SingleBlackMale

I am a practicing Catholic. As a black woman in Protestant America, this has not always been the easiest denomination to be affiliated with. The scent of incense wafting through a gothic-styled church, the embracing of the Holy Sacraments, the sacredness of the Blessed Virgin  — these are the facets I am used to in worshiping God and I enjoy them. I know for many who are reading this, these terms might be unfamiliar or even disturbing. And I’m pretty sure some of you are ready to leave your pastor’s name and address for me to get “right for the Lord.” Please…save your keystrokes.

If it is one thing I absolutely abhor is people assuming that I am not on a God-blessed path, and need to leave my views and church behind to join theirs. As well-intended they may be, nothing makes my skin crawl more than hearing “I would like for you to come visit my church this Sunday”. No thanks. I’ve been hearing this line and similar ones since I was 9. I find such attempts to dissuade me from my faith and beliefs to be rude and hurtful.

As adults, we have the right to choose to join whichever faith or religious/non-religious path we feel called to. Just as I am comfortable being affiliated with my Christian denomination, I know friends who are just as relaxed in being agnostics and non-believers. No adult needs to be shown any “light”. The thing with faith is that its so subjective that a person cannot be forced to feel what they simply cannot. If I find that I find it uncomfortable trying to worship God in a church or within a faith that doesn’t match my views or standards, it is not a criticism on the person who invited me to their church or the church/denomination itself. This feeling is mine, and mine alone, and I am free and entitled to experience it.

If I had to find a contender to contest how much I detest the “come to my church” phrase, it has to be “you need a church to give you the real word of the Lord”. Oh? I guess the priest and church members have been talking about Oprah’s book club selection instead of the chapters of the Bible. Just as it would be completely out of bounds for those of us of faith to consider non-believers to be “evil” or “out of it” (as I regretfully have heard many refer to them), it is of bad taste to believe my status of being a Christian any lower than yours because I am not a member of your sect. As someone who has studied and continues to study the history of the Church, I believe that every religious sect has come from a group of people who are desperately trying to get back to the Source (God, the Universe, etc.) Therefore, there is no barometer to measure one groups’ belief against, and it is preposterous to act as if one exists.

And, of course, we have the priest scandals. People love to throw this in my face after I have respectfully turned down their invitation. To this I say, I don’t think there is a practicing Catholic (and studies prove this) who have stood with the monsters who have committed these atrocious attacks. As someone who has suffered from sexual abuse (not from a priest, mind you) and as a humanist, I feel insulted that my loyalty to my faith is somehow tied to this belief system. As there are students at Penn State who love their school, but angrily denounce the actions of Sandusky; I denounce the actions of few and hold firm to my beliefs as a Catholic.

Respect is a word that so few know the definition of. Respecting someone’s beliefs means that you do not encroach on them, forcing yourself upon them like an alligator wrestler trying to beat the person into what you believe is submission. It means that if you have questions, you ask them with grace. You listen intently to the answers provided, and if you find yourself disagreeing, you do so kindly. Trust me, its not hard.

Try this thought experiment: Maybe the clergymen who raped young boys in the Catholic church and the self-anointed bishops who (allegedly) used their youth ministry as grooming grounds for sexual partners – Bishops Eddie L. Long and Jonathan Alvarado – are not bad seeds. Maybe these predators are products of an antiquated institution: organized religion.

What I would like to suggest is that much of humanity is lacking a necessary driver for the continued success of our species: logic. And organized religion is both an offender in this regard and an effect of this peculiar class of brain function diminishment. It’s not even really a diminishment as much as it is a thwarting of the brain’s ability to adopt newer and more nuanced processes.

Ordinary run of the mill churchgoers are the epitome of singular thinkers. Other than their strict adherence to the outlandish myths of the Bible, a grown man in the belly of a whale and all that, they behave as, well, simpletons. They are obedient servants, not fully developed and autonomous beings. Sin leads to hell. Obedience leads to heaven. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

Yes, it is intuitive of mankind to parse through external stimuli and internal dialogue with linear lenses. From an evolutionary perspective, this linearity has increased our survival rate in a world where danger, more often than not, presents without warning. See tiger – Run! See bear –Run! Our evolutionary process, a shaky jumbling of jerks and leaps forward, and not the seamless glide toward perfection that so many Darwinists purport, did not allow much space for thoughtful pontification. Those who tarried too long to inspect the tiger or bear were torn to tiny bite-sized bits.

In prehistoric times – when seconds mattered — making instantaneous judgments devoid of time consuming thought was the difference between survival and certain death. When only instants mattered, being nimble and reactionary were far more valued traits than were being thoughtful and deliberate.

Now, however, we live in the 21st century where our inventions have, for the most part, equipped us to tame our environment. Yes there are hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, earthquakes and even the occasional bear, but for the most part, intellect has long surpassed impulse as the most highly regarded of human traits.

Salaries correspond to the complexity of the job and acceptance to elite institutions corresponds to test scores and the diversity of qualities of the student. Even in the shallow intellectual pool of sports, doing things quickly is not enough given that what separates the wheat from the chaff is strategy. Even to become a sports star, you need to move fast and think fast.

But when I watch congregations in black churches sway back and forth to the sultry sounds of a gospel hymn, or when I watch white parishioners sit motionless as their priest leads them along in monotonous droning, I’m reminded of every zombie flick I’ve ever seen. The zombified gray creatures are earth travelers, driven by the primal impulses of the hypothalamus, an area of the brain mostly responsible for emotion, thirst and hunger. In both manner and intellect, they resemble the prehistoric man.

You can argue with me and tell me that there are smart and “good Christians” in the Church who do good work at both the church and Fortune 500’s, but while you’re at it, be sure to tell me why Bishop Long is still a pastor at New Birth Church and why the Catholic church played musical chairs with pedophilic priests instead of removing them.

For years, the leadership within the Catholic Church hid the crimes of its priests and even when they began to seep out, as all secrets do, many churchgoers believed the priests over the children. Just as many New Birth devotees believe their pimped out preacher over the boys who’ve come forward. It’s obviously the hypothalamus at work here.

The church is dead with primitive perspectives. Ash to ash, dust to dust. And decay inevitably gives birth to mutated incarnations. So instead of attacking those who seek justice for the truly innocent or dismissing the actions of the lion in the pulpit who hunts the defenseless lambs in his own church, maybe churchgoers should turn inward and determine to what extent their own resistance to applying logic to perfectly logical events created the perfect environment for predators to flourish.

The hatchling was given new life by the flock. If the church aims to redeem itself and prove useful to the community which it claims to serve, it’s time that members of the church stop holding up the mirror of judgment to the rest of the world and take a moment to inspect their own reflection.

Yvette Carnell is a former Capitol Hill Staffer turned political blogger. She currently publishes two blogs, Spatterblog.com and BreakingBrown.com.

Try this thought experiment: Maybe the clergymen who raped young boys in the Catholic church and the self-anointed bishops who (allegedly) used their youth ministry as grooming grounds for sexual partners – Bishops Eddie L. Long and Jonathan Alvarado – are not bad seeds. Maybe these predators are products of an antiquated institution: organized religion.

What I would like to suggest is that much of humanity is lacking a necessary driver for the continued success of our species: logic. And organized religion is both an offender in this regard and an effect of this peculiar class of brain function diminishment. It’s not even really a diminishment as much as it is a thwarting of the brain’s ability to adopt newer and more nuanced processes.

Ordinary run of the mill churchgoers are the epitome of singular thinkers. Other than their strict adherence to the outlandish myths of the Bible, a grown man in the belly of a whale and all that, they behave as, well, simpletons. They are obedient servants, not fully developed and autonomous beings. Sin leads to hell. Obedience leads to heaven. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

Yes, it is intuitive of mankind to parse through external stimuli and internal dialogue with linear lenses. From an evolutionary perspective, this linearity has increased our survival rate in a world where danger, more often than not, presents without warning. See tiger – Run! See bear –Run! Our evolutionary process, a shaky jumbling of jerks and leaps forward, and not the seamless glide toward perfection that so many Darwinists purport, did not allow much space for thoughtful pontification. Those who tarried too long to inspect the tiger or bear were torn to tiny bite-sized bits.

In prehistoric times – when seconds mattered — making instantaneous judgments devoid of time consuming thought was the difference between survival and certain death. When only instants mattered, being nimble and reactionary were far more valued traits than were being thoughtful and deliberate.

Now, however, we live in the 21st century where our inventions have, for the most part, equipped us to tame our environment. Yes there are hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, earthquakes and even the occasional bear, but for the most part, intellect has long surpassed impulse as the most highly regarded of human traits.

Salaries correspond to the complexity of the job and acceptance to elite institutions corresponds to test scores and the diversity of qualities of the student. Even in the shallow intellectual pool of sports, doing things quickly is not enough given that what separates the wheat from the chaff is strategy. Even to become a sports star, you need to move fast and think fast.

But when I watch congregations in black churches sway back and forth to the sultry sounds of a gospel hymn, or when I watch white parishioners sit motionless as their priest leads them along in monotonous droning, I’m reminded of every zombie flick I’ve ever seen. The zombified gray creatures are earth travelers, driven by the primal impulses of the hypothalamus, an area of the brain mostly responsible for emotion, thirst and hunger. In both manner and intellect, they resemble the prehistoric man.

You can argue with me and tell me that there are smart and “good Christians” in the Church who do good work at both the church and Fortune 500’s, but while you’re at it, be sure to tell me why Bishop Long is still a pastor at New Birth Church and why the Catholic church played musical chairs with pedophilic priests instead of removing them.

For years, the leadership within the Catholic Church hid the crimes of its priests and even when they began to seep out, as all secrets do, many churchgoers believed the priests over the children. Just as many New Birth devotees believe their pimped out preacher over the boys who’ve come forward. It’s obviously the hypothalamus at work here.

The church is dead with primitive perspectives. Ash to ash, dust to dust. And decay inevitably gives birth to mutated incarnations. So instead of attacking those who seek justice for the truly innocent or dismissing the actions of the lion in the pulpit who hunts the defenseless lambs in his own church, maybe churchgoers should turn inward and determine to what extent their own resistance to applying logic to perfectly logical events created the perfect environment for predators to flourish.

The hatchling was given new life by the flock. If the church aims to redeem itself and prove useful to the community which it claims to serve, it’s time that members of the church stop holding up the mirror of judgment to the rest of the world and take a moment to inspect their own reflection.

Yvette Carnell is a former Capitol Hill Staffer turned political blogger. She currently publishes two blogs, Spatterblog.com and BreakingBrown.com.

(AP) — From clerics to AIDS activists, Africans applauded Pope Benedict XVI’s suggestion that condoms could be used in limited situations to protect partners — a shift that could make a dramatic impact in a continent that is both battling an HIV pandemic and increasingly turning to Catholicism.  “I say hurrah for Pope Benedict,” exclaimed Linda-Gail Bekker, chief executive of South Africa’s Desmond TutuHIV Foundation. She said the pope’s statement may prompt many people to “adopt a simple lifestyle strategy to protect themselves.”

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“Nearly 600 couples filled the nation’s largest Catholic church Sunday to renew their wedding vows in front of families and friends after 25, 30 or — in some cases — more than 60 years of marriage,” according to The Washington Post.

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(Loop21.com) — While I, and others, have been critical, of the Vatican’s response (or lack thereof) to the growing sex abuse scandal it has become clear to me that many of the institutional problems that allowed the Catholic Church to fail so many of its followers, are allowing other churches to fail their own.

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