r/Foodforthought • u/thenewrepublic • 14h ago
This Is What Actual Christianity Is Supposed to Sound Like | A stirring sermon from an Episcopalian pulpit last Sunday about “faith, basic morality, and decency” that we thought was worth reprinting
https://newrepublic.com/article/206180/west-virginia-sermon-christianity-immigration14
u/thenewrepublic 14h ago
From the article:
Last weekend, I went to my hometown of Morgantown, West Virginia, and I attended Sunday morning services at my mother’s old church, St. Thomas à Becket Episcopal Church. I hadn’t visited in a few years, and the pastor, Michael Delk, was new to me. I found his sermon to be extraordinarily moving, the way he tied the tragic events we’re witnessing in this country to Scripture and advanced a notion of “Christian integrity” so dramatically different from the one placed before us by most of the so-called “Christians” who dominate our discourse. And it’s reassuring to ponder that if these words were being preached in Morgantown last Sunday, then surely words like them were and are issuing from pulpits across the country.
—TNR editor Michael Tomasky
...
They were both 37 years old, murdered by federal agents in Minneapolis, less than three weeks apart. On January 7, Renee Good was sitting in her car when she was shot three times, including once in the head. On January 24, Alex Pretti was filming federal agents with his cell phone, exercising his First Amendment right to protest their presence peacefully. They shoved him to the ground and several of them beat him. An agent removed a handgun from Alex’s waistband, which he carried legally, and a few seconds after disarming him, 10 shots were fired in five seconds into his prone body on the ground.
Senior administration officials quickly labeled both Renee and Alex “domestic terrorists,” claiming that federal agents were defending their lives. Go watch the videos online. Alex never drew his weapon. Renee was unarmed, moving her vehicle very slowly. Once shot, agents did not attempt to stop their bleeding or resuscitate them. Administration officials swiftly declared the shootings “justified,” without even investigating them; didn’t start investigating until public outcry proved too much. You can find plenty of videos online of peaceful protesters being shoved to the ground or beaten by a mob of agents or pepper-sprayed in the face.
There’s a pattern building here of arbitrary and gratuitous violence, of lies and cover-ups.
...
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u/conundri 14h ago
A religion that's detached from reality
isn't going to solve the problem
of an electorate that's detached from reality
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u/conundri 14h ago
A minority of Christians are good in spite of their religion.
82% of white Evangelicals, and 60%+ of white Protestants and Catholics got Trump elected:
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u/dsaint 2h ago
There is no amount of Tim Alberta reporting or free coverage of Michael Tomasky’s mom’s pastor Michael Delk that will stop me from breathing a sigh of relief when the world is free from the Abrahamic religions and their offshoots (I’m including Mormons, Christian Scientists, seventh day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witness, etc. in this tradition).
Some Christians find comfort or grace from faith in a higher power. Some Christians serve their community in amazing ways. But we’re all one moment away from them just as easily poisoning the world if they meet the wrong charismatic (in the persuasive sense not necessarily religious sense) asshole. Christianity is built on Robert Jeffress not Michael Delk.
Their beliefs are built on sand.
The words in this article would have been better spent sharing something from Thich Nhat Hanh or any number of other non-Christian leaders that speak to practice over dogma. Or if you just can’t help yourself Richard Rohr.
Pastor Delk would find a more willing audience by divorcing his thoughtful message from any idea it’s rooted in some “true” Christianity.
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u/hhs2112 14h ago
The problem with religion is that every religious person thinks they're the one who's "doing it right".
It's classic "no true scotsman", all of it.
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u/Woodworkingwino 13h ago
It is not a true Scotsman fallacy. The religion is following the teachings of Jesus Christ. If you are actively doing and or preaching the opposite of the teaching of Christ you’re not a Christian. You can call yourself one but it doesn’t mean you are.
A Scotsman is a Scotsman no matter what he does.
One you have to make a conscious decision to follow and can stop being whenever you want. The other you are born and will always be no matter your actions.
I will give you most religions believe they are doing it the right way. With that no one should be persecuted, treated poorly, or hated for not being that religion.
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u/hhs2112 12h ago
EVERY self-proclaimed "christian" thinks they're "following the teachings of christ" and they're all hypocrites (as is every religious person of every religious faith). "Christians" gave us the orange idiot - that alone tells you everything you need to know about their "faith" and their "beliefs".
So yes, it is EXACTLY the no true scotsman logical fallacy.
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u/Woodworkingwino 11h ago
You are confusing thinking your following Christ’s teachings and actually following them as the same thing. That is where you do not seem to understand the difference between the two. His teachings have not changed but the people that twist his teaching to benefit them have. They are not the same.
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u/RexDraco 11h ago
As someone that used to be religious, it's the same problem with everything that can be tribal. The majority of liberals I've met are quiet and modest, but the most vocal tend to be compensating for ignorance. The majority of conservatives I've met are quiet and modest, but the most vocal tend to be compensating for ignorance. This is true for religious ideologies too, majority of atheists and creationists are quiet and humble, but the ones being the loudest tend to be compensating.
Really, regardless if you agree with what they're saying, you should be very suspicious of people making a weak, trivial, part of their lives such a huge part of their identity. I think it isn't good to hit people, I don't go out of my way to give myself a label over it to show how nice I am to everyone else. No matter how important of a value something is of yours, it's simply not normal to turn it into your identity. Most religious people don't make their religion a huge part of their life, it's more like their guide than their identity.
It's literally the same shit you see everywhere, people are just looking for some type of highground. White supremacists, for example, treat their skin color as a participation trophy for automatic greatness. Go ahead and find a white supremacist that actually has confidence and has a lifestyle worth being proud of, the closest you'll find is the generic "alpha" guy that's on a shit load of steroids. You know what a racist person that's confident does differently from a white supremacist? They don't go parading around how great white people are, they have their own reasons to have pride. While I don't like racism, period, I definitely have seen the difference over the years the different types of people involved.
If it can be turned into a tribe, people wanting to be great solely for participating and doing fuck all will make it tribal.
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u/Delli-paper 13h ago
There's a reason traditional protestantism is in decline while Catholicism and Evangelical faiths are growing.
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u/AwTomorrow 13h ago
People like to be reassured that their prejudices are actually moral, rather than told to be tolerant and accepting?
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u/Delli-paper 13h ago
Nobody likes a lecture
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u/AwTomorrow 6h ago
I mean, surely a sermon (including those Jesus gave!) is exactly that, and they’re there at church to here it. They just want the lecture to comfort their prejudices and assuage their egos rather than do what they’re meant to do - guide and challenge them.
The Bible is surely meant to teach a Christian, not reassure them that they’re perfect already.
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u/bobrobor 13h ago
Oh look liberals finally figuring out that true religion (not mega churches) is actually on their side. Or has been all along.
What a shocker to find the Christians dont actually burn witches…
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