Anarchist Theology
This is adapted from Misfit Faith, ch. 6: “Too Good to be False (Or, Religion is a Fairy Tale)” Politically and economically speaking, I am pretty much an anarchist. Now before you start flipping out about how society needs organization and oversight, I would urge you to relax, unclench, and understand that as a theory, anarchism concedes these things for the most part. It just suggests that the organization we need should come from the bottom up rather than from the top down. In a word, it’s not so much about oversight from on high as about undersight from the ground up. I’d like to apply this principle to theology. Over the past couple years I have conducted an experiment: I have started with the simple faith-statement that “life has meaning” and then begun to reverse-engineer a combination of...
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Bourbon, Sex, and Magic
This is an excerpt from Misfit Faith, chapter 6: “Too Good to be False (Or, Religion is a Fairy Tale)” We all know the story of Cinderella: Oppressed and despised stepchild wants to join her stepsisters at the royal ball, but she can’t because she has nothing to wear (Hashtag, WhitePeopleProblems). So what happens? A fairy godmother magically appears and solves her issue, clothing her in an exquisite gown and furnishing her with a coach and driver. But then, the condition: She must leave the party no later than midnight, or else her dress will turn back into rags and her coach will turn back into a pumpkin. Now can you imagine Cinderella objecting to the conditions under which her fairy godmother placed her? “Wait, what? I have to leave the dance by midnight? That’s kind of lame.” To...
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God is Weak
Excerpt from Misfit Faith, chapter 5: “Shit Happens (Or, The Excruciating Disruption of Power”) “How could a loving God give people cancer?” It’s a really good question, and before we address it we would do well to remind ourselves that a healthy dose of agnosticism and humility at the prospect of defending God or speaking on his behalf is required. Who the hell do we think we are, anyway? I’m reminded of a comic strip that shows a man lying in a hospital bed while his doctor tells him that although he has cancer it is all a part of God’s plan. The next panel shows God up in heaven making a To Do list which reads: Create World Give Carl Cancer ___________ (The obvious joke is that God is just shooting from the hip and flying by the...
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Common Ground, Catholicity, and Misfit Faith
This is an excerpt from Misfit Faith, Chapter 4: “Unity in Diversity (Or, We’re One But We’re Not the Same)” Like it or not, we are all connected. Not long after the tragic shooting of unarmed Florida teenager Trayvon Martin by George Zimmerman, a slogan began to spread across various social media platforms: “I Am Trayvon Martin.” What this slogan was attempting to express is that we are all potential victims of xenophobia, fear, and the violence they incite. We’re all a minority somewhere (and you may be one right where you live someday), and the sooner we can recognize the dangers of mistrusting the dreaded Other the closer we will be to actually living in a society in which dozens of people aren’t gunned down in mass shootings every month (hey, a guy can dream, right?). So yes,...
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Jesus Can’t Fulfill You. Sorry (and You’re Welcome).
Excerpt from Misfit Faith, chapter 5: “Shit Happens (Or, The Excruciating Disruption of Power)” Christianity as a kind of panacea and cure-all for every single problem we face is a complete farce. In fact, it’s precisely the idea that we are supposed to feel whole and complete that creates most of our problems and confusion in the first place. Going all the way back to the creation narrative we find man longing for wholeness and fulfillment—in Adam’s case it was the fruit of the forbidden tree that represented the “sacred object” that would fill his void. The history of humankind ever since has been a quest to discover and seize that longed-for something, that elusive missing piece that will put everything in its right place, dot every i, and cross every t. For some it is sought in money,...
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