Although I wasn’t an avid church-goer as I grew up, I was raised a Christian. I went to a private Episcopal school for first through eighth grade and prayed often.
I was taught to love others and to “treat others how you wish to be treated”. I was taught that God loves everybody equally and unconditionally. Yet, as I grew older, I realized that many of his followers don’t practice what they preach.
We all know about the hateful Christians and Baptists who show up at gay pride parades with horrible signs, but there are many religious people who practice hate even without signs.
I first started to doubt my Christian religion when I learned that many believe Jesus was actually Middle-eastern. In the predominately White churches that I grew up in, sculptures and paintings of a pale White Jesus scattered the Church walls. It seemed to me that White people were attempting to claim and mold a religion to benefit themselves and their race. They wanted their God to be White, not Middle-eastern. It was from this moment that I started to doubt the integrity and inclusion of this so-called religion.
There are too many Christians who believe they are doing “the Lord’s work”, when in reality they are spreading hate on those who do not fit into their God’s “perfect picture”. They are deliberately fear-mongering those who are not religious.
Many Trump supporters use religion and God to support their political beliefs and reasons for supporting the president. Even Trump himself has used God and religion to support his actions and political agenda. Yet, isn’t America supposed to support freedom of religion? Should there be religion in presidential discourse?
Religion is supposed to be a personal choice; it shouldn’t influence who you vote for nor should a president use it to attract voters and pressure an entire nation.
Conservative Christians use religion to control those around them. They are not only spreading the word of God; they are spreading their moral and political beliefs and expecting you to live up to their standards.
For example, many Christians implicitly suggest when they disapprove of how women dress, speak or act. For example, if a women is showing cleavage in Church, or anywhere for that matter, many Christian men and women would most likely stare with “expressions of disapproval”. If a women cusses, Christians would certainly express disapproval whereas if a man cusses, the reaction would most likely be different. The bottom line is, if God loves everyone unconditionally and made everyone equal, why are there so many insinuations and judgements from Christians when someone is straying from the political conservative side? Clearly many Christians are involving their political values and beliefs into their religion.
When you vote for Donald Trump, you are supporting institutionalized racism, sexism, homophobia, and ageism, because he himself is sexist, racist, homophobic and ageist. Do you really think your God, who is supposed to be light and love, would approve?
I don’t want to believe in the same God you believe in. So I chose to believe in my own type of God. One that is loving, accepting and open-minded. One that doesn’t give rules as to who someone can love and who they can’t; one that doesn’t dictate that men are more powerful than women. My God is full of love and does not wield an ounce of hate. She is unconditionally loving, judging nobody no matter their race, gender, sexual orientation, abilities or age. My god is love. What is yours?
Wake Them Up 