Am I ashamed to be a Christian?

How can I continue to ally myself with a religion that has been used as the rationalization to murder six million Jews, to kill abortion doctors, to deny human status due to skin color and culture, to demonize homosexuals, to declare wars, to perpetuate the barbaric ritual of the death penalty and to commit countless other atrocities?

How can I put my faith, hope and trust in a religion that tells me to praise a god who takes joy in evil deeds such as these? The answer is, I cannot, and I will not.

I am ashamed that acts such as these have been committed and continue to be committed in the name of Jesus.

However, being a Christian does not mean that I put my faith, hope and trust in such a religion. Instead, it means that I put my faith, hope and trust in the teachings of Jesus.

Jesus commanded that his followers love others as he loved them. Jesus repeated that he desired acts of mercy and not of sacrifice.

Jesus refused to condemn a woman who had broken the law.

Jesus told his followers that if struck, they were to offer the other cheek to be struck as well.

Jesus certainly never called for his followers to engage in genocide, homicide, dehumanization, condemnation of homosexuality, war or punishment.

Too many people on this campus and worldwide are convoluting the meaning of Christianity, and I am angry and ashamed — but I am not ashamed to follow the teachings of Jesus.

Jennifer Barger

Sophomore,

Plant health and protection and Political science