I’m struggling to ignore the inner voice that’s nudging me every time I join the cheers and tears of support for the refugees at the Ukrainian border. Why do I feel discomfort as well as relief when I applaud the countries that are welcoming women and children fleeing violence and mayhem? Does it make sense that shame and anger are mixed with joy?
Can I hold in my heart the idea that Ukrainian citizens should be free from oppression, violence, injury, persecution, death, and starvation while the world, including my own country, only applies such compassion to white Judeo-Christians? I really don’t know. Psychology Today defines cognitive dissonance as a state of discomfort felt when two or more modes of thought contradict each other. Another word for it is hypocrisy.
Why didn’t the world open its arms in welcome when we saw pictures of Syrian children lying lifeless on a beach, drowned in their attempt to flee war?
Why did we not rise up against the “Christian” GOP sentiment that Afghani refugees fleeing certain death and torture weren’t human, God’s children, but “terrorist?”
Why did images of terrified Haitian refugees being chased on horseback by border patrol only to be sent back to their country, not pull at our heartstrings?
Where was the outcry when immigrant families fleeing government subsidized violence and poverty were ripped apart at the border, babies living in cages?
Where was the national unity in condemning our leader when he labeled refugees fleeing violence and hunger at our southern border, drug dealers, rapist, and murders?
Why do Christian loving Americans tolerate the term, illegal alien?
How can people, nations, religious leaders say they are Christian and not only ignore the word of their prophet, but literally act against his/her wishes? I used to think I feared religion, but I now think I fear the power given to religion by hypocrites. Google “Jesus bible verse welcoming refugee stranger” and see what pops up. Here’s just a sample:
The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
Leviticus 19:34
‘Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.’ Then all the people shall say, ‘Amen!’
Deuteronomy 27:19
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.
Zechariah 7:9-10
I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me.
Matthew 25:35
Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of my brethren you did it to me.
Matthew 25:40
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.
Luke 10:27
Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers.
Romans 12:13
Love does no wrong to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
Romans 13:10
In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.
Colossians 3:11
Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.
Hebrews 13:1-3
For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly act justly one with another, if you do not oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own hurt, then I will dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your ancestors forever and ever.
Jeremiah 7:5-7
The Lord’s Prayer is one of the most universal prayers in the Christian church. We usually say the words by rote, slow down and truly listen. When we say, “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven” you are saying that salvation or heaven isn’t something that happens after one dies but it is here and now. By acting in the opposition of what your prophet proclaimed you are literally living in hell.
I walked away from organized religion because I couldn’t believe in a place where their gospel didn’t leak from their 4 walls. Where the masses in the pews were voting for leaders that passed laws that increased their coffers while sentencing others to a life of poverty. Where celebrants weren’t pleading with their followers to flood the streets to oppose oppression. Where there isn’t a soup kitchen in every church basement. Where fear of those who don’t look like us justifies incarceration and vilification.
My church is: my vote, my voice, my social media, my protest signs, my hymn is a protest chant, my vestments a drawer full of protest t-shirts, and yes, my penance is my cognitive dissonance. One day I hope I find heaven on earth and join you back in the pews. Until then, care to join me?
