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Christianity without the Cross

I was sad when I read the Fall 2013 letter to the editor from Lawrence Swaim, who seemed to characterize Christianity in America, in fact all organized religion, by “the hijacking of mainstream Protestantism by conservative evangelicalism and the suppression of social-justice Catholicism by Republican bishops.”

Where, I thought, does my little Episcopal church in Penn Yan, New York, fit in — along with the Methodist church in town, the Baptist church in town, and the Roman Catholic church in town, all of which do their best, in a poor and rural area, to live out Jesus’s teachings on compassion and justice? Tomorrow I will go to church for our weekly study group, which is reading and discussing The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West. This type of study informs many things we do, including personal political action of members, a weekly peace vigil on a busy street corner, fundraising for projects in Africa and Haiti, and a Closet of Hope that provides fashionable clothing for women in transition. The Baptist church hosts a food bank and a backpack program that provides weekend lunches for children who get lunches in school during the week. These are just a few examples.

If Mr. Swaim and others should think, “Oh, well, that is an exception,” they should rethink. There are millions of such “exceptions.” It is counterproductive to these efforts to think that only trends that make headlines count. Mr. Swaim and others might benefit from looking around their own towns to see all the wonderful works that are being done by churches.

— Joan Mistretta, Hammondsport, NY

Lawrence Swaim Responds:

Christians in mainstream Protestant churches are increasingly willing to offer fearless witness for racial and economic justice, justice in Israel/Palestine, and against Islamophobia. It’s important to acknowledge this because progressive people of faith are so often criticized both by the secular Left, on the one hand, and by the Religious Right on the other.

Yet what is one to do about the survey of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life that revealed that 62 percent of white evangelicals in America believe that torture is often or sometimes justified? And then there is the Religious Right in the state of Kansas, where I was raised, which uses its base in conservative evangelical churches to justify the most blatantly evil kind of voter suppression.

I follow a path of spirituality that can describe evil as a behavioral system, as I have tried to explain in my book Trauma Bond: An Inquiry into the Nature of Evil. Ultimately I see systemic evil arising from a society-wide addictive disorder animated by shared traumatic memory. We must find new ways to transform the human personality, with spirituality as a big component.

Your little Episcopal church in Yates County sounds beautiful, as does the village of Penn Yan itself. Wherever I go, I love to visit such small churches — Episcopalian ones most of all. The reason is simple: I love Anglican liturgy, thought, and culture. But tell me honestly, Joan, would I not be betraying whatever gifts God has given me if I did not use that gift to denounce evil as I see it? That I also need to do so more thoughtfully at times, and do it more in love than in anger, I would hasten to agree.

The Spiritual Truth of JFK

I’m afraid that the editor has made a tremendous mistake in reprinting Peter Gabel’s article lauding Oliver Stone’s movie JFK on tikkun.org. Gabel praises JFK as a laudable effort to open...