Tag Archives: anti-hate

Faith Abandoned

As someone who thinks too often and too much most of the time, I’ve come to yet another conclusion about the human condition. In this case, it’s the human condition when it comes to religion, particularly organized religion. As I have a few friends who are religious, I actually hope they read this, think on it a bit, and comment.

There is this lamentation among churches about how people are abandoning religion on a large scale, particularly here in the States, and becoming more worldly. According to an article by NPR just this year, “16% of Americans surveyed said religion is the most important thing in their lives, according to” a study done by the Public Religion Research Institute, “down from 20% a decade ago”(Morning Edition, 16 May 2023). Also interesting, at least to me, was this same study finding that part of this study showed that “more than one-third say they were formerly Catholic.”

Now, I’ve heard quite a few reasons why people leave from their busy lives to more faith-based reasons such as their being lured away by temptations of society (which sounds rather like a Puritan reason).

I believe people are leaving organized religion, particularly the Church (aka Catholicism) and other organized religions groups/churches because the churches have abandoned what they were meant to be, communities of people who gathered together in fellowship and a common belief in something greater than themselves. What they’ve become instead are select groups of people who share common political beliefs, racial identity, often similar socioeconomic status, and have bound those together under the guise of religious belief.

Now, I’m not saying that all churches are like this; however, there are many churches that are. Many churches have become extended arms of conservative political groups, and frankly, most people are tired of it. They don’t feel accepted for a variety of reasons whether it’s because they are part of the LGBTQIA+ community, a certain race, divorced, or some other reason. Many simply don’t want to be held to rules that were created centuries ago or by a select group of individuals (primarily old, conservative men) who are likely pushing their own agendas. (Yes, I’m pointing primarily to The Church as in the Catholic Church). Many people also don’t want to attend church because many churches have abandoned the whole idea of one element that once was important, Grace.

Grace is one concept that seems to have been abandoned by churches. By grace, I’m talking about the acceptance of our fellow humankind as they are, where they are as fellow human beings.

Rather than requiring an adherence to sets of rules, laws, or creeds, why not accept everyone for who they are and where they are in life?

Why not accept people in love for who we all are as individuals sharing this third rock from the Sun?

If there truly is a Higher Power either controlling things or at least monitoring things, how can it be that this Higher Power is supposedly found only in one, two, or three pieces of literature assembled by a group of men thousands of years ago and amended by decrees, edicts, councils of other groups primarily made up of men whenever they see the need to inject their ideas?

Even worse, how can people believe that only select individuals somehow have the right or power to discern what this Higher Power thinks and dictate everyone else to think the same way?

People are leaving churches because churches have left Grace and Love behind. Most churches have traded them for politics, laws, and rules. Most churches have traded them for human-created ideologies and theologies.

Maybe the truth is found in those views seen by organized religion as pagan. After all, we all come from matter created eons ago, whether by the Big Bang or by the work of a Higher Power. There is a sacredness in nature and the cycle of birth, growth, and death which connects everyone. It’s something we all share. Think of how one feels when one sees the waves crashing upon the shore, or the changing of colours on trees in Autumn, or the barren beauty of Winter,or the first green buds of Spring, or feel the warmth of a Summer’s Sun. The energy of nature and our connection with it as well as our inherent connection to our fellow humankind. That’s the meaning of life. That connection is what we truly were made to worship.

This Must End

I’ve seen one of these cards personally. It was 1995 in Ohio.


It was a Sunday morning and I’d just completed the second service at one of the churches I served as a pastor.


The day prior, I’d performed a wedding ceremony between two friends, one happened to be a Black man and his fiancee, a white woman.


As parishioners were leaving church that Sunday, a man came up to me after all had left and handed me the card explaining this was a warning for what I’d done the day before. He said I should know better than to perform a marriage between people of different races, especially Black and White.

I recall the shock of it, then the fear, and then the rage that I felt. I tore the card up in front of him and told him to leave. He warned me to watch my back and that lots of accidents can occur in a rural area, especially at night. He reminded me that I sometimes worked nights at either that particular church or the even more remote one just up the road.


Seeing this card again brings up those memories. The attempt at intimidation.


I’ve seen and stared into the face of hate. Unadulterated, contemptible, and all too American grown hate.


I’ve passed places in the South where they don’t even hide it. Places like Laurens, SC where a shop across from the courthouse brazenly displays the name “White Man’s Shop” and has a mannequin wearing the robe of the Klan.


Living in the South, I’ve had my children hear racist epithets hurled at them by the parents of classmates and those who had children in the same daycare they attended. I’ve heard them thrown at me as well. Things like “Chink lover” and asking why I didn’t adopt “one of my own kind.”
If anyone questions why I never wanted to return to the States after having lived in Canada, this is a major reason. I saw the writing on the wall during the 2016 election. I saw more and more individuals then as I see now around the country who have become more brazen and public with their hate.


I’ve watched the last 4 years of an administration led by an individual who espouses and encourages hatred, prejudice, division, and racism. I heard it when he claimed there were “good people on both sides” after the white supremacists marched on Charlottesville. I heard him when he told them to “Stand by and stand down,” rather than condemn them. Sure, he offered a half-hearted comment of being against them when asked by a reporter, but his actions speak louder than his words.

It causes me fear.
It causes me sadness.
It causes me anxiety.
It causes me anger.

Fear for my children and for people who are not white or who stand up against these horrible individuals and groups.
Sadness in that there are people who feel that way now.
Anxiety as I know there is somewhat of a target on my back and the backs of those who stand against the hate.
Anger in a way that motivates me to stand against them even more.

We cannot and must not allow this to continue. It matters not whether it is the Klan or any other white supremacist group or individual, they must be stopped. Silenced. Rendered flaccid in their rhetoric and actions.

We do this by standing up against them.
We do this by not being silent.
We do this by removing elected officials who espouse racist and divisive beliefs.
We do this by never giving up nor giving in.
We do this by protesting, peacefully when at all possible, but at the same time not becoming doormats for them to trample upon nor silence.

The Problem of Walls and Weapons

The tragedy in Paris, as well as Kenya and Lebanon, should send reminders of the fragility of human life in our modern age. Instead, it is fostering a growth in a continued movement for nations to erect walls and allow more weapons to be used to separate and kill people who are not like “us”. Think about that for a moment and consider the following.

More weapons will not stop atrocities like the events in Paris, Kenya, or Lebanon from occurring. A common message sent out from certain aspects of society, particularly in the United States, tries to state that had there been more guns in the hands of the innocent people in Paris, then the atrocity would not have occurred. They state this somehow believing it as solid fact. However, one cannot know if that is true or not. While there might have been fewer people killed, there also could have been may more killed in a crossfire between those who committed the atrocity and those who were trying to defend themselves. In addition, it is alleged that those who committed this heinous act were also prepared to die at all cost, including the use of suicide bombs as what happened near the stadium. I doubt more firearms could have stopped the bombers from committing their horrendous acts.

Then there is the call for walls to be built, either literally or figuratively, to keep out immigrants and refugees because it is currently assumed that one or more of the terrorists carried passports from Syria, the homeland of the majority of those same refugees. While it is horrible that this may be the case, what about the thousands more who are not the aggressors, but the victims of the aggressors? There are thousands of people who are fleeing for their lives from the violence caused by ISIL/ISIS. The majority of them are simply trying to survive, not flee to the West to commit violent acts.

Besides, walls don’t work to keep people, good or bad, out. If someone wants to get around a wall, he or she will find a way to do so. Centuries ago, China built a wall to keep out aggressors. It was breached. Each day, hundreds of people cross the walls and boundaries of countries as they seek a better life. Some remain, and some are deported back to where they came.

But there are other walls that become built that are unseen. These are the walls that separate people in a more social sense than a physical one. One wall is prejudice and the other is fear. These two walls are ones that are sometimes insurmountable, not because of their size, but because of how people latch onto them with such fervor. These unseen walls cause us to place barriers between one another. Sometimes, these walls are in the form of words we use to label large groups of people as being bad based on the actions of a few people who look like the group or happen to worship using the same terms as that group does.

Right now, it happens to be Muslims who are being portrayed by media and certain elements of society as being nothing but bad people. They are called terrorists as a whole based on the actions of an extreme few of those who hide behind what is a peaceful religion. The vast majority of Muslims want nothing but to live in harmony within their communities as well as those places where they live among non-Muslims. The majority feels the need to pay for the sins of the few as they are pressured to speak out against acts of terror or be seen as supporting it. Yet, if people from a different religious background commit an atrocity, the innocent of those backgrounds are not pressured to speak out. If a Christian person commits an atrocity, there is no call for all Christians to speak out against it. If a Jewish person commits an atrocity, there is not call for all Jewish people to speak out against it. Only the Muslims. Yet, there are some who continue to say that if they don’t, then they are guilty of the supporting the crimes committed by the few.

The problem is not with religion, it is with people in general. The problem is not with needing more walls, but needing fewer ones.

That’s right, I said fewer walls to separate people. The walls of ignorance, fear, hate, oppression, poverty, war, and famine need to be torn down. In their place, we need to build one thing up above all else. We need to build up our fellow humankind. We need to end wars, and start spreading peace. We need to replace hate with love. We need to eradicate poverty and build plenty. We need to educate others so they may have what they need, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

A recent article I read was one where the interviewer had the rare opportunity to speak with ISIS prisoners of war in Iraq. The vast majority of those who were interviewed did not join ISIS for religious reasons, but for economic and emotional ones. They were starving and this terrorist organization promised them a way out. The terrorist organization gave them someone to blame for their problems, in this case, the West. While some of that is true since, while many of these people’s lives were bad under Saddam Hussein in Iraq, their lives became worse once he was deposed as civil war broke out in their country based on centuries old hatreds. Some joined out of fear that if they didn’t, then they and their families would die.

As I read the article, something occurred to me. The reason why many of these people joined was similar to why people join street gangs. Some fear that if they don’t, then they will die. Others do it as gang life promises them a sense of belonging and/or prosperity. Some join because they are so far in poverty that they need someone to blame and the gang tells them who to blame for their situation. This is not unlike those who voluntarily joined the Nazis in the 1930s and 1940s. It is not unlike those who joined the Ku Klux Klan in the post-Civil War South. It is not unlike those who join militia groups in modern society or other fringe, hate-filled groups. The majority of people who do so are looking for more in their life in some way and the gang persuades them that gang life is the way they can have or be more than who they are.

There needs to be an alternative to this lifestyle to make it stop. Rather than waging war in countries against people, there needs to be a fight for better living conditions. A fight for jobs. A fight for equality for all people regardless of who he or she is or what he or she believes. There needs to be education for all people to understand different cultures and religions as find common ground between them rather than what is different about them. Education is a powerful weapon against hate, fear, and violence. When humankind understands differences, then it becomes harder to fear or hate them. Instead, there becomes a natural instinct to try to see the similarities. But this only occurs with the chance to learn about our differences in a non-biased fashion. It comes with knowing who we are as individuals and facing our fears, prejudices, and ignorances, acknowledging them, and going beyond them to build understanding.

None of this means we have to like the way others are. It doesn’t mean we have to become like who others are. It does mean we must respect our differences and embrace our similarities. We must learn to love one another, whether we like them or not. For some people, this is seen as being too politically correct, as if that is a bad thing. However, it is actually being more humane to our fellow humankind.

Will this end all the problems instantly? No, there is no quick fix as many hope. It took time to build the walls, it will take time to tear them down as well. But it’s worth it.

The late Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr., said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” This rings so true for our world today. Peace can only come through light, never darkness. Hope can only thrive where all humankind sees one another as one rather than as many.