We cannot use religion as a prideful spear to make us believe we are better than non religious people, people of other religions, or people within our own religions who don’t practice perfectly. That’s not to say we can’t set personal rules of engagement; but following them, even if we believe they are divinely given, doesn’t make us better than anyone else.
Christians often do this thing where they see someone breaking the rules in one way or another, and they end up seeing how they do not break the rules in that exact way. So they believe themselves more worthy, or better than a person who does break the rules.
Jesus addressed this directly with the woman who was caught in adultery: “Let he who is without sin be the one to cast the first stone.”
Many religious people see themselves as more reverent than others, unaware of what’s truly in another’s heart. I’ll confess I myself am guilty of this, as uncomfortable as that is to admit. There are days when I look at the community I grew up with and dismiss them as though they’re spiritually shallow and more focused on words and external reality than on the interior life of faith. Of course, I do know this in myself and I try to stay aware of it; but the thoughts and feelings creep in. I simply have no way of knowing. To pierce the inner sanctuary of another’s mind using assumptions alone is a dangerous thing to do.
I find relevant what CS Lewis said: “Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are better than someone else, I (Lewis) think we can be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil.”
That systemic superiority complex hits within multiple contexts: there are many churches who refuse to address white supremacy, for example. White supremacy touches on our tendency and desire to believe we are better than others. It’s the belief people with lighter skin are better than those who don’t have lighter skin. We love to judge each other and compare each other, and then to create hierarchies off of those judgements. Our pride shows up everyday in smaller, more minute interactions as well. We justify so much cruelty based solely on the belief we are better than another.
People have an odd tendency to set themselves up as superior to each other, oftentimes for very petty reasons.
Everything wrong with the world right now, or almost everything anyways, is due to pride. Not the kind that helps us love ourselves or celebrate who we are (and certainly not LGBTQ+ Pride), but the kind that whispers, “I am superior.” This pride is white supremacy, religious superiority, moral shaming, and other such things that make us feel superior to each other.
This superiority cuts both ways: we aren’t “lower” or “higher” than each other. It can be equally damaging to think of oneself as lower rather than equal to others. Both distort our self image and take us away from the truth.
This truth is: God loves us. It’s important we recognize that. It can be uncomfortable to feel that fully. I myself can and do skip to the reality others are loved equally. I think the best order, however, is to know you are loved by God then love others from that place. When we realize, know, and believe that we are loved, it is imperative and many days may even come naturally to understand that others are equally loved as well.
Believing you’re more reverent than other people is another trap. There are many who say believing in your own unworthiness means you’re humble, then puffing out their chests about how much more humble they are in comparison to “those proud folks out there.” Jesus himself rebuked this kind of pride when he told the Pharisees not to show off their fasting. They were attempting to prove their worthiness in the eyes of God and society by performing unworthiness.
True humility requires that we look at ourselves AND at all others around us as if we are best friends. It means decoupling from ranking yourself and simply receiving God’s unconditional love. God does not withhold Their Love from people who mess up or believe differently. God gives it not because we are deemed worthy or unworthy, but simply because we are. Their Love is offered to us as we are, as God created us to be. We exist, and God delights in that.
God loves us as we are. And thank God for that.
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