktivist/left_behind/). The rest of the blog is neat, too.

[julesjones]

Online at link given by Brooks. The series has been going for a while now, so you'd really need to find the start and read a few posts to pick up context. I don't read it regularly, mostly because I find it too depressing to contemplate how many people buy the Left Behind books, and buy into the theology in them.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Ahah - yes, now I remember I've read part of them before. Nifty, thank y'all for the links!

[proto-zombie.livejournal.com]

Extremism gets viewers, which means ratings, which sells advertising, which makes the moolah for the news agencies and pays the reporters salaries. It's true of any group, Christians, war protesters, gamers, etc. if it helps.

[brooksmoses]

Thank you. Things like this help a lot, and help me feel it's worth it.

[snippy]

Good on you for being brave.

[brooksmoses]

Thanks!

[pameladean]

I like your stories.

P.

[brooksmoses]

Thank you!

[elissaann.livejournal.com]

Thank you for writing about what you care about.

A view from the other end of the country: My main Christian influences in NYC are the liberal Episcopalians at the churches where I sing. They do service in the community, and they preach love and acceptance for all, regardless of race, gender, sexual preference. They inspired me to start volunteering at a faith-based homeless shelter run jointly by a church and a synagogue.

[brooksmoses]

That's really good to hear! One of the things about the perception that Christianity (and particularly American Christianity) is all neoconservative is that it's not just non-Christians perceiving things that way; on a down day it's easy for me to start feeling that maybe my own beliefs are the ones on a rare fringe. I really am encouraged to hear that, somewhere else entirely in a quite different church, there are people who share these religious values too.

[kathrynt.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Bishop Spong, who wrote a book called "Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism" (which argues, amongst other things, that Paul was probably gay) is an Episcopalian bishop. The ELCA has voted to ordain gays, and will probably start performing gay marriages. Hell, First Baptist right here in Seattle has been on the leading liberal end of things for ages.

Honest to God (heh) it's the bigots who are the minority.

[kalmn.livejournal.com]

i don't think it's me, as an atheist, that you need to convince that christianity isn't associated with hatred and bigotry.

i think it's these (http://www.godhatesfags.com) people (http://anglicanchurch.net/) who (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Baptist_Convention) you (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hutaree)need (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Identity)to (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segregation_in_Northern_Ireland)tell. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_antisemitism)

[julesjones]

Kalmn, one of the things we're doing is telling *each* *other* -- that we're not alone, that there are others who feel like us. Because we know only too well that there are people out there who use our supposedly mutual religion to justify their hatred of anyone who isn't just like them.

Bluntly, if the Dominionists ever get their way, liberal Christians will be the first up against the wall. We're heretics in their minds.

[firecat]

I've been finding these posts very interesting; thank you.

[brooksmoses]

You're welcome!

[nolly.livejournal.com]

Thank you; I wasn't aware of that community.

[autumnesquirrel.livejournal.com]

A friend just linked to this letter (http://www.godmademegay.com/Letter.htm) on twitter. I thought you might enjoy reading it.