The Silence of the Christian Church in America
by Glenn R. Jackson
Upon reading the ASSIST News Service story about Islam being taught in
the California public schools I thought it would be worthwhile, in view of
the imposed separation of Christian Church and state, to ask many of the
mainline Christian denominations for a reaction to the story. The
reactions could be summed up by "we have no reaction" until our General
Conference, General Assembly, or appropriate governing body meets. Only
the Orthodox Presbyterian Church had a definitive pronouncement of
opposition, the rest did not imagine their governing bodies would respond
to the issue.
On January 10, 2002 I wrote an essay entitled "The Foundation of Social
Order", which made the point that the failure of the Christian Church in
America was pronounced, and contributed in large part to the current
excesses of our political and business leaders in their lack of moral
commitment to this nation's citizens. In essence an assault on the
foundations of our social order was being aided and abetted by the
Christian Church through the lukewarm responses toward perceived abuses.
Granted the Christian Church, in its multitude of denominations, is
concerned with the state of the individual's relationship to God.
Nevertheless the Church is called to be a house built upon the Rock of
God's truth and should therefore be a voice against societal wrongs even if
their primary concern is the individual's relationship with God.
The Church universal is failing. Failing it's charge to be the voice of
Good News for the world, and failing to stand strongly against injustice
and moral wrong. Clearly many denominations have adopted the way of the
world, instead of the command of Christ to be a light unto the world.
Nothing shows this adoption of the world's way more then the ascendance of
moral relativism in the worldview of the majority of the Christian Churches
leadership.
Moral relativism is simply situational ethics whereby the circumstances
surrounding any event create the moral understanding of that event.
Current events highlighting moral relativism would be the arguments
surrounding "Hate" crime legislation, and the current investigations into
the massive corporate bankruptcies, i.e. Republicans and Enron - bad,
Democrats and Global Crossings - only sad.
Nothing demonstrates the Churches fall into apostasy of moral relativism
better then an article submitted in answer to my question posed to the
United Methodist Church regarding Islam being taught in California public
schools.
The UMC submitted article (provided below) was by the Reverend Bruce
Robbins, General Secretary of UMC General Commission on Christian Unity and
Interreligious Concerns. The Rev. Robbins in this article was addressing
the responses he had received to an earlier article he had written on Islam
post-September 11th. He laments reactions to that earlier article that he
fears reflects a misunderstanding of Islam as a religion of hate and
intolerance. He puts forward several suggestions to help mitigate the
perceived misunderstandings of Islam.
One of the most interesting aspects of the Rev. Robbins latest article is
his use of the principles of the Christian faith to defend Islam. Frankly,
I would have found more comfort with the assertion that Islam is not a
religion of hate and intolerance if Rev. Robbins had provided that defense
from within the teachings of Islam itself.
Indeed Rev. Robbins fails completely to represent Christianity and its
distinct differences with Islam. Instead he takes the approach of
equivalence, which is to say he relies on the argument of moral relativism.
He creates an argument of equivalence between the condoning of violence
shown by many leaders of Islam and the Koran itself, with the use of
violence by a few individuals, denounced by Christian leaders, in the
anti-abortion groups.
Yet most egregious I believe is the argument, once again from Christian
principles, to provide a means of explaining the excesses of Islam. The
Rev. Robbins use of the scripture found at 2 Corinthians 5:18 is as wrong
as it is proof of his relativistic worldview. The Reverend asserts that
this verse from the Bible calls Christians to a "ministry of
reconciliation", a call for Christians to go "beyond toleration" and to a
"search for explanation and understanding of the deepest needs of human
persons".
The implication of the Reverend's interpretation of this scripture is
that the individual Christian believer is to reconcile their beliefs with
that of other "belief systems" in such a manner as to be open to the truth
of that belief systems worldview.
First to the scriptural reference which states that "Now all these things
are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the
ministry of reconciliation". Which means simply that Christians believe in
the truth of Mankind's sinful nature and that through Christ we are made
new and reconciled to God. The teaching and proclaiming of that simple
truth gives each Christian believer the ministry to help reconcile others
to God as well. Rev. Robbins has shown clearly the abject poverty of his
beliefs and his worldview by falsely "adjusting" that simple absolute truth
to a meaning of relative truth and "toleration" for evil.
Yet beyond the misinterpreted scriptural reference the Rev. Robbins
provides an all to common example of the thinking within the Christian
Church, and to the proof of the fall into the relativistic wasteland of
apostasy. The Christian Church is no longer a defender of the foundations
of the American social order because they have no belief system upon which
such a defense would spring.
Christianity is a belief in the absolute truths of God's creation and
redemptive order. As such the Christian faith is a forward-looking faith
with a belief in the redemption of the individual to God through Christ.
Such a belief system elevates the individual and the human freedoms, which
we in this country hold so dear. The abdication of the absolute truths of
Christianity for the relativistic non-judgment propounded by the non-belief
system of Rev. Robbins and his ilk leads the individual into the wasteland
of self-delusion and separation from God. The Reverend Robbins, as well as
the Christian Church in America, are failing in their calling and their
service to the Christian faith.
"The Islamic world is a hostile place for Christians: In Saudi Arabia, for
instance, Christianity is illegal, and conversion from Islam is punishable
by death. In Pakistan, the death penalty is prescribed for anyone who
"blasphemes" Islam - something that occurs automatically during Christian
evangelism. In Egypt and elsewhere, Christian girls have acid thrown in
their face by Islamic extremists if they refuse to convert to Islam, or are
raped, or worse. At best, in the more enlightened Islamic societies,
Christians (as well as Jews) are second-class citizens, have a special tax
imposed upon them, and do not share the rights of Muslims."
(http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26501)
GENERAL COMMISSION ON CHRISTIAN UNITY AND INTERRELIGIOUS CONCERNS
THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
GENERAL SECRETARY:
Rev. Bruce W. Robbins
A UMNS Commentary
By the Rev. Bruce Robbins*
I have been surprised at some responses to a recent UMNS story in which I
said that Islam, a great living faith tradition of this world, is growing
faster than any other with more than a billion adherents. Some objected to
my comments by pointing to Islam's holy book, the Koran, as a book of "hate
and evil." These reactions reflect widespread
misunderstanding that can have terrible consequences upon the needed
relationships between Christians and Muslims in the United States. Such
points of view may underlie instances of violence carried out in recent
days against Muslims, Middle Easterners, Arabs and so many others. Even a
friend from India told me how he feared for his wife and children.
Imagine if someone decided to portray Christianity as a religion of hate
and violence. Do you think he or she would have trouble using the Bible to
prove that it was so? If the quotations were exact from the Bible, many who
don't know Christianity would believe it.
Were I to try to characterize Christianity in that hateful way, I might
start with the words of Jesus, "I have not come to bring peace but a sword"
(Matt 10:34). Then I might turn to one of the countless Old Testament
passages that speaks graphically of violence against the enemies of God. Of
course, those "enemies" would be the persons opposed to us and our God.
Any one of us who knows the Bible could portray an awful picture and
leave out the overwhelming message of love and reconciliation that is at
the heart of the Gospel. That portrayal would bear false witness to the
life and faith of Christians who seek to proclaim a new way of life to all
humanity. Our communities across the United States have changed
dramatically in recent years. At one time, we assumed that nearly everyone
was Christian, especially in rural communities. Our tolerance was uneven.
Synagogues were sometimes attacked by misguided and hateful people.
Today, Christians are still predominant, but there are Jews, Hindus,
Muslims and Buddhists in nearly every community. As staff executive of the
United Methodist Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns,
I recognize that we need to provide assistance and clearer guidelines for
our relationships with other faith communities, especially in times of
trial like the present.
Here are some suggestions of where to begin:
1. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. Today, the
test case is the Muslim. In response to the bloody attack against civilians
in the United States, one prominent Muslim leader said the following: "Our
hearts bleed for the attacks that have targeted the World Trade Center
[WTC], as well as other institutions in the United States." He also said
that Islam, a religion of tolerance, holds the human soul in high esteem,
and considers the attack against innocent human beings a grave sin. He
believes the Koran makes this teaching clear.
2. Do not judge another tradition by its worst practitioners
and yours by its best. When many of us think of Islam, we think of
fundamentalists in Afghanistan or some other part of the world. When we
think of Christianity, we hold up our saints. Without dishonoring
Christianity, we can recognize that our own religion has been used to
further hate and violence. Many things done in the name of Christianity
were neither faithful nor Christian. Islam is no more about attacking the
World Trade Center than Christianity is about bombing abortion clinics. Can
we remember that the horrendous acts done in New York by people calling
themselves "Muslim" do not reflect that tradition and are condemned by it?
3. Remember that Jesus' teaching calls us to a "ministry of
reconciliation" (2 Corinthians 5:18). The call to us goes beyond an "eye
for an eye." It even goes beyond toleration and asks us to search for
explanation and understanding of the deepest needs of human persons. We can
never ignore injustice, and we should always call people to account for
their evil actions. But we can seek to understand the forces that may have
caused them to hate so much and to kill. A ministry of reconciliation
involves hearing and responding in love to the other, even the other who is
an enemy.
4. Establish contact with Muslims and Arab Americans in your
community. United Methodist congregations could help heal the wounds we all
feel by reaching out and talking with those persons being targeted by the
anger resulting from the terrorist attacks. Could your church send a group
to a mosque to learn more about Islam and to hear the concerns and hopes of
people who practice there? So many Christians do not realize the bonds
between Christianity, Judaism and Islam. We all worship the one and the
same God of the Abrahamic tradition yet with different perspectives and
understandings.
Through Bible study, preaching and discipleship, United Methodists can
join others seeking to live into the new world, changed dramatically by the
treacherous acts of Sept. 11, 2001. May we learn enough about one another
from different faith communities that we will proclaim the best of one
another, even when we don't understand. And may our prayers for compassion
and understanding be answered.
Glenn R. Jackson is Chairman of the American Reformation Project, former
State Chairman for Buchanan Reform and former state Chairman of the Georgia
Freedom Party. Glenn also served on the Executive Committee of the Reform
Party USA.
© Glenn R. Jackson