kicking puppies is bad

I don’t like Jesus. For anyone who reads my journal regularly, this shouldn’t be a surprise. I can’t begin to assess the overall impact of Christianity throughout history. But I can say that currently I believe that Jesus’ net impact on the world is a negative one. I feel that Christianity, in its current form, teaches more hate than love. And that is yucky. And because of that, I strongly dislike Jesus (even if he did pay for a significant part of my college education. “Yay! Jesus-scholarship”**, but still “Boo, Jesus!”).My family isn’t particularly religious. We celebrate Christmas, but only in the commercial sense – last year Santa brought me 28 rolls of r15 attic insulation. Yay, Santa! (but still “Boo, Jesus!”) For us, Christmas has never had anything to do with Jesus. So, you can imagine my surprise, when my sister (aka the artist formerly known as triangle_girl), started going to church. I was stunned. I was mildly comforted by the fact that her new-found faith seemed to have much more to do with her desire to join a bell choir than her desire to fill a spiritual void. Regardless, it was weird.

I really assumed it would be a phase. I thought she would go once or twice, and then realize that getting up early on Sunday and having to “join hands” with strangers was not entirely enjoyable (Eww! Strangers in her personal space. Icky!). But she has persisted. And this past weekend she convinced me to join her. So at 11:15 on Sunday morning, I found myself at the local Unitarian Universalist Church. And somewhat shockingly, it wasn’t bad. I was somewhat familiar with the Unitarians and their principles. My “born-again” Christian acquaintances mocked them for being a “social club” not a religion. For those of you who aren’t familiar with them, the UU religion is based on seven principles:

• The inherent worth and dignity of every person;
• Justice, equity and compassion in human relations;
• Acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations;
• A free and responsible search for truth and meaning;
• The right of conscience and the use of the democratic process within our congregations and in society at large;
• The goal of world community with peace, liberty, and justice for all;
• Respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.

And while they sometimes refer to themselves a religion in the Judeo-Christian tradition, there is really no mention of God (or Jesus). And I find that I almost entirely agree with all of their principles and everything that was said in the “sermon” (which basically bashed Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee for their intolerance, and talked about acceptance, tolerance and giving back to the community).So, my sister asked me what I thought. And the truth is, I agree with their principles. I’m amazed by their outreach programs. They are doing fantastic things for the community. They are raising a lot of $$$ for good projects. They are discouraging consumerism. They are teaching compassion. Their Sunday school classes addressed real topics, like humanist philosophy and real (not abstinence only) sex education. I generally liked them. But I don’t quite get the point. I mean, without the “god” part, and if you don’t have a spiritual void, then what is church? Is everyone there just for the bell choir (which was quite good)? I’m not sure what to tell my sister, because I didn’t dislike it. I just don’t quite “get” it. I feel like I am missing something…

** If Jesus was really all powerful, and really wanted an actual Christian to get the RPI Jesus scholarship, he would have given it to them. So, thanks Jesus. But, I still don’t like you.