I am a Christian. That statement may come not come to you as a surprise, or maybe it does. In either case, my guess is that it provoked a reaction from you, dear reader friend, as it does in me every time I hear it, and every time I say it. The C-word carries a lot of weight in our society, an extra tonnage of pounds that many people would like to shed. And most Christians are aware of the growing trend of resentment, even embracing a Biblical foretelling that we would be known as the "scum of the earth" as a badge of prophetic honor (the reference is in I Corinthians Chapter 4 for anyone who is curious). Although it seems to me, given humanity's broad propensity for taking all things out of context, that not enough people have stopped to wonder if the title is one that has been earned for less righteous actions than those that were originally prescribed.
Case in point:
Whites-only Christian gathering riles some Alabama neighbors. I cringe any time I see the word Christian in a headline, and I really don't think I even need to explain why, but I will. These kinds of stories shine a blinding spotlight in the willfully ignored corners of our society where all kinds of bigotry, hatred and fear are climbing the walls, looking for any crack in which to take hold. And there is a perceptually overwhelming frequency with which the name of Christianity is associated with this type of mentality. This disturbs me greatly. It would be easy to ignore the headlines and dismiss the behavior as extremism and rest my conscience comfortably within the truth that this is not who I am. It would also be easy to disavow the sullied image by blaming the media for artificially inflating the judgment that Christians are all backward, hateful, fearmongers who bite the heads off small puppies and dance the secret serpent cha cha to the bongo rhythm of the palm tree forests...... ahem.
The point is that either one of those responses completely overlook the bigger problem here. The people who belong to the "whites-only" organization in the aforementioned article are real. Their beliefs about people of white European descent being the chosen ones of God are real. The destructive potential of those beliefs about righteous superiority is real, as demonstrated by horrific and condemned events throughout history. The fact that they are doing this all in the name of Christianity and cowering behind the protection of freedom of speech is very real.
Frankly, I'm getting tired of acts of hatred and social injustice being carried out under a belief system that, by name, I happen to share. There are many of us in the Christian community who believe that no rights should be withheld from or bias made against any person, regardless of gender, race, sexual orientation, religious belief, political affiliation, or economic class, and furthermore, that it is our duty to stand up for the stewardship of our global and local communities and the environment we live in under the core belief that God's love is available to and accessible for all. You don't hear from most of us for many reasons (which would require a whole other entry to explore), but there are times when it is appropriate and necessary to combat "protected" speech, not by restricting a person's right to say it, but by drowning it out with equally protected words of our own.
When gatherings are called for whites-only religious leaders, we need to say "This is wrong!"; or when messages of hate and condemnation against gays and immigrants are levied at funerals (or any other forum), we need to say "This is wrong!" When they harass women in need of medical treatment, burn holy books, claim manifest destiny, and rewrite the texts of history, we need to stand up and say, "No more! Not in my name! This. Is. WRONG!"
So go ahead. Speak up.
"Those who have the privilege to know, have the duty to act."
- Albert Einstein
