I Am an Unreligious Christian

   Last Friday I was looking at some Facebook posts when I came across a person's post lamenting the loss of an old friend who had passed several years ago. The two had been close friends virtually all of their lives and had never parted ways. They had grown up in La Crescenta, CA and had remained close friends throughout their move to Utah and grew older together. I had attended the same high school as the two and though I didn't have the pleasure of knowing them well, I remember them as being friendly and that they smiled a lot.

It was mentioned that both were members of the Church of the

Latter Day Saints and one person commented on the Facebook post stating, "You don't believe in the same God as we do."

I have attended churches where the members, and even some pastors remarked similarly and I disliked what I heard. My uncle, a fine and respectable man was a Mormon. I taught at Noah Webster Basic School, a charter school in Mesa, AZ owned and operated by a family of the same faith. The Mormon families live up to the values taught to us by Jesus Christ.

Christian Nationalism is moving to the forefront of political discussions. It preaches that only one religion, largely protestant, people of one color, and one political party are required to make America great again. They are against Muslims, gays, trans and anyone else who doesn't fit into what they believe should be included in America's future. They preach doctored verses from the Old Testament that agree with their belief systems. What they don't teach is what Jesus Christ taught; unconditional love, forgiveness and grace, humility and service, generosity and detachment from materialism, integrity and purity of heart, justice and compassion, and faith in God's providence.

As for me, I want my faith to teach me the characteristics I listed above, and I don't want to be bound to the rigid structure of religiosity.