Hello God; it’s me, Kendall

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I have sat down to write this blog post quite a few times, over the past few hours. This whole trip is supposed to be emotional, so I will open up. My thoughts are a little scattered, but here they are:

I was challenged to find God, today. 
And I have not decided whether to accept or reject that challenge, but it will definitely be something for me to ponder.

I think a lack of acknowledgement or thought of a higher power is a sign of privilege. By that I mean that in life, there is so much that one can rely upon if they don’t trust in some kind of “God.” Or maybe it isn’t God, but rather a faith in general. Having a faith means having a community— a group of like minded individuals who may keep you grounded in your values and beliefs. A congregation, like that of the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, serves to keep its members from getting lost when times are hard. But if you are lucky enough to have that support from a human source or you have yet to experience something so difficult, then I guess you don’t need God (I am pretty sure Xandi expressed something similar to this on the bus).
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Andrew Young said that he believed the Civil Rights Movement would not have been as successful without religion. But I wonder if it was more about the church than God, Himself. I mean, the people congregated in the name of God, but as I said (or perhaps, implied) before, it was the community that propelled the movement. Mankind has waged war over religion for millennia, with regard to whom they believed in or how they did so. And I have always told myself that if God did exist, He would be disappointed. God would not exist to simply receive praise or condemn sin, but to give the people on earth something in which to have faith. The way in which their sentiments might be expressed would be their prerogative. God would exist for the people who have faced oppression and hardship— and for the people who would otherwise have nothing.

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