On the other hand…what would upset us so much?
I had a good exchange with my brother about the outrage in the Islamic world over the Prophet Mohammed being depicted in a disrespectful way. Here it is:
Hey Paul …
I just had a thought reading the headlines about this Danish cartoon causing such an uproar in the middle east. It made me think – what a huge huge contrast to how the USA christians react to all the garbage that goes totally against the God we worship. Amazing. We let people get away with anything under "freedom of speach" which you have to agree with and look at how the other cultures react.
Part of me thinks the reaction isn’t all bad. From an outside perspective if someone looked at the two cultures and situations, which one would you say takes their beliefs more seriously?
Perhaps my logic is totally flawed, but the thought just came to mind while I was reading the news. Maybe something good for your BLOG thingy!
Of course, if you use any idea or concept like this, you will have to give me credit since it is now copyrighted as my intellectual property!
(Kidding of course)
My response to my brother:
Hi Phil,
I was reflecting and pondering all this too!
On the one hand, it does paint a rather stark contrast between our
culture and their’s when it comes to how close we hold our beliefs.
They may be nuts and of course storming an embassy and burning is not a
proper response…but….is part of the reason we Western folks can’t
fathom this is because we can’t fathom such depth of commitment to
one’s faith? What would make us so outraged that we would want to storm another company’s embassy
and burn it? Anything??
I was thinking a big ashamed when I thought about the art exhibit that
put a crucifix in a jar of urine, titled "piss Christ" — this happened
quite some time ago now. Why was there not a greater uproar? Do we
Christians have to take everything "lying down" in this country? Does
freedom of expression mean freedom to denigrate other people’s beliefs? I’m not advocating burning people’s property, but do Christians just have to remain silent in this nation when our faith is beseiged by pop culture?
I’m going to blog on this, using our exchange.
Love you!
Paul
I’ve had similar thoughts, only to be disciplined by these from Scripture. Consider Jesus’ words to Peter when he tried to defend Jesus in the garden: “Put away your sword.” If that’s how Christ advised supporters when he was threatened, what would he say if a picture or other type of image of him was ‘threatened’? Or Paul’s advise on how to deal with enemies in Romans 12:17ff, esp verse 21: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Maybe for some fundamentalist Islamics fervency is measured by the standard we see depicted on TV, but should the fervency of our faith seems be gauged the same way? Our fervent attempts to overcome evil with good? Blessing those who curse us?
On the one hand, the fact that Christians in general do not become publicly active against insults to their faith is a verification of the atheist belief that religion is the opiate for the masses – making them subdued and easy to lead by their unthinking noses. On the other hand, Christians have the peace of God which passes all human understanding and believe they are engaged in spiritual warfare with the flesh, the devil, and the world. I myself have engaged in sending correspondence to my congressmen and senators whenever I believe the rights of my free exercise of religion is threatened. Isn’t there a constructive way to work within the system for corrective measures whenever dictated by conscience and our human reason?