Hallowed Ground?

Fifty years ago, my father told me that the time would come when Islam would present a far greater threat to the world than did Communism, and that Christians needed to understand Islam. My father died soon after, so he never saw how dramatically, and quickly, his prediction would come true.


Now, nine years after the Wahhabist Muslim members of Al Qaeda crashed airplanes into the World Trade Center, most Americans and most Christian Americans are still woefully ignorant regarding Islam and its followers. Judging by the mostly-ridiculous public discourse we have been hearing regarding the so-called “Ground Zero mosque,” both the rosy-spectacled liberals and the equally-ignorant-but-vitriolic-and-angry conservatives seem to be simultaneously jerking their knees in their particular variations of political correctness.

The former maintain that Islam is inherently a religion of peace while ignoring the Koran’s own declarations as to the Muslim meaning of “peace” and how it is to be obtained. The latter seem neither to know, nor care, the difference between a Shiite and a Sunni, and they assume all Muslims are Wahhabists set on jihad.

As a conservative Christian, to whom the Bible says that these Muslim people for whom Jesus died are not the enemy [Ephesians 6:12], my primary concern is with the incredibly un-Christian reactions of a lot of people who themselves claim to be both conservative Christians and patriotic Americans.

I am no fan of Islam, but this opposition to the proposed Muslim cultural center – modeled after the Jewish 92nd St. “Y”,with similar sport and cultural facilities and including a prayer room, not a mosque – is one of the most amazingly STUPID, IGNORANT, UN-AMERICAN and UN-CHRISTIAN activities I have observed in a long time.

Furthermore, the mob hysteria over the proposed cultural center continues to play right into the hands of America's real enemies even as it exposes its protagonists to deserved ridicule. I take no pleasure in seeing right-wing political pundits actually agreeing with Al Qaeda in their opposition to a Muslim group that seeks a moderate course vis-à-vis America.

Conservative American Christians, especially, need to re-think their knee-jerk Palin worship and consider the potential consequences to themselves and their own interests, plus the damage to Constitutional protections, if they should succeed in interfering with the construction of the cultural center.

Oh yes – American Christians also need to consider how their rhetoric relates to Jesus Christ’s interests in those same Muslims.

If Muslims can be kept from building their cultural center on private property after they have jumped through all the legal hoops, then Christians can expect to be victims of the same lynch-mob rationale as, in future, their own precedent is turned against them to prevent church buildings from being erected, etc. You can kiss goodbye to any idea, not only of "religious freedom," but also of "private property rights" and "the rule of law."

We cannot safely pick and choose which Constitutional rights to recognize for others without endangering ourselves and our children, and when we would ignore the rights of Muslims in America, we remake ourselves into the very image of the intolerant Muslim governments we decry overseas.

How can we ever again claim any kind of “moral high ground” in the Middle East or anywhere else?

And these considerations do not even begin to touch the ridiculous posturing by the Becks and Palins of the world as they talk about "hallowed ground" (have you noticed any of the other businesses that are built at the same distance as the proposed mosque around Ground Zero? Look at http://daryllang.com/blog/4421 & http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/gallery/2010/08/welcome-to-the-neighborhood-a-look-at-the-area-around-the-ground-zero-mosque.php?img=17), etc.

If it is true -- and perhaps it is -- that the Muslim community is just trying to "spit in America's face" with this proposed mosque, then keep in mind that one of the things that has kept this nation great is the fact that in America, one has the Constitutional right to spit (at least figuratively) in the face of just about anyone. THAT is one of the very things that has historically made "us" better that all the "them"s of the world, and especially, of the Islamic world.

This very thing -- the recognition of the rights of those with whom we disagree -- is part of the HIGH COST OF FREEDOM.

Dear Reader, get a grip! Emotional reactions are a terrible way to make decisions, especially those that have such far-reaching consequences!

Whether as Christians, or merely as Americans, GET BACK TO THE ROCK FROM WHICH YOU WERE HEWN and stop giving real aid and comfort to the enemies of both our freedom and our faith! While you are at it, tell the Becks and Palins of the world to get off their self-aggrandizing soap boxes and hush!

Yes – there is real danger to America from some Muslim quarters, but I have no fear that America will be damaged by a Muslim establishment on Park Place in New York. America can be destroyed, however, by people who – even in the name of a misguided and false patriotism – are willing to ignore and trample the rights of others.

As prescient as my father was about the dangers of Islam, I am glad he did not live to see the Lord Jesus so shamed by this knee-jerk hatred against Muslims for whom Jesus died.

[Cf. also:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/opinion/17dalrymple.html?_r=1
&
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/opinion/22rich.html?hp]

Stray Blessings

When Matt was very young, he wanted a cat. I said “NO!” Patsy told him that if Daddy said “no,” he should go over Daddy’s head and ask God for a cat. Not long after, there appeared in our driveway, under the car, a tiny stray kitten that was much too young to be away from its mother.

I had been overruled. We had a kitten.

I should not have been surprised. After all, I come from a long line of people who took in “strays.” After my Grandmother Gilliland’s death, I learned that during the Great Depression, hobos had placed a chalk mark on the foundation of her house to indicate that she would feed anyone who was hungry. It might be only cornbread and milk, but a passing hobo could get a meal.

My parents were like that, too. As a child, I never knew who might show up at our dinner table, or who might be spending the night in our guest room. No one in need was ever turned away, and one of the great delights I remember from childhood was sitting at that dinner table, listening in wonderment as those unexpected visitors shared their lives with us. We enjoyed those guests, and the idea of showing hospitality to strangers was thoroughly ingrained in me.

Mother and Daddy made very real to me the Scripture that says: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” [Hebrews 13:2]

We still take in “strays.” My wife, Patsy, has been wonderful about taking in unexpected visitors, whether for a meal or for a night – or longer. She really does have a gift for hospitality, and she makes our home such a warm, welcoming place. Her gift is one that certainly does “keep on giving.”

Through the years there have been so many unplanned guests – I can’t begin to remember them all. Not all of our guests have been angels, of course, but I would have to say that each of them has blessed us in some special way. Yes – sometimes the blessing is more obvious, and then again, sometimes the strays seem to bite us. Still, although many of our friends think we’re crazy,  we don’t mind that such unexpected blessings continue to come our way.

Another such visitor arrived yesterday, thanks to a highway patrolman who went beyond the call of duty to make sure she was not left stranded at a truck stop. We enjoyed this new friend’s visit before putting her on a bus toward home this morning, and we considered ourselves blessed for the privilege.

As I drove back from the bus station today, it occurred to me that God apparently cares a great deal about strays. Jesus was saying that when He told the story about a shepherd who had a hundred sheep, and one wandered off. He said that the shepherd left the ninety-and-nine in the fold while he went out looking for the stray, and He concluded, speaking of the Shepherd: “he rejoices over it [the stray] more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.” [Matt. 18:12-13, Luke 15:4-7]

Sometimes, the Lord allows us to get in on His outreach to wanderers.

Oh yes – about that kitten that showed up in the driveway – Matt named her “Blessing.”

A very appropriate name for a stray.