Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Rosie and Relevance

The folks at the Barma Organization have me thinking again. For one thing they help me to realize that I miss a lot of stuff. Apparently, sometime in September Rosie O'Donnell made a comment that radical Christianity was just as dangerous as radical Islam in a country like ours. Apparently this caused some up roar among the brethren. All this, you understand, is hearsay as far as I am concerned. Rosie and her opinions are far out beyond Pluto on my list of concerns. In a very quick Google search I was able to find a couple of reference to the incident. One was a one of those "radical" Christians expressing his displeasure and the other a Republican site expressing displeasure at Rosie's contributions to the Democrats.

All of this seems to confirm Barma's findings that most Christians, like me, missed the whole thing and the rest really didn't much care.

Having said that, it is worth noting that there is something in Rosie's remarks worth chewing on. Radical Islam and Extreme Right Wing Christianity do have some things in common. Both these movements support the imposition of their moral values by law and enforcement of them by severe civil penalties. More centrist thinkers in both groups recognize that the regulations the radicals would impose are neither scriptural nor particularly consistent with the principles of scripture. Instead they are cultural values drawn out of the failure of the radicals to live successfully in a world which rejects them.

For Christians the battlefield of this issue stretches through centuries. The accounts of the early councils disclose a strikingly un-Christian approach to conflict resolution. The battle continued through the middle ages, the Inquisition, the Reformation, The Council of Trent, The Klan and right into this present day. It is strewn with the bodies of saints who didn't think or act the way others thought they ought to!

For Islam there was an early period of war followed by a long and glorious period of cultural, intellectual and artistic growth and progress. Gradually the more conservative prevailed and the overall cultural development of Islam slowed and virtually stopped. Only where a secular Islamic culture developed did progress take place.

This, of course, is exactly what has happened to us also. Because we are in the midst of it we don't see it as clearly as we do when looking half way around the world. Out society has become increasing secular, and that secular society is responsible for the progress. The Barma Organization has done some interesting research about what Christians really think and believe.

The radicals in both Christianity and Islam denounce secularization. Their concern that it turns people away from God is very real and very valid. The truth that neither group seems to have grasped is that you really can't force people to turn to God. You can kill them, but you can't force them to be good!

No one really knows how many Christians are Right Wing, Centrist, or Liberal. I think it is fair to say that both left and right are real minorities. None of them are truly radical Christians. The really radical Christians are those who wake up some morning; take a look at their lives; and realize, "Hey, this stuff really works!" Then, they go on with their daily lives seeking to know and do God's will; trusting Him to make all things right; and finding that it continues to work.

God, Grant me the Serenity
to accept the things I can not change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And Wisdom to know the difference,
that, Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Seeking to know and do your will;
Taking this world as it is, not as I would have it;
and trusting you to make all things right;
So, I may rejoice to serve in your Kingdom,
and in Life everlasting,
through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen