Western Christians Don’t Get to Act Oppressed
From your friendly, decolonizing Christian
I am a Christian.
I’m writing this because I don’t like “Christians”.
There’s this notion that “we” must defend Christianity. Yes, we must defend Christianity: from “Christians.”
I use quotation marks because anyone can claim the title of Christian, but completely oppose its teachings (ex. MAGA). I’m not talking about perfect people who never sin, that doesn’t exist. I’m talking about people who act like the rulers of the religion and put a cross in their bio, but spread hatred and label anything they don’t like as “unbiblical”.
Christians in the West act like the existence of LGBTQ+ peoples, immigrants, racialized people, and liberal values are a threat to their religion. The religion based in Middle East Asia and Africa. The religion about a Brown, Palestinian man, who was nailed to a cross, who sat with outcasts and whose parents were immigrants.
The audacity of people in the West to preach in churches or on social media and claim that the religion is under attack or that Christians are being persecuted for their “beliefs”. Christians are not professing their faith, they are using their freedom of speech to profess discriminatory rhetoric that has nothing to do with the bible.
Meanwhile, Christians in Palestine, the birthplace of Jesus, are being slaughtered, starved, detained, and their churches and land are drone targets for the IDF. Christians (as well as non-Muslims and other ethnic minorities) in Afghanistan cannot openly practice their religion and some have fled or converted due to threats of violence, forced conversion and imprisonment. Christians, who live peacefully with their Muslim neighbours — something the Western mind can’t comprehend — in Lebanon are facing an aggressive, illegal invasion and Christians in Iran are enduring war and political strife.
A White, American woman — Samantha Fulnecky — from the University of Oklahoma writes a brainless, elementary school level essay that cites the Bible and states that the belief in multiple genders is “demonic,” gets a failing grade by her transgender instructor, claims her religious freedom is under threat, the instructor gets placed on leave, and everyone coddles Fulnecky as if she is a victim. Mind you, the assignment was to respond to an academic study that examined whether conformity with gender norms was associated with popularity or bullying among middle school students.
Meanwhile, university students in Gaza have to search for where they can get wifi signals just to do their schooling on borrowed laptops in dirty tents with the sound of explosions in the distance. Students in the US are getting kidnapped by masked ICE agents and traumatized in detention centers.
But you’re being persecuted. Sure…
I could write about how the faith was colonized, used to inflict the worst harms on Earth against Black and Indigenous communities, and mistranslated and edited to fit colonial, white narratives and agendas, but that’s an extensive article for another day.
Today, I am red with anger.
I am full of hate, worry, and disgust.
Hey, I didn’t say I was a perfect Christian.
Jaden Ivey, basketball could-have-been, was waived by the Chicago Bulls on March 30. From sitting out for a season riddled with injuries, getting traded from (my future 2026 NBA champions) the Detroit Pistons to the Bulls, and not playing the same as he used to, Ivey is trending for his anti-gay (criticized the NBA for celebrating Pride Month), and anti-Catholic (called it a false religion — his mother Niele Ivey coaches the Notre Dame Women’s basketball team, a Catholic school) rants on an airplane and a moving car. He also said Steph Curry, Lebron James, and Michael Jordan aren’t pure Christians. He also said he abuses his wife. He is also asking reporters if they have had sex before marriage — Ivey had a child out of wedlock. Oh, and how could I forget, he also professed his love for apple pie. But he said nothing of the word of God.
Ivey claims he was waived because of his faith, but I think it was because hateful speech leads to consequences. He was also agitating staff members from the Bulls organization for his evangelism in the locker room. Plus, many NBA players are Christian. From bible verses in bios, bible verse tattoos, to praising God after winning games or getting drafted — I don’t have proof or stats, but I’m sure Christians probably make up the largest religious group in the NBA.
I follow multiple NBA players (ex. Carter Bryant, Damian Lillard) who post bible quotes frequently and never face backlash or punishment from the league.
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Jonathan Isaac is a conservative who stood during the national anthem in a 2020 NBA bubble game while his teammates and other players kneeled in protest of police brutality and support for BLM, declined the COVID-19 vaccine, runs an “anti-woke” clothing brand, and spoke at a summit hosted by Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA. Isaac plays for the Orlando Magic. Never waived, never suspended.
NBA Champion Kyrie Irving, a muslim/omnist and member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, runs an underwear collection, protested against the Dakota Access Pipeline, donated a home to George Floyd’s family, donated over $300,000 to food banks, built a solar water center in Pakistan, joked that the Earth was flat, shared posts from conspiracy theorists — including far-right loser and Sandy Hook denier Alex Jones — and promoted a Black Hebrew Israelite ideology film that was anti-semetic in nature. Irving took pressure from the league, Jewish communities and a suspension without pay for five games to apologize.
You can be an outspoken, religious millionaire who plays a childs’ sport for a living and use your money and fame to do great things or harmful things. You have freedom of speech. You can (most times) get away with bigotry. Abuse. Racism. Misogyny. There are many more examples. But if you aren’t contributing to the success of the team/not a good player, plus you have controversy following you like a moth to a flame, the team is not going to risk keeping you.
I wrote about the NBA’s inability to hold players accountable for cases of rape and abuse, compared to other policy violations like gambling and drug abuse.
The Failure of the NBA: abuse + accountability… Read more
But I agree with the Bull’s choice to waive him. I wish teams had this same energy for players like Jaxson Hayes…or Miles Bridges.
It’s clear that Ivey is experiencing some sort of psychosis — perhaps from previously shared trauma from his childhood and struggles with pornography — and needs help, but mental illness doesn’t shield you from the consequences of your words. He’s spewing a cultish, brainwashed belief of the faith. Mental health matters, and so does being held accountable.
Christian male athletes never speak out against their teammates accused of beating up their partners, cheating on their girlfriends, having sex before marriage (Hebrews 13:4- though the verse doesn’t downright say “no sex before marriage”), or having tattoos (Leviticus 19:28- this is interpreted differently by many people including myself — I know a lot of tatted Christians). Yet their mouths get active when it’s time to defend homophobia. Pride month is an “abomination,” but the pedophilic, racist, orange rapist ruling America and ruining the globe isn’t?
No outrage about the genocides in Palestine or Sudan, “no comment” in response to ICE terror, silence on anti-immigration protests in the UK and Ireland, no comforting words for families who can’t afford groceries, or children who are self-harming more than ever in Canada? Nothing against church leaders (pastors, priests, etc) constantly in the news for molesting children and stealing money to fund their rich lifestyles?
But the LGBTQ+ community is the problem here. Right…
But it’s in the bible!
Okay, which verse?
…..
In my biblical research, the bible never actually states the things that Christian folk claim, especially in regards to homosexuality (this word didn’t even exist in those times). You can read the verse, but everyone is going to interpret it differently or assume the bible is talking about one thing, especially depending on the language and version/style of the bible they’re reading from.
Christian Educator, Myles Markham writes;
Their (conservative) interpretation is that same-sex relationships are not able to reflect God’s creative intent. Their reasoning includes, but is not limited to, 1) what they were always taught was an “unbiased” interpretation of the relevant passages and 2) a core belief that sex differentiation is an indispensable part of Christian marriage.
These stories (Genesis 1 and 2) say God began by creating human beings of male and female sex (defined as…combinations between chromosomes, gonads, genes, and genitals) but there is nothing that indicates in Scripture that God only created this binary.
The stories of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19) and the Levite’s concubine (Judges 19) are about sexual violence and the Ancient Near East’s stigma toward violating male honor. The injunction that “man must not lie with man” (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13) coheres with the context of a society anxious about their health, continuing family lineages, and retaining the distinctiveness of Israel as a nation. Each time the New Testament addresses the topic in a list of vices (1 Corinthians 6:9, 1 Timothy 1:10), the argument being made is more than likely about the sexual exploitation of young men by older men, a practice called pederasty.
Some Christians spend more time hating others than worshipping God. Gay people are not the enemy. Being gay is not a sinful “lifestyle”. Gay people are my friends, my favourite actors, my favourite poets, my favourite athletes. Gay people are Christians, Muslims, Jews, all sorts of religions and spiritualities. They matter. You can try to rain on their parade, but a rainbow will still come out in the end.
