With that said, allow me to be honest for a second: I do struggle with associating with the church in general, particularly in regards to historical (and even contemporary) occurrences with which I cannot associate. For instance, the church has ordained some of the most atrocious and heinous crimes against humanity: the crusades, the inquisition, slavery, homophobia, the degradation of women, religious bigotry (especially toward Muslims), just to name a few. How can we disassociate ourselves as followers of Jesus from these atrocities while not slandering the church in general? I feel as if we need to give an honest appraisal of these events and attitudes held by the church – they are heinous and contrary to all that is Jesus. What makes matters worse is that I have encountered some who seek to justify, or at least assuage, these acts of the church and the impact they have had on humanity. I can’t think of anything else that enrages me more than entertaining such thoughts, especially coming from one who claims to be a follower of Christ! Even more, many of these attitudes are maintained in the general ethos of church culture at times. The gay people I know will not step foot in a church, as they are sure they will be ridiculed and despised, if not overtly, at least in covert disapproval. They will not be authentically welcomed with loving hospitality. A general sentiment of mild hatred is maintained toward Muslims, perhaps because of recent terrorist attacks coupled with the unholy allegiance of nationalism and Jesus. So these are not necessarily past mistakes of the church, but remain somewhat prevalent even today.

But this is why I love the New England United network, because this is not the case amongst these churches. Yet, we still bear the title ‘church’ and are thus associated with the historical church to some extent by default. In this light, how can we separate from being identified as homophobic, intolerant and hateful religious bigots without tearing apart Jesus’ bride? This is my struggle which I seek to honestly reconcile. Any thoughts…anyone?