Christian Supremacy and Me

I believe in God. I think Jesus is awesome. And today, when a random stranger on the street tried to 'save' me by handing me a booklet on the Gospel, I ripped that booklet up and threw it away.

Lately, I've really had my eyes opened to Christian supremacy. I mean, being bi, I've dealt with rude Christians who felt the need to 'help' me and didn't know when to back off or couldn't take the hint that I didn't want or need their twisted 'help'. And honestly, I used to be one of those Christians, though I never had a problem with gay people (and thank goodness, because otherwise realizing I was one would have been so much more horrifying to me). The way I acted wasn't cool, and I'm glad that I know that now so I can make amends for my actions.

My experiences, whether panic attack-inducing, like a Christian 'friend' harassing me on Facebook or simply annoying, like a girl I was paired up with for a school project on a Judaism-based novel acting like Christians are the only ones who understand what it means to be created for a higher purpose (and thereby dominating the conversation by talking about something that was irrelevant, inaccurate, and didn't pertain to the project), have been bad enough. But other people have had it worse. Sex workers, for example - what's so wrong with paid sex if it's consensual and safe? Not to mention everyone oppressed by the KKK, every woman who has died because she couldn't terminate the pregnancy endangering her life, all the people killed for being pagan or Jewish or disabled or queer, all the wives beaten because Christianity said they were to submit to their husbands, all the accused witches in the Salem witch trials, all the Muslims killed by Queen Isabella during the Moorish age, all the autistics mistaken for changelings and murdered during the Middle Ages, all the people cut off from their families for being different? How can someone do any of that and still claim they are acting out of love?

They can't - well, I guess they can but their argument is basically "But the Bible says so." And the fact that so many Christians still seem to think they are entitled to some kind of special deference after all of this is just sickening.

Not to mention, the reasoning. I mean, there's no way God wouldn't have been able to know that there would be other religions or people without religion, and if He had a problem with that He could easily force people to bend to His will. There's no way He/She/They/Xe (I see God as being pangender) would ever be like, "Just obey me unquestioningly, don't act on the sexual desires I gave you, don't get an abortion even if your life is in danger, always forgive someone no matter how badly they've hurt you, submit to your husband at all times, don't question authority even when the authority is being oppressive or unreasonable, don't fall in love if I created you gay or transition if I created you transgender, don't try to figure out the world that I created for you, and you'll be juuuuust fine." It makes no sense. There's also the fact that some people would legitimately have no idea about Christianity - so why would God send someone to hell for not being a Christian? If you look at history, there are no cultures that started out Christian - and the ones that became predominantly Christian had Christianity forced on them. When you think about it, most Christians (the conservative ones, at least) were raised Christian. Had they been raised Jewish, or Hindu, or Muslim, they would have been just as gung-ho about Judaism or Hinduism or Islam. A small child can't decide objectively for themselves what they believe, and they're going to trust what their parents and other authority figures tell them.

Am I a Christian? As I said at the beginning of the post, I believe in God and really admire Jesus - but I don't think Jesus is the only path to eternal paradise, whether you call it Nirvana or Heaven or the Summerlands or something else (I commonly use the term Heaven as it feels familiar to me, but I also like the pagan term 'Summerlands'). I agree, basically, with Christianity as Jesus intended it to be - love - but not with Christianity as people have allowed it and facilitated it to become. I am friends with Christians, most of you probably know that I was raised Christian, and I go to a Christian church and youth group (they know about my opinions on religion and there are several openly queer youth group members, so that hasn't been a problem yet). However, all things considered I can't theologically call myself a Christian.

 Do I hate Christians? Well, that depends on the Christian. I don't care what other people believe as long as their beliefs and the subsequent actions don't hurt anyone. However, if their beliefs do hurt people - and Christian beliefs often do and have for centuries - then I will fight back. Human rights are not up for debate, and I don't think God would ever intend for them to be. But, largely because of Christianity, they often are.