Leaving the UU was hard, I had spent 7 years there and had some good memories. I did join a social media board for ex-Unitarian Universalists. Some of their concerns were the same as mine. Many have expressed the same heartbreak. I met one lady who left a church she was in for 25 years.
I have a lot good memories from there, and miss a lot about the church, that's the sad part of things but I guess one can remember the good people and times one had. It was an intellectually rewarding place for many years. It helped me a lot as an artist. Several members are supportive of me as an artist. I sometimes feel bad I took my husband out of there, he still considers himself a member though an "inactive" one now. He jokes about reeling me back in but I don't give him a hard time. We did have some good years there.
They still believe in the Covid stuff and some still support the Covid vaxxes. I changed too, I held more traditionalist beliefs, and didn't support trans and/or climate change and other "woke" issues the UU did, as I wrote about on this article.. Many of the people are very nice people, I miss them, so facing facts we were walking in different directions was never easy. When I do run into them in the community, they treat me well. I still see several in other arenas like the art world.
Some may have expected me to go find another church. I talked about it. I mulled returning to the evangelical world but it got complicated. I stepped away from being a moderator on an ex-evangelical message board because of my religious confusion. Some others remained Christians after deconstruction but I wasn't sure what direction I was going to take.
While I have good memories of my first IFB church we moved away from, the second IFB church was AWFUL, we were ostracized. That place was extremely pro-Trump, pro-Zionism, and lacked community and care of many other churches. Community was far stronger in my first IFB and the UU church.
I haven't stepped foot in a church or church service outside a Catholic Chapel to look at artwork in years. I have been back to my old UU for a few community events for an annual sale they hold. Somethings held me back from trying another church. I put years into the UU, and ENJOYED things there, so I think part of me is why get dedicated to another church only to have it all fall apart? I had the same thing happen in the inverse in two different churches. Conservative church land, I felt uncomfortable being poor and disabled, and wrote about that in the article "The Poor and Disabled in Churches. The UUs while I had huge socioeconomic differences with them, treated us far better, and they were wonderful on disability issues. The right-wing world is not that kind to the disabled. You are always seen as at "fault" and having offended God somehow to even be disabled. How would they respond to the transcribe phone? My hearing issues are a bit of a barrier.
The second IFB church loved war, and praised Trump every chance they got. The place was kind of weird, and very staid, men all wore suits to services and they never held any bible studies and/or church events like dinners unless a member of this Quiverful family had a wedding. That family dominated the church. The beliefs troubled me more and more, I didn't agree with their conservative politics and outlooks, and that's one reason I left.
Being on X is sometimes hard, I get tired of right wingers always putting down the poor and wanting to remove all the Social Security and welfare. The same stuff I wrote about is happening all over again but worse with Trump's second term. When I left the UU over liberal political beliefs and other issues, it was like the inverse happening. The cultural wars are still destroying society. They have affected the churches. If you don't fit right or left, where do you go? Right now a person gets to choose between "woke" land, or "Maga" land, there's not much in between. I would please some liberals telling them I think Trump is a psychopath and an actor [he's already betrayed his base on wars overseas, Covid shots and many issues] and I would anger liberals telling them I do not support the trans movement, climate change efforts and more. There's got to be some people out there like me.
Maybe I am unable to conform enough for ANY church. I believe in Jesus Christ but believe the churches have skewed and changed a lot of what He taught. So I am kind of an outliner. I do see most churches as being part of the power structure of this world. Why are so many churches united for the power-brokers, even the UU lost it's hold on "freedom of conscience" to please the globalists. There were many UUs upset over the changes as I wrote about on the UU article. There are bigger agendas that guide things. The IFB and other evangelical churches always had the right wing pundits leading them by the nose in a certain direction. That Sword of the Lord newspaper was a bit of a Christian Nationalist rag. I do believe the trans movement is related to bringing forth transhumanism. The religious political right steered evangelical churches from helping the poor and defending a corrupt system. As the elite decimate what's left of the social safety net, they've gotten most of the religious right to cheer it on. We are in a spiritual battle.
Some churches definitely have done good in the world, but both conservative and liberal churches are used for social engineering. They are too easily steered by the elite. I told my husband the other day I wanted to buy an Ethiopian Bible to read the books of the Bible that got taken out by the Nicene Council and others. I can't afford much lately so that purchase has been delayed, but he laughed and said, "You talk and think about things I don't think most people do".
I studied the bible and had my bible prophecy and conspiracy blog for years. Some of the stuff I warned about on that blog has come to pass. I am not a prophet, I just combined the bible and conspiracy studies together, but obviously when I wrote about global digital ID passes in 2013, that's happening today. Picture of one of my old posts:
My worldview is different. Most people remain ignorant of the drawing dystopian net and growing totalitarianism that goes beyond the surface complaints about Trump. The left wing is participating too while pushing other agendas. I have read books on Gnosticism and alternative religious themes like Marcionitism. I'm studying the Orthodox church lately and finding it fascinating. As I wrote years ago religion is a special interest of mine.
I've been so many religions, that I have the conclusion some got some parts wrong and others right. There's aspects of Catholicism I miss, I went to go visit this church chapel to look at artwork, and it was beautiful. The fundamentalists take the anti-art or "graven images" thing way too far. Some would be angry at me for hanging up icons in my apartment. I like nuns, monasticism and happily read Merton last year. Obviously, I take some issues with the Pope and other teachings. There's Catholics who think the Vatican went off the rails long ago. I am too Sola Scripture for that, but I think back to spiritual moments when I was young and in churches and retreats. A retreat in a monastery or convent sounds enriching. I'm reading about the Orthodox, my father grew up in an Orthodox church and converted to Roman Catholicism when he married my mother. He didn't tell us anything about it, and I was only in the church of his childhood once, I do remember there being a lot of more pictures on the wall but being a child of around 9 or 10, I just thought it was a fancier looking Catholic church.
Culturally, the fundamentalist world was always hard. I didn't fit the life norm for the churches, and have no family history there or the lifestyle expected of a fundamentalist woman. Being childless while married marked me as a semi-fallen woman. I was married to someone who was into punk rock and who was not a fundamentalist. Fundamentalist churches got weird about the "unequally yoked" thing. I married him before I was a Christian so technically, I was not blamed. It could get negative sometimes and they saw you as failing to "win" your husband over. The UU world had socioeconomic class issues. They were more educated which I liked though obviously I am not a "trust the experts" sort and question liberal academics and bougiecrats. They supported the arts, art and music.
I do think fundamentalism had a negative effect on me as an artist. You always had to worry about your artwork being "godly". I was in some severe churches, that even preached that reading fiction instead of the Bible was a sin so that was complicated. I could love literature and the arts around the UUs a bit easier.
A Jesuit priest once on a message board during my first IFB days called me a diletante. Maybe he was right. Some have been more positive and have called me a "seeker". I said to my husband if religion is like marriage, maybe I am a commitment-phobe which is odd given I have been with him for 30 years plus. I didn't completely jibe with all the church cultures, I never was a complete "fit". My brain was always questioning and analyzing everything. Maybe my time as a "watchwoman" put me in some strange place. Sometimes I have said to him, moving away from that first IFB was a mistake, I wouldn't have had all these religious troubles. I had a church family there. I still have contact with some 17 years later on social media but haven't gotten into detail of how severe my faith troubles got.
When I considered looking for a church again, it was complicated. The same problems I left over are still there waiting for me. I still struggle with what a lot of the churches believe and promote. I don't like Dominionism and Christian Nationalism. I am not pro-Christian Zionism. The Rapture is absurd to me and a false teaching. Too many use religion for control. I don't like how many mainstream Christians trash the poor or the related attitudes. Hell still troubles me but it did when I am honest with myself even in my fundamentalist days.
When I watched videos of local services pondering choosing another church, I just got triggered over and over. One church had a Steven Furtick look alike, their minister looked like a doppelganger of that guy. The pastors in the mainstream evangelical churches all dressed alike. They promoted a lack of individuality in their church members. Many seemed like they were narcissists and too focused on being overly charismatic. Some churches had more programs than others.
I saw this weird sermon by a preacher claiming that God wants everyone to be rich like there wasn't one poor person in the room. More than several were emphasizing tithes. It takes a lot of money to keep and maintain those bright, and new building churches with coffee shops and meeting rooms. Things looked more polished, commercial and awful then when I used to visit more than 10-15 years ago. My old second IFB, that pastor is super old, but still at it in his mid to late 80s. His adoration cult doesn't seem to have ended. He's like my mother except he just doesn't have the worshipping family, he has a church that includes many of his family members included. That guy's had an easy ride on this planet. The constant manipulation and crazy backdrop of politics was still there. One church was into flag waving and weird hugging sessions and people raising their arms. Maybe they are happy there, I don't want to begrudge people but it wouldn't be for me. Another church that was a rare Covid vaxx rejecting church, sadly preached faith healing.
One lady gave me really bad Delores Umbridge vibes and seemed to be an amalgamation of every mean church lady I had dealt with. She had a tight blue jacket on and was lecturing church members on not finishing enough tasks. There was an annoying sameness to many of the services especially among the rock music evangelical set. To my horror, most of the time I was BORED. I didn't see much to motivate me to get out of bed on Sunday morning. So I never went anywhere else and watched stuff online. I joked to my husband, "I already have visited all the churches in this town, even for religious conferences that went okay, there's nothing drawing me in".
I realized, to go to church, I would have to hide who I was. One could let a little more of the "weirdo" flag fly in the UU. One member who later left like me, said, the UU was the home for misfits, and I agreed. We ended up there because we thought about things other people didn't. Sadly the UU changed, but there was that freedom aspect to it. I thought to myself, if I returned to an evangelical church, how honest could I be? Would I be playing a part? If they found out some of my religious explorations alone, that could be easily judged. I wasn't interested in that, being put back in that box to please others.
Also having been in too many churches, I think "I've kind of messed this religion thing up and I should have picked one and stuck with it!" While I consider myself a "Christian", I don't know what church to go to. I am in "undecided" mode. I worried about writing this article because I know some people would ask, "How can you be undecided?" They may tell me in a condemning evangelical way that I am a waverer. Some may throw James 1:8 at me, and tell me I am unstable. I have been told already that since I deconstructed I am already hell-bound. I worry about this in the back of my mind. One fellow ex-evangelical told me, "You can't go back".
Some may say the guilt of fundamentalism and other stressors have impacted me. I think for now taking things slowly, praying and reading the bible and other spiritual books on my own, is the best for now. I went through enough spiritual abuse and other crazy stuff, I don't want more. Freedom is important to me, and not being back in a place where I am "controlled" or told what to think about. Maybe being an artist conflicts with fundamentalism, and religion. If your connection to God is based on honesty, who wants locked back in a spiritual prison going through motions.
Yes I did pray to God to bring me a place or show me a place where to go. One friend, says he thinks I have gone over to Christian "mystic" land, I don't know what to think. Things may be more complex than I can even explain here. I was reading a lot of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky last year.
There is part of me that is burned out, while I had a couple good pastors, I have a negative view of others. My last UU pastor was a sincere man, but we disagreed on far too much, especially about Covid, it is weird how Covid almost drew these strange religious lines. I think Covid probably led to a far more church departures than many people even suspect. It upended my world views. For me it did bring forth the very fact there is truly a battle between good and evil and that this world truly is ruled by psychopaths up to no good. Sadly many pastors I encountered seemed disingenuous, like oily used car salesmen. I struggled with negative views of pastors and often had uncharitable thoughts about narcissists. I know people have to make a living but maybe the religious grift and pressures take over. You always are on show and have to remain interesting and kind of non-offensive all at the same time to get enough butts in seats. It doesn't take some personalities to a good place.
I also fear being "corrected" again like a child by more well-heeled church women or told to live in "shame" or going back to that place that is mixed in with narcissistic abuse of being told I am "never enough". You reach an age where you get tired of new Mommies and Daddies, lecturing you about living right and making false promises about life. I just didn't want it. I know Christians who have been rebuked by pastors or put under church discipline. The last set of UUs may have spoiled me a bit with their interactive services, where lay people had a giant role to play in sharing their ideas. I used to think why don't other churches do this? That's one thing they did WELL. Listening to one guy pontificate for hours, just sounded well, boring, and useless. I worried about being too arrogant, but there was a few times I thought of many evangelical pastors, "What does some guy who can't even discern the evils of Covid or who never questions the system have to teach me?" Also why should he hold authority over me? I question the very concept of pastors which would take a whole other religious based post.
A lot of services just seemed dumbed down with the same recycled repeated bible stories and no in-depth teachings. I watch some religious videos online of some system questioning pastors, I may not agree with everything but at least it is interesting. I thought of finding a church to focus on serving others, one with a high penchant for the poor, but given my health problems, that didn't pan out either. When we thought we were going to move, I had my eye on this one church for the poor but we didn't move there.
Some months ago, I decided to watch local services, many churches have them, and see if there is any place that stands out. It was very hard, I felt triggered. I thought "What kind of Christian are you who refuses to go to church?" I knew solitude and lack of a church family didn't affect the faith in the first place in any positive ways and played a role in my deconversion. You can see all my old deconversion articles on this blog. One evangelical friend told me I was "sinning" to be outside of a church. What was ironic is her church seemed semi-decent, her pastor rejected both political parties, and they were open and welcoming to the poor but her church is just too far from where I live. I have watched some of those services. I didn't know how to tell her, I've already visited most of the churches in this town or been in them" I said, "There's just nowhere to go to church around here!"
There's issues I still think about [see that Theramin trees channel] as to why I struggled in the evangelical world. His warnings about abuse, manipulation and other techniques people use to get power over others, still hold truth. I still don't want a "mean" God. There's a lot of people who say they speak for God but I don't think they do. There's thousands of Elmer Gantry's out there. I think reading Russian literature oddly saved the vestiges of faith there were and the whole Covid thing told me, we really are in a battle between good and evil in this world.
Here is my list of churches and religions I have been in. "I've tried every religion but Mormonism, and Jehovah Witness."
Three-four Catholic churches as a child,
I moved a lot as a kid as you all know. We also visited a Latin Mass church that was in a downtown metro city. I was in endless retreats, basilicas, convents etc. as a kid. My upbringing was more religious than most. The church I was in while school aged, had a giant impact on my life. Remember I was educated by nuns in full habit. This was the church we lived across the street from that had a rectory and convent full of my full-habit teachers. I have positive memories of that church though a few scary ones with some strict teachers.
First Unitarian Universalist church.
I joined this church while in college. We had a "rebel" pastor, I still like that guy, he even questioned 9-11 later and warned about the bad path the UU church was on going into woke/globalist/neoliberal philosophies. I had good memories of this church though my work hours often interfered with my participation.
I was in a UU fellowship for a very short time while living at home with my parents, they were attempting to form a UU fellowship in a town I worked in, but it didn't work out. I'm not going to count it as it was only a very short time.
Second Unitarian Universalist church
This was my church after a move to Chicago. This is the one I was married in and I took a lot of classes there and participated in a lot of activities. I had fond memories of the two ministers [it was a co-ministership]. One married us. I used to visit another Unitarian Universalist church on occasion that was in another part of the city.
Back in the Catholic Church
We moved to the very rural town, it was hundreds of miles from any UU church, the UU simply didn't exist there. I would go to a local Catholic church for around 2 years and even took RCIA to return to Catholicism but didn't complete it. The people in this church were nice, I was friends with two ladies that were strong volunteers for the church. I did an ecumenical bible study there, that had people of multiple denominations in the group and taught art with a support person since I was disabled to some adults and kids for a short time as a volunteer gig [a couple hours a week]
My First Evangelical/Christian Fundamentalist church.
I was "born again", "witnessed" to by some other evangelical Christians in the Catholic Bible study. I found my First IFB church. My life in this church was very positive, there were a few things I did not agree with such as when my pastor supported Bush and they rebuked me for war protesting with "non-believers", but overall this church treated us very well. I was in there for some years.
I still have contact on social media with this church. They were a working class church, and we had preppers and others. They had an in church food pantry and helped homeless people. My husband was treated well though he never converted in.. This church was a fundamentalist church, and many would see it as strict. It was an independent fundamentalist baptist church. Yes I know, my being on the extreme ends of the religious spectrum IFB vs UU is pretty unusual. Churches were seen as self regulating, no authoritarian church bodies, I liked that part. My church did preach against women wearing pants, many church members did not own TVs, I did due to husband. We had women's bible studies, made quilts for missionaries, had a lot of missions services, dinners, craft classes, and cooking classes. It was a small church of around 70-100 but close knit. I worked on many church things while there as my health allowed. I visited the pastor and his wife's house for years.
My pastor back then while he voted Republican in earlier days, warned that economic collapse and other things were coming to America. These things have happened. I had friends in the church who had the same world view regarding conspiracy and other things. They really had a church family.
My time in this church was so positive, they gave us a "goodbye" party when we left. My pastor there was sincere, had integrity and stood up for me at least on two occasions. I missed this church, and regretted our move that took us away. There were times in later years, I would beg husband to move back so I could be part of this church again.
One fact about this church is they closed just a couple years after I and my husband left. The town we were in had major economic problems and it affected this church. The church did re-form under the same name in a neighboring town a few years later, in a new building, the pastor had moved on. There are still a few members in that old church.
After I moved, I struggled to find a church. Nowhere seemed a good fit. I never could replace what I had. I also changed as a person with age.
Calvary Chapel, I found this church after I moved. It was very small though. I remember the services were kind of dull, but they fed us lunch and the conversations I had there were more interesting than the services. We were in there for a few years. The church was down to very few members, it really was a failed church plant. It would close very soon after we left. Some people in this church were Quiverful which I did not agree with. Think just like the Duggars. One guy ran a homeschool magazine and had 12 kids. Another family I befriended the daughters were part of the Stay at Home movement, I do think they later left home anyhow just from practicalities. Those girls were very nice and oddly very beautiful. One became a wedding dress model.
Homechurching it and visiting multiple churches/religious activities/focus on a self-help group
I had some years where I did not go to church, talked to home churching people on line, and had my time with the false deliverance minister I wrote about before. The deliverance minister did not go to church except one Christian coffee shop. I did go to conferences at mainstream evangelical churches, spent a lot of time at my self-help group [it later went defunct but that was a big activity for years]. I also started going to the book club at the conservative Lutheran church. I visited several churches in the community during this time, including a few Baptist churches. At least three churches were too handicapped inaccessible for me even to get into the places. That was a big issue around here when it came to churches. One church you had to go up two flights of stairs to an upper floor sanctuary. Some churches were on the edge of dying, one church had only 6 members.
Southern Baptist
I attended this Southern Baptist church, that was close to my apartment, for about a year and half. I never really got that close there to anyone, though we would go to some dinners and meetings. The pastor was one of those charismatic types and the whole church revolved around him. He's still there. He always made jokes about women that bugged me, and went to Jamaica every year for a "missions trip". The politics got too heavy. Remember my husband is a Democrat.
Second IFB [independent fundamentalist baptist] church.
I've written about this place several times on here. This is the place I walked out of when they praised war with Iran. They were very Christian Zionist even as much as Calvary Chapel and preached other things I did not agree with. It was not like my good IFB church. They didn't do any outreach to the community and while we asked for help once, the response was so negative. I wrote in the Poor and disabled article in the churches in detail how this church treated us.
The congregation was far wealthier. They lived far away as mentioned above, so there was a lack of community. The whole church revolved around the pastor, I would call it a cult. One odd thing about this place is they never had meals, and you couldn't even get a cup of coffee. It felt very stingy. There was one dinner celebrating paying off the church mortgage and a church dinner for the wealthy Quiverful family with 14 kids that dominated the church. One thing that was very strange is no independent bible studies or classes were allowed, all meetings just let the pastor speak. There was no conversation or ability to meet or get to know anyone because you just listened to the pastor even at the "bible studies" and he allowed no cross-talk or questions. This place was a very negative on my Christian faith and while I am responsible for my own religious choices, I see it as big influence in leading me to deconstruct.
Fundamentalism is wrong about a lot of stuff. That would take a whole other post on a religious board.
I would spend some more years out of church but then it was Deconstruction/Deconversion time. I was involved in the ex-evangelical world.
The Third Unitarian Universalist church. I have good memories from this place and liked many of the members. I wrote two other articles about my decision to leave. Some other UUs have talked to me about being conflicted over leaving, so I know this is a complex matter. When I left my UU, I was not the only member who left, there were a few others who were troubled by the changes too. I was on my own with Covid but others were concerned about the changing politics, promotion of trans and other concerns I discussed in these articles.
The Unitarian Universalist Church Controversy: When Your Church Goes So Woke You Can't Bear It.
Leaving Another Church: My Departure from the Unitarian Universalist Church
Now you can see why religion and church got complicated for me. There were many positives in life from my involvements. I volunteered with churches, served on some committees. One thing to remember is the backdrop of my health problems. My level of activity was always affected by that and there were times it was less. I have been housebound in certain weather since my 30s so that affected my church attendance. Some churches and this includes the last UU were very understanding and giving about my health concerns. Other churches were not. I have said this before, but I know I messed religion up, and autistics may do this, I was on this quest always to know what was true, maybe I should have focused on community first. Of course some places I had to move away from and others closed.
My need for a "family" and "community" was a backdrop for a lot of my church activities, and I felt I achieved that a few times while some places it was impossible. I had community in the UU for years while Covid was a cleaver that sliced and diced that, and also the first IFB. The good Catholic church, protected me to a degree during my school aged years too.
Churches do seem to be changing. They are getting too hooked into the world system, instead of being independent congregations following every trend and national media offering. Why did so many churches follow the Covid lies so willingly and it wasn't just the UUs, but most of the others? I figured out it was even rare among Christian ones for the pastors to question Covid or the Covid vaxxes. Sometimes I think pastors get so used to 'selling' their churches, they forget about integrity and thinking things out. That remains an issue for me now, that I want a church and pastor that is discerning enough to at least question some of it. I know there are Catholics, Orthodox and members of other denominations who questioned Covid and Covid vaxxes and that something was wrong.
Too many churches became businesses first. This definitely happened in the megachurch world. There are some saying that Joel Osteen and other megachurches are going out of business. I am not surprised. I do not think the prosperity gospel is going to sell too well in the second Great Depression. My last UU church was small and not run that way, they did try to help the poor/soup kitchen. However the churches I was in before them, we were basically keeping middle class and above pastors in higher life styles than many church members. I had thoughts, "We are so poor, why are these rich pastors asking for 10 percent of our money, we never could afford it". I do think the fact the second IFB did nothing for the poor was not a good fruit.
I consider myself too poor for church now. It's not affordable. The UUs were nice to us even regarding our economic circumstances with the class differences so don't apply that to them, but for most of the evangelical churches around here, I find myself thinking I don't want the economic pressures or judgments that are unloaded on the poor now. I wrote about these issues before but I am of the belief most poor people are leaving churches. What other choice do they have? There does seem to be a certain required class status to be in some churches. Also the pastors who are trying to keep themselves paid and the church light bill paid, aren't so thrilled when some person with no money shows up at the door. They will say different, but I've seen how that goes. I think as Americans go into worse poverty a lot of churches not just the big megachurches from above will be going out of business. Social disconnection has affected churches too. One thing troubling many Americans is how too many churches seem to be letting poor people down. Our reality is not discussed. That's a problem. As poverty increases, I don't know if this will change. Will churches step up to do soup kitchens and programs like they did during the first Great Depression?
Sadly the churches as a whole are influenced and steered by the ruling class. We know the right wing churches have lambasted the poor for years. Even if they offer some charity, one is always told it is their failures and their fault the system has grown so oppressive. Very few pastors question the system, the ruling class, or the billionaires and trillionaires. They don't address why wealth inequality is out of control, there are bible verses that address these things too. One thing I noticed being a poor person, is no one was honest in most churches about the hardships of life. The UU actually was more honest about this but being a very affluent church there was that distance. The Christian ones, all seemed to have a degree of prosperity gospel in most places. Too many teach that good fortune will come in this world if you do everything right. This is not true, and there are bible verses that preach contrary to this. [John 16:33] I have yet to see one pastor even address the economic collapse in the USA except the online pastor with Revelations of Jesus Christ Ministry and my first IFB pastor who spoke of it to come.
I question a lot about the church system now. One thing I do question is why aren't there churches for the poor where the poor can share resources and help each other out? Where they go to church with each other? Jesus Christ talked about the poor and helping them all the time. Some have abandoned many core teachings.
Last month I noticed on X, all these right wing Christians trashing everyone on EBT, they talked about how they were forced to pay for other people's food. People pay far more for tech brother bail-outs and the military than the average 36 dollars a year going to welfare. Then you see the Christians who believe all government help should be done away with and everything done by churches and charities. How is that going to work when one medicine is thousands of dollars? This one Christian Nationalist guy told me, all welfare should be done away with and turned over to the churches and private charities. I said to him, "If the Christian nationalists want us dependent on charity instead of the govt, then they need to change the entire system, job placement, housing, intentional communities like the Hutterites do it, otherwise they need to shut up and face reality for what things cost". Hmm maybe Gilead does plan to do this, but let's be real as the way the system stands, everything costs way too much, and that would never work.
I do believe the Hutterites got this the most right on economic matters. You have to remember I am in and around a lot of different churches even in my repeating needs for food pantries and other charities. We had some years we didn't need any charity but these last few have been rough. I've thought about this, most of the poor are coming in as outsiders. The government is providing the food. Some churches will add some meat, eggs and cheese but when you are on the food pantry rounds you see the same brands of food in the boxes.
The Hutterites at least share resources, employment and food. Should a church have people who are multi-millionaires in it, while others go starve? Should it have a pastor who can afford international vacations while one family can't even afford a box of macaroni and cheese for dinner? Some may say "You sound like a communist", but I don't care. The capitalism we have now is made of monopolies, it is not the small business capitalism of the past that could keep people and communities more secure. We are being ravaged by megacorporations with no loyalty to communities or even America. Is anyone noticing this?
Did any of you read or hear about that experiment where this lady called up churches pretending to have a starving baby, and only a couple Catholic churches, a mosque and a rural church in Appalachia helped her? One thing about the Catholic church, they did treat the poor a bit better than many evangelical churches. I agree with more of their outlook on the poor. Dorothy Day is an example of a Catholic who helped the poor. A rural church with working class poor members would have more empathy.
While I've been helped by churches, I remember being desperate and calling churches and being turned down years ago. It actually happened in Chicago. There was no one to help. Some people think there is more help out there than there is. They say things like there are churches and charities to help the poor, why don't those poor turn to them? I wrote about how there is far less help than you think there is in the Social Services world. Since I wrote this article, the disabled friend who applied for help got turned down. She was turned down and told she was not disabled enough for any help. I felt sad about this. People ask for help and always seemed turned down nowadays.
One thing to remember now as this country goes more economically desperate, a lot of places are closing up shop. I expect to see starving and more homeless people in the streets of America soon. Where are the churches? How many are admitting it's even happening? Sadly for most of the evangelical ones, they've been shoveled so much crap by the likes of Dave Ramsey, Trump and the religious politically right, they were more busy shouting down poor people on the internet. They believe the algorithms and shills online that claim EBT people haul in thousands of dollars of food per month. They think most of the poor are drug addicts and at fault. They support encampments for homeless people instead of real shelter. They do not listen to Jesus Christ.
Luke 12:33: "Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail."
I have noticed a scapegoating of the poor that got extreme on the right wing side of things, see how the billionaires and elite, always profit? You still see the rude ones shout "Get a job!" even as there is now millions of job lay offs. Sadly with so much of our media owned and I saw these trends expand on X, the voices of regular people have been drowned out. I definitely have been shadow banned on X, I stay there to get readers for this blog now but the place is so "controlled". I've come to the conclusion most are shills and bots and meant to persuade people on a multitude of issues. The ones who speak freely, their accounts never grow. The ones who preach for the billionaires, get numbers in the thousands. Sadly the left wing is just as influenced, denying the extreme problems out there with the economy. The churches don't seem to be talking about it at all. I think most poor people are leaving churches. When you can't afford groceries, even 10 dollars in the church basket is a lot.
Here's another recent shocking church moment. This one angered me.
This homeless lady in Kalamazoo Michigan, was parking her car to sleep in a church parking lot. These people came out and told her she had to leave, I guess she came in to ask if she could stay and they were completely rude to her and would not help her. This church looked like it was in a suburban area. The mean looking female pastor videotaping her without a word and lady at the desk couldn't be colder and more rejecting. What is scary is the homeless woman is disabled and lives on SSI, and lives in her car because rent is too high, and they still wouldn't help her. They stared at her with dead eyes with no empathy. I found myself wondering why did they treat her this way? She was seen more as a "danger" than a human being! Later the church apologized. These things are very concerning.
Well I have shared my church experiences, some were good and some were bad. I do think churches are changing and I'm not sure its for the good. I do think when I was younger there was more of an idea of churches calling certain segments of society to account. They weren't so owned and steered by the ruling class. Politics didn't seem so important as they are now. Teachings like "love thy neighbor" were important and I learned many of these things in the Catholic church growing up. Things seemed "nicer". Things seemed more free, while churches always had the grifters and problems, you get worried when there's growing coldness and where church as a business seems to have grown.
Why didn't more of them question what happened during Covid? That bugs me. Are they more owned and ruled by the ruling class or is that just a factor that grew with technology? Things were different in the days when church was part of the community and people spent their lives in a close knit community church they attended for their entire life. I don't know there has been a lot of changes in religion during my life time, I saw it in the Catholic, evangelical and UU church. Maybe some of us don't fit into church culture because there is a certain cohesion expected, that is sometimes hard for the exploring/seeker types to adhere to? I'm not sure. Well, here are my thoughts today about church and my experiences in them. Share your own experiences here.
No comments:
Post a Comment