To All the "Spiritual" Christians

To All the “Spiritual” Christians
By Anthony Harris ‘08

     I’ve noticed that many people I know aren’t “religious, but spiritual.”  Much of the time, these people don’t go to church because they find many Christians to be hypocritical, especially our figureheads.  I would like to stand out among many deeply religions Christians and say this: Pat Robertson does not represent me.
     I’ve been getting upset with Pat Robertson lately.  I’ve always had a problem with this is a man who sees no good or Christ-like mercy in anything contrary to his Christian mindset.  But now with his recent comments, I just want to distance this man as soon as possible.  No, any good Christian would not call for the assassination of another nation’s president.  Christians are not joining in legions calling for the death of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, nor did we all join in prayer for the death of Supreme Court Justices to vacancies to open up for President Bush appointed neo-conservatives.  We did not all see that Hurricane Katrina was a sign that God hates New Orleans for the reasons of voodoo and homosexuality; neither did we see that the tragedies of September 11th occur for the same reasons.  We also didn’t remark about how Supreme Court nominee John Roberts can "be thankful that a tragedy has brought him some good."  We don’t all believe that "it doesn't make any difference what he does, good or bad. God picks him up because he is a man of prayer and God is blessing him."
     Real Christians preach about love and compassion.  We hope that people would see our viewpoints, but we don’t hammer our ideals into American minds.  We don’t do all that we can to pressure politics.  We don’t claim that people aren’t Christians because of their political affiliations or their opinions on certain issues.  We don’t spread hate.  It’s because of Robertson’s close-minded wailings that Vheadline.com, Venezuela’s electronic news site, is making comparisons between Pat Robertson and Adolph Hitler.  “Behind the pastor there are more than two million followers of his Nazi homilies within the United States of America.”  But not every Christian is one of those two million.  While some may truly believe Robertson’s words, many of us are people who have our own interpretations of the word of God.  We have our own beliefs, and some even follow the Word of God closer.  Some of us are really quite loving to all people, as Christ intended.
     People like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell give Christians a bad name.  This too may seem slanderous, but someone had to say it.  These men claim to represent Christians but they aren’t leading good examples.  This is part of the reason why many people claim to be “spiritual but not religious.”  They have a problem with organized religion and hypocrisy.  They have new viewpoints that no one is addressing.  They’re conflicted.  Or at least that’s what I see.  I’m open to other opinions though, and I’m willing to listen.  Not like Pat Robertson.