Who are we? I can tell you who I am. I am a woman, raised Catholic, in Massachusetts. When I was 15 years old, I told my father I didn't want to make my Confirmation. He said okay. He didn't argue, he didn't tell me that I had to make it, he didn't force me to follow a religion I was beginning to doubt. Instead, he embraced my agnosticism and let me explore other theologies so that I could become more aware.
I have always enjoyed mythology and I've read many myths and folktales from around the globe. I particularly enjoy stories of creation. Reading the many stories from tales about Blood-Clot Boy from the Blackfoot tribe to Adam and Eve of Judeo-Christan origins. All of them are impossible, all of them are trying to teach us something, and all of them have some basis in fact at the time the stories were told.
In my teens, I began to explore Wicca. I read about it and realized it wasn't "evil" as some people claimed but instead closely matched the beliefs of my Mi'kmaq ancestors. It was about the connections between all things. It was about being grateful for what the earth provides.
After that I read the Torah, the Quran, the Zohar, the Kama Sutra, Siddhartha and many other books that are too lengthy to mention. They have many commonalities, the messages saying the same things in different ways. We are really not all that different but pointing out what minor differences exist and then amplifying them causes division.
Look at where we are. People were on national television saying there was a war on Christmas. There was no war on Christmas. In fact, Christmas started as a method of converting pagans to the Christian faith. Christmas never had Christ in it to begin with but that's another story for another time. My former boss is a Jewish woman that spent a year at Rabbinic school before she decided it wasn't for her. She told me there are two Christmas's, the religious Christmas and the civic Christmas. She is right. No one is getting upset at you for saying "Merry Christmas".
We have a gigantic chasm between us and it is being driven wider apart by the messages coming from both the far right and the far left. Left in the middle of that chasm is people like me.
When I was 22, I met a man and fell in love and five years later we married. He is the son of two Air Force Veterans, he was raised strict in an Irish-Catholic family. His parents are right wing and vote for the most religious candidate that will do the most for the military. All other issues of that candidate are moot, as far as they are concerned. He wanted to get married in a Catholic church but to do that I had to get confirmed. I went through the classes as an adult and became Catholic, if not in name only, to give him his wish of being married in a Catholic church.
His parents are Fox News watchers, they believe marriage exists only between a man and a woman, they believe there is no such thing as "transgender" or "gay", they believe those things are a genetic disease, they believe in a strong military, strong borders, etc. They are the demographic that gave us Donald Trump.
Here's the problem, if one only follows one religious path their entire life and only hears the message through the gatekeepers of the church they will remain closed-minded. Opening one's mind means opening your way of thinking and seeing things from the other side.
The Old Testament has a ton of horrible things in it, but the New Testament, Jesus, became the New Law. The New Way. The Way. Yahweh.
We can't live and die by the ideology of one book. We need to see it for what it is: a book. It's up to us to reform and learn the lessons being taught.
When Jesus came he had one rule, "Love one another." That one rule supersedes all others. There is no stutter, there is no footnote, there is no "but".
It is not only not Christian to turn away refugees and harm children, it is not human to do those things.
When I see people on the news saying things like, "These aren't our kids." Yes, they are.
All children are innocent and deserve protection and safety. All children are equal. All mothers love their children as much as we love ours. All children are precious and should never be subjected to abuse. There is no excuse for what Trump has done to these kids.
People say, "Well, Obama did it..." blah blah blah. I don't care about what Obama did or didn't do. If he did do these things, that's wrong and I condemn it just as much as I condemn Trump. But this is the present. This is now. This is today and like it or not Donald Trump is the President of the United States. He is making these decisions. He is implementing these policies and Fox News is amplifying his lies to further string along his closed minded, fearful followers.
You know what you have if you don't have fear? People that don't need guns. People that don't fear immigrants. People that open their hearts.
Yes, there are criminals in this world, but children are not criminals. I'm not saying to open the border and let everyone through, I'm saying to be smart. If these people are looking for asylum, help them. These countries that are all messed up, we need to help them get their shit together.
But who are we if we are caging children? Who are we if we are turning away the least of us? Who are we if we are drugging minors? That's not who I am. Is it who you are? If it is, it's time to go back to your roots and really look at yourself.
The past is past, today is now and today Trump is abusing children and violating human rights. Take a stand. Turn off Fox News and listen to your heart.
I have always enjoyed mythology and I've read many myths and folktales from around the globe. I particularly enjoy stories of creation. Reading the many stories from tales about Blood-Clot Boy from the Blackfoot tribe to Adam and Eve of Judeo-Christan origins. All of them are impossible, all of them are trying to teach us something, and all of them have some basis in fact at the time the stories were told.
In my teens, I began to explore Wicca. I read about it and realized it wasn't "evil" as some people claimed but instead closely matched the beliefs of my Mi'kmaq ancestors. It was about the connections between all things. It was about being grateful for what the earth provides.
After that I read the Torah, the Quran, the Zohar, the Kama Sutra, Siddhartha and many other books that are too lengthy to mention. They have many commonalities, the messages saying the same things in different ways. We are really not all that different but pointing out what minor differences exist and then amplifying them causes division.
Look at where we are. People were on national television saying there was a war on Christmas. There was no war on Christmas. In fact, Christmas started as a method of converting pagans to the Christian faith. Christmas never had Christ in it to begin with but that's another story for another time. My former boss is a Jewish woman that spent a year at Rabbinic school before she decided it wasn't for her. She told me there are two Christmas's, the religious Christmas and the civic Christmas. She is right. No one is getting upset at you for saying "Merry Christmas".
We have a gigantic chasm between us and it is being driven wider apart by the messages coming from both the far right and the far left. Left in the middle of that chasm is people like me.
When I was 22, I met a man and fell in love and five years later we married. He is the son of two Air Force Veterans, he was raised strict in an Irish-Catholic family. His parents are right wing and vote for the most religious candidate that will do the most for the military. All other issues of that candidate are moot, as far as they are concerned. He wanted to get married in a Catholic church but to do that I had to get confirmed. I went through the classes as an adult and became Catholic, if not in name only, to give him his wish of being married in a Catholic church.
His parents are Fox News watchers, they believe marriage exists only between a man and a woman, they believe there is no such thing as "transgender" or "gay", they believe those things are a genetic disease, they believe in a strong military, strong borders, etc. They are the demographic that gave us Donald Trump.
Here's the problem, if one only follows one religious path their entire life and only hears the message through the gatekeepers of the church they will remain closed-minded. Opening one's mind means opening your way of thinking and seeing things from the other side.
The Old Testament has a ton of horrible things in it, but the New Testament, Jesus, became the New Law. The New Way. The Way. Yahweh.
We can't live and die by the ideology of one book. We need to see it for what it is: a book. It's up to us to reform and learn the lessons being taught.
When Jesus came he had one rule, "Love one another." That one rule supersedes all others. There is no stutter, there is no footnote, there is no "but".
It is not only not Christian to turn away refugees and harm children, it is not human to do those things.
When I see people on the news saying things like, "These aren't our kids." Yes, they are.
All children are innocent and deserve protection and safety. All children are equal. All mothers love their children as much as we love ours. All children are precious and should never be subjected to abuse. There is no excuse for what Trump has done to these kids.
People say, "Well, Obama did it..." blah blah blah. I don't care about what Obama did or didn't do. If he did do these things, that's wrong and I condemn it just as much as I condemn Trump. But this is the present. This is now. This is today and like it or not Donald Trump is the President of the United States. He is making these decisions. He is implementing these policies and Fox News is amplifying his lies to further string along his closed minded, fearful followers.
You know what you have if you don't have fear? People that don't need guns. People that don't fear immigrants. People that open their hearts.
Yes, there are criminals in this world, but children are not criminals. I'm not saying to open the border and let everyone through, I'm saying to be smart. If these people are looking for asylum, help them. These countries that are all messed up, we need to help them get their shit together.
But who are we if we are caging children? Who are we if we are turning away the least of us? Who are we if we are drugging minors? That's not who I am. Is it who you are? If it is, it's time to go back to your roots and really look at yourself.
The past is past, today is now and today Trump is abusing children and violating human rights. Take a stand. Turn off Fox News and listen to your heart.
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