I wonder how religion came to dominate much of our political discussion. Many of my friends will ask, “What is wrong with Christian values?” They point out we are a Christian nation. More importantly, they assume the vast majority of this country is Christian. One of my students, Levi Eaglefeather, many years ago pointed out to the rest of the class that he was not allowed to practice his religious beliefs. They did not believe him. I asked Levi to give them just two of his religious practices that were outlawed. The class did not object to the examples Levi had provided. One member of the class said that she would allow Levi to practice his religion, but she would make every effort to convert him to the Christian church.
It is difficult if not impossible to challenge a belief. The reason is impossible is that religion is based on belief. I know some of you might be offended, but I’m going to ask you to consider a person who knows nothing about Christianity and communion. Transmogrification is a big word and comes from the verb transmogrify. It is usually defined as, “the act or process of being transformed into a different form.” I think you can see how the word transmogrification could be applied to communion. The wine is transmogrified into the blood of Christ and the wafer or a bit of bread is transmogrified into the body of Christ. If it’s possible for you to step outside your Christian training, think of someone who has never heard of Christianity and might think of drinking blood and eating the flesh of another human being. You might say that the wine and wafer are just symbols, but the Christian churches all say they are changed, transmogrified, to the actual blood and body of Christ. That’s important to Christian belief because Christ’s death is important to your salvation.
I’ll let you think about Christian beliefs and how they might even “offend” a non-Christian. This is important because we will discuss how religious beliefs have crept into the actual laws of our country.
