After the nitwits at The View – which reminds me of nothing so much as a zoo for liberals and leftists, where you look at the exhibits, shake your head in wonder and move on to the next one – allowed Rosie O’Donnell to get away with comparing Christians to Islamist terrorists, I thought it was interesting to learn that today is the anniversary of the Birmingham church bombing, an example of actual terrorism committed by people who profess Christianity – the KKK.
Consider how well Christians reject and marginalize freaks and criminals who publically claim our faith. When is the last time you heard any mainstream Christian defend Phelps, the Klan, or Eric Rudolph? Did even one mainstream church take up a collection to defend them or help their cause? On the contrary, we reject them, denounce them publically, and try to mitigate the damage they cause, even though we’re not personally responsible.
This old Crosswalk article sums it up nicely.
Assuming Eric Rudolph committed these crimes, he cannot find one word in the teachings of Christ to justify them. Nor will he find any theological leader of any branch of Christianity willing to defend his criminal conduct.
No Christian neighborhoods burst into celebration at the news of the bombings. Nor are
Christian children being taught that if Rudolph had died in his attacks he would be a “martyr” welcomed into heaven.The contrast with radical Islamic teachings couldn’t be more stark. Each terrorist act against Christians and Jews by those acting in the name of Islam is excused by countless Islamic leaders, theologians, imams, and philosophers. Schools are named after jihad bombers. And there are plenty of verses in the Koran cited to justify the murderous attacks of Islamic “warriors.”
I posted on this myself, although in a different way than you (and most Christians I know) did. I would suggest that perhaps the miscommunication comes from using the term “Radical Christianity.” As you suggested, the things Eric Rudolph did have absolutely nothing to do with Christ or Christianity. But he did do those things in the name of Christ–which is all secular society sees. That is what the world thinks of when they say “Radical Christianity.” And while there is no real comparison of these acts of terror in the states to the acts of terror done by the jihadists, I can still understand where the secular world is coming from when someone like Rosie would make this statement. I would think that instead of opposing Rosie, the Christian world would take notice that this is what people see and do something to change it.
>>I would think that instead of opposing Rosie, the Christian world would take notice that
>>this is what people see and do something to change it.
Other than failing to support or defend it, and publically disavowing it, what would you suggest? I think this is all we can do, and most of us are doing it as best we can in accordance with –
because we want our testimony to consist of
instead.
I did read your post, but I have to disagree with your position that Rosie hit the nail on the head when she said “Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America.” Her comparison was specious, simply because Christians reject and marginalize “our” nut jobs. We don’t celebrate them, hang their pictures up, include them in our history books in a positive way, or call them martyrs and name schools and playgrounds after them. Nut jobs like Phelps or even Rudolph do not threaten America any more than an ordinary criminal or nut job does. There is ZERO chance of them winning politically (i.e. Hamas, Hezbollah) and gaining any kind of power. Even when the occasional David Duke makes some headway, it doesn’t take long to smack him down. The secular world is quite simply wrong in their thinking on this issue, and they need a more realistic perspective. Opposing Rosie on the facts – not delving into her personal life – and others who make those kind of statements, is one way of providing it.
If there is a better way I’d be very interested in knowing it, because I’m in favor of what works.
>>The secular world is quite simply wrong in their thinking on this issue, and they need a more realistic >>perspective.
I guess that’s where I’m coming from. The secular world is wrong in their way of thinking, but I don’t see very many Christians stepping up to change the way the secular sees the Christian world. For the most part (and I don’t mean this is true of all Christians), Christians are perpetuating the stereotypes that the secular world has for us.
I definitely have problems comparing Christianity to Radical Islam, but there are people out there, in public view, who have the same mindset as many of those islamists–the difference being that they think they’re doing what the Christian God would have them do. You and I both know that isn’t true–but the secular world doesn’t understand that concept.
And honestly, I don’t know how to change the perception of the secular world. I’m one girl in her early 20s who does her best to break the stereotypes wherever she can. I’m learning that as I grow, my mindset changes and I’m finding that I think differently than a lot of the people I’m around. One lone voice doesn’t do much. I don’t know what it would take to unite the Christ followers in the country to become a unified voice…but I do think that’s what this country needs.