Snarky Faith

Let's talk about the insanity happening in Christianity. In the age of Trump, it's only gotten more wild and crazy. Typically on our program, we devote the first segment of the hour to the Christian Crazy. This show today will devote its entirety to the crazy.

So buckle up as we delve into the Christian lunacy for a higher purpose. Is it mockery? No, but there will be plenty of that, don't worry. We're looking directly into the eyes of madness to see how far Christianity has gone off the rails. Through our journey, we'll discover the peddlers of fear, conspiracy theories, lies, misinformation, and fanaticism.

The deranged seeds of these have been under the surface of American Christianity for years, but the Orange messiah has opened the doors and welcomed the crazy into the light. He's emboldened it and given it a platform. All of this does nothing but obstruct and impede the mission of God. This type of crazy is about control and power. It's a far cry from the call of Jesus for the faithful to be people of love, grace, humility, truth, and justice.

Join us today as we descend into the Christian Crazy and see what can be gleaned from all of this absurdity, stupidity, and derangement.

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Justin T. Miller was just a regular undergraduate college student when he felt the desire for something bold and extraordinary.

In his new book, Beyond Blood: Hope and Humanity in the Forgotten Fight Against AIDS, Justin lays out the story of how he met Duncan Kimani Kamau and Cornel Onyango Nyaywera, two men who had grown up witnessing firsthand the devastating effects of HIV/AIDS in their own communities in Kenya. Though Kamau and Nyaywera grew up in opposite ends of the country and came from opposing tribes, they overcame prejudice and cultural expectations to bring healing to their communities. With Miller's help, their dream of empowering people to live a life beyond AIDS became a reality.

Once Kamau, Miller, and Nyaywera realized their common purpose, CARE for AIDS was born. But it was only the beginning of their fight against AIDS, as they quickly discovered the fear and stigma that blanketed the disease. If their fledgling nonprofit was going to empower anyone, they would need help--and they found it, one local church at a time. As they slowly but steadily grew their network of friends and allies, Kamau, Miller, and Nyaywera discovered that the most complex problems can be solved through intentional, redemptive relationships.

Join me as I talk with Justin about the intersection between faith and advocacy. We'll also talk about ways that church can look beyond the Sunday service to integrate into the needs of the marginalized it the community. It's a great ride that you're sure to enjoy.

You can find Justin T. Miller's book, Beyond Blood: Hope and Humanity in the Forgotten Fight Against AIDS, here.

You can also find out more about Justin and Care for AIDS here: Care for Aids and Justin T. Miller.

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"The courage to be is rooted in the God who appears when God has disappeared in the anxiety of doubt."

-Paul Tillich

Religious conversion is a peculiar thing. The very mention of "getting saved" most likely triggers lots of ideas, experiences, feelings, and bad memes in your head.

The funny thing is that conversion is not intended to be a spiritual, rapturous, or transcendent experience. It's likewise not about praying a prayer or getting a magic get-out-of-hell-free card.

That would be an exercise in missing the point.

Conversion literally means turning around and embarking on a different path. Yup, that's it. Nothing more or less, yet we have mucked up the entire thing with marketing, spectacle, and scare tactics.

Taking up that different path of Jesus is filled with fear, doubt, and ambiguity. Yet, with conversion, we sell assurance and certainty, which is an utter disservice to the spiritual process and growth. Sorry, but there are no cookie cutters for faith, and those that sell that message of assurance are only parrots, puppets, and posers.

There is a deep mystery in following the ways of Jesus and seeking God in the world around us. There's no way around it.

Churches push that aside as they give us dependable crutches that tickle our spiritual longings with things such as preaching, worship, and dogma. It's almost as if they're trying to prove Karl Marx correct when he said, "religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

Jesus did want his followers to be cosplaying Christians. He promised a hard road ahead for his followers filled with sacrifice, trials, trouble, and emptiness.

While the ethics of Christ give us a firm lens to see the world, the praxis of those teachings is anything but certain. We embark into the world armed with ideals, knowing not how they will be contextualized and animated when faced with reality.

There is a gift to that emptiness borne out of not knowing. It forces us to be open and awake in every moment as we continue in our process of becoming. It keeps us searching, changing, and growing.

It's fear that keeps us in place. It's fear that keeps us in church. It's fear that keeps us from change.

Experiencing God is always about the journey to know the unknown, both inwardly and outwardly. It's meant to help us become more of ourselves as we cast off the baggage from the past while bravely learning to humbly love others without stipulation or qualification.

It's not easy, but it is the way of Jesus.

There will be times of emptiness because your path every day is new and being charted by you. There's only one you and no specific guide to your life (sorry, Bible). Sounds scary, but there are others out there embracing new ways of love, growth, kindness, and justice as they seek God.

That process of becoming helps us to view ourselves, others, and God in new ways. So if we were honest about conversion into faith, we'd stop the marketing and lean into the mystery. This process creates a reliance upon God that is essential to the ways of Christ. Without it, we're just smug, pious assholes that dream of heaven as we ignore life in this present reality. Ambiguity and the vacancy of certitude force us to embrace life and others with an open hand and a sense of expectancy.

We'll talk about all that and lots more snark!

This week's Christian Crazy features Robin Bollocks, Hank Kunneman, Kent Christmas, and more!

Episode Timestamp:

Ukraine: 02:10

Christian Crazy: 14:40

Main Conversation: 30:30

Big thanks to these outlets that make the Christian Crazy possible:

Right Wing Watch

Christian Nightmares

Friendly Atheist

Books Referenced:

Spiritual Theology - Diogenes Allen

Gifts of the Dark Wood - Eric Elnes

www.SnarkyFaith.com

CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) often acts as a mirror to modern-day Christendom. It sounds pretty and looks good, but it's just lots of empty words and vague phrasing. The truth is, both are all about celebrity and money and not the gospel. In CCM, Jesus is your boyfriend as long he doesn't do anything to rock the boat. The Tomlins and W. Smiths have worked so hard to neuter the faith and Crowns have been cast in order to make Christianity inert and impotent on the Third Day. Mercy Me!

Sorry, no more CCM puns. I apologize.

Today, we'll use Kanye West's descent into CCM (Crappy Christian Music) to speak to the faith's modern-day problems with money, fame, and politics. In the past, prophets and psalmists would use their voice as a weapon to inspire change, to call out abuses in power, and to remind the faithful about their role in the kingdom of God. Nowadays, in Christian music, the message doesn't matter as long as it sells and keeps the base happy. Politics and greed have made Christianity safe and malignant. It's cancerous and looks nothing like Jesus or his teachings.

When commerce has become the driving force behind Christianity we have a problem. The songs we sing, say something about us and contemporary Christians music is a hollow as it is malignant. It's a symptom of a faith that looks nothing like Jesus or his teachings. Grace may be amazing, but the faithful are only singing empty songs of self-worship in a time when the world needs revolutionary voices.

www.SnarkyFaith.com

"All art is kind of a confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up."

– James Baldwin

David Hayward is a pastor, artist, and coach. He's also known as The Naked Pastor; a graffiti artist on the walls of religion. His art has been seen by millions of people and his voice is undeniable.

David was baptized Anglican as a baby, came to faith in a Baptist church when he was a teenager, and changed to Pentecostal in his late teens. Then, he married another Pentecostal named Lisa, was ordained Presbyterian, pastored a Vineyard church, went Independent, and planted other churches before he left the church completely.

Join us as David shares his journey and the wisdom he has found along the way. David's art continues to speak as a confession to the dystopian landscape that is the American church. He speaks not as an outsider, but one who deeply loves his faith and can't stand seeing Christ's ministry hijacked. We'll talk about leaving the church, art as activism, and finding hope in a crazy world. It's certain to be a wild ride.

For more from David and his art visit his website: https://nakedpastor.com

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