I’ve lost my faith. Learning about the rise of fascism and the pervasive ideologies of racism and bigotry in politics, education, and even consumer products has been disheartening.
Recently, my oldest child brought home a Storytime Chess set. The chess pieces came with cardboard stand-up figures: the white pieces depicted as Northern European royalty or Roman elites, and the black pieces as people of color in ethnic garb. The instructions specified which figures went with which pieces. When I asked my autistic child why he was matching the lighter-skinned figures with the white pieces, he innocently replied that it was what the instructions said.
I was floored. While it might have been an oversight, it was uncomfortable to see instructions that paired white with white, dark with dark, and stated that white goes first. I don’t want to believe the intentions were insidious, but who knows? Racism and bigotry have deeper roots than I ever imagined. We’re not far removed from the days when we used terrible means to classify races. The CIA’s role in destroying African American communities with drugs and guns wasn’t that long ago.
How do I explain this to an autistic 9-year-old? Would he understand? I didn’t have the language or education to explain why the instructions were problematic. My son, noticing my silence, suggested we play the game without the cardboard cutouts. From the mouth of babes.
There are elements of the Abrahamic belief system that resonate with me. As one theologian said (and I’m paraphrasing), “The Abrahamic belief system is one aspect of God that resonates with me.” The Bahá’í faith believes that all religions worship the same God in different ways. While I’m not well-versed in Bahá’í, it seems like a better idea than the religious conflicts we have now.
I can still participate in spirituality while cutting out the harmful dogma. I can follow the teachings of Jesus without adhering to Pauline doctrines. I can value Solomon’s wisdom without the strict rules of Leviticus and Numbers. I can see the myth of Adam and Eve/creationism, common in many Proto-Iranian religions, as an allegory, not reality.
The truth is, everyone cherry-picks their beliefs. There is no true orthodoxy because everyone falls short. There’s nothing inherently wrong with falling short; we’re human and we make mistakes. The greater sin (Greek for “failure, fall short, to neglect”) would be to double down on mistakes as justifiable actions. I accept that my beliefs are flexible. I accept that I don’t know the motives or mechanisms of a higher power. But I don’t have to accept all the rules from followers because the higher moral directive is to do no harm to others. The higher directive with my oldest was to play a game of chess with him. We can eliminate harmful elements, like accidental corporate-sponsored racism, and use the good parts that promote growth. Maybe I didn’t lose my faith but it needs to be redefined.
