The Cry of An Innocent

Echos of A Life Cut Short by Senseless Hate

A friend of mine wrote and shared this tragic story recently in a private Facebook group I'm in. I am sharing this with her permission. Pardon the graphic wording and nature of this short but true tale. This is why we MUST strive to make this world a better place.

Sara wrote:

I just looked at the date and realized that tomorrow is the 31-year anniversary of one of the most formative days of my life. Late January 1981, I was in downtown New Orleans with my two best friends Denise and Charlie. Charlie was a 16-year-old gay boy. We had just left a show at the Saenger theater and were crossing Canal Street when we were confronted by a group of three (apparent) skinheads. They began taunting us, calling Charlie a faggot and Denise and me dykes and fag hags. They began to push Charlie around and started to beat him. We first tried to fight them off but these were older and bigger people. Charlie was screaming for us to get help. We ran off to the Sheraton to call for help. We went back out a few minutes later to find Charlie bleeding and unconscious in the median. He died less than an hour later without ever regaining consciousness.

I tell you this story so that you can understand my passionate feelings on hate. This is the reason why I didn't fit into fundamentalism. Every time I see institutional hate, I hear the screams of my young friend. He died without ever knowing love. His sin, I can't seem to find. Please know that when you hear institutional homophobia that you have to fight it! It kills. Fight it for Charlie, fight it for me. Fight it for you! Most of all, fight it so the world can be a better place for your children one day.

Fundamentally Wrong Abuses in "The Church"

I was recently a contributor to this blog, published by The God Article, a point of view piece based on this video. My original writing is below.

 

As a person who grew up in a fundamentalist Christian setting, spiritual abuses in the Church are of great concern to me because many of my peers who grew up in the same setting were abused as children and teens. Many of them became suicidal or began a life of self-harm. What troubles me even more is this spiritual abuse is still happening at an alarming rate, as evidenced by this video and by other stories surfacing on nearly a weekly basis, including the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist scandal in Hammond, Indiana which has gained national attention in the past year.

More and more, churches and pastors are being exposed as abusers and often times children and teens are the victims. Our society questions why good Christians are leaving the church in droves -- well, this is one very evident reason for it. Scriptures are frequently taken out of context, as the Fairhaven pastor has done with the "he who spareth the rod spoileth his child" verse, which is clearly meant as a directive for parents, not a verse endorsing public humiliation and church community corporal punishment. This activity is not of God and these people are deceived. Using scripture to verbally abuse and humiliate is a form of spiritual and emotional abuse. Indeed, it is a form of bullying which destroys instead of heals.

If you are in a situation where you suspect that you or your child are being bullied in a church environment, please seek counsel outside of the church to verify your suspicions. God is not an abusive bully nor should His representatives be. There are plenty of pastors and churches that do not practice this style of abusive, fundamentalist "churchianity".

As the evolution of the Body of Christ continues, we will see more and more of the desperate and dysfunctional branches dying off, in the process people will be exposed for their abuses against the flock. There are still good and loving bodies of believers where healing and wholeness are possible and God's love is practiced. May we all be vigilant to speak up against this insidious spiritual abuse of God's children.

Imagine Peace and Love

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people

Living for today...

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people

Sharing all the world...

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one

John Lennon