[SassyLeo]

My mother had been involved in “New Thought” for many years and eventually I became part of the church she co-founded about 12 years ago. It was a wonderful 5 years! The congregation is led by an African American Lesbian minister and her life-partner, also African American, led the music ministry. They were both raised in very fundamental traditional “black churches”. I was very involved- taking classes, participating in groups and the best part, for me, being part of the Gospel choir. Mind you, the church was incredibly progressive and embodied belief systems from all over the world. I loved singing traditional music, with a slight twist of new/more inclusive words and energy. Very woo-woo

Anyway, a number of years ago, I was having a discussion with a colleague, I’ll call her Lisa. Lisa had recently delved back into her faith and had begun attending a Lutheran church with her husband and little girl. She was really enjoying it…and so we would share stories and talk about the differences in our beliefs, but also what we shared. Although I think she liked much of the traditional belief systems, she was somewhat liberal. Meaning, she was not homophobic. And in fact, very open.

Lisa was telling me about how she and several other women from the church had a get together with the minister’s wife at her house. They were all talking about heaven and hell. Lisa was asking her questions and one in particular she really struggled with.

The wife was telling her that they believe that in order to go to heaven, you must believe in Jesus/God/be a Christian/follow the Christian “way”. And if you don’t, you will go to hell.

So the conversation went like this:

Lisa: “What about my friends and family who aren’t an active Christians or I’m not sure what they believe…they are all going to hell?”

The wife: “Well, that is what we believe. We believe that it is best to live as Christians”

Lisa: “So everyone I know who isn’t a Christian or isn’t a practicing Christian, they are all going to hell?”

The wife: “Well, yes…”

Lisa: “Well that is hard for me to hear and understand. These are people I love and just because they don’t believe as I do, they go to hell? What if they are Jewish? It just doesn’t make sense to me”

And so she came back to work on Monday and was really struggling with how to reconcile her feelings. I told her that because I don’t believe in heaven and hell, I could not speak to her specific situation, but encouraged her to follow her heart.

This still sticks with me. My belief is that God (Spirit, Goddess…) does not discriminate and is completely inclusive of all walks of life.

When I die, they can take all the parts they need to save people and then cremate me.

I’m fine with that