The Unjust Path to God
My childhood revolved around religion. A ten year private school education, church camps and bible study youth groups dominated my elementary and middle schools years. Remembering large portions of scriptures, hymns, and prayers became everyday chores. My textbooks were heavily Christian influenced and left out what they didn’t feel necessary, the most obvious being evolution. It felt as though by questioning our world’s creation I’d be committing a major sin. The older I get, the harder it becomes to rationalize a majority of these concepts.
Creation is a heavy and loaded topic of discussion ranging between scholars to conversations over family dinner. For centuries, the origin of man and the world around us constantly changes to fit different narratives. The Bible, specifically, never sees its end of contorted verses or stories.
Conquerors claimed killing natives was the work of God, while so-called missionaries believed shoving Christianity down throats by way of captivity was just spreading the good word. The irony of their argument with different religions is that they themselves {Christians} are basing their lives, on what some would call, the same type of mythical being.
The Iroquois creation story to me sounded reminiscent of the one I am more familiarized with in the book of Genesis. In my reading, however, I never encountered a point where I felt the need to contradict or deny what the author claimed to be his truth. More than anything, my questions and observations were a means to add to my own spiritual growth. I don’t need to believe everything he wrote in order to appreciate and learn from it. His truth isn’t necessarily my truth and that is okay.
Christopher Columbus, on the other hand, didn’t give himself or others the chance to exchange ideas and faith. He should be the poster child for twisting God’s word in order to fill his own perverted agenda. Columbus’ letter to the King and Queen paint quite the picture of a willing and docile native people. However, simultaneously, while he claims to be sharing the love of God, lives were lost and ripped from their homes, towns ravaged by disease. Columbus used religion as an excuse for violence and greed. He destroyed part of God’s creation without a second of hesitation. For such a God fearing man he forgot the second commandment that states “Love thy neighbor as thy self.” Not to mention the countless times God has said to love all for they are all created in his image. How then, can Columbus truly claim to be a child of God?
Religion adds to the already selfish way in which humans think. Time and time again, there are countless individuals who have had a faith so strong it blinded them to basic human decency. William Bradford fell into this category when he and his fellow Pilgrims saw the death and destruction of Native Americans as a sign of God’s willingness to help His people. No time was taken to simply mourn those passed on, rather they became obstacles in need of movement.
A different color skin, style of life, and religion should not constitute degradation and dehumanization. It is one thing to claim to do the work of God, and another to do it. In 1 John 3:18, He says, “ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” As someone who is still trying to figure out what I believe in, I keep myself open to other religions and ways of looking at life.
There are so many other problems in this world than who someone is or isn’t praying to before they go to bed.
