The Rule of Law and the Role of Faith

            I recently read about an interview in which Herman Cain (candidate for President) said that communities could ban mosques from being constructed. I posted it on my Facebook, expecting everyone to realize that Cain was not a good candidate. However, there was a very vocal minority who agreed with him. As I read the comments on another article on this story (you can read the article and the comments here), I realized that the belief that we should be allowed to prevent mosques from building in our community is actually fairly widely held. I believe that position should be untenable by both Americans at-large, and by Christians.

            The Rule of Law

           

America is built upon the foundation of the rule of law. This is what we see as separating us from other nations that are ruled by dictators and do not grant basic freedoms to their people. Law is supposed to be just, and interpreted blindly with no prejudice or malice. Our laws and Constitution go beyond mere justice in that they establish freedom for all American citizens, regardless or race, sex or religion (in theory).

The problem comes when one group starts trying to eliminate the freedoms of another group, such as when some Americans want to eliminate another American’s freedom of religion. And if they succeeded, then they would establish the legal precedent that a religion could be discriminated against if enough people decided that they wanted to discriminate. Imagine with me, for a moment, a time when the ACLU has the legal grounds to not just attack a nativity on the courthouse lawn, but is legally allowed to ban churches themselves. That idea seriously concerns me.

This idea of banning mosques, because they are supposedly trying to take over America through the use of Shariah Law, tramples all over the Bill of Rights. The obvious violation that first comes to mind is a violation of the First Amendment, which is the right to practice your religion without any interference from the government (and remember, the law is blind, so what applies to one religion applies to another one, regardless of which one is true).

 Further, beyond the freedom of religion, it also violates their right to assembly. Any group can assemble, as long as they remain peaceful. And if they are not peaceful, then they will be punished for their crimes. For instance, criminal organizations are allowed to meet; there is nothing we can do about that, but as soon as they break a law, then they are arrested.

It also violates the Fifth Amendment, which states, “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury…” Now, most would probably argue that that is referring to prison, but having your rights revoked definitely is being held to answer for an infamous crime. Americans are not allowed to pay the penalty for a crime when it cannot be proven they did the crime. Thus, you cannot ban a mosque based on suspicion that they are going to plot a crime.

The irony of this is that those who want to limit the freedoms of Muslims because they are trying to “take over our country”, or “infiltrate and kill us”, or “make us follow their laws and eliminate our freedom” are guilty of the exact same thing. Eliminating the freedom of others that you dislike is exactly what Muslims are accused of wanting to do. And, let us remember, the people who crafted these legal protections were guilty of taking over their country and rebelling against the government, but yet they still paved the way for future generations to have those freedoms. They knew how those could be used against their new government, but they decided that it was a risk worth taking.

The Role of Faith

The previous argument was for all Americans, but this one is solely for Christians. We have been called to suffer and die. We have been called to be the ones being persecuted, not the ones doing the persecution. Christ did not tell us to try and legislate away those who scare us, but rather to take up our cross and follow him. The significance of that statement often escapes us: Christ told us in no unspecific terms that following him would require us carrying out own tool of execution! To follow Jesus means that our own sacrificial death should always be looming in our minds as something that may soon happen. Thus, it does not matter if a group is trying to kill you, your job as a Christian is not to try and eliminate their freedom, nor even to try and defend yourself—rather, your job is to be a faithful witness to the love of God right up to your death.

While well-meaning people say that it is only right to stop the supposed evil, just remember what Christ himself said: “Do not resist the evil doer. But if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn to him your other also.”

The Use of Soap

Soap: it is something almost all of us use every day without a second thought. But the fact is that there are many in the world who cannot even afford soap. So, Derreck Kayongo is running an organization to help provide soap to those in impoverished countries who cannot afford it. How does he propose to do this? By recycling used hotel soaps that would be thrown away. So, instead of taking up room in a landfill, these bars are able to be used to prevent disease among some of the most needy people! I strongly encourage you to take a look at their site (http://www.globalsoap.org/) and see what you can do to help.

Folk Eschatology

At funerals, and at other times, I often hear people talk about others "Going to Heaven", or something along those lines, as the final state and what the believer is supposed to look forward to. However, the Biblical picture of hope for the believer is not that their disembodied spirit is floating in Heaven, but rather that they will be resurrected to new life upon Christ's return. So, when I saw this post, I was overjoyed! The author did a really good job with it, please go read it!

A Response to the Death of Osama Bin Laden

I wanted to wait for a little while before writing on the response that Christians should have when dealing with the death of Osama Bin Laden because in the initial frenzy everyone was talking and no one was listening. Most of you have already read some responses, and have seen that everyone has a verse. I think that both sides are pulling passages out of context, so I am going to approach this from a different angle.

            When I was a young child, I was frequently called a “tattle-tale” by my siblings. Why? Because, if they had wronged me, I would almost always go to my parents to get them in trouble instead of taking things into my own hands. Why did I do that? It is simple: I learned at a very young age that if I did something to get payback, not only would my siblings get in trouble for what they had done to me, but I also would get the exact same penalty as they did because I had exacted my own “justice”. They were guilty and deserved punishment, but I had to have an impartial person carry out that justice or else I received the same penalty.

            There is a difference between justice and revenge. Both appear justified because in both cases the guilty party is guilty (presumably) and is thus worthy of punishment. But we draw a distinction between that punishment being carried out by an impartial observer and that punishment being carried out by the victim. If a man’s wife is murdered, and he finds her murderer and kills him, most people would sympathize with him (so much so that he might even get a lighter sentence), but he would still go to prison for what he had done.

            No matter how much we, as Americans, would like to believe otherwise: America is not the sole arbiter of justice. Nor are we the Mighty Right Arm of God carrying out His Justice in the world. In the case of Osama Bin Laden and the attack on September 11, we were the victim! Thus, carrying out retaliation against the person who wronged us is not justice—it is revenge.

           

            Furthermore, the events surrounding OBL’s death are not the picture of justice. He was unarmed, and retreating, but he was shot twice in the head. That is not a self-defense shooting: that is an execution. On top of this, Osama had never been tried in a court, and the motto of the American legal system is “innocent until proven guilty”. Even if someone confesses to a murder, we still do not label them as guilty until a court has decided that.

            Did Osama Bin Laden deserve to die? Yes. However, the way in which he died is not a case of justice, but a case of revenge. It is the job of the Christian to call those who are unjust (such as carrying out revenge) to repentance, not to try and baptize their retaliation as true justice.

            (You can send any hate mail to jerusalemandrome@gmail.com)

Baseball and Christian Unity

            One of my main loves in life is baseball, specifically the Houston Astros. One of our star sluggers for over 10 years was Lance Berkman who played his entire career with Houston until he had a bad season last year and was traded away. So, this season, after Houston snubbed him again, he signed with their archrival: the St. Louis Cardinals. He has something to prove this year and has had one of the best season of his career—so far—being among the top 3 players in all offensive categories. This past week, he made his first return to Houston and had an incredible few games. As I was watching the video from his best game where he hit two homeruns, I realized something: the crowd was screaming for him! Now, baseball fans are usually pretty classy folks and will often applaud an opposing team for making a good play. But this was different. They were standing and cheering and screaming as if he were still an Astro, but he was the “enemy”! As I thought about this, it occurred to me: his entire career spent as an Astro made up for the fact that he was now wearing the opposing uniform—in their minds, it did not matter what uniform he was wearing, he was still an Astro!

            I could not help but immediately contrast this with the church. So often we approach issues in the church as trying to “win”. Who will serve on the church committee, was the preacher really correct today, and what color should the new carpet be? I have seen people leave churches because the pastor accidentally said something that offended them, or they didn’t get their way with something. We are all Christians and should have unity together like the world has never seen! Ephesians 2:11-21 is all about this! The church is to overcome every difference in the world, and serve as one for the advancement of the Gospel. Last night, twenty thousand fans cheered and screamed as Berkman defeated their team, with absolutely no prompting or leadership from anyone, but we often cannot get two hundred members of a church to overcome their desire to win in order to support Christ. I would encourage you to pray and think about how you can participate in the unity of Christ and overcome your differences with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

Unity on Greenville

This Sunday, I went to Unity on Greenville—a Unitarian “church”. Unlike all the other denominations, which all had a “churchy” feel to them, there was no such thing at Unity, even though it was held in a church building.

           

            The church service consisted of lots of recitations and readings from things that were not Scripture. They had positive affirmations, such as, “I am strong, powerful, and confident.” The lesson was about becoming more spiritual through showing love. And, the “pastor” commented that it was wrong to worship Jesus, since the “divine spark is within all of us.” Before prayer, the leader started the first couple steps of hypnosis, and actually mentioned that they needed to alter their state of consciousness, so they dimmed the lights, and started a few breathing exercises before they started praying.

            The service was full of interesting phrases that orthodox Christians would find discomfort with. For instance, during their greeting they said the Hindu word, namaste (the god in me blesses and honors the god in you), which they used to mean, “The Christ in me blesses and honors the Christ in you.” The phrase, “The Christ in you,” was used throughout—in fact, the bulletin says, “Unity sees the good in all people and blesses the Christ—the Spirit of God—in everyone.” There was a recitation that stated, “There is only on Presence and one Power active as the universe and as my life, God the Good.” The prayers were offered to Mother-Father god (lack of capitalization mine).

           

            The atmosphere was very New-Age feeling. Very inclusive. There were multiple gay couples in the sanctuary; some were discreet, some were more, shall we say, flamboyant? One person looked like she was an old hippie which fit with the general New Age/hippie feel.

            The visit was very informative, but Unity is definitely not the place for me. In fact, I don’t think I would even give them the right to be called a church.

Gratefulness and the Lack Thereof

I have been living without air-conditioning. In Texas. With heat in the 90's. Falling asleep sweating and waking up sweating, for almost a month now. But today my apartment finally fixed our air conditioner and got it blowing, which has proven to feel incredible! Nothing builds gratefulness like going without.

However, I got a true picture from my own example on how ungrateful people are, in general. When the air conditioning flipped on, I did not even realize it. I did not even realize that I had stopped sweating. When my roommate came home, he commented on how good it felt, and I went outside to find the notice posted on the bulletin board. Once I came back in, THEN I noticed the difference.

Similarly, how many people go through their lives complaining about how bad things are and never notice how God is slowly working in their life to improve things? Why do we never see the positives in our life that others see? When was the last time we thanked God for what we do have?

Take some time to consider what God has done for you. Be thankful.