It’s too bad that God only wants us to help people exactly like us. It’s a shame he said things like “Let the downtrodden gentiles suffer” and “Slaughter the lost sheep.” And then there’s that whole parable about refusing to give money to the pagan building a school—as though pagans could do good! We’re reading the same Bible, right?
Hi. My name is Brady, and I’m a victim of religious judgmentalism. (Hi, Brady.)
I really thought it was a divine appointment when our months-old organization was selected by a Christian organization to be featured in their monthly magazine. Not only that, but they paid to fly my girlfriend and I out to their two national conferences in May to publicize our mission and issue a call-to-action from their subscribers for donations. It was a godsend, an honor we didn’t deserve but were oh-so-happy to accept. Even though our organization isn’t explicitly religious, Kaitlyn and I are both believers and were called to this mission, so there was plenty for this Christian publisher to latch onto.
When we arrived at the first conference, we felt right at home. The people were supportive and engaging. We learned to trust them. After all, they had promised to support us because they believed in our mission. It felt so good to be believed in.
But then they found out something they didn’t like about our personal life. Gossips within the organization took this information (which we never hid), including some straight-up lies about our beliefs, to the leadership, who in turn decided to shut down all their support. No conference, no table, no publicity. They disowned us overnight, breaking numerous promises they had already made. And during the whole process they smiled that familiar religious smile and said “We still love you” while slapping us in the face.
It took weeks to recover from the blow. We were depending on this opportunity to bring in a few thousand dollars, money that would have brought us that much closer to returning to Ghana. These people actually wasted more money on the non-refundable flights to the conferences than they donated to our cause. It had all been a lie.
It’s difficult to have something like that happen and not lose faith in faith. This is a national Christian organization that decided our cause was unworthy because we did not conform to the moral mold they required in servants of God. Apparently, building a literacy center to empower disenfranchised communities in Africa is no good if you have sinners doing it. (If only you were convicted that you were sinning!)
But, as always with Christian hypocrisy, I have to look at the man himself. Jesus did not discriminate with those he sent to serve the world. (The dude picked Saul, okay?) He never instituted a stringent moral code to be initiated into—in fact, he turned a lot of the old laws on their faces. He pretty much had one rule: love.
Which means that a lot of people of other creeds and faiths are closer followers of Jesus than many Christians.
(Aww yeah. Hit ‘em again.)
I’m not interested in your religious politics. I’m not interested in achieving salvation. I’m not interested in the moral will of the God you perceive. I am interested in loving humanity and empowering it to better this world. My worship service is in a foreign country with forsaken people who sweat and smile with me because, for the first time in their lives, they can write down what’s been aching in their hearts for a lifetime.
Which leads me to my own judgment.
If your religious doctrine prevents you from helping people, you’re doing it wrong.
