The Near Immolation of Decency...

By now, when you hear the name Terry Jones unfortunately you will probably associate that name with the audacious plan to burn hundreds of copies of the holy Quran on September 11 2010. Alternatively, you still may immediately associate the name Terry Jones with Monty Python, given that the British Terry Jones did direct many Monty Python movies. That Terry Jones was genuinely amusing - Pastor Terry Jones from Gainsville, Florida definitely is not. Pastor Jones' idea for the mass incineration of Islam's holiest book was hatched as a protest against plans by an Islamic organisation to erect a Muslim community center/mosque within the Ground Zero precinct in New York City. Of course since then, Muslim spiritual leaders have accepted an alternate building site for the center and Pastor Jones appears to have suspended his church's belligerent bonfire plans. And thank God for that!

This white man feels no need particularly to point out the obvious or even expand on the craziness of Jones' insane plan to torch the Qurans. Enough outrage in the US and around the world has clearly illustrated the depth of ire against Jones and his fellowship, the Dove World Outreach Centre. By the way, how ironic that his church is identified by the dove, an accepted symbol of peace?! What I want to explore is how the thinking and theology of 'evangelical' Christians can find any legitimacy in such adversarial expressions of faith.

First let the white man unequivocally declare his position as an opponent of Christian fundamentalism. Now when I say fundamentalism I refer specifically to those within the Christian world who advocate extreme polaric theologies that rely heavily on perpetuating fear, promoting self-righteousness and discrediting anyone else who has an alternate belief or viewpoint. In other words controlling, fear-mongering, arrogant and narrow-minded Christians. In my opinion at least, this arm of Christendom is the ugly underside of the belief system I embrace as an ideal designed to operate on the basis of peace, tolerance, humility and love. So how does this pure essence of Christian faith mutate into such a sick and twisted expression of religion?

Well the easy answer is just to point out that people are involved with the transmission of faith in the world. And that when people are involved things are inevitably prone to getting 'messed up' and the pure essence of Christianity compromised and lost. But I guess in the barest and simplest of terms, I think this is the core of the fundamentalist mind and heart; having and propagating a theology of fear that seeks to control those around them. This 'fear factor' then naturally produces an "us and them" mentality by drawing distinctions between the 'saved' and 'unsaved' or the 'Godly' and the 'Satanic'. For by doing this the fundamentalists own position is more securely embedded, providing both a feeling of self-assurance and a high ground of superiority to 'others'.

I've just realised how extensive this subject actually is and how lengthy this blog entry could get. So, without getting into a full-blown sermon, this white man simply says this...If Jesus wanted His pastors who shepherd His church to burn the literature of other faiths then He would have either said so or at least provided us an example demonstrating the truth and principle behind such an action. However, the Gospels I read and love show Jesus saying no such thing nor alluding to the legitimacy of such a divisive discordant attitude and/or action. The Jesus I love loved all, regardless of their race, colour or beliefs. The Jesus I worship and value was the greatest exponent of love this world has ever seen - not a hater in any sense of the word. The Jesus I know is a fundamentalist in only one way - He is fundamentally LOVE.

So grow up Pastor Jones and if you dare, re-evaluate the meaning of Christian faith and love. Tolerance is not weakness and acceptance is not compromise. Don't burn with hatred out of fear, be impassioned with the kind of love that embraces difference. Be secure in who you are -don't be so insecure that you need to push away those different to you. And take note - the extremism you advocate in the name of our God makes you no different to the extremists of other creeds who use fear to terrorise the free world. Truthfully, and in every sense of the words, GROW UP! Grow up in your maturity, your faith and the maturity of your faith!