This was a great essay, Wil. So poignant and insightful.
I got kicked out of Sunday School multiple times for questioning; while my mother did not throw a hot iron at me (like another commenter) she did lecture me often about how I must be possessed by the devil. Fun times.
It’s healing too, that all of us who were ostracized and abused by this horror of a religion are finding each other. It helps immensely to know you’re not alone.
I did want to mildly disagree with you on one point though. That the white Jesus brigade is as bad as the Temple money changers. I find it to be too soft a comparison. Allow me to explain. . .
Their whole deal is about twisting Jesus into who they want him to be. Someone who will go after their enemy, someone who protects them from the 'other’. They’re belligerent about it; they want Jesus to be belligerent too. Just like them.
There was someone else, from antiquity, who tried to manipulate Jesus into being who he wanted him to be. He was belligerent too, a zealot. He wanted the Messiah to destroy the Romans and return Judea to the Jews. Remember?
If, as Shakespeare says, all the world is a stage and we are but players in it, you have to appreciate the irony here. These people think they’re disciples of Jesus, that’s the role they’ve chosen to play.
In a sense, I guess they’re right. They are zealous about making Jesus into what they want; they’re belligerent in trying to ensure we all do the same. They think they’re elevating Jesus; that they’re going to make Jesus worthy of their desire and devotion. Just like that other guy.
Yeah, Judas thought the same. It didn’t work out that well for either of them in the end.
Judas destroyed the man who tried to teach him the way out (and with facing our own catabolic collapse, we are right there again); in doing so, he also destroyed himself and any chance of restoring dignity to all the people of Judea.
In conclusion, I don’t think they’re as bad as the Temple money changers, they are as bad as the betrayer. The disciple Judas Iscariot.
