I "unfriended" someone on Facebook this week. As with many "friends," I had known
this individual and worked and worshiped with him a few times over the past
several years, but he was not what I consider a true friend. Facebook simply doesn't have an
"acquaintance" tag.
This man was a committed Presbyterian, and had been very
active in the annual, summer gatherings known as Synod School in the Synod of
Lakes and Prairies. Imagine my shock,
surprise, and, actually, revulsion, when I saw that he posted this saying on
his wall: "Everything I needed to
know about Islam I learned in five minutes on Sept. 11, 2001." I trust you understand my immediate, visceral
reaction. Like so many - TOO many -
others, this man painted every Muslim, along with some 1400 years of Islamic
history and tradition, by the actions of a few fanatics.
Just imagine if folks said the following:
·
"Everything I needed to know about
Christianity I learned by studying the barbarity of the Crusades."
·
"Everything I needed to know about the
Roman Catholic Church I learned by studying medieval popes."
·
"Everything I needed to know about
Calvinism I learned when I read this sentence he wrote: 'I have never seen
either a drop of piety or a grain of truth or ingenuousness – nay, I have never
found common sense in any Jew.'"
·
"Everything I needed to know about the
Church in the United States I learned by watching 'good Christians,' most in
white sheets, lynch black people."
A dear friend of mine, now deceased, used to say that there
are "quotable moments" in people's lives... times or occasions or
events by which you will be remembered. Let's not give anyone who is a guest in one of
our congregations, or who watches us pray in public, or who hears our
affirmations of faith in the Risen Christ, any reason to question the veracity
of what we believe and the One in whom we place our trust. And, needless to say, let us never, ever view
entire groups of people based on the actions of a few.
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