Jesus is Your Boyfriend? That's Just Weird.

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Weird is often a positive in my book, but this concept is a disturbing one. What jump started this post is a Jezebel article, written by gender studies professor; Hugo Schwyzer. In his piece, Jesus Ain't Your Boyfriend, he speaks of the twisted concept that embraces the idea that one can have a semi-romantic, semi-metaphorical, relationship with Jesus.

I remember the first time I was exposed to this type of thinking. My only consistent church going period, occurred between the ages of 14-16. I attended a youth group service every Sunday where I could sit with clicky surfer dudes and dudettes who felt there was no room in their tribe for a girl with magenta hair.

I remember one particular Sunday when one of the youth counselors gave us an intimate detailing of her romantic life and how she pushed away a romance as their make out sessions became too heated for her. She was visibly nervous and her tale was meant to be a teaching point for the rest of us. I didn't take it that way, but I appreciated that in her mind, she was doing a very good thing.

Another counselor chimed in and explained that instead of dating men she would frequent a movie theater where she would purposefully sit next to an empty seat. If someone would ask her if the seat was taken she would say, "yes". In reality she was saving it for Jesus. She giddily explained that she would go on dates with Jesus and that Jesus was her boyfriend.

Eye brow raise? You betcha.

There are plenty of women and men who are on board with the Jesus is My Boyfriend campaign. I've never heard of a man proclaiming that Jesus is HIS boyfriend. That would be gay after all, and so many conservative Christians believe that homosexuality is sinful. But do men have a religious equivalent? On some level they do. There are plenty of "I'm in love with Jesus" songs, out there and they are not gender specific.

My point is that conservative Christianity urges women to submit to many a male presence. Whether it be God, a brother, a husband, a father.

On this blog I have spoken about several religious phenomenons that have been used to keep women in one spot. Examples include, Purity Balls, Purity Ring Music Videos and The Stay At Home Daughters Movement.

In his article, Schwyzer pointed out that romanticism and religion have been linked for ions. Catholic nuns have asserted that they are married to God and have replaced romantic relationships with the big Calvin Klein model upstairs.

Claiming that Jesus is your boyfriend does not necessarily mean that one fantasizes about God as a sexual being. But to use the word boyfriend or husband is to link affinity and romantic love. Think of all the things that come with romantic love. Friendship and sexual connection are two.

To believe that God can be a romantic partner is to suggest that "He"cannot allow a human experience within the human experience. That to be involved with a man (or woman for that matter) would be limiting and to be with Jesus is to be liberated.

To be considered "uppity" in conservative America is often akin to that of feminism and to be a feminist means to live without submission. And when you've got women on the loose as men are, then life moves closer to a balance. But to be balanced along side anti-feminist men is the scariest and most uncomfortable concept. Ants in the pants, for sure (forgive me for sounding like my grandmother and perhaps yours as well).

My fear for those women who lose interest in Jesus as a romantic partner, is that they will feel guilty and strained as they tinker with the idea of "just being friends." Ladies, have you forgotten? You can still love your friends.