A Crisis of Faith

I'm going to preface this by saying that I am not returning to Christianity.

Reflections on Community and Action

Having said that, I’m going to talk about what I’m seeing these days.

Yesterday, there was yet another school shooting here in the US. It’s been 26 years since the Columbine massacre. I remember watching the aftermath on the news in the DFAC (chow hall) at Ft. Campbell. I thought that something really needed to be done before something this tragic happened again.

Nothing was done. Since the Columbine massacre in 1999, there have been 420 school shootings in the US. In 2025 alone, there have been 146 shootings, and we’re not even done with the year. Since Columbine, 390,000 children have experienced gun violence in their schools.

And yet, every single time there’s a school shooting and children die, there’s a whole lot of hand-wringing and “thoughts and prayers” being sent by white, conservative Christians.

Thoughts and prayers sound great, right? The more I see that phrase being thrown around, the more I’ve come to realize it’s a cheap way to say you’re doing something while you’re sitting on your couch waiting for your show to come on.

The Call to Action

I think many people, especially Christians, have forgotten that faith means getting your hands dirty. Saying you’re sending thoughts and prayers absolves you from actually doing something in your community, doesn’t it?

This is why so many are leaving that faith. It speaks pretty words but refuses to back them up with actions. It refuses to live the way its holy book instructs. Where Jesus said to love thy neighbor as thyself, modern US Christians are too busy condemning their neighbors to kidnappings by masked men cosplaying as law enforcement. They commit themselves to “protecting the unborn,” yet refuse to care for the living child that results. There are 77,000 children in foster care waiting for families. Most of them will age out of the system without ever finding a loving home. Do you know why? Because the majority of them are brown and black, while the majority of adopters are white. Chew on that for a bit before you scream about “protecting the unborn.” What have you done to help those kids waiting for someone to love them?

A Shift in Perspective

What’s interesting is that over the past decade, I’ve been front row to a rising tide of atheists, agnostics, pagans of all kinds, and witches who are living their lives as sermons instead of condemning marginalized people in the greater community.

A very personal case in point: Several years ago, my husband ended up in the hospital for a week for a serious surgery. At the same time, my dad was in a nursing home 50 miles from the hospital my husband was in, and I was raising my youngest daughter. There was a period where I was driving over 100 miles a day, taking care of my daughter, husband, and giving my mom a break so she could rest and shower. I received lots of thoughts and prayers during this time. But I didn’t need thoughts and prayers; I needed practical help, physical support. Care to guess who came through? Yep, the pagans, atheists, agnostics, and witches. On a daily basis.

My two strongest memories during that time were my friend Rebeka showing up at the hospital and calling me to come down, sit in the sun, and drink a Medicine Ball tea with her. She didn’t ask; she just remembered how much I like Medicine Ball tea and figured I could use a shoulder and some sunshine. The other memory is my favorite yoga student, Miss Joyce, standing up and saying she would lead my classes using the videos I had made so I wouldn’t need to worry about being in class. Their faith led them to get their hands dirty so I could be more present for my husband, my dad, and my daughter. I am eternally grateful for the two of them because it wasn’t long after Danny got out of the hospital that my dad died. Because of the group of non-Christians and Christians who live their lives as sermons and in the manner that Jesus taught, I was able to spend my dad’s last day on Earth with him, my mom, my aunts, and my oldest daughter.

The Crisis of Faith

And this is where this crisis of faith comes in. Every day, I see non-Christians coming together to help the people in their community. Every single day. Even the Satanic Temple is doing good works in their communities—encouraging students to study STEAM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mechanics) in their after-school clubs, running drives to put free period products in schools and women’s shelters. There are mutual aid groups based on pagan tenets being formed, not just to help those who believe the way we do, but to help everyone in their community. We have birth doulas, death doulas (I’m one, in fact), educators, and farmers who are all sharing their knowledge. This is especially important given the current political climate. We have an innate knowing that skills and knowledge to keep everyone fed and safe should be passed around and down.

I’m not seeing this kind of action in the greater Christian community within which we live, and it almost breaks my heart.

I say almost because I truly, deeply believe that you reap what you sow. If you continue to sow division, hatred, and bigotry, that is exactly what you will reap. It’s called Karma, and eventually, it comes for everyone. I also know that if Jesus does come back, he’s not going to be sitting in the megachurches listening to prosperity preachers. He’s going to be on skid row, walking the streets in neighborhoods you’re scared of, in NICUs and hospices. But you’ll probably be screaming for him to be deported because many have forgotten that he is actually a Middle Eastern socialist and not a blue-eyed white man.

A Call for Change

None of us are getting out of this alive. So instead of screaming about thoughts and prayers when children get slaughtered in their schools, or condemning people with HIV/AIDS, or hating those who don’t think, look, act, love, believe, or vote like you, why don’t you get your hands dirty in your own community? Maybe live your life as a sermon? Is that really too much to ask?

If this caused you to feel butthurt, good! Do something constructive about it in your own community.

---wix---