So very tired of seeing intolerance on social media

First, I am a deeply committed Christian. Period. Full stop.

Second, I find the constant wrapping of mistrust and even hate in a Christian veil offensive.

Third, as I write this I am writing 'God' instead of 'G-d'. I am not trying belittle the name of God, only typing for clarity for most of those who read this blog. Here's a link to the whole discussion on the G-d thing:  http://judaism.about.com/od/judaismbasics/a/Why-Do-Some-Jews-Spell-God-G-D.htm

Now....here's what has set me off.....

I was reading through my favorite social media account when I came across something that really really bothered me. I should tell you that I use social media to stay in touch with friends and family who are spread across the globe from the western coast of the US all the way to Australia. We share family photos and silly fun videos from YouTube. We share happy peaceful stuff.  But I'm seeing more and more 'stuff' working its way around social media (via friends and acquaintances) from those who are committed Christians, but it's nothing I would want speaking for me and my faith. I understand that not all Christians feel as I do on certain topics. I'm ok with that. What I'm not ok with is when I see folks not wanting to allow others their religious freedom.

What set it off was a post from Franklin Graham on Facebook:

"Recently, U.S. Representative Rush Holt (D-NJ) invited Muslim imam Hamad Ahmad Chebli to open Congress with a call to prayer and worship of Allah, their god, which is not the God of the Bible. Incredibly, Congressman Holt lauded the imam following his prayer. Today, the NY Post reported that four Iraqi Christian children were beheaded by followers of Islam. These children were told to either convert--to follow Mohammed--or to die. They said, "We love Jesus," and these followers of Islam carried out their gruesome execution. And the Muslim community remains silent with no condemnation of this evil. I wonder if this imam who opened our Congress in prayer, or the representative who invited him, have issued a statement condemning the barbaric acts of his fellow followers of Islam?"

I have heard it said before, many times, that Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God. Both faiths believe that Jesus was a real person. The difference is Christians believe that Jesus was the son of God, and Muslims believe Jesus was a great prophet. But, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all have a common descent from Abraham. If you open an Arabic language copy of the Bible, where in English we would see the word 'God', in the Arabic language you would see 'Allah'.  'Allah' is Arabic for 'God'. Same 'God', but the three faiths all approach worship and understanding of 'God' in different ways.

There are many Muslims who condemn what is going on in terms of the barbarity and violence taking place in Syria and Iraq. I'm not going to quote, but I am providing links:

This is from Vatican Radio:
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/07/25/worlds_muslim_leaders_condemn_attacks_on_iraqi_christians/1103410

This is from an online news source, Slate:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/09/25/muslims_scholars_open_letter_to_isis_baghdadi_caliphate_s_actions_against.html

From the Jordan Times:
http://jordantimes.com/muslim-christian-jewish-leaders-unite-to-condemn-jihadi-violence


So.....now to change things up a bit.....

The United States of America is a democracy. Freedom of religion is protected under the First Amendment of our Constitution. Again, here's a link. This is from Cornell University Law School:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/first_amendment

Quoting from the above link:

"The establishment clause prohibits the government from passing legislation to establish an official religion or preferring one religion over another. It enforces the "separation of church and state." "

Our government can not prefer one religion over another. And being a responsible democracy, it is a very understandable and appropriate thing to invite a religious leader from a major faith that is not Christian to provide an opening prayer. Doing a quick internet search, I found the following:
The Dalai Lama opened the US Senate with prayer
Satguru Bodhinatha Veylanswami opened the US House of Representatives with prayer
And a very long list of Christians who have opened with prayer for various branches of our government.

Why don't we see a massive outcry about other religions? Why Islam? I believe it is because people are fearful. We fear that which we don't understand. We also see a lot of negative press around Islam. We see people doing violent things in the name of Islam on TV and on-line. The press doesn't always do a great job of showing us the good stuff people do because that kind of news just doesn't sell.  Is all the violent stuff we see on the news bad and evil? Of course, violence is bad and evil. But, if we are Christian, I believe, we have to trust God and reach out in love to those around us. As Christians, we believe that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Wow, that's radical.

Going back to the post from Franklin Graham, I was reading so much fear and anger in people's words responding to the post. Seeing that level of fear, that level of anger from those who are Christians makes me so very sad. I wonder if every Christian leader has written or proclaimed apologies (or condemned those other Christians) for all the evil and violence done in the name of Christianity throughout history? Thinking that those who are currently doing evil in Iraq 'in the name of Islam' are representative of Islam is like thinking that members of the KKK are representative of Christianity.

For those of you who really know me, you know I volunteered a lot of my time doing things within the Anglican church while I was overseas. No, I did not proselytize. But, I met many many Christians and Muslims from all over the Middle East. If you'd like a conversation with me about the volunteer work I did and my experiences, I'm more than happy to share in a one on one setting - just drop me a line. But, suffice it to say, that for me topics like what I've been talking about are very personal.

We must truly love our neighbors as ourselves. We must as Christians think about how we react to others before we react. Is our reaction coming from a place of love or of fear?

Peace.

We really need to learn from history

My daughter asks me all the time, "What's so important about learning history?"  Which, I feel, is a valid question. My typical response is that it is important to know what humans have done wrong in the past so we don't repeat those wrongs. It is also important to know what humans have done that was right and worked so we can springboard off those things to hopefully make the world even better.

I just read the New York Times' take on the just released Senate Torture Report.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/10/world/senate-intelligence-committee-cia-torture-report.html?_r=0

While I'm not anyone with any special training, I think it's pretty obvious that you catch more flies with honey then with vinegar.

There was an awesome show on PBS a while back called 'Bugging Hitler's Soldiers'.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/bugging-hitler%E2%80%99s-soldiers-program-transcript/950/

The link above is the transcript of the show, but I know it was recently available via Netflix.

So why talk about this PBS show? Well, first of all, I'm not saying the British were perfect little angels during WWII.  But, this is a fabulous example of a program that worked.  The prisoners, at least according to the documentary, were treated as equals with the British. The German prisoners were treated as human beings even though in some cases they did horrible bad things. They were made comfortable. And excellent intelligence was obtained. And the prisoners were still prisoners.

If someone is taught that Americans are cruel, and then Americans go and do cruel things to those people, how does that help Americans? Am I saying that those who wish to do Americans harm be given the best 5-star treatment available? No, I'm not saying to reward those who do or would do bad things. But, I do think we have lesson here to learn from history in what works and what doesn't work.

So why am I writing about this? I am writing about this because I live in a democracy, and a democracy is hard work. If we see something happening that bothers us, the greatest assets we have are our voices and our words. And, I dearly love my country.

Peace.