Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Sectarian Violence Is Now a Part of US Culture

Until recently I've always - perhaps naively - assumed that religious violence was a problem that existed only outside of the United States. Oh sure, there have been instances where a rogue Amish group cut the beards off of other Amish men; and incidents where pro-gay or other seemingly "anti-Christian" signs or billboards have been vandalized are too numerous to mention. But in the main, it's always been my belief that actual violence, perpetrated on a large scale by members of opposing religious groups, was not a part of the American experience.

Until now.

Recently in Dearborn, Michigan, some "Christians" felt the need to antagonize and incite their Muslim neighbors during a celebration. This lead to violent confrontation, including stones being thrown at the Christians. Interestingly enough, most of the pro-Christian and pro-Right media considers this as an act of persecution against Christians, while the mainstream media has largely ignored the matter.


Christians who attempt to play the persecution card when it was they themselves who created the climate that lead to violence are being dis-ingenuous at best, and liars at worst. Compare this situation to the schoolyard bully who calls another kid names, gets punched in the nose, then runs to the principal yelling "He started it!"


Let's be clear about this: carrying a pig's head through a Muslim community, while carrying signs promising hell and damnation to Muslims, is a gross act of hate. It also goes without saying that such behavior completely ignores Luke 10:27. If a Muslim group had converged on a Christian community's parade burning Bibles and carrying upside-down crosses, pro-Christian media would be shouting about it from the rooftops. And while the Muslim community in Dearborn is not without blame in this situation (they did, after all, respond to antagonism with violence), in my view the fault for this debacle lies squarely with the Christians.


Christian and Muslim relations in the US have been strained, to say the least, since September 11th (if not before). The situation only promises to get worse as the War on Terror continues to make second-class citizens of our Muslim neighbors within, and makes enemies of Muslims without. The way to bring Muslims to Christianity is not through violence and hate, but through compassion, understanding, and friendship.

1 comment:

  1. i don't understand the muslin faith - don't really care to try either - but i agree - the "christians" were wrong in this instance...

    i think some hide behind that name though - look at that goofy "christian" group that protests sodiers funerals, etc. They really upset me

    part of being a christian is not judging others - i fail often at this - but i try my best not to.

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