August 20, 2007
In response to a post over at Get Religion on converts from Islam to other religions, several readers wrote comments labeling Islam an evil religion and citing a variety of texts, quotes and incidents as evidence of Islam's evil and bloodthirsty nature. (Comments since deleted, thankfully.) Though I'm no scholar of Islam, I have traveled to the Middle East, done some reading on the topic, heard several Muslim leaders speak, and worked with a volunteer Muslim chaplain at the hospital last year. From what I can tell Islam ain't inherently evil - at least, not any more evil than Christianity.
But the characterization of Islam as an evil, intolerant, vengeful religion is out there. My theory is that this portrayal of a religion that has 1 billion global adherents depends on anecdotes and quotes that are misrepresented, out of context, isolated, and/or unrepresentative of Islam and its tradition. I do not deny that some heinous things are said and done in the name of Islam, but I am unwilling to characterize an entire religion based on a some ugly quotes or anecdotes. Which got me to thinking . . .
How easy would it be to characterize Christianity as an evil religion based on quotes from Scripture, heinous acts committed by believers, and incredibly stupid things said by religious and secular leaders who claim a religious mandate? I think it could be quite easy, in fact, to gather a series of anecdotes and quotes that make Christianity look pretty darn evil.
So let's do it.
From the man who murdered an abortion provider, to the nasty things Luther said about Jews and Muslims, to the clergy who provided theological cover for the Third Reich, to nearly anything Pat Robertson says, to some unpleasant passages of Scripture that deal with stoning children or wives, our tradition is full of quotes and incidents that, pulled out of the broad context of the faith and tradition, make our religion look evil.
My goal is not to beat up on Christianity. Rather, with this little exercise I hope to do the following:
- show how easy it is to make a religion look bad;
- identify the plank in our eye, or to use Lutheran language, do the Law to our Christian tradition; and
- try to see Christianity through a decidedly negative lens, looking
at those things we in the Church too easily dismiss, so that we might
better appreciate the view from outside the Church.
Of course, there are several reasons why this won't work.
- I don't have too many readers and this won't be seen by too many eyeballs;
- the few readers I do have will be offended by the topic; and,
- its summer time and the rest of my readers are on vacation without their computers.
Well, let's have a go at it anyway. Send me your best examples of the evil done in the name of Christianity. Write a post on your blog and send me the link, write a comment on this blogpost, or send me an email (email address available on the Who is Chris? page). And share this with your friends and neighbors, and let's see where it goes.
