Ivory Tower of Babel

The events of the past few weeks in Baltimore have been incredibly disturbing to me and what's more disturbing (yet sadly not surprising) is the response that I have seen from people I am friends with on Facebook. The response I've seen has been mostly ignorant, hateful, racist, and generalized comments that have only confirmed to the black community that white people or in general people of privilege don't give a shit what's going on in their world. That they only care when it affects them. 

So how does this compare to the topic of conversation in my last few posts?  Well actually I think they are quite similar. The culture that I grew up in drilled into our heads that we needed to conform and be exactly how they wanted us to be. We needed to follow the example set by the pastors, or pastors' kids. We needed to dress like them, we needed to act like them, we needed to get up at 5 am and have our quiet time every morning, and if we didn't comply to these things we were in sin. We were dissenting, we were divisive, we were trying to break down the walls that the pastors had said were there for safety reasons, yet were really there to control people. If we didn't comply and instead fought back when leaders try to force us to comply we were shut out and shunned, excommunicated and ignored. 

So how do you think someone who came from a different background felt when they came into an environment that hurt people this way and didn't care about where they came? How do you think they felt when they were told that they were in sin because they wore the wrong kind of clothes or because they said the wrong kinds of things even when that was a completely normal thing in their life outside of church or before coming to this church? How do you think they felt when they came from an environment where adults could not be trusted to a place where they were told that they needed to trust all adults around them with no questions asked? The culture I grew up in did not have elasticity. It did not make room for people who were different from them. It was a place where people were taught they were better than others, and that they should be proud of that. 

Therefore it became a judgmental environment where people were told they needed to follow the rules or leave they needed to conform or they would be shunned. For children in this environment it was incredibly dangerous and for adults, frustrating unless they were  completely sucked into it. 

That is the similarity between the church I grew up in and the events surrounding Baltimore. It's easy to look down on people who are different than you and judge them for acting the way they do because you know nothing of it. While church leaders may create a small cultish atmosphere to oppress, the world also creates a larger atmosphere to oppress large groups of people and look down on them for being who they are.

It is what I have heard described as cult privilege; it blinds and creates a monster in people, both leaders and congregants. It destroys lives, breaks trust and ruins faith. It is not who Jesus proclaimed himself to be. 

Christians - you are no better than people in other churches, and thinking that only makes you worse. 

White/Privileged people - you are no better than blacks, asians, indians, native americans, hispanics, purple people, whoever. Don't think for one second you have the right to speak over their lives as if you have any idea what they have lived. If you can't take a walk in their shoes, just keep your mouth shut. The only thing that should come out if you decide to open it is support or questions to actually learn. Listen to what others are saying and actually hear them. 

If you place yourself in an ivory tower of Babel, it will come crumbling down.