Thoughts and Prayers: The Religion Thread

It’s not that I think that modern American Christians are evil. It’s that I grade on a steep curve. If you claim to follow the incredible teachings of Christ, I expect you to bear incredible fruit, which I experienced through much of my childhood. Then those same people became twisted grotesques. I lived in a community filled with anabaptist pacifists who welcomed in illegals and refugees my entire childhood who then, when our country experienced a stress test, demanded war in the Middle East and a wall along our southern border. A community that warned against false idols who now fly adoring flags for a man who mocks everything they believed. I don’t know how to square those. I’ve given up.

 

Oh, that's easy. People ... they're the worst.

 

I have some very devout Catholics in my life. Don't go after them. Prols are free game.

 

This might be more appropriate for Anything Goes. Dunno.

I found out the county chapter of Republican Women is now meeting at the church I was considering attending when I can get out and about again. Finding progressive churches in Tennessee can be hit or miss. I really want to stick with my denomination and the closest parish that doesn't still pray for "President Trump" is not too terribly close in Downtown Nashville.

Frankly, I think people need to leave their politics at the door when it comes to houses of worship. Staying unchurched is not what I want, but it is making more sense.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Congregational_churches_in_Tennessee

Congregational churches usually welcome every denomination - including non-believers.

Give 'em a tumble.

 

Our church tries to be intentional about being a community meeting space (Scouts, AA meetings, polling place, etc.) and there has been talk of seeking additional opportunities to host groups beyond the usual do-gooder orbit, frankly as a means of making up for a drop in donations. If I can worship with them on Sundays, I personally can’t see a problem with having them in the hall on a weeknight, even if I would never darken the doorway then.

 

Amen to this.

 

Thanks for the information. I liked what I saw of the denomination. Unfortunately, there's not one close by.

I do. These are people who hide behind religion to destroy the lives of others. I've redacted the rest of what I was going to post. It wasn't pretty.

 

I am not mad at anyone here nor do I hold negative feelings about people who inhabit a different part of the political spectrum. I have friends who are conservative and would have called themselves Republicans in previous years. The ugly truth is I am exhausted, partially because this year has taken a lot out of me physically. My mother loves the solitude of SiP, so I love it for her. Me? NSM. However, the fear I felt when someone leaned into my face and coughed just a few days after I got out of the hospital made me realize this is not anywhere close to the way things were before MAGA and COVID and the Great Divorce that is our country's cultural reality. There hasn't been a return to the normal life I need in order to work through grief. In the past, church/church work was a great place for that to happen.

I attended two churches in Downtown Nashville, both of which now require armed guards. It was tragic that the synagogues and mosques in my city needed this. Now it seems like business as usual for many houses of worship here. There is no middle ground in an environment where entities that want to be untaxed also want to get into the ring and duke it out. My choices are angry MAGAts or clueless White people who are terrified of poor people and people of color and yet want to tell both how to be poor or BIPOC.

Maybe I just needed to get this off my chest.

 

So there are Trumpist churches that hire armed guards? Can’t they just pray away the violence? Or do they not pray for the end of gun violence?

 

Both Trumpist and a few that are helmed by people of color. Shooting up churches in Tennessee didn't start with MAGA, but fears have grown since then.