Editor,
I write as a former sincere Bible believer.
I majored in Bible in college. I pastored an Illinois Mennonite church from 1966-68. Now I am glad not to be a member of any religion. People have used the Bible: to torture and kill people of other religions and convictions; to put men above women; to put whites above non-whites; to oppose marriage between whites and non-whites; to massacre Native Americans, Palestinians, Jews and gays; to plunder and poison the environment; to portray God as male; to damn masturbation; to make us ashamed of our naked bodies and healthy sexual pleasures; to bless capitalism and murderous greed; to silence honest questioning; to keep people ignorant and passive under the bloody control of tyrants; to condemn passionate romance between men or between women; to enslave blacks; to demand spouses remain in miserable marriages; to rally soldiers and taxpayers to rob and slaughter other nations; to surgically rape and painfully mutilate boy babies in circumcision; to spank children; to abuse and eat animals; to champion the death penalty; to build nuclear bombs for global terrorism; to teach eternal excruciating punishment with no pardon and no parole!
I reject all such evil religion.
I treasure all genuine spirituality: humility in the face of life’s mystery; treating others as I want them to treat me; feeling deeply connected with people, including my enemies; reaching out to learn, feel, love, forgive and ask forgiveness in this crazy, cruel and beautiful world; respecting the Earth as our mother; celebrating mutually affectionate, passionate sex; living the truth as best I see it, no matter how unpopular and controversial; confessing that apart from the much love, wisdom and inspiration I have received from people, I am no better than Hitler, Stalin, the Ku Klux Klan, money addicts, Bush, Obama, anti-gay bigots, religious fundamentalists, Sandia weapons scientists, the man who murdered my grandparents, or the person in my family who hurt me the most.
Don Schrader
Community member
