So, recently, I’ve had a few people ask me how I, a lewd leftist trans girl became a Christian. Recognizing that I see all faiths and lacks of faith as equally valid, I’ll start with the short version: I believe that I was called by Jesus Christ to serve the poor.

I was an atheist for something like 15 years, largely because I had only ever seen religion used as a tool to harm or oppress people. As a closeted trans kid, it told me I was going to hell. Religion in America still does more of this kind of thing than pushing for justice, IMO.

I started volunteer work in criminal justice reform after a close friend of mine was sentenced to 75 years in prison. This lead to jobs and internships that had me working very closely with the incarcerated, and the toll of that can get very heavy.

My mentor, one of the south’s leaders in criminal justice reform has faith and carries that weight really of injustice really well. Still, I might have wanted to believe in something , but I couldn’t.

One day he was on a panel and someone asked him how he decided to do what he does, and how he copes with it. He said “I believe I was called by Jesus Christ to serve the poor.” He didn’t elaborate or proselytize.

I felt this pull at my heart when I heard him say that, I now realize that it was something in me wondering how I’d know if *I* had been called.

When I talked to him about it he pointed me toward some books, explained his worldview a bit. Essentially, the words attributed to Christ that were written down within living memory of his ministry are ALL about serving the poor and freeing the oppressed.

I learned that Judaism and Christianity didn’t even have the concept of an afterlife until 100 years after Jesus died. When he talks about a just kingdom of plenty he literally could not have been talking about where you go when you die.

So anyway, I was moved because I could feel this connection to a spirit of resistance and liberation that has existed since the beginning of mankind. That, to me, is miraculous whether or not there is a supernatural God.

So anyway. I don’t even know if I believe in a supernatural God, I believe that’s very far beyond the point, the only thing (though a BIG thing) that Jesus asks of Christians is that they drive a spoke into the wheel of oppression.

And look, I’m not a saint. My job pays very very well, not all of my work is altruistic, but I do have enough of a pro bono caseload big enough that I basically have a second job. I try to do my best and my beliefs give me hope. Anyway, there you have it.