Anger can be a powerful force for good. It can also be extremely destructive, both to ourselves and to the world around us. The key is to understand the anger within and to direct it in a way that will bring about positive change.
Anger comes from a place of fear. We know deep inside that something is wrong, yet we are overcome with a sense of powerlessness. We often lash out violently in our words and actions, and as a result, we often make the situation worse.
Today there is much anger directed toward Christianity. Since the time of Constantine, when Christianity became the official church of the Roman Empire, it has been used as a tool to manipulate and control people into conforming to the dominant political, social, and economic structure of the day. This has resulted in the Crusades, global colonization, child sexual abuse, the residential school system, the subjugation of women, and white Christian nationalism.
The purveyors of this philosophy often forget that Jesus of Nazareth, the one who gave witness to the message on which Christianity should be based, saved his harshest words for those who misused religion. “Wo to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You shut the door of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter.” (Matthew 23:13)
In other words, anger toward those who misuse Christianity is justified. These are crimes against humanity, they continue to this day, and they are not without consequences.
But do the actions of some Christians justify us in burning churches or dismissing anyone who is Christian as a pedophile and genocide denier? Do we have to be consumed with vengeance? Can we not take comfort in knowing that these individuals are condemned by their own words and actions? Of course, they should face legal consequences for their crimes, but that only happens when our judicial systems are not also corrupt. Regardless of whether these criminals are held accountable, our anger can hopefully lead us to say, “What you do is wrong and will lead to your own demise. I will leave you in your own cesspool and choose to do better myself.”
Do followers of Jesus of Nazareth exist who are not corrupted by wealth and power? According to Jim Wallis, author of God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It, social activism in Christianity is alive and well, it is just largely ignored by the media because it doesn’t involve violence, sexual exploitation, greed, and corruption. Wallace, who comes from an evangelical Christian background, states, “Catholic social teaching is the best-kept secret of the Catholic Church.”
In fact, the Wall Street Journal once referred to an official Catholic document as “warmed-over Marxism.” Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement once said, “If you feed the poor, you’re a saint. If you ask why they’re poor, you’re a Communist.”
If I were to be perfectly honest, I would have to admit that my lifelong activism is not motivated by any political ideology, it is fueled and sustained by a desire to be true to the message of Jesus, to see each person as a sacred child of God and to build a more just world, regardless of the consequences. As a Middle Eastern Catholic, I come from a tradition, like many Christians, where faith and resistance to political oppression are one and the same.
I am enraged by the actions of violence, abuse, and corruption of those who, like me, call themselves Christian. I choose to use that anger as a catalyst to build a more just society.
When we learn to listen to our anger and filter it through our chosen spiritual tradition, it becomes a powerful force for good. It is unlikely to make news headlines, but it will make the world better.
Gerry Chidiac is a Prince George writer.
