Christians are not alone in their exclusivity. At a fundamental level, every community (shaped by some set of beliefs and not by others) is exclusive. This includes communties that are "non" religious as well. Let me give a brief example. The Civil Rights organization at the University of Houston stands for the freedom of all citizens. However, if the president of the organization suddenly changed her mind and no longer believed that men (for example) deserved the same rights as women, she would be in violation of the organization's fundamental belief: that all citizens (regardless of gender, race, etc.) deserve equal rights. The civil rights organization might tolerate this from their president for a while, but not for very long. If the president was unwilling to change her beliefs, she would be asked to resign. The idea here is that communities have to be exclusive in one way or another to maintain their uniqueness.
So the question that has to be asked is not, "Why is your community exclusive", but "What are the internal resources within your community that prevents your community's exclusivity from becoming explosive" Although exclusive aspects of the Christian community have been used to promote violence and oppression (Crusades), this has been because members of the community have distorted the exclusive message, not necessarily because the exclusive message automatically leads to violence and oppression.
Tim Keller, in his book The Reason for God talks about the great paradox of Christianity's exclusive message. At the heart of the Christian story is a God who serves and loves his own enemies by dying on a cross. This is radical! Christians should labor to protect the exclusivity of their message --- not to exclude for the sake of exclusion---- but to embrace their enemies and serve them with the powerful love of Jesus Christ.
3 comments:
Haha, I have been extremely lazy lately. I haven't posted in week. I think I should post something preety soon.
Miss you, and great post today! Have a great day, and happy voting :)
Magdiel
Hey Quique,
I was re-reading your blog...
I think that the real problem with the religious right is not their exclusivity within their churches (of course, its an issue that must be dealt with sometimes. You are right, different groups must be exclusive. A women's organization might only be open to women, a Democrat or liberal group, while inviting people to its meetings, will espouse only liberal values, and at times, attack or criticize conservative groups). The problem lays in their messages...America is a Christian nation, therefore, Christians must arise and defend their country from "foreign" influences that would attack their values.
I hear it all the time...and this idea that America is God's country goes back to the Hebrew Scriptures, where Israel has a special relationship with God. American theologians, past and present, compare Israel with the U.S. They interpret this to mean that America should, like Israel, be governed under God's laws and their leaders should be Christians.
As you can tell, this is a very exclusive message. Christians claim this country to be theirs alone. Anyone who is not a Christian is a foreigner and should expect to respect and obey God's laws when they are enforced by government.
What say you?
Did you get my email about your last comment on my blog post? And how is everything?
Post a Comment