Tragedy's Impetus

I’m pissed.  I’m sad, and I’m heartbroken, and I’m pissed.

And I’m angry, which is better (or worse, depending) than pissed, because true anger begets action, often against the source of said anger.  That is the good news.  Or will be, but more about that later.

Another child has taken her own life in the face of blatant, willful, and even hateful ignorance, and it makes me angry beyond belief.  If you have not heard about the suicide of Leelah Alcorn, you should stop here and read this.  I mean it.  Stop what you’re doing and take a minute out of your day to see what consequences are born out of hate and fear hidden behind a façade of love.  Then come back here, and be angry with me.

For those of you that are familiar with Leelah’s story, you understand the source and depth of my reaction – of the reaction of so many, both inside and outside of our community.  It was her death that flipped some switch in me…that gave life to an idea I had no clue was even percolating in there.  And it will be good, and it will honor her and others like her…and that’s for another (later) post.  Sorry.

What I want – what I need – to write about now is the dogma and belief system behind the treatment that led to her thinking there was no other way – the Religious Right.

{Before any of you get cranky and shut this window down, I’d like to say two things: 1) It states very clearly in my blog description that I purposefully address uncomfortable topics; and 2) How can you ever hope to learn from other people’s perspectives if you refuse to acknowledge them?}

You’ll note that I referred (and will continue to refer) to this group as the Religious Right (or RR, for short), because I believe this movement to be distinct – politically and spiritually – from Christianity at its heart.  I know many people who follow this path who are genuinely beautiful individuals, who actually follow the tenets of the faith they profess.  These are not the people to whom I refer. 

It is the fearful, angry, elitist, judgmental faction of this belief system.  The ones who believe they are right and everyone else is wrong, and that’s the end to the story.  Period.  Who have the knee-jerk, over-the-top reactions to anyone or anything that challenges their beliefs or supposed deity-given rights…who choose cognitive dissonance over learning and growing as human beings…and who believe they have the authority to say how others should live their lives.

To give you some perspective on my own background, I was raised Southern Baptist – at church every Sunday morning and Sunday night, every Wednesday night, at Sunday school and youth group and so on.  As an adult, I toyed with many different aspects of spirituality, both Christian-based and pagan, and at one point even converted to Catholicism.  What I eventually came to truly believe is that every love-based religion has a piece of the puzzle right, but none of them have the whole thing put together correctly.  They need each other to make the complete picture, as it were. 

One way I have tried to explain this viewpoint to others is likening God/Goddess/Creator/Great Spirit/Light/etc. to a fire on top of a mountain.  There are many different villages at the bottom of this mountain, none of which know about the others, but they can all see the fire.  They call it by different names.  They have different ideas and stories of how it got there, passed down to their children and their children’s children, and so on.  They have different beliefs as to what makes it relevant to their own lives and beyond, and what it means to creation at large.  But it’s all the same fire.  It’s just interpretation.

I have often wondered what it was about the RR and the more fundamentalist followers of Christianity that bothered me, and that ultimately turned me away from the religion itself.  Was it just that I’m a lesbian, and it’s based on the myriad internal (and some external) scars I still carry from how I was made to think of myself?  I thought so.  And I thought that’s what Leelah had to have been going through, as well.  To some degree, all of that is true.  I do carry the burden of my scars, and I can make an educated guess that the same weapons were hurled at Leelah – especially after reading her tumblr post that was timed to release after her death.

But that’s never felt like enough to me (although it certainly could be) to create the visceral reaction I often have to those who come at me from a fundamentalist position, regardless of the subject matter.  So what was it?

Today, as I was engaged in some of the more mindless aspects of my job, it came to me.  Smacked me upside the head like a brick bat, and I’ve been struggling to put it into words ever since.  Now, I think I’m ready.

When you are part of a group that believes it has the right answer to all the questions, the right method of discerning truth, the correct interpretation of what life is all about...that necessitates that you believe every other answer – every other viewpoint – is fundamentally wrong, because it is counter to yours.  Then to believe you are chosen by God to spread this message of your-way-is-the-only-right-way...

That is the most dangerous position a person could ever take.

I want you to go back and read the above paragraph again, and really take in the words.  This is what the RR and the fundamentalist Christians of the world are doing.  They believe that they know exactly what God (or the Creator, or what have you) meant by the writings of inspired followers (some of whom never met Jesus, but that’s a whole ‘nuther talk show) from centuries ago, which have been translated into several different languages by many different leaders who used them for their own personal or political gain (see: Constantine). 

When you approach the world this way, three things begin to coalesce into a rather formidable issue.  To wit:

1)   What you believe is right, and what others believe is wrong.  You want to help them, so you try to convince them to believe what you believe, because that’s what’s right.  You do not try and learn from their belief system or allow for their own perspectives to have merit in their own right, because they run counter to what you were taught/believe.  This includes scientists, evolutionists, and anyone outside of your own culture.

2)   You fail to see the connectivity of humanity and nature.  The earth is a dead thing to be dominated.  Plants and animals are here for your use, and serve no other (or indigenous) purpose.  They have no value as a piece of creation, and are beneath regard and respect of humans.  They are only property, to be used as you see fit.

3)   Because of the first two factors, anything that runs counter to your beliefs becomes a threat to your belief, because there can only be One Real Way to do things.  This creates an atmosphere of fear, which is an energy directly contrary to love.

Leelah’s parents were adherents to this belief system, as told to us by Leelah herself in her detailed post, and as shown by the example of their public response to the outcry against their daughter’s death.  Do you see?  Can you understand the connection?

She didn’t fit into the scheme of what they believed, so she was wrong (it couldn’t be them).  Because her identity was wrong, they tried to ‘save’ her from it, through like-minded counselors within their own culture that had no training or knowledge of transgender issues.  There was no acknowledgement that humans are only interconnected, spiritual beings in shells…that it made no difference that her shell didn’t match her spirit – she was still their child.  Their fear of judgment of their daughter – by God, friends, and family – and of them as parents, I can reasonably assume, drove them to react negatively to her gift of expressing herself honestly to the two people who are supposed to love her unconditionally.

It is this elitist, separatist attitude that is at the heart of what often pushes me (and so many others) away from this religion.  Which is sad, because it doesn't have to be that way.

In the immortal words of Gandhi – “I like your Christ.  I do not like your Christians, they are nothing like your Christ.”  The few Christians I count among my friends embody the true teachings of Christ (not Paul – totally different regime, but again, for another post), which are based in love.  This is what religion is supposed to be – an avenue of discovering and spreading love, not hate.

If only Leelah’s parents had realized that…had realized the truth of our Oneness and how temporary this human shell really is…and had been able to see the beauty of their daughter at her most vulnerable and frightened moments…perhaps this wonderful life would still be a light on this planet for others.

All we can hope, all we can work for is that her death was not in vain.  That such a horrible tragedy can be gleaned for the lessons and positive change it might effect in society, and in people’s personal outlooks.  But first those on the Religious Right front are going to have to loosen their strangle hold on their fear, and let the love shine in.

Leelah wanted that for us all.  It’s time.

JCA