One of the most important reflections on religion is from a book called Columbus and Other Cannibals by Jack Forbes. He talks about how most indigenous languages don’t even have a word for religion. He also references Charles Eastman, who says, Every act of the Native American’s life is, in a very real sense, a religious act.
Here’s the quote:
Religion is, in reality, living.
Our religion is not what we profess, or what we say, or what we proclaim. Our religion is what we do, what we desire, what we seek, what we dream about, what we fantasize, what we think. All of these things, 24 hours a day.
One’s religion, then, is one’s life. Not merely the ideal life, but the life as it is actually lived.
Religion is not prayer. It is not a church. It is not theistic. It is not atheistic. It is our every act. All that we do, and are, is our religion.
One of the great things about that reflection is that it calls us to step out from behind the labels and deal with the reality of who we are.
Christian supremacy and Christian privilege in the West give people the ability to hide behind labels and not be held accountable for the fruit they bear.
Professing One Way, Living Another
So they can profess love but live hate. They can profess peace but live in conflict with nature, other people, and even themselves. Our religion is not the life we idealize but the life we actually live.
It’s very telling that the closer some of us get to actually living love, the further away we get from institutions, spaces, and even people professing it.
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