While I agree it's good to have facts back up our beliefs
there are some that cannot be proven no matter how much research I do. It is part of my experience to be perceptive,
to sense what is happening around me, and after many years of dismissing many
of these perceptions because of a lack of proof, I believe they have some
element of value.
For example I cannot prove that
Jesus, who, according to
scriptures, was nailed to a cross – died for our sins, not to save us from our
sins as the Christian doctrine says.
Certainly these doctrines have been studied by scholars and priests for
many centuries, and for whom I would never doubt their intelligence, but there
is a theme in these teachings that reach me in a very deep and disturbing way.
The meaning of this story, comes from my first impression as
a child. It is a warning of what happens to those who challenge authority. The
imagery is so powerful it hardly needs thinking about. The son of man (and woman) nailed to a cross,
naked, and left to die a long and excruciating death,
for advocating a spiritual life – what child wouldn't get
that message deep under their soft skin?
After two thousand years of evolving doctrines, the
most fanatic adherents have been willing to mutilate, torture, burn and murder for
their Christ without feeling any apparent conflict to their Savior's message
in life – although I have no way of knowing the conscience of crusaders.
What is that sin
we are guilty of, that allowed him to be crucified? Is it the original sin –
being born of woman, of sexual desire, of being imperfect? Or is it that we (mortals)
failed to climb on the cross, remove the nails and set the Christ free?
This question is, of course, naïve, and all the arguments,
interpretations, are irrelevant no matter how eloquent or learned they may be –
except the meaning that most impacts the followers.
Some dismiss religion entirely. After all history reveals our vainglory. The teachings of Christianity have been
selected and altered to fit
the politics of the day. First it was used to make the people suspicious
of their own intellects and judgement, and to fear their own desires and
needs. Then it taught misogyny, a hatred
of feminine wisdom. It forced men to
doubt their own feelings and fears, to become soldiers and cannon fodder. Then
it taught followers to hate those who did not share their religion and race.
Instead of teaching the love of Christ it taught religious intolerance. It taught that suffering was good for you and
at the same time, taught that those who suffered ill-health, poverty, injustice
– must have angered God and so their suffering came with shame and guilt.
Now that a new
tool of propaganda has been invented, religion
is not essential. Now voice-overs,
images, TV shows, movies, consumerism, and the internet, can broadcast the
doctrines that keep us serving – what exactly? Ideology? Technology? The corporate
elite? Racial supremacy? Patriarchy?
Are all these things evil or are they different versions of
the same thing? Should we get rid of them all and return to community and
nature? Would we then be free of
oppression?
Although I can’t prove it I believe ideology is a way of
ordering life without the agony of attempting to understand it.
It’s an operating system, under different names, we willingly give in
to, in the hopes we’ll rise to a
position of power that will enable us to feel
superior. We submit to doctrines,
game plans, education, clubs – believing we can reach the top, change the
rules, or change the system.
So the story of Jesus, like the story of the witch hunts,
the French revolution, war, capitalism, communism, and The Wizard of Oz – are
all about the worship of power over the use of responsible democratic power that
comes from within. Their cautionary tales reveal our inability to transcend the
operating systems that punish those who seek alternatives to structural
violence. Those who affirm life through
love instead of hate. Those who work for
the greater good of all. I can’t prove it but I keep seeing it this way.
