By Mansfield Frazier
Last Sunday I had four guests in the studio with me for my radio show The Forum (heard on WTAM, 1100AM from 8 to 10 pm every Sunday). Yes, that was a plug. The topic was Russia’s outmoded stance on homosexuality and how gay athletes from around the world might be subjected to persecution when they journey there for the Winter Olympics. Naturally some homophobic callers agreed with Russia’s ignorant position … often citing biblical references. And some emails went even further, questioning my support of fair treatment for everyone, no matter their sexual orientation.
Interestingly, when I stood up with Native Americans against the Cleveland Indians’ continued use of that ugly racist buffoon Chief Wahoo, no one accused me of being Native American; when I stood up for the rights of disabled Americans to have full access to buildings and events, no one accused me of being disabled; but when I stand up for the rights of gays … yeah, you guessed it: I’m standing up because I must be gay.
Well, the fact is, I’m not gay, but I’m way past being fearful of being bullied by knuckle-draggers who attempt to prevent other individuals from expressing their principled support for gays out of fear of being labeled. I’m also not a coward. If anyone cares to put any label on me because of a stance I take … then they can go right ahead. My 70 years of sometimes being pejoratively labeled in America because of my melanotic hue has well prepared me to handle any other label anyone wants to hang me; I’ll wear it with just as much pride as I wear my dark skin.
Back to the radio show: When I challenged one caller by stating that the Old Testament (on which he was basing his homophobia) contains some pretty brutal punishments that civilized societies abandoned eons ago, the man demanded, “Aren’t you a Christian?”
When I responded “no,” the airways got so silent you could hear a rat piss on cotton. He immediately hung up, no longer wishing to dialogue with someone not of his faith. And there, gentle reader, lies the primary fault with the world … the one that keeps us in turmoil: The lack of reasoned communication between those holding different views on religion.
The next day I got three emails from individuals I have a passing acquaintance with, all of them worried about my eternal soul since I fail to embrace their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. They made it sound as if I had a disease they needed to pray for me over. When I said I wasn’t a Christian they no doubt immediately thought I was a heathen. While I appreciate their concern (sort of), my eternal soul is in the very good and capable hands of the God I choose to worship, thank you very much. “I’m already saved,” was my response to all three of them.
Predictably, one of them then questioned me in regards to what religion I follow — to which I should have responded, “None of your damn business!” But I held my tongue.
A central tenet, a core belief of my religion is that we don’t discuss it with others outside the faith: Which means no proselytizing; no comparing; no saying “My God is better than your God.”
Indeed, it was the widely held belief of the Baptist faith I was raised in that only Christians will be allowed into Heaven, and that’s what caused me to first question it once I matured enough to think for myself. I simply could not believe that followers of Judaism, Islam, Confucianism, Wicca and Native American spiritual beliefs (and others) would not be allowed into Heaven. Then, after reading all of the great and minor religions of the world, I came to understand that obviously there’s more than just one Heaven. Indeed, there’s a Heaven for everyone of true faith.
The notion that only one religion is “true” and all others “false” has been the root cause of most of the bloodshed we’ve witnessed over millennia. And any religion that purports to be the only “legitimate” one is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt at religious bullying; that’s why my religion wisely sidesteps this debate by not engaging in it, or attempting to attract followers; ours is a religion that doesn’t find you … you have to find it.
But I will say this: my religion is as old as Christianity, and we strictly abide by the Golden Rule … something I cannot say for more than a few other religions.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said, “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.” Indeed.
In Revelation 1: 12-17 the Christian Bible says of Jesus “… his feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace …” which means He obviously was not white. Nonetheless, virtually every modern-day depiction of Him shows a distinct resemblance to Charlton Heston. What’s up with that?
Any group that will steal Jesus will certainly steal anything else they can get their hands on … but thank God not all Christians are alike. Some even tolerate other religions — such as mine — without question or quibble.
I believe that Jesus Christ is the among the greatest prophets ever to walk the face of the earth, and completely worthy of being followed by all Christians throughout the world; but so is the Savior I pray to, venerate, and humble myself in front of.
From Cool Cleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available again in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author by visiting http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc.com.
5 Responses to “MANSFIELD: Thanks, But I’m Already Saved”
Bill Wiltrack
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Well done.
Another excellent article.
Mansfield, you are classy with a street-wise edge that makes you REAL.
Far more real than the fears and the hopes most of the rest of us pray to.
.
Jennifer D
That was beautifully written. You accurately describe the religion I practice as well. We will continue to stand strong as we continue to encounter bigotry, small-mindedness, and extremism.
Dean Van Farowe
Mansfield,
When I hear you say, “there’s a heaven for everyone”, it’s not quite true. Think, for example, of reincarnation, the belief of many modern pagans and many Hindu’s. Reincarnation does not lead to heaven, but to the re-flesh-ment of individuals into the form that karma has brought them to.
I would hate for my loved ones, or my enemies, or you and your amazing spirit & mind, to be GONE at death. Erased. This is one reason why I TRUST Jesus OF Nazareth–because of his body resurrection, something that those who love him will also be gifted with. Not because we are worthy of it, of course! A gift.
So, I think it’s important to be clear that not all religions want or see the future of heaven.
Bill Rucki
Thank you, thank you, thank you for actually writing this piece and publishing it. I left the Catholic Church at grade 8 when the nuns told me that only Christians can enter heaven but at the same time they said that God was loving and forgiving. I couldn’t get my head wrapped around some poor person born in a faraway place being condemned because he/she had never heard of Christianity. I also struggled with all the other beings on all of the other planets? Are they just screwed? I’m convinced that modern religion’s views about God are as childish and as medieval as was our understating of DNA or Quantum Mechanics in the 15th century.
Bill Rucki
Darn. Make that understanding not understating.