Muleteers assemble!
Hello, friends. I’m stepping outside of the Q&A format today for a little side amusement/PSA.
I saw something on social media recently that stuck in my craw a bit. I have gotten pretty good at breezing through those dangerous, time-wasting woods just a couple of times a day, most often to offer my promotional materials. Sometimes they’re colored with a bit of humor, other times with just sincere enthusiasm. But generally without engaging in conversations, for the reasons with which I imagine we’re all familiar.
That’s why I’m offering this serving here for your edification, rather than spending time trying to patiently inform strangers about things they might already know if they would just use their noggins a little bit. Without further preamble, I present to you:
The “Christians of Faith”, or “CoFs”, as I have dubbed them.
Here follows a thread begun by an old friend of mine, and then followed up by the aforementioned CoFs. I’ll simply present their replies in order, noting when a new celebrant weighs in:
The original poster: 12 years or so ago my son was getting baptized and his godfather-to-be Nick Offerman was in the midst of shooting the 2nd season of a little-known new show called Parks and Recreation. This is the true story of how Ron Swanson wound up leading a baptismal procession.
Reply: I saw Nick in Louisville. Over half his set was a brutal attack on people of Christian faith. It was really hard to hear. I doubt he cares at all about the effectiveness of baptism.
Reply: Yes. So sad he has such hatred for faith.
Reply: Maybe the faith hurt him like it has hurt many others? Christians can certainly practice their faith, but they should also recognize the incredible damage and harm the evangelical and Baptist faiths have done to people.
Reply: Baptisms "effectiveness" isn't based on the people who participate, that is the nature of sacraments.
Reply: So he can’t just be a good friend? Do you and all your friends agree on every single thing? Also this was years ago, maybe he felt differently then than he does now. Let’s try to be more thoughtful in what we spew out to the internet in the future shall we?
Reply: That makes me sad he doesn’t like Christians…There sure are a lot of Christians who like Nick and Ron! Including our whole family!
Reply: This juxtaposition also brought me to this thread. It wasn’t just the usual Christian bashing; it was a pretty personal set of tirades that seemed to be born of a lot of pain. Realized if anyone had talked about my wife the way he talked about the church, I might’ve decked them.
Reply: I think we all need to listen harder when people like him show their pain.
Reply: Totally agree—I wished I could go for a beer with him and learn more, because…there’s more. And there’s also nothing wrong with reacting to someone’s pain, especially when it’s directed at someone (Jesus) I love. None of us is an experiment for observation; we’re all *in* this.
Reply: I have listened to his books while driving & didn't see him really hitting out at Jesus, rather than at Christians & the Church as he's known it. I'd also love to go for a beer with him, he's such a lovely man in so many ways & his love for his wife is so heartwarming.
Reply: Completely agree on the end point. And we have to leave room for different lived experiences—his and mine, yours and mine, etc. We each respond to our own, and listening hard doesn’t always change our minds, even though it’s always work worth doing.
Ok. There’s a lot to unpack here, but I really don’t have the time. I mean, who does, seriously? All of my books and specials are available at NickOfferman.co if anybody wants to do a deep dive into the veracity of these claims, but I don’t think it’s really necessary, as these aren’t particularly well-informed claims.
I don’t want to deride these souls or even disparage them. Let the guy who is without sin cast the first stone and so forth. I do often speak critically, and I hope humorously, about people who do shitty things in the name of Christianity, like politicians and Supreme Court justices and hypocritical activists, among others. I usually open with my own fallibility, and an acknowledgement of my own status as, well, for lack of a better term, a sinner.
I grew up in the Catholic church, and I have seen some things in the people and execution of that religious dogma worth poking fun at, and I am certainly not alone in that regard. The same can be said for damn near any group of humans putting forth an effort, especially when we try hard without a sense of humor.
I have also known, and I know and love, many exemplary humans, with “faith” and without, who lead lives of service as damn near selflessly as I can imagine. Most people, though, whether they go to church or not, I would put in my own category: Doing our best to love our neighbors as we would love ourselves, despite our damn selves.
I have no beef with any religion. I have no beef with any groups of people, except evil groups like white supremacists or fans of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Some sources of inspiration in my thinking on this topic include: Bob Dylan’s “With God on Our Side”, Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five, The Iliad, Tom Waits’s “Day After Tomorrow”, and many others, all touching or expanding upon that prime human folly— what if both opposing armies in a war pray to the same god?
Faith, I believe, is a virtue, and it’s very important to me. Mine is not placed in an organized religion, but it is certainly focused upon some of the same noble values in my fellow women, men and gender non-conforming folks. Decency. Humility. Kindness. Generosity. I was taught to honor these values—oh, yeah: Honor.—and aspire to embody them in my life. Once in a while I succeed in doing so. Usually I do not.
For example, I, a baptized former Catholic, took part in that above ceremony out of love for my friends and their son. I was asked to share a vested interest in his life; his upbringing and his sense of morality. While I have not yet won any awards for my contributions toward said effort, I do maintain that relationship, out of simple affection, despite my failings. I have not given up on them and they have not given up on me, because our hearts are in the right place. I feel like the hope that we store in one another could be thought of as faith.
If the so-called Christians of Faith that replied in the above thread were to go back and listen, with ears less prone to a knee-jerk reaction, to the material that they perhaps didn’t take fully onboard, they might discern that it’s not Christians or faith that raise my ire, it’s assholes. All the while acknowledging my own propensity for assholery.
And, if somehow any of you CoFs have made it here to my Substack barnyard? I forgive you.
Love,
Hello there, if you want to ask me a question, please do so in the comments, and let me know where you’re writing from.
Read. Think.