Let me start by saying that I do not consider myself a religious person and therefore my musings on the subject can obviously be taken with as many pinches of salt as you would like. For the last two years however I have been living and working at a Christian centre. I grew up with religion and over the past few years have lived with two other families, one with a Hindu temple in their front yard, and one where the Orthodox Bishop came round for tea on a regular basis.
Despite having been around religion most of my life, or perhaps because of it, I became increasingly angry and frustrated with any form of organised religion. I grew up a Jehovah's Witness and to me religion became a way of holding me back. It was a way of saying you can't do this or that because God/the Elders wouldn't like it, because you're a girl, or because we are 'no part of this world'. I can't pinpoint exactly when I decided all of this was sanctimonious crap but I quietly stopped going at around the age of 12 or 13.
It's taken me a long time to come around to the idea of religion again and to overcome my initial dread of working within an organisation with an explicitly Christian ethos. The organisation itself is often criticised for not being Christian enough (or too Christian for others) but has healed something in me that I didn't even realise was in need of repair. I didn't 'find God' and I'm not planning to attend church services any time soon but I met a lot of people who showed me how genuinely open and welcoming religion can be. They helped me realise that religion is simply another way to discovering how to live rightly in the world, how to welcome others and form community, how to listen from within, and how to engage with and reform injustice in the world. You don't have to believe it's God's will or follow Jesus's teachings to do any of those things but to me, that is what is at the heart of religion.
I am not a theologian (though I now know a surprising number) but I have become far more confident at having engaged discussions and arguments with people who claim knowledge of biblical texts. It's making living at home a little challenging through constant discussions around engaging in the political, homosexuality (and bisexuality come to that), blood donation, the role of women, and sex amongst other things. I admit I'm a little tired of having these same debates. I remain unconvinced and find the arguments increasingly fatuous and illogical, but am trying to remain engaged to see if we might find some common ground somewhere.
Community is still at the heart of what this is about for this family member and I can see the difference having this makes in her life. I just dislike the unnecessary judgement that seems to come with that and hope that this doesn't rub off on me again.
Despite having been around religion most of my life, or perhaps because of it, I became increasingly angry and frustrated with any form of organised religion. I grew up a Jehovah's Witness and to me religion became a way of holding me back. It was a way of saying you can't do this or that because God/the Elders wouldn't like it, because you're a girl, or because we are 'no part of this world'. I can't pinpoint exactly when I decided all of this was sanctimonious crap but I quietly stopped going at around the age of 12 or 13.
It's taken me a long time to come around to the idea of religion again and to overcome my initial dread of working within an organisation with an explicitly Christian ethos. The organisation itself is often criticised for not being Christian enough (or too Christian for others) but has healed something in me that I didn't even realise was in need of repair. I didn't 'find God' and I'm not planning to attend church services any time soon but I met a lot of people who showed me how genuinely open and welcoming religion can be. They helped me realise that religion is simply another way to discovering how to live rightly in the world, how to welcome others and form community, how to listen from within, and how to engage with and reform injustice in the world. You don't have to believe it's God's will or follow Jesus's teachings to do any of those things but to me, that is what is at the heart of religion.
I am not a theologian (though I now know a surprising number) but I have become far more confident at having engaged discussions and arguments with people who claim knowledge of biblical texts. It's making living at home a little challenging through constant discussions around engaging in the political, homosexuality (and bisexuality come to that), blood donation, the role of women, and sex amongst other things. I admit I'm a little tired of having these same debates. I remain unconvinced and find the arguments increasingly fatuous and illogical, but am trying to remain engaged to see if we might find some common ground somewhere.
Community is still at the heart of what this is about for this family member and I can see the difference having this makes in her life. I just dislike the unnecessary judgement that seems to come with that and hope that this doesn't rub off on me again.
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