A fair comment, I think.

Gratitude for blessing received from Deity and fellow mortals alike is certainly a good thing.

scrawled by Dwight Williams | November 23, 2007 11:49 AM

Hey Priest,

I feelyou on the holiday thing I try to observe the High Holy Days but I struggle with those. Thursday was a good day for me to see my family but rarely do I tell anyone happy thanks giving it was not only a day where indians were slaughtered but it was also a day of thanksgiving for the slaughter of african muslims

http://www.rastafarispeaks.com/cgi-bin/forum/config.pl?noframes;read=87350

I think that we should thank The Most High more than we complain and more than we beg for what we think we should have. As always may the Most High be with you.

scrawled by mdwaire | November 24, 2007 1:08 AM

Huh, I never knew that. How do the members of your faith community react when you tell them you don't celebrate Christmas?

scrawled by Matt Adler | November 25, 2007 7:37 AM

MD—thanks for that. Man, I never knew.

Matt: most of them think I’m insane. Here in Ourtown, you’re talking, in large measure, about black folk over 50. They just do what they do. They don’t ask questions and they look oddly at anyone who does. Jesus was born in December, Saint Valentine is a religious holiday, Jesus rose on Easter. Preaching against any of that is simply not allowed, eliciting hostility from pastors who are locked into this foolishness.

This is a very closed-minded, conservative town. It’s like I’m living in the film “Footloose.” The main thrust of Christianity here is hostility towards everything that challenges or even questions what they believe. As a result, most Christians here—black and white—are simply living a lie, if not several lies, clinging to the Tooth Fairy and other stupid things simply because that’s what we’ve always done.

The pastors are, in my personal experience, more worried about money than truth. Even good pastors are struggling with tight budgets and can’t afford to lose even one tithe-paying member. But with few exceptions, most pastors I know treat their pastorate as a permanent vacation or perhaps a retirement experience, living fairly well on their pastor’s salary (along with military and/or civil pensions). They really don’t want anything to rock the boat.

There is almost no evangelism going on here, and fairly little community involvement or outreach. The churches exist much like hardware stores exist: to make money and pay the pastor. Most of these places are not so much interested in truth as they are interested in that offering plate being full Sunday. Truth tends to throw an x-factor into that because most people are way too invested in their belief system to care much about truth. Truth is annoying. Annoyed people tend to give less or to go worship somewhere else. Thus truth tends to be the first casualty of religion, most especially here, where the very survival of most black churches is at risk on a regular basis, and pastors can’t risk radicals like myself rocking their boats.

But, truth should be truth, Matt. My truth is not so weak that it needs to go into hiding (or denial) every time science or, I dunno, a calendar challenges it. Truth should be able to withstand scrutiny or even doubt. What makes my faith stronger is that it’s been tested and tested again. Plugging fingers into my ears and covering my eyes and showing hostility to those who are different—that’s not faith. That’s fear. That’s a denial of faith. Faith does not produce fear.

scrawled by priest | November 28, 2007 8:49 AM

Yeah, that's pretty much why I was curious, because your past posts haven't suggested it as being a very progressive community. I respect your courage to be different.

scrawled by Matt Adler | November 29, 2007 10:48 AM

I'm not sure I'd call it "courage." More like "stupidity."

Actually, for here in Mayberry, I *am* different. Back home in NYC, I wasn't so much.

Here, being different makes you a target. It's pretty sad, actually.

scrawled by priest | November 30, 2007 1:48 PM