Imams and Qurans
September 10, 2010 by E1st
Two big pseudo-religious-political things going on this week. Thing one, an Imam wants to make an Islamic center on the former World Trade Center site. Thing two, a pastor in Florida wants to burn Qurans.
On the Imam. I think it’s a good move for America to build a moderate Muslim community center there. I don’t think that America will ever buy off on it, because Americans are emotional and prone to scapegoat. To be clear – I’m not a fan of Islam as a religion, I think it’s unbalanced on its understanding of God and that it naturally tends toward violence. I think it’s tacky that the guy wants to build a place there – he’s trying to create one symbol, but for many Americans, it will represent the opposite symbol. It would be akin to Christians invading the Holy Land and building huge churches in Palestine. Ok, it wouldn’t be that bad. There’s no conquest here, it just lacks sensitivity. Still, I think if we the people had any sense, we’d support softening our tone toward Muslims. It’s not our job as a nation to carry out some kind of reverse jihad…nor is it a Christian concept.
Speaking of unchristian concepts, let’s talk about burning a bunch of Qurans. There is nothing at all loving about that, in fact, it’s entirely divisive and inflammatory. Christendom has a knack of letting it’s most outlandish spokespeople be its most vocal. The media, in turn, interviews the interfaith all-stars whenever some overzealous, confused hatey-love-dove Christian spouts off. Let me clue everyone in. The interfaith all-stars don’t have any street cred with these guys. No fundamentalist Christian is going to yield under the condemnation of Oprah, some atheist Jewish leader, a gay Episcopalian bishop, the Cardinal of San Diego, Barack Obama and the woman from Touched By An Angel. The witness of the semi-spiritual has no clout with fundamentalists.
You know what might have clout with them though? The reformed all-stars; Begg and Sproul, Ryken and Duncan, heck, maybe even Wright and Bell and Driscoll. Unfortunately, these people aren’t interesting for the media to talk to, nor are they dynamic enough unto themselves to cast a wide enough net to circumvent the media altogether. The nutty firebrand pastor might not respect the theology of the Reformed All-stars, but they’d at least be able to use the Bible as a tool against his…well…heresy. It might not work, he might be too far down the road of division and hate to change his mind for any reason. But there’s zero chance the interfaith squad and CNN will enlighten his sensitivities, and at least some chance a bunch of conservative theologians and the Bible will turn him away from his sin.
I’m more than a little annoyed that the official spokespeople of Christianity are either loony, bigoted, or watered down so as to lose any distinctiveness. I’m hardly one to talk, I’m just saying it’s a shame.
Addendum
In another example of why I love my church, here’s what our Pastor (currently on sabbatical) faxed to the pastor of the church in Florida.
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Imams and Qurans
September 10, 2010 by E1st
Two big pseudo-religious-political things going on this week. Thing one, an Imam wants to make an Islamic center on the former World Trade Center site. Thing two, a pastor in Florida wants to burn Qurans.
On the Imam. I think it’s a good move for America to build a moderate Muslim community center there. I don’t think that America will ever buy off on it, because Americans are emotional and prone to scapegoat. To be clear – I’m not a fan of Islam as a religion, I think it’s unbalanced on its understanding of God and that it naturally tends toward violence. I think it’s tacky that the guy wants to build a place there – he’s trying to create one symbol, but for many Americans, it will represent the opposite symbol. It would be akin to Christians invading the Holy Land and building huge churches in Palestine. Ok, it wouldn’t be that bad. There’s no conquest here, it just lacks sensitivity. Still, I think if we the people had any sense, we’d support softening our tone toward Muslims. It’s not our job as a nation to carry out some kind of reverse jihad…nor is it a Christian concept.
Speaking of unchristian concepts, let’s talk about burning a bunch of Qurans. There is nothing at all loving about that, in fact, it’s entirely divisive and inflammatory. Christendom has a knack of letting it’s most outlandish spokespeople be its most vocal. The media, in turn, interviews the interfaith all-stars whenever some overzealous, confused hatey-love-dove Christian spouts off. Let me clue everyone in. The interfaith all-stars don’t have any street cred with these guys. No fundamentalist Christian is going to yield under the condemnation of Oprah, some atheist Jewish leader, a gay Episcopalian bishop, the Cardinal of San Diego, Barack Obama and the woman from Touched By An Angel. The witness of the semi-spiritual has no clout with fundamentalists.
You know what might have clout with them though? The reformed all-stars; Begg and Sproul, Ryken and Duncan, heck, maybe even Wright and Bell and Driscoll. Unfortunately, these people aren’t interesting for the media to talk to, nor are they dynamic enough unto themselves to cast a wide enough net to circumvent the media altogether. The nutty firebrand pastor might not respect the theology of the Reformed All-stars, but they’d at least be able to use the Bible as a tool against his…well…heresy. It might not work, he might be too far down the road of division and hate to change his mind for any reason. But there’s zero chance the interfaith squad and CNN will enlighten his sensitivities, and at least some chance a bunch of conservative theologians and the Bible will turn him away from his sin.
I’m more than a little annoyed that the official spokespeople of Christianity are either loony, bigoted, or watered down so as to lose any distinctiveness. I’m hardly one to talk, I’m just saying it’s a shame.
Addendum
In another example of why I love my church, here’s what our Pastor (currently on sabbatical) faxed to the pastor of the church in Florida.
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