Imagine

 Do you believe in God?

Well, I do.  Always did.  If you do, great!  Also, if you don't, great!  

I will judge a person based on how they treat others and how they carry themselves.  I won't judge someone based on their belief systems, if they have any; or how much money they have; the job they work; or whatever wrongs they've committed as long as they regret them, depending on what they are.

There's a lot of talk these days about what makes a Christian.  I think that's a very malleable term.  Being a Christian can be an insult to some, or the highest praise to others.  The way I see it, anyway.  Me, if someone calls me a Christian, I'll take it as a compliment.  I rarely hear it, though.  That's fine.  Especially these days.

Because lately, being Christian is increasingly derogatory, thanks mainly to the far-right.  It's especially scary in the U.S., where God and guns go hand in hand more and more as the years pass.  It's ramped up especially in the last number of years since Donald Trump entered politics.  I've never seen a politician so antichrist in my life as Trump, yet the Christian far-right claims ... literally ... that he is 'the Chosen One'.  I honestly can't think of another politician in North American history more un-Christian than that monster.  In two and a half years from now, if he's allowed to run for president again and wins, that will accelerate the corrosion of society at breakneck speed and usher in the end of the world as we know it.  That's going on right now, but at least with that criminal out of the White House, with his completely unqualified jerkoffs backing him up (many of whom must face justice from this point forward), we see somewhat of a glimmer of hope.  Not all that bright, mind you, but even the smallest match can kill the dark.

The issue of recent times south of the border is gun control.  Mass shooting after mass shooting, school after school getting shot up, even hospitals aren't safe from gun violence.  It's remarkable.  And the solution offered every single time from the right has always been 'more guns!'.  There are more guns in the U.S. than there are people.  Not that that seems really to matter.  Canada has a shit-ton of guns.  The difference between us are the laws.  And the average Joe next door isn't allowed to carry weapons of war.  I've seen lots of pictures of Jesus holding guns at rallies.  Bibles literally with guns on top of them.  A scary number of these people actually think slavery was a good thing!  Is this actually Christian material?!

The Jesus I've been taught about and believe in abhors violence.  He welcomed sinners into his life so he could teach.  He tried to tell us we should be humble and not boastful.  This is a guy who was born in a manger because no one would take in his family.  The man was buried in a cave without any statues or ginormous grave markers that you see at any given graveyard today.  He tried to teach us humility, that we didn't know everything, and that we need to help and love each other.  When Magdalene was about to be killed for prostitution, he dared anyone who was without sin to throw the first stone.  Cancel culture and the whole Me Too Movement ought to learn a few things from this.  None of us have spotless pasts, but all of us has the ability to change.  If we change for the better but someone goes digging for past misdeeds, does that cancel out all that's been learned by said 'sinner'?  So-called Christians, many of them, are pots calling kettles black.  I've been known to be just that way.  But I'm also proud that I had the capacity to learn from my past mistakes.  It may not be a proud moment to do something terrible, but it is to realize that you did and correct it.  To me, that's part of what being Christian is.

And I don't think you necessarily even have to believe in Jesus to actually be Christian.  I know I'll catch hell for saying that with some people.  But it's a lot more Christian to give a poor man $5 begging for money outside a church than it is for another coming out of that same church and sneer at that man.  "Oh, but he might take that money and buy drugs," some will counter.  Bullshit.  That means you are elevating yourself as judge and jury to that man, after walking out of a building you've just claimed you worship as the real Judge.  Moreso, I've seen how people behave right after they leave service.  It's not always terribly Christian to me.

The question of abortion is a very touchy and muddy one.  I hate the idea of abortion.  I'm anti-abortion, make no mistake.  Something that upsets me the most are casual abortions, when a woman gets pregnant inconveniently and decides to terminate.  But this is not a black and white issue!  It's made out to be by the religious right, that's for damn sure.  But here's the thing... you can't be anti-gay and "pro life" at the same time.  There are wonderful gay couples everywhere that are waiting to adopt kids and give them happy, prosperous lives full of love.  If pregnancies of inconvenience are somehow incentivized to follow through on giving birth to pass the child onto a loving couple, whether they be gay or straight, shouldn't that be something that is embraced?  What could be more "pro life" than that?  But the thing is, right now in the south, laws are being passed to force women to carry through their pregnancies whether they want to or not.  On a significantly smaller scale, imagine being an uncircumcised man and there being a law passed that says you have to get snipped, or else.  Risk of infection?  Trauma?  Strain on the health care system?  Too bad.  You've got to do it.  Non Jewish men everywhere would throw the BIGGEST fucking fit there ever was, telling lawmakers they have no right to tell them what to do with their bodies.  Now being pregnant is a far greater risk than circumcision, granted.  The chances of complications, not to mention God knows what the baby may wind up as healthwise - especially if the mother was doing drugs or whatever if she was unknowingly pregnant, or if it was rape or incest - are scary enough to normal pregnancies.  But the religious right is insisting that ANY conception must be carried out.  The government officially owns your body if your pee test comes up positive.  CARRY THAT BABY TO TERM OR ELSE.  That precious, innocent life!  How dare you think of abortion!

That is, until the child is actually born, then the religious right couldn't give a sweet shit what happens from there.  Many of these kids being forced to be born will end up getting killed by gunfire not long after they're born, anyway, with the way things are going.  And republicans won't bat an eye about it.  They'll cry their hearts out to keep their guns before they'll lift a finger to protect these kids who were once babies themselves.  This is the hypocrisy that is right wing politics.  Guns are their kids.  How Christian.

The far right also detest immigrants.  Those fleeing poverty and war, especially if they're not white.  Trump notoriously pleaded with Norwegians to immigrate to the U.S., Norway being almost completely a white country.  Like Russia.  And we all know how much Trump loves Russia, even with their attempted genocide of Ukraine.  They have a missile earmarked for North America specifically named 'Satan'.  It's not hard to figure out how 'Christian' that isn't.  Just how Christian is it to tell the poor and downtrodden that the richest continent in the world can't do anything to help?  Does Jesus approve of that??

Take someone like George Carlin, one of the most famous atheists in recent modern times.  He made no bones about not believing in a 'higher power' (a term I hate myself, if I'm being honest).  But he was a champion for freedom and equality and fairness.  So was Jesus, wasn't he?  Carlin didn't believe in God or Jesus, yet his actions were far more Christian than Trump could ever hope to be.  Take Stephen Hawking, who was another avowed atheist.  A kind soul who devoted his life to teaching science and the advancement of the human race as a whole, whether you were spiritual or not.  Ricky Gervais ridicules religion all the time, but he doesn't hate people who are religious, unless they're genuine douchebags, which is true of too many too often.  He's actually a champion of animal rights and human rights.  So is Bill Maher, a super-atheist, but still respects anyone who believes as long as they're not obnoxious or arrogant about it.  Then he'll let you know what he thinks of your hypocrisy.  He's more Christian than most right wing politicians, whether he wants to accept that or not.

I'm a huge fan of King's X, a band my long-lost friend Steve introduced me to all the way back when I worked at a convenience store in the 80s.  In those days, King's X were lyrically heavily influenced by their faith.  As time went on, though, they became more and more persecuted by evangelical Christians, to the point that it angered them, and one member in particular renounced his faith in Christianity, because he came out as gay and was nailed to the proverbial cross for it.  He may have left Christianity and become more agnostic, but God is still a thing for him.  His actions and his words are still more Christian than the majority of those who actually claim they are.  I met him and the other guys in King's X with some friends a few years ago, and we were all taken aback at how kind, thoughtful, generous, and downright next-door-neighbor-y they were with us.  In fact, I asked Doug Pinnick, the one I was talking about, to write out a verse to a King's X song precious to me that related to my depression, which he also dealt with, so I could tattoo it on my back.  He has a website where you can order these frameable sheets of artfully written lyrics.  These lyrics were written by Ty Tabor, the guitarist, but he sings the verse, which makes it resonate more for me.  He said he'd do it, but with respect to Ty, he didn't want to sign it.  I was over the moon that he would do it!  Not to mention, he only wanted postage to have it sent.  I told him I couldn't just let him do it for nothing, so I sent him $60 U.S.  He promptly sent me the lyric sheet, along with some bass picks, a personally autographed solo CD of his, and a few other things.  How cool is that??  Show me an artist more generous than that.  The man's not rich.  King's X does well overseas, but they're essentially a club and theatre band stateside, and have never been profitable.  The fact that he did what he did for me makes him Christian in my eyes.

Jesus said that no one enters into the Kingdom of Heaven except through him.  I truly think Jesus would accept anyone as kind as the people I mentioned above into Heaven based on how they treated everyone else.  Because that is what defines a Christian to me.  Some would agree and some would disagree, which I respect.  The older I'm getting, the more I see the Holy Bible as a book that speaks in metaphors - not necessarily exclusively, but particularly pertaining to a lot of stories that are particularly hard to envision actually happening.  My thought is that they're lessons through metaphors, based on things that actually may have happened.  What about the Bible's wording itself?  How it was originally written can be lost in translation.  Chances are you've eaten earth apples.  Oh, you didn't?  In French, potatoes are "pommes de terre", which translates directly to earth apples.  Add centuries and more translations and revisions, along with other religions' version of what happened, and you've got one confusing story.  To me, the Bible is kind of a human's handbook on how to live, which, like everything else, would have to adapt to the times as we move forward.  I don't think Abraham would get away with tying up his son and get him ready to be torched in this day in age, for example.  Nor does the God I believe in actually tell him to do it, only to step in and say "whoa, DUDE, just kidding!"  The God in the New Testament just doesn't seem to be much like the God in the Old Testament.  But you can certainly take great elements from both books and use them to help guide you in life.  Being a Christian myself, I've chosen to adopt what Jesus taught, with consideration to his possible amendments.  Jesus amended much of the Old Testament when he was alive.  Wouldn't that be because people just evolve and grow?  Today we have things like industrialization, electricity, multiple forms of transportation, and constantly evolving technology.  Surely we can't live exactly the way we did as they have back in Jesus' time on earth.

And if you agree with that, then ponder this... Right now, the abortion debate is going on all over North America.  I stop and think of what I'd feel about that if I was a woman.  I'm no longer in control of myself.  If this is the case, and I was pregnant for any particular reason, I can't imagine what it would feel like to know that the law can force upon me their laws in governing my body.  That just sounds like a nightmare.  If I wanted the pregnancy?  Great!!  I will take care of that child and do whatever it takes to raise said child properly.  If I don't want it?  What if I drank heavily at the time of conception, or even during the first number of weeks before I realized I was pregnant?  What if I was raped?  Incest?  You're telling me I have no choice in any of these matters at all, because it's the law??  Then if I need this pregnancy terminated, I'm going to the gym and lifting the heaviest weights that I can't lift.  There's the coat hanger option.  Maybe there's some other way I can harm myself that will justify getting what I want.  THIS is all the stuff that's going to go on if we treat women this way.

And speaking of technology... it's inevitable science will get to the point where, instead of abortion, the fetus is safely extracted from the mother, and raised not unlike "test tube babies".  You would then have a healthy child waiting to be with a pair of loving parents, instead of an outright abortion.  That, to me, would be an acceptable compromise.  But with the current state of affairs, the religious right would do everything possible to make all of that illegal just like abortion.  No compromise.  Their way or the highway.

In a perfect world, of course, there is  no abortion, and every child is wanted and welcomed.  Also, in that same perfect world, there is no rape, incest, assault or lack of love to be sure someone is equipped to look after a child.  The thing is, there's lots and lots of all that terrible stuff going on right now, and will be for the foreseeable future.  Not every conception is equal.  So what can we do then?  Start by treating women as equal human beings with the same rights men have.  That's a massive start.  Women will be taken care of for their child no matter what.  During and after the pregnancy.  But this isn't happening, and too many people in power just don't want it to happen.  Most of these people call themselves "Christians".

Let me be clear, I'm a God-loving Christian man.  And I believe if people are all viewed more with love and understanding, and forgiveness when applicable, things like abortion would drastically wane.  Without laws and subjugation of women.  

As one famous atheist once said, "Imagine".