#episcopalian

Like, when trying to figure out the vibe of a given Christian online space, I always check the rules and they’re very open to interpretation. “We value scripture” okay? Doesn’t everyone? “No twisting God’s word” is innocuous on the surface but can quickly become a red flag as soon as anyone mentions the “clobber verses” (see: the Bible’s controversial history of mistranslations).

And especially if a space doesn’t have an explicit rule against hate speech, or homophobia, or even has a rule against homophobia but not transphobia, I immediately assume it’s a bigoted space. Because even with rules against homophobia, they get to decide what they mean by “homophobia.” Which pretty much means anything short of “gay people deserve to die” could fly in some of those spaces as long as you pretend to “love the sinner and hate the sin.”

And, I reiterate, trans Christians are even more uncomfortable in these spaces than cis gay Christians. And that’s saying something because cis gay Christians are already treated with basically no respect at all.

I kid you not, I was briefly in a Christian discord server with a rule against homophobia (but not transphobia) that was way more strict about people posting gym selfies (in the gym chat) than people blatantly breaking the hate speech rule. The meme chat in that server was full of racism and antisemitism. The general chat would shout down anyone daring to be openly queer (even queer Catholics who practice the church’s rule about gay chastity, i.e. lifelong celibacy). But sure, tempting each other to “lust” by showing gym progress is way more of an issue (this deeply weird and unhealthy view of sex and the human body among young Christians deserves its own post).

Now that my lift and mobility restrictions are done with, I got my wife some presents as a thank you for all her hard work caregiving for me! A ragdoll of St Therese, and a wooden Mass Playset.

Button ups are fine, but other than my pajama tops, the stiffer fabrics were chapping the everloving shit out of my incisions. But the problem side of my incision is finally healed enough to push shirts on overhead (so so carefully)

I understand why. I understand that the main group of people (at least in the U.S.) bringing Christian imagery into their political rhetoric is right-wing fundamentalists who use their religion as an excuse to harm marginalized communities and strip away women’s rights. It’s sad but it’s true. So when Christianity comes up in a political context, the natural inclination is to associate Christianity with the right, especially if you aren’t Christian yourself.

“Hate” towards Christians (again, I’m talking specifically about the U.S.) is a lot like misandry in some ways. It’s not, and probably never will be, a systemic force of oppression. They’re both also mainly spewed by people who A) don’t fully mean it and are just making an ill-articulated point or B) do mean it, and are assholes for that, but have understandable reasons that point to a larger systemic issue in which they’re ultimately more of a victim than the people they’re hating on.

But the thing about hating on Christianity, as opposed to Christian nationalism and fascism, isn’t that it’s just mean or annoying to those of us who are both politically progressive and devoutly Christian. It’s that it plays into the hands of right-wing Christian nationalists. Their rhetoric depends entirely on framing their social and political adversaries as not just that, but enemies of the Christian faith itself. Giving them what they want, rhetorically, only allows them to further dehumanize and demonize you, and convince less radical/more politically neutral Christians to see you the way they do.