I grew up as part of the dominant culture of American Protestantism in the midst of a fairly large Jewish population. I remember the first time my parents used the term WASP – White Anglo-Saxon Protestant – and I had no idea what it meant. Turns out, we WASPS were pretty much running the world. Every president, with the exception of JFK, was a WASP, and he was a pretty lame Catholic, so we ignored him. Laws about what you could or could not do on a Sunday were largely there to benefit us. I knew lots of Jewish people, and they seemed nice, no matter what my anti-Semitic father said. I knew some Catholics, which my mom had been as a child, and they were nice too. I may have known people of other religions, but they never said much about what they believed. I get that now.
Growing up Protestant in America was easy. We never saw much in the way of religious arguments. We went to church and Sunday school, attended youth group, and helped at the annual Holy Chicken BBQ Fundraiser. I saw a lot of people at the BBQ who never came otherwise; priorities, I guess. And sure, we had internal squabbles occasionally, like that time the family left out of embarrassment because they forgot to show up early and turn the heat on. We had a lot of characters in that little church; but regardless of their individual quirks, they seemed to get along pretty well. They belonged to different political parties and had opinions about things that I, as a kid, never thought about. We were okay together – it was a pretty vanilla existence.
I love that the world has become more diverse and complicated, religiously. When I went to college, I studied non-Christian religions and philosophies, and my mind was completely blown by the diversity of ideas I encountered. I had a Muslim professor for political science and a bunch of Quakers for most other subjects. I learned from a visiting professor from Japan about WWII from their point of view, and it changed my life. These new ideas didn’t shake my faith; in fact, they made me more in love with what I believed. They also gave me an appreciation for the diversity in America. I learned that equity mattered to those who had been abused by us WASPS. I got to be included in groups I knew nothing about. Mostly, I learned that being an American is broad and wide, even though the founders didn’t mean for it to be. I learned that we have more in common and are stronger together. We just have to work at it a little harder to understand one another. Making a more perfect union takes some work, but it is definitely worth it.
Prayer – Holy God, Your diverse creation is beautiful. May all of Your children learn to accept one another the way You accept us. Amen.
Today’s art is “Diversity” by Lawrence Edessy.