This I Believe

I Believe in God

God, the Divine, the Universal Force, the Greatest Thing that Can Be Thought has been called many names by many people and those people have often held onto those names with their might. Humans like to create God in their image. There is a deep need for God to embody human belief. I believe in a God who is so much greater and more wondrous than anything that humans can imagine, a being who is beyond human attributes and constructions. I call God “God” or “they.”

I Believe in Jesus

I believe that a man named Jesus was born, lived, and died in First Century Palestine. He was a refugee and was Jewish by both religion and ethnicity. As a Christian, I believe that he was both God and man. He preached a radical gospel of love and inclusion. He befriended outsiders and acted against both the civil and religious realities of his day. He was put to death by the leaders of his day, most of whom were motivated by fear of his message.

I Believe in the Holy Spirit

I believe that there is a force that guides all humans and I believe that force is divine. Following my Christian tradition, I name that force the Holy Spirit.

I Believe there are Many Paths to God

I honor and respect my own Christian tradition, but I believe that there are many ways to reach God. No one path is more or less valid than another.

I Believe there are Old Ways

The old ways of our ancestors have largely been lost except to those already at the margins where they were guarded and quietly handed down. There is truth in the old ways and they deserve to be brought into the light again.

“Hear now the words of the witches, the secrets we hid in the night, when dark was our destiny’s paths, that now bring forth into light.”

I Believe in Community and in Ritual

Humans are social creatures who gather in communities for fellowship, strength, and belonging. Some of these communities are religious and spiritual. Rituals have a place in those communities. Whether or not those rituals impart grace, bring a person closer to God, or are necessary for salvation is entirely the purview of each individual believer. What works for me might not work for you.

I Believe that there are many sacred and holy books

As a Christian, much of my religious education has been from the Bible. I find truth in the Bible and I find truth in the Kabbalah, the Talmud, the Quran, the Bhagavad Gita, and other sources.

I Believe in an Interconnected Web of All Existence

I believe that all people, animals, plants, and the rest of nature are connected. Our actions affect each other. When we exclude people and when we harm the environment, we hurt each other and we hurt ourselves.

I Believe in Sin

“Sin” is a powerful word that, ironically, has been used to exclude and demonize people throughout history. Christianity has argued that sin came into the world through Adam and Eve and thus all of humanity was stained with that “original sin.” The idea of original sin is sinful in its very formulation. No one is sinful simply by birth and no sins from their first breath. Traditional Christian conceptions of sin are founded on control, not holiness. Sin is exclusion. Sin is racism, sexism, heterosexism, homophobia, transphobia, fatphobia, ableism, classism, and any other form of exclusion based on who a person is in their being and living.

I Believe that LGBTQIA+ People are Holy

Western, Christian, Eurocentric, colonial, and white supremacist forces have erased the fact that LGBTQIA+ are holy and have had revered positions throughout cultures far into the past. We are here, we are Queer, and we are Holy.

I Believe that Black Lives Matter

Black lives and Black bodies have been devalued, enslaved, murdered, oppressed, and underrepresented throughout the history of the United States and other nations. Today our society murders Black lives under the guise of law enforcement, creates a pipeline from Black communities to prisons, and has the audacity to continue a failed drug war whose architects have admitted was designed to be a war on Black people. None of us are free until we are all free. I believe that the work of dismantling racism must be the work of white people.

I Believe in Science

As a person of faith, I see no contradiction between science and religion. Science has and will continue to demonstrate that some of what we have called “divine” has rational empirical explanations. Scientific findings do not diminish faith, rather they enhance our faith.

I am Pro-Life

I believe that a pro-life stance includes the following points:

• Single-payer health care for all people living in the United States regardless of immigration status

• Guaranteed maternal and paternal leave of at least six months with full salary and benefits

• A true living wage for all people

• Universal basic income for all people making below an equitably-determined amount

• A robust welfare system without work requirements

• National rapid transit utilizing environmentally-friendly fuels

• Ending the failed “war on drugs” and decriminalizing narcotics.

• Reforming the bail system in the United States and ending the school-to-prison pipeline

• Sex positive, comprehensive, and scientific sexual education for all students in both public and private schools

• Strict controls on the sale and purchase of firearms including a ban on assault rifles

• Training for all police officers in de-escalation strategies and removing lethal options from standard police gear

• Abolishing the death penalty at all levels

• Providing accessible abortion on demand for any pregnant person (studies have shown that providing everything above could greatly reduce the number of abortions. However, as a cis-gender man I should have ZERO say in whether or not a pregnant person seeks an abortion).

I Believe in Education

I believe that education is the single greatest force to lift up people economically and socially. However, that education must be equitable and students must have equal access to it. Education should include both a core program and ample time for students to pursue their passions and creativity. The current model in the United States funnels students either into the workforce or into college. Students need greater access to apprenticeships, quality community college programs, and lower-cost options for higher education.