As promised, here is the first of a couple of “real” blog posts. No more lazy fillers, at least for now.
I don’t like to comment on current events. Partly because I like to think that I am above all that. After all, a theological snob need not focus on the riff raff of the hoi polloi. Mostly because I have no spine and I don’t want to get a lot of angry comments from people who may disagree with me. Now you have learned my secret, the more complex and technical the harder it is to disagree. Ha!
Anyway, you may have heard that Christians are not the only religious fanatics on the planet. Apparently there are others who are just as crazy as the Christians. Currently it seem to be popular for the crazy, zealous Christians to focus their insanity on fearing Islam, another massive and crazy in their own way kind of religion. So we (the Christians) are afraid of where they (the Muslims) are going to live, where they are going to build their Mosques, and even what they read. This fear seems to be the popular thing of the day.
If I had to be serious for a moment (and I hate being serious) I would feel that I should say that Islam, as far as I understand it, is no more dangerous, crazy, or radical than Christianity. We all have our nuts. I suppose we could flip such a statement around as say that Islam is just as peaceful, loving, and good as Christianity. We all have our saints. I’m not going to get into the theological complexities of religious comparisons – I have addressed that in other places. I do want to give a shout-out to a leader in my beloved denomination the American Baptist Churches of the U.S.A. (we really need a shorter, sexier title). Roy Medley, our General Secretary (think of a Pope without any authority, any power, but responsibility), made some great statements at a recent National Council of Churches gathering to talk about crazy people fearing Muslims. I can say that based on his comments, I am proud to be Baptist.
This whole brew-ha-ha has furthered my vision to have a convention of moderate thinking religion folks across the religious spectrums. Think of it, Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, and many more, all gathered together holding signs saying, “we’re not all crazy!” Sounds like fun.
1 comment:
Love the position description of your General Secretary -- and from my experience, limited though it is, it's accurate. I don't think you'll be surprised to know that I agree with both you and Roy Medley.
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