Our apologies

There is no better way to pass this along than to repeat it verbatim:

(Stolen directly from Nathan Colquhoun's blog Based on a True Story.  Read the first part of the post for background.)

Forgive us, friend: It’s been forever since our last confession.

Where to start? We’ve really come off as self-righteous fools, haven’t we? Good intentions or not, we’ve made mistakes and we want to clear the air.

About the Crusades, we’re sorry. ‘Holy War’ is a contradiction in terms. And over 200 years of fighting is an absolute disgrace.

In memory of those who we murdered, burned at the stake and excommunicated because we disagreed with or disapproved of their ideas or ideology, we are sorry. We let ideas in our head become more important than people, the irony haunts us.

In regards to the televangelists, fundamentalists, self-help salesmen, prosperity preachers and all ‘round religious nuts who have claimed to come in the name of Jesus – we apologize. This clearly is not our best foot forward.

To the gays, lesbians and trans-gendered: We have confused human rights and faith. We’ve unlovingly forced our convictions onto your freedom. Words cannot describe how ashamed we are.

To the Aboriginal people of Canada: We are guilty of remaining silent during your greatest times of need. Please forgive us.

To the children abused by church leaders whom they should have been able to trust: We are deeply grieved by this travesty. Please know that God weeps with you. Forgive us.

To the poor: We apologize for being so distracted and consumed with our own security and comfort that we’ve often ignored your cries for help. We’re also sorry that we’ve categorized you as charity cases and not valued you as humans.

To those have been fighting for the planet: At best we’ve been shamefully absent, and at our worst we’ve even been the antagonists. One of God’s very first instructions to us was to take care of the earth. We should know better. We are truly sorry.

We are sorry for coming off as elitists.

We are sorry for our unloving protests.

We are sorry for reducing sacred art and music to bumper-stickers and hollow jingles.

We are sorry for all the guilting, shaming and scare tactics.

We are sorry for not being the church that Jesus set us out to be.

Our sincerest apologies.

We are so sorry.