Saturday, January 31, 2015

This is Outrageous


This past January, a community of Muslim Americans gathered to explore how they could foster more positive depictions of the faith they love. It was timely work for these practitioners of Islam given the terrorist actions just a week before – an extremist acting in the name of their religion at Charlie Hebdo.  

But their efforts for peace were interrupted by other extremists acting in the name of their religion: some “Christians” gathered to protest the presence of their neighbors, claiming Muslims had no right to gather at the local community center; claiming Islam is inherently violent. (These claims, by the way, were accompanied by Internet threats of guns and bombs.)

This happened next door to me. I lived in Garland Texas; I served a Christian church there; I sometimes worshiped at the mosque just down the street in the neighboring suburb. This is my community. This is my home. These are my neighbors. This is outrageous.

This past Thursday, a gathering of Muslim Americans met for the Texas Muslim Capital Day in Austin. Students and children and faith leaders sought to learn more about the democratic process and to meet their representatives. But again – religious extremists interrupted their efforts for peace. As the children stood proudly and began singing the National Anthem, “Christian” protesters – acting in the name of their religion - accused and insulted and disrespected their neighbors.

This is my state. This is my home. These are my neighbors. This is outrageous.

“Outrage” is a word that speaks of being out of bounds, over the top, off limits.  I suppose these protesters are “outraged” because for them, Islam is an over the top religion. In their opinion, the people of this faith are off limits. In their way of thinking, Muslims do not deserve First Amendment Rights. In their minds, any religion besides their own is out of bounds.

I say this is outrageous.

As an American, I am outraged at the never ending cycles of disrespect that keep occurring in this land that I love: African Americans, Jewish Americans, Japanese Americans, Catholic Americans, Asian Americans, Muslim Americans … the list goes on. Our founding documents articulate ideals of equality, tolerance, unity, harmony, respect, but in all of our history, have we ever lived up to those ideals? Do we even want to?

As a Christian, I am outraged at the never ending cycles of hate masquerading as patriotism. I know many people are very distrustful of the term “Christian;” I get that – especially given these kinds of hateful actions in the name of the faith that I love. In recent years, I have grown very distrustful of the term “patriot” for similar reasons. I want to figure out how to reclaim both these words and reconnect them to their more hopeful (and yes, idealistic) meanings. Both patriotism and Christianity should be bold antonyms to hatred, disrespect and exclusion.

I know some people believe religion is inherently divisive, but I disagree. I believe it is we humans who are divisive, tribal, exclusive of whomever we consider to be “other.” Religion – done rightly – works for justice, peace and reconciliation within the human family. There is nothing inherently “bad” about either religion or patriotism; but there is something deeply “bad” that emerges whenever the two are wed. The terrorist who murdered twelve people in Paris in the name of religion, the KKK that burned “Christian” crosses and hung people from trees, the Nazis who twisted patriotism into a religion of hate, and the current day protesters who use Christ's name to condemn any of God’s children – these may be degrees on a spectrum but they are all outrageous to me. (To clarify, I am not outraged by protest per se; this too is a constitutional right. I am outraged at the attitudes of hatred that motivate these people to protest. I am outraged at the incivility and disrespect that is so rampant in our American conversation.)

I wrote in an earlier blog about the foundational Christian paradigm of “love of neighbor.” In that essay, I recommend this principle of love as a basic construct for how we live together in society and how we do politics in this nation. For me, as a Christian, this call to love must be concrete and practical and visible. There is another fundamental Christian concept called the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Of course both these “rules” for living are not just Christian, both were articulated by the Jewish ancestors of this Judeo-Christian tradition and both are deeply held values within many diverse religious traditions. But surely both these paradigms - love of neighbor and just, equitable treatment others – surely these foundational attitudes should be displayed by all who call themselves “Christian.” Every time people wearing the name of Christ disregard such basic principles and instead practice hate and disrespect, I am outraged.

Abdul Malik Mujahid helped organize the Muslim effort at the Garland Community Center. He said this:
"It is extremely important for the Muslim community to connect with our message. We cannot allow terrorists to run away with the merciful personality of Prophet Muhammad, that they are standing on his name. No. We Muslims in the world, 1.7 billion people, we don’t agree with that. ... At the same time, we’re wondering whether there are good neighbors in America who will stand up with people of other faiths for their right to practice their faith."

As a Christian, as a person of faith, as a pastor, I stand in God’s own over-the-top outrageous love, grace and welcome. How dare I fail to offer love and welcome to any neighbor? 

As an American, I stand with Mr. Mujahid, with my Muslim neighbors, and with all people who work for justice, peace and reconciliation. I stand firmly in our American ideals of equality, tolerance, unity, harmony and respect.

Who stands with me?



Charlotte Vaughan Coyle is an ordained minister within the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ.)



21 comments:

  1. I totally agree Charlotte. It comes down to something so simple as the Golden Rule. We can exist together with far different belief systems and be cooperative. It must be individual to individual and everyone must be regarded for who they are as an individual. You cannot clump every Muslim into a single profile, just as you cannot evaluate every Christian by the persona of hate and discrimination. (I am very glad of that, because some Christian brethren are taking things way to for in recent months. Thanks for your comments. Joe

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    1. Thanks for reading Joe. And thanks for YOUR comments. We'll all keep working on this.

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  2. Well done...The my God will kill you God mentality represents nothing but evil.

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    1. I would rather hold on to the "God is Love" idea. Thanks for reading and commenting.

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  3. Non Christians outside of Texas have been watching conservative red state "hate" Christians, especially the Texan variety, with abject horror for many years. Glad that the Jesus Christians next door to them are finally noticing and finally saying something about it.

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    1. There are lots of us speaking up, Heather, but there need to be many more. We're all in this together. Thanks for commenting.

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  4. I agree, Charlotte. I also can't help but notice that this intolerance is ages old and is even reflected in the Koran and the Bible. Was not the complete slaughter of the Canaanites, the command of God "that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God” (Deut. 20.18)? Canaanites, Infidels, Pagans, "the other", their presence is a threat to religious identity as "special people" set apart by God. Maybe that is an oversimplification but, one never hears the claim that we are a "Christian" planet, even though their belief is that the planet is the creation of only one God who manifest himself to the world in Christ. Tribalism seems to simply sum it up.

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    1. Yes, this tribalism is ingrained in us, isn't it? "Love your neighbor" and "do unto others" probably sounds naive in light of human history but I'm convinced that's the only thing that can turn this around. Thanks for your thoughtful comments.

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  5. Beautifully written. I am not a Christian but I value the faith of my many friends. Charlotte expresses how I feel so well. For many of my Christian friends I truly believe they share these sentiments. The world religions have been twisted and redefined to where many of them are so hard to recognize. Read this story and share it with your friends, family and community. Thank you Charlotte!

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  6. Hi, Charlotte,

    I have become aware of your blogs quite recently, and I am in complete agreement with them. I wonder if you have ever read any of the "Conversations With God" books, by Neale Donald Walsch? As Salted Grits points out, the attitudes you address in this post are not unique to Christianity, which means, to me, that there is something fundamentally flawed in our understanding of God...or, more to the point, incomplete in our understanding of God and our relationship to Divinity, and by extension, to one another.

    Mr. Walsch's latest book, "God's Message to the World: You've Got Me All Wrong", might be a book that would interest you. I also think that you may want to take a look at www.evolutionrevolution.net . There is a project there, planned for March 12th, called "Awakening Day" that is all about peaceful, Spiritual, activism. The thing that resonates with me most strongly in the "Conversations With God" material is that it never makes another "wrong" but always goes to "working" vs "not working" given what it is we say we wish to accomplish.

    I see so many extremists in the news, and on FaceBook, it is very comforting to know that people like you, and your voice, are in the mix...I believe we really are moving towards balance in the world, and that all of this chaos is creating the situations that make us finally notice the imbalance...and what it is that is not working!

    Therese

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    1. Yes, Therese, extremists on one side generate extremists on the other side. We need to keep building the middle in order to get some balance back. Thanks for your comments and suggestions. I'll look at these resources soon. Grace and Peace...

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  7. ME! I stand with you! Living in Denton, I'm horrified by this. It turns out the primary agitator was not a Texan, but that really doesn't matter...and the others WERE.
    I shared a post on FB that said that the real Christians in the situation were the Muslims, because of how they reacted to the hideous behaviour. No, they are not Christians, but they acted more Christ-like for sure. Welcome to RevGals!

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    1. Thanks Mary Beth. I'm enjoying our RevGals; quite an impressive group. We need to keep writing, challenging, protesting, being the gospel. Grace and Peace...

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  8. I stand with you. To paraphrase the character of Buster in The Killer Angels "the man who would judge a man by the race is a pee wit." My whole life experience cries out against such behavior:
    As a public school teacher and university instructor for my whole adult life I have come into contact with all varieties of people - all colors, genders, believers of different faiths and no faith. There is no rule to apply to them except every person is an individual and deserves to be treated as such.
    As a Roman Catholic my ancestors suffered discrimination because of their faith. And yet I absolutely know that every person of my faith was an individual - some were good, some bad, some saints and others profound sinners.
    As an Irish-American, I am aware of the discrimination that comes with speaking English with an accent and living in neighborhoods that were centered on one ethnic group or another. And I know how profoundly stupid it was to judge everyone with the biases and prejudices that were directed at the group.
    Arabs might be Muslim. Certainly most are. But they can be Christian or Atheist or whatever they want to be. Is it right to judge them? And for the men and women who are Muslim and go to work every day and behave as good Americans, should they be judged with the standards we hold for the few who wish us ill? My answer is no.
    And as someone who believes in the values of the Constitution, we are reminded that there "shall be no religious test for holding office" and that the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights guarantees religious liberty. Nowhere is there any caveat "except for people who don't believe as we do." For the founding fathers held all sorts of religious beliefs and realized as did Roger Williams nearly two hundred years before and the colony of Nieuw Amsterdam a bit later that religious differences should not impact on how we behave in our public life.
    God's love is infinite and all-embracing. As Jesus taught us in the parable of the Good Samaritan, all people can behave being motivated by God,'s love in a spirit of charity. Religious intolerance is not acceptable and I stand with you in your outrage when others are forced to endure its impact.
    Sincerely,
    Jerry Lannigan

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    1. Great thoughts Jerry; thanks so much for sharing. Much too much fear in our society. We must keep speaking out and standing together. Grace and Peace...

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  9. Thank you for taking a stand. It really irks me when "Christians" like you described act in ways that are quite contrary to Christ's teachings. Keep at it and blessings on you as you continue.

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    1. Thanks so much! It takes all of us. Let's all keep at it! Grace and Peace...

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  10. I for one am weary, weary, weary of people who freely use the name of Christ while they do and say so many despicable things.

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    1. Yes Hal - too many of us are weary. So let's keep encouraging each other, holding each other up. AND holding each other accountable! We're all in this together. Grace and Peace...

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