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Wow. None of the namby-pamby stuff that one has come to expect from political leaders. The Pope doesn't mince words here!

by rmk 3y ago

corinroyal 3y ago
Right? I was blown away. I'm a lifelong activist who recently converted and this piece was part of the reason why. I played a game with my friend by reading some quotes and asking if this were from the Pope or an article in Socialist Worker. I had always assumed that conservative and progressive interpretations of Christianity were equally valid. But now I see that the message is entirely antithetical to conservatism. The conservative elements came from distortions of the message by the institutional bureaucracy or co-opters, or from over-identifying with ancient social relationships and not recognizing those relationships were changing at that time from what they were previously. It's the change that mattered. For example, I'm an anti-circumcision activist. It's barbaric. But circumcision was the humane alternative to sacrifice of first-born sons. A clear improvement. So noticing the trend, we can suggest that millenia later, it might be time to take the next step and trade Jewish circumcision for something better. It's amazing to find this out and see that the Abrahamic traditions have built-in features for innovation and refactoring. Perhaps it's true that God is unchanging, although I doubt that, but certainly our relationship to God and scripture MUST change. Christianity is about continual improvement, not the worship of ancient social relationships. Basically, the faith is about abstract monotheism, iconoclasm, and social justice. It is the story of an increasingly hands-off God who works through individuals to enact his will. It's about eliminating transactional worship and rote ritual in favor of a direct experience of divine inspiration. And it's about continually enlarging our sphere of empathy in order to make way for the Kingdom.

Wow. None of the namby-pamby stuff that one has come to expect from political leaders. The Pope doesn't mince words here!

by rmk 3y ago

Wow. None of the namby-pamby stuff that one has come to expect from political leaders. The Pope doesn't mince words here!

corinroyal 3y ago

Right? I was blown away. I'm a lifelong activist who recently converted and this piece was part of the reason why. I played a game with my friend by reading some quotes and asking if this were from the Pope or an article in Socialist Worker. I had always assumed that conservative and progressive interpretations of Christianity were equally valid. But now I see that the message is entirely antithetical to conservatism. The conservative elements came from distortions of the message by the institutional bureaucracy or co-opters, or from over-identifying with ancient social relationships and not recognizing those relationships were changing at that time from what they were previously. It's the change that mattered. For example, I'm an anti-circumcision activist. It's barbaric. But circumcision was the humane alternative to sacrifice of first-born sons. A clear improvement. So noticing the trend, we can suggest that millenia later, it might be time to take the next step and trade Jewish circumcision for something better. It's amazing to find this out and see that the Abrahamic traditions have built-in features for innovation and refactoring. Perhaps it's true that God is unchanging, although I doubt that, but certainly our relationship to God and scripture MUST change. Christianity is about continual improvement, not the worship of ancient social relationships. Basically, the faith is about abstract monotheism, iconoclasm, and social justice. It is the story of an increasingly hands-off God who works through individuals to enact his will. It's about eliminating transactional worship and rote ritual in favor of a direct experience of divine inspiration. And it's about continually enlarging our sphere of empathy in order to make way for the Kingdom.