Outing

I woke up with no pain this morning, but having not slept very well.  Honestly, I’ll take the no pain.  I can sleep at other times.  We had planned to do a grocery run today, but the traffic was competing with Toronto today… there’s road works that closed the highway so traffic that would normally bypass downtown was detoured into downtown.  Isn’t that fun?  No, you’re right, it’s not!  Plus the street on which I need to turn to get out of my building is closed from 8pm today — so already — until Monday 6am, so for me, getting in and out will be a challenge. (“Local” traffic can still access the driveways, but the road is a mess.). We were out to a different grocery, with a shorter list but I definitely needed items.  Jerry was excited even before we decided on the trip, and went to stand guard over his harness so he could get dressed to go out!  Don’s spider bite continues to be sore and uncomfortable but he was ok to drive so progress.  They’re both “watching” football now… with little grunts that sound like snores, but they couldn’t be since nobody’s asleep, right? Right… 🙄🤪

Once again I encountered coincidence and serendipity.  The homilist at Mass talked about it.  There was a short news article about it.  Someone sent me an email on it.  And then it appeared in a TV show that I was watching… so clearly it’s something that needed my attention, however briefly or erratically.  It was about hypocrisy, and more specifically, religious hypocrisy.  I can hear you guys!  “You’re just repeating yourself!  What other kind could there be?”  Well, there are other kinds, such as political hypocrites, or those who pretend to be dedicated to pretty much any cause, which might include vegetarianism, organic lifestyles, and many many others.  But today it’s the religious one that caught the attention of the universe (or at least me, and then I noticed it again because of coincidence.)

You all know that I’m a practicing Catholic.  I’ve been challenged on that and my beliefs since I was a teen, starting with my “all religions are the same” exploration in confirmation, and continuing into my university life, where my professor asked, “How can you call yourself a scientist and say that you believe in God and go to church?”  Then 20 years later, a colleague said, “You don’t really mean that you actually go to church, do you?  That’s so outdated!  Do you believe in magic too?”  And a friend asked, “How can any intelligent person believe in God?”  All those non-judgemental, open minded questions, seeking answers! 🙄  I don’t even bother answering them, not since confirmation, when a very open minded and approachable priest listened to me and helped me begin to define my belief system.  It’s largely Roman Catholic with some flashes of ecumenism for when I find that the church doesn’t have what I consider to be an adequate answer.  IMO, I’m not in conflict, nor am I apostate; at worst, I’m questioning, and at best, I’m committed to learning more.  My thinking on many complex issues is underpinned by the Church’s teachings, and I hope that this confession doesn’t cause too many of you to cut me out of your lives.  I say this to be honest about my own beliefs, and to discuss the topic that I have identified today.

There are many people in church who are good, kind people, who want to do their best and attain heaven.  For them, church means a series of strict rules, and you follow them, mark off checkboxes and you’ll get there.  Help the poor and needy?  Well, I give regularly to the collections, and will be active in arranging donations.  Go to the home of someone who needs help?  No, that’s for others.  Visit the sick?  Well, I signed a card and sent it, that should do.  I don’t want to get sick!  If that were all, I think that they might eventually take a small step and do more, but there’s no evil in them.  Evil creeps in when there’s a layer of judgement and dismissal and they go about making life difficult for others who are even a little different.  Like an unmarried mother — rather than show kindness, they judge, call names and ostracize here and her baby.  (The same one that they said she shouldn’t abort!). Or members of the LGBT+ community; rather than loving and accepting, as they are commanded to do, there’s name-calling, judgement and abuse.  Those are the people who I consider to be hypocritical.  There are the more obvious ones, like someone who campaigns and protests, screaming insults at young women seeking abortions after they’d either had one themselves, or paid for their partner to have one.   Then they pray, “Father I thank you that I am not like these other sinners; I give regularly, and I attend church every week.  Thanks for making me a good person.”   

IMO, a religious hypocrite is someone who sees the church’s teachings as a weapon to justify doing dreadful things and wrapping them in scripture.  They claim to want to bring people to God, and — we all have encountered them — they will quote biblical verses almost incessantly.  But the only thing that they accomplish is to drive people away from the church, because their words and their works are incompatible!  Sadly, these are the ones that we’re more likely to encounter in any setting where there’s a church.  I’ve been fortunate to have met many genuinely kind, loving, welcoming Christians (and people from other religious backgrounds too) so I know that they exist.  My own thinking is “by their fruits you shall know them” (Matthew 7:16)  The genuinely religious demonstrate the gifts of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, and self-control.  They don’t spend time condemning individuals, instead they accept and love them, warts and all.  I encourage you, if you encounter one of the nasty “religious” to wish them peace and walk away.  As fun as it is to bait them and challenge their actions, all it does is drag you down with them.  

I don’t offer easy options, do I?  But as the Archbishop said today, “Love is a verb, not a noun.  And we are commanded to love our neighbours, and that means that we must do the loving thing even if what we want to do is murder them.”  The people who want to use scripture as a weapon will gain their reward; I ask that your reward is to be surrounded by people who love you, and who truly want the best for you and will support you to get your success.  And I need some sleep… Good night!