I am a “senior citizen”. I was born a Protestant Christian – a “northern”
Methodist. My parents were heavily
involved in the social and religious life and in the administration of our
local church.
Growing up I regularly attended
my church’s Sunday School and ecumenical week-day and summer “Bible School” and
as a teen-ager my church’s youth group and Methodist summer conference/camp,
where I was taught the true teachings of Christ and Christianity – love they
neighbor, accept the different, do unto others, feed the hungry, heal the sick,
help the needy, and welcome the stranger.
As a teen-ager and young adult my
Protestant Christian upbringing led me to be involved in local and national
politics and community and national social action, in ecumenical and secular
organizations, to promote the previously identified true teachings of Christ
and Christianity - but certainly not to advocate the legislation of the
individual “rules and restrictions” of Protestant Christianity.
As an adult I was, and am, truly “lapsed”
and a bit more of an agnostic than a full atheist – but I have always acknowledged
and appreciated the positive effect my Christian upbringing had on shaping the
person I am today.
What has become the more public
and vocal Christianity of today – the Christianity of the so-called “evangelicals”
of the Religious Right that have taken control of the Republican Party – bears absolutely
no resemblance to the Christianity I was brought up in. The policies of today's "Christianity" are directly contrary to the
true teachings of Christ and Christianity I learned in my childhood religious
education.
Today’s Christianity truly ain’t
Christian anymore.
TAFN
Growing up I regularly attended my church’s Sunday School and ecumenical week-day and summer “Bible School” and as a teen-ager my church’s youth group and Methodist summer conference/camp, where I was taught the true teachings of Christ and Christianity – love they neighbor, accept the different, do unto others, feed the hungry, heal the sick, help the needy, and welcome the stranger.
As a teen-ager and young adult my Protestant Christian upbringing led me to be involved in local and national politics and community and national social action, in ecumenical and secular organizations, to promote the previously identified true teachings of Christ and Christianity - but certainly not to advocate the legislation of the individual “rules and restrictions” of Protestant Christianity.
As an adult I was, and am, truly “lapsed” and a bit more of an agnostic than a full atheist – but I have always acknowledged and appreciated the positive effect my Christian upbringing had on shaping the person I am today.
What has become the more public and vocal Christianity of today – the Christianity of the so-called “evangelicals” of the Religious Right that have taken control of the Republican Party – bears absolutely no resemblance to the Christianity I was brought up in. The policies of today's "Christianity" are directly contrary to the true teachings of Christ and Christianity I learned in my childhood religious education.
Today’s Christianity truly ain’t Christian anymore.
TAFN
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