In God's Name

A former work colleague recently posted on Facebook that religious faith is often used to justify war, genocide, patriarchy, racism, misogyny, bigotry, and the like because people believe all this is God’s will (or see this “belief” as a convenient way to get what they want). It is absolutely and tragically true that through the centuries, millions of people have killed, raped, enslaved, and discriminated against others in God’s name. On the other side of the coin, millions of people have harbored refugees, adopted orphans, fed the hungry, marched for the rights of women and black people to vote, and performed countless acts of justice and compassion, also in God’s name.

Richard Rohr notes that the word “religion” means to “re-ligament” or bind together. The sign of healthy religion is always that it binds up, makes whole, and recognizes the dignity of all people. The sign of unhealthy religion is separation, exclusion, and hierarchy. To have integrity, people with a healthy religious faith need to publicly call out and disempower those who engage in acts of hatred, theft, suppression, and discrimination in God’s name to gain personal wealth, power, and fame. Jesus modeled this need for action when he drove the moneychangers out of the temple and called out the Pharisees for their hypocritical and oppressive behavior.

One way to discern whether our own religious faith is healthy or unhealthy is by observing our appetites. If we continue to be insatiable, dissatisfied, restless, and empty no matter how much power, wealth, or fame we accrue, we have not found the true God. If we have an underlying spirit of contentment and peace, trust that our needs (not our wants) will be always be met, and are willing to share our resources with others, we have encountered the God of life.

Another mark of persons with a healthy spirituality is their abiding faith that God’s goodness will always triumph over evil, despite temporal appearances. Jesus overcame evil by forgiving those who tortured and killed him, and he was resurrected into life as Christ. Our human life spans are short, and not all of us will see the evils of our day overthrown; however, as our consciousness and capacity for wholeness continue to evolve, the inherent goodness of God—the God who lives in us—will prevail.