Newspaper Page Text
OPINIONS
Monday, March 22, 1999
THE MAROON TIGER
PAGE 11
Release yourself from the oppresive
hold caused by organized religion
Charles Stephens
Contributing Writer
While indulging myself
in the usual Perimeter Mall
food court ritual, scouting
out an unsuspecting fast
food restaurant sacrifice to be
thrown before the mercy of
the God that is my stomach I
discovered the perfect
seating area. "Perfect," I
thought to myself, a seat far
off in the corner away from
the usual hustle and bustle of
the Saturday afternoon food
court traffic.
From off in the distance
I noticed someone
approaching the table where
my colleague and I were
sitting, compelling me to ask
him whether or not they
were friends of his. Before he
could shake his head no,
these two strangers were
invading our space.
Presuming they wished to
inquire about the time, I
began looking toward my
watch. With a cheerful and
somewhat corny greeting he
began introducing himself.
"Hi, my name is (blank)
and my friend's name is
(blank) and we were
wondering if you had a church
home."
I could not remember the
last time I had been asked that
question. Perhaps by a
Jehova's Witness at the train
station on a Sunday morning,
but due to the fact it was not
Sunday morning, we were not
at a train station, and he was
not carrying a Watchtower, I
canceled that possibility out.
"No," I responded. I began
wondering if he was going to
begin some type of biblical
debate with me.
"Well," he smiled even
more. "We are from the
Atlanta Church of Christ and
I would like to invite you to
our service."
"No offense," I. told him.
"But, I have spoken with your
representatives before and like
I told them more times than I
care to mention, the answer is
no.
Usually I would not
respond so sharply but due to
the fact that they were
disturbing my colleague and I
while we were eating, asking
me what I felt to be personal
questions, well warranted my
shortness and growing
impatience with their
missionary work at Perimeter
Mall. After a moment of
uncomfortable silence he
finally came back with "Do
you know God?"
The question invaded my
thoughts causing me to delve
deep into my heart to find the
strength not to raise my
already higher tone of voice.
"Yes I do," I finally stated.
Seemingly surprised he
responded, "But how can you
have a relationship with God
if you do not go to Church."
Finally, I had taken all I
could take. I have no problem
with the Atlanta Church of
Christ in spite of the fact they
were invading my once
peaceful afternoon lunch and
questioning my relationship
with God. But being the
enlightened Morehouse man
that I am, I decided to share
some of my wisdom with
him. So with my most calm,
most patient voice, I began to
articulate my perspective.
"You see," I stated. "I do
not believe that organized
religion should serve as the
center of your spirituality, nor
do I believe it should be the
mere basis or inspiration for
your relationship with the
Creator. You can have a
perfectly fine individual
relationship outside the
confines of organized
religion."
"But the Bible says, " he
began....
"Excuse me I wasn't
finished, and the Bible I
sincerely believe has been
severely misinterpreted and
utilized primarily for the
intent of oppressing,
enslaving, killing, pillaging,
and destroying. The Bible after
all has been used to justify
slavery, the Salem Witch
Trials, the Crusades, and other
acts of inhumanity. I will not
let someone pat me on the
head and tell me that just
because it says so in the Bible,
it's a fact unless you come at
me from a historical critical
and not literal perspective."
The tension at that point
was thick. He and his friend
kindly smiled and left.
Now don't get me wrong,
I am by no means an atheist;
after all I have a very deep and
fulfilling relationship with
God. Nor am I saying the Bible
is meaningless; I simply
believe that it should not be
taken literally and you have to
study it from a historical
critical perspective. This
means reading what is said
closely examining the time
period, culture, and language
of that time. Not to mention
you have to take into account
the fact that the Bible was
compiled by man, and the
decision regarding what goes
in and what doesn't, along
with what is considered the
word of God and what isn't
was all decided upon by man.
I also believe that religion, as
an institution, tends to instill
fear into their followers by
portraying God as a wrathful,
vengeful, jealous, hateful,
damning being who
historically seems to favor
wealthy white men. Not to say
that on a whole, organized
religion is exclusively
oppressive, I just feel that it
should not be your spiritual
center.
Connecting ideas and action
Get Engaged
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Maroon Tiger
Continued from page 1
For now, the other staff
appointments of editors remain
unchanged. This includes three
paid editorship positions that are
now vacant. Howard and
Spearmon have risen to their new
positions from their previous jobs
as A&E editor and photo editor,
respectively.
"The greatest difficulty in
publishing frequent and regular
editions of The Maroon Tiger has
been manpower and connected
problems of organization,” said
Baker. Baker indicated that those
problems are one reason the
college now pays nine editors;
"Virtually all colleges and
universities pay for the hard work
it takes to produce a frequent
newspaper,” said Baker.
Spearmon expressed
optimism about the new editor
lineup; "I think that the changes
that have been made wil allow us
to move forward so we can get
back to our rightful place as the
top student newspaper in the
AUC."
—Staff Reports