To worship virginity as in the veneration of a perpetual virgin is to glorify celibacy. To insist that a virgin mother is required to have a holy child is to denigrate human sexuality. To call God “Father” or “Lord” without also calling God “Mother” or “Goddess” sacralizes maleness and reduces femininity to a secondary place at best. To insist on a hell requires that someone be there. To worship violence, e.g., the crucifixion, is to make certain that the worshippers will all too often embrace and perpetuate violence.
To proclaim that one’s savior/prophet/messiah/master teacher/avatar/divine messenger is the ONLY way to avoid afterlife torment is to see most of the world as damnable and damned. The dogmatic, doctrinaire apologists reduce Christianity to a club for the select few and a weapon against the “other.” The heretics (those who defy and challenge and offer alternatives to the enshrined and fiercely protected dogmas) are the ones who can redeem Christianity and return it to the way of Jesus, a counter-cultural lay philosopher and prophet who was viewed as a healer and as an alternative to the unjust ways of empire.
To reclaim the radical Christ (even if it means dismantling Christianity) is the gospel’s hope. Reason, compassion, data with room for some mystery, and mystery that is not afraid of facts, and questions that will not all find satisfactory answers, and answers that may challenge old assumptions…these will be the saviors of Christianity. (+)Thought AND Emotion are needed for balance. Is Christianity brave enough and wise enough to embrace the balance? And are Queer Christians the prophets and mystics and shamans and wizards to help facilitate the healing of the faith?
