Back in February, I wrote a
letter to the Jordan Times in regards to the "cartoon riots" engulfing many in
the Muslim and Arab world. In a piece
titled "Point Missed", there was one line I built my email response around: "And where
exactly would Christianity condone blasphemy or anything other than utmost
respect for other religions?"
"At what point do
people understand this isn't Christianity - this is the Roman Catholic
Church, a breed of religion that is famous for the Spanish Inquisitions, the
Crusades, and the slaughter of untold millions who refused to be submissive to
their depravity and abhorrent nature. These words and actions are bathed
in the blood of martyrs who dared to stand up against the Vatican and say, ‘NO
MORE!' Look at the papal line - full of liars, thieves, murderers,
adulterers (a few were killed by jealous husbands), idol worshippers, and
bastard children (several were illegitimate sons of previous popes). What
exactly do you expect from a history like this - purity and tolerance?!
Christians will never bow or be reunited with the Roman Catholic Church ever
again because of their evil, blasphemous ways."
I still stand by those
words, especially since I am a former Roman Catholic, currently an evangelical
Christian. I am surprised that in this
day and age people cannot differentiate between not only a Christian and a
Catholic, but also a Christian and a fake Christian. When I see pictures and read stories of
Anglican and Orthodox churches being attacked in places such as Gaza, I know
the message isn't getting out there or is being ignored. There are some hateful cartoons circulating
and I know in those images "Christianity" is viewed as a "western oppressive
vehicle" and not as a religion. The
Roman Catholic Church does not speak for over one billion people, as Prof. Dr.
Kai-Alexander Schlevogt alleges; they speak for a drastically reduced
number.
The Pope does not speak for
evangelical Christians or Protestants who were inspired to break with the Roman
Catholic Church by the writings of many, including Martin Luther. He does not speak for Anglicans, who broke
away from the Roman Catholic Church under the reign of King Henry VIII, who
formed his own church. He does not speak
for the Greek and Russian Orthodox Churches as they broke away during the time
of Constantine. He does not speak for
the Maronites, who follow the Pope of Antioch.
He does not speak for the Coptics who follow the Pope of
Alexandria.
The points I'm trying to
make are simple:
-
By taking out Muslim frustration on every building
labeled a "church" or every person wearing a cross, the chances of hitting
those who do not subscribe to Pope Benedict's "leadership" are huge.
-
The other aspect to this picture is the automatic
assumption that anything "Roman Catholic" is "western". I would dare say there are more European and
Latin and South American Roman Catholics than there are American Roman
Catholics. So to assume a geographical
and political stance with a religion is incorrect and dangerous. It's about as illogical as stating "there are
Muslims in the Middle East and nowhere else in the world".
-
The backlash against the Muslim world by those who
are innocently victimized could possibly be quite large. The nature of a first strike inherently
brings about a retaliatory response, which quickly spirals out of control. The cycle of violence comes from counterfeit
Christians who have been corrupted because they don't know the Word of God and
trust in others to tell them what it says instead of reading it for themselves.
-
This may be nothing more than one more mistake the
extremists are jumping up and down on and trying to exploit, as King Abdullah
warned recently about. As my mom used to
say, "it takes two to fight, and you can't have a fight if you don't swing
back". So don't take the bait - take the
higher road and shake off the small minds and lacking philosophies of those who
don't have it all together.
Part of living in the same
world means unfortunately, having to get along.
In daily life there will always be someone you will disagree with. If we thought exactly alike, how boring would
the world be and how small our minds would become. It is through disagreement that we see other
points of view and understand there is more than one way to solve a
problem. Imagine only one way to solve a
problem and no one agreed - total deadlock and pandemonium! In talking it out, we can find options.
