On January 10th, 2012 a video was uploaded to YouTube entitled “Why I Hate Religion, but Love Jesus || Spoken Word.” In this video Jefferson Bethke, a writer and poet, proclaims why he doesn’t like religion. If you have yet to see the video I recommend you view it:
You can also see a transcript of the video here. Jefferson brings up a topic that have been mulling over for the past few years spirituality and the Church. As a cradle Catholic – one who was born into the Church – I have been going through a slow discernment process that started in 7th grade when I was confirmed and is continuing today. Yes, I was confirmed in 7th grade but that is a different story. Through my discernment I have been figuring out who I am; who I want to be; and where spirituality, religion, and the church fit in.
Figuring out who I am and who I want to be is still a work in progress, but I am bringing my spirituality into focus. In my many years of theological classes that I took in the Catholic middle and high school I attended we discussed many topics from learning all about the Catholic Teachings to Catholic history to a review of the different religions of the world. Through these classes I have learned enough to know I do not know it all. However what I do know is where to start:
One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:28-31
God is the one who started it all, and God is what is most important. You know what is not most important? Me, You, The Church. This is the order of importance: 1) God 2) God’s Creations 3) Creations of God’s Creations. This is why people are more important then a human creation. This is why the Body of Christ is more important than the Church. God has given us this amazing beautiful Earth on which to live. God has provided us with the ability to create tools to help live our life and one of these tools is religion.
The Holy Roman Catholic Church is a man made tool box. The Church contains tools, and ,like all tools, must be used properly. What I think upset Jefferson and what really upsets me is when this amazing set of almost 2000 year old tools is not used properly. I know that in the history of the Catholic Church things were done that do not make me proud, but there are also things that do bring me joy. What I had to realize that since God is what is most important, my spirituality is not defined by the church but is enhanced by it. My faith journey does not lead to the Catholic Church but is guided by it towards God. So what does this mean? This means that I am a Christian led by the Catholic Church, also known as, a Catholic.
I find when someone doesn’t like the Catholic Church, they actually dislike people they have met who mis-represented the Church or mis-used the Church. The Church is made of people. And since people are imperfect, so is the church. All the horrible things I hear about the Church having done have actually been done by people. These people who have sinned, which Christ preached to as hypocrites, will be forgiven when they repent, yet, that forgiveness doesn’t seem to be given to the Church. While members of the Church have probably murdered millions of people in the last 2,000 years, the Church has helped Tens of Billions of people. Now obviously the Church has no immunity from sins, but if the person who commits sins repents and was forgiven, why would you still resent the tool that they used? For example, if someone used a computer to hack into your bank account and stole all your money, would you resent all computers and the Internet?
Basically my point is: the Church gives us tools to use in our spiritual journey, and when used properly, amazing things can happen. I do not want to get ride of tools just because a few people have abused them. That logic would cause to want to eliminate cars, computers, alcohol, phones, electricity, and much more. What our society has come to discover that the regulation of tools is not what is best, what is best is the proper usage of those tools.
Below are so other responses I have found that you may find relevant:
