If you are liberal and value talk over action you want to avoid this particular post. As I have been struggling for a name for myself I find that the conceptual idea of a Liberated Evangelical to be tempting. I have tried to combine the best I find in Evangelical and Liberal traditions, with a growing interest in other forms of Christianity that can influence me i.e. Orthodoxy. Again in just the past week Liberal religion has found another way to frustrate me. This is more of a potential concern, one that I wish I didn’t have.
This coming week I have to be at the Healing the Wounds of Racism seminar in order to continue my trajectory toward Ordained Elder. All UM ministers are required to go to this 200 dollar expense apparently in hopes of eradicating racism. I was talking to my father about it, he has already done this seminar and he provided me with a warning. “The last day they will try to get you to raise your hand and admit that you are a racist.” I wish he wouldn’t have said that to me, I’m the type of person that will play every possible topical outcome for this coming weekend and plan a refute of their instance on this questions.
It’s not to say that I am not apart of a racist, classist, sexist system, but it is unwillingly so. An attempt to make me say I’m a racist will end in a long and fruitless discussion, because I will refuse to do it. The reason I call this post liberal-intellectual-masturbation is because I have been to events like this at Lancaster Theological Seminary. The most common intent in a seminar like this is to get people to acknowledge the racism around them. Well I’ve done that, the masturbatory aspect of this is that it won’t make any difference. Liberal religion has allowed themselves to be placated with talk. I will go to this seminar and talk, and talk, and talk, and at the end of the weekend nothing will be recommended to try and fix the situation. The reason is because the only way to begin to remove the racism is to completely overhaul the governmental and societal systems and no one wants to engage in that type of activity.
So this coming weekend, instead of enjoying time with my family, trying to pay the bills and preparing for the coming busy week I will be watching people spew forth useless conversation. Conversation while in and of itself good will offer no solution to anyone and no predictable result as a goal. May Christ help me as I try to keep my patience. I hope and pray that I am not right about this, that the seminar will have some definite goals that the people who attend can try to implement. Its not that I don’t think talking is important but for how long can you talk before something needs to be done. Liberalism/intellectualism needs to stop talking and take risks. Some of the worst elements of Evangelicalism did…and they won the presidency.
*If you object to the title than you didn’t really read the post.
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