I have never been able to connect to Christianity despite coming from a very religious background. At a young age I was being suffocated by the same religious beliefs my parents had been raised by. I attend a private Christian school in my home country. As I grew older, I felt more and more disconnected from my religion. As I began to discover who I was as a person, my beliefs shifted. Suddenly, my parents’ prayers fell on deaf ears, my bible sat on my desk gathering dust, and my feelings got the better of me at the dinner table. I don’t consider myself as a religious person anymore, I don’t think I ever was. So, when I saw John Lewis preaching to the baby chickens as a child, I couldn’t help but sigh. I went into the book with a very negative view of Christianity, but to my surprise I didn’t find myself rolling my eyes.

“He applied the principles of the church to what was happening NOW, today. It was called the social gospel and I felt like he was preaching directly to me.”

This is what John Lewis mentioned when he first heard Dr. Martin Luther King on the radio. The social gospel is a more modernized version of the biblical gospel. One that’s more focused on the liberation of others. More often than not it was used to silence minorities, used to protect injustices, and even encourage the mistreatment of others. Even if that wasn’t its intended purpose, that’s how a lot of people used it. One of the ideas that struck me the most was of social evolution. It stuck with me the most because of the idea of moving forward in society. Being seen as everyone’s equal, no matter the color of your skin, is something we still struggle with to this day. It’s why I think this gospel is one I could get behind, despite my past.