So You Want to Know What's Wrong With Religion? (2)

So what do you do when you are retired Navy and a natural disaster strikes?  You help out!  Sometimes I think it's in the DNA of military members, especially retired members.  You jump in the middle of things and donate time, money, and expertise.  In this instance Carmen Hix volunteered at the Calvary Church in Friendswood, Texas, following Hurricane Harvey. She brought with her a donation of $500 worth of food, then made further collections and took a week off from work to help with gathering and distributing.

However, when the church finds out you are Jewish and a lesbian, they fire you. Such a Christian attitude! This is a natural disaster and you should take advantage of all the help you can get!  But, I guess if you aren't the 'right' kind of help, you get dismissed. It wasn't just that. Here's a quote after being told she was fired by the Pastor:

"“I asked ‘So if I were a liar with an evil heart, and I told you what you want to hear, that I am a Christian, I would be allowed to continue to contribute to those less fortunate than I?’ I was told, ‘Yes,” Hix said."

When I first heard this, what flashed into my head was a certain hamster-haired serial liar and misogynist holding up a Bible, claiming to have read it.  After this story was reported, Hix claims the pastor in question lied during an interview about the circumstances of her firing and Hix even offered to take a lie detector test to prove she hadn't made up the whole thing.

Organized religions are bureaucracies, and like most bureaucracies the first rule is circle the wagons and protect the bureaucracy.  In a religions case it's either converting people to their way of 'thinking' -- and I use that word loosely -- or get rid of anyone who doesn't agree.

I remind you, it was a NATURAL DISASTER!  The religion or sexual orientation of the person standing next to you giving out water and supplies shouldn't be a consideration, just get the job done!  What I find funny was Hix's follow-up Facebook post, about how she got more acceptance in very different group.  Here is her post:

"I just wanted to share this. After being "fired" from volunteering for a supposedly "Christian " church, Calvary Houston in Friendswood, I looked for another place to volunteer at a food bank, with which I have experience. I was sent a link to SSG Group LLC. I contacted them and told them what I had just gone through and asked if my being Jewish and a Lesbian would be a problem for them. I was told, "absolutely not!" "If anyone gives you any grief, you come talk to me personally." I went the next day to volunteer in Dickinson, and this Company donated their warehouse in order to turn it into a food bank. Much to my surprise, I walked into a warehouse full of gun-toting, Confederate flag T-shirt wearing bikers and others. I thought, "Oh, shit. What have I gotten myself into?" I was greeted by a retired Coast Guard Warrant. I was wearing a Veteran T-shirt, and he asked me what service I had served with. Told him I was a retired Navy Senior Chief, and was straight up with him about my recent volunteer experience. He said, "I don't care who you sleep with or where you worship. Are you ready to get to work?" "Absolutely, Warrant!" Even knowing I identified as Jewish, that I was Gay, and that I am in a bi-racial relationship, I have received nothing but hugs, people with Confederate flags on their shirts thanking me for my service and my volunteering with them, "You are welcomed here". People, that under any other circumstances, we would probably have never greeted each other, not come together. I'm hoping this is a great crossing of a bridge of different opinions. I feel so welcomed there, which I did not at a "Christian "church". We worked together as a great and hard working team, just to help the less fortunate. I hope that this is the future of our society! Look up SSG a Group LLC and thank them for everything they do! I am blessed."

Yet another example of a Church with it's collective heads buried up their collective . . . well, you know the rest.  She was more accepted by a warehouse full of gun-toting, Confederate flag T-shirt wearing bikers that 'good old Christian folks!

I will tell you that I respect Carmen Hix, not just for her military service and willingness to volunteer, but for not being afraid to life her own life as she sees it. She didn't hide her religion and sexual orientation from those pseudo-Christians, as she should never have to do. If they really lived the Christian ideals many of us were taught as children, they would have said "Oh that's nice, now pass me another case of bottled water." As Gandhi once said:

“I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.”

Two last things, if I were Hix I would consider sending that church a bill for her donation and her time.  After all, if they rejected her as a volunteer, that's means they should compensate her appropriately.  I know that won't happen, Hix doesn't seem the type -- but it only seems fair to me.  The final thing is that if I were a member of that Church, I would seriously re-think my membership!  I'm sure somewhere there's a group of "gun-toting, Confederate flag T-shirt wearing bikers" that might be more open-minded.