I have such issues with Christians who call other Christians "not real Christians" b/c they're harmful--it's gaslighting to the victims of Christianity's brutal history.
Here's what engaging w/harmful branches of a tradition can look like, from Rabbi Dr. Haviva Ner-David. 1/x
And OK, the extended dance remix for people who are doubling down on the "but they're not real Christians."
Friends.
It's true that y'all have St. Francis and all the Theresas and Julians, Dr. King, James Cone, Delores S. Williams, Merton, so many other greats before & since.
It's all there. It's all Christianity. It's all the work of Christians. You, lone, irritated individual person, do not get to be the sole arbiter of who is and who is not a true, authentic follower of Jesus, I'm sorry.
My dead ancestors were murdered by Christians. Own that.
I am not going to weigh in on who Jesus was or what he did or did not teach.
But I am telling you that the white supremacist Christian nationalists trying to ban contraception right now are reading the same texts that you are. And you have to deal with that in a real way.
Isn't the "real way" by confronting them that their beliefs are not based on Christianity at all? That they might be "white supremacist nationalists" but not in any way consistent with Christianity?
Their "proof texts" are often misappropriation of the Hebrew scriptures interpreted in such a way that no Rabbi would recognize; God's promises to ancient Israel applied to the "new Jerusalem" of America are prominent.
Not arguing with your experience at all, but bigotry is not in any way a Christian value, any more than it is for any other religious belief.
"If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them." Leviticus 20:13
"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ." Ephesians 6:5
Is the bible the word of god or not?
I'm not going to debate Christian ethics with an atheist in a thread by a Rabbi, especially one that misappropriates the Jewish scripture without the benefit of hundreds of years of Jewish scholarship.
That's exactly the mistake I believe the Rabbi was pointing out.
@LockeLiberal1 @TheRaDR Of course you won't debate, you'd have to admit one of three things:
Either the bible and church are not infallible, which undermines your religion
The bible and church are correct and Christianity involves bigotry and toxic behavior
or 'no true Scotsman'
"Whoever spares the rod hates their children, but the one who loves their children is careful to discipline them." Proverbs 13:24
"Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior." Ephesians 5:22
"Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion." CCC 2271
It just goes on and on.
Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
Frank Hagan
SocialistStan