The horrible massacre in Norway by a strangely religious man really got our attention. Certainly the killing of anyone is a tragedy, but these multiple killings were unique in that they came from a mind that was poisoned by religion. Like Timothy McVeigh and his bombing in Oklahoma City, the reason for all of this came from an irrational mind; a mind focused on eliminating people who believed in a system that was unequivocally rejected by the killer.
Those kids on the island in Norway were seen by their killer as foreigners, non-believers who threatened his way of life. He set out to kill the younger generation of people who were outside of his narrow belief in Christianity. He styled himself as a "modern crusader", in the image of the Knights Templar, who stood up for the truth that is at the core of Christian doctrine.
He is not alone. We have always had crazy people in the ranks of Christianity. The Templars fought Muslims on Malta with horrible bloodshed on both sides. The Inquisition killed thousands for their beliefs. There was Father Coughlin and his rejection of the Jews back in the forties. Religion has been responsible for millions of deaths over the centuries. People are still dying in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and many other places, all for the sake of religion.
There is a long list of religious fanatics who have graced our television sets and our radios, trying to convince us of one doctrinal thing or another. Most of them are satisfactorily ignorable.
All of our religious denominations stand for moments in time when we had profound disagreements. The split with Rome produced first the Orthodox church, then the Protestant Reformation, which itself split into numerous factions. Calvin and the radicals in Geneva gave us the Presbyterians, John Knox in Scotland opposed the Anglicans. Some of it was peaceful, such as the Wesley brothers creating Methodism out of their Anglican roots and the Anabaptists who gave us the Quakers among others.
But others were not so peaceful. The oppression of the Huguenots in France is an example of violence in the name of religion, and the killing of dissenters in England during the time of the Tudor kings and queens. Even Islam has its splits and dissension. The Sunni and Shiite division continues to affect our world. Religion is a subject that does not generally submit to easy solutions and compromise.
The problem is certainty. When a group of people become certain that their way is right and everyone else is wrong, then trouble starts. Certainly the dust up that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh has had with the "Anglican" churches leaving the diocese is another. We need to be able to receive one another with more love than this. Our religious disagreements are certainly not ultimate, even though there are those who claim that they are; that if we don't all believe in a certain way, we are headed for Hell, or whatever it is that God has in mind for non-believers.
"Who do people say that I am?" Jesus asked of his disciples in Matthew's Gospel. The disciples offer several possibilities; Elijah returning, John the Baptist, one of the prophets. He then asks them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter unhesitatingly answers him, "You are the Messiah, the Christ" Jesus tells Peter that he can't possibly know that of his own accord, but that it has been revealed to him by God. Then Jesus says to him, "You are Peter the Rock, and on this rock I will build my church". The "rock" that Jesus is referring to is the unwavering faith of Peter.
Peter was certainly less than perfect. This "Rock" denied Jesus three times after the crucifixion, and after the resurrection, Jesus forgave him three times on the shore of the sea of Galilee. Peter became the center of the Christian movement, and was eventually crucified in Rome for his beliefs. The Christians were seen as a threat to both the Jews and the Romans; the Jews, because they were seen as heretics, and the Romans because they were a political problem.
Jesus never advocated violence. His ministry was one of persuasion by living out what he believed and then sending those who were converted to do the same. That, I think, is the essence of our religion and our mission.
After Jesus' resurrection, the church grew through the efforts of the apostles. They gathered people in homes, worshiped and preached. They took care of the poor and the outcast, which was Jesus' model for the church. The book of Acts tells us a bit about this, but only hints. Paul's letters describe the struggles of the early church; the arguments in Corinth, the problems of the Ephesians, the acts of the stupid Galatians. These were ordinary people who were trying as best they could to come to terms with the risen Jesus, and to incorporate his life into theirs. That hasn't changed much over the centuries. We are still trying to do that. All of the theological books that inhabit my library are attempts to come to terms with God's gift of life, forgiveness and resurrection.
"Who do we say that he is?" That is a question that still haunts us. If he is indeed the Christ, as Peter tells us, then our mission is clear: to take care of those on the margins and to love all of humankind to the best of our ability, doing all of this in the name of the God who loves us all so very much. That is what we are here to do.
The rest of our religious bickering is nonsense.
Those kids on the island in Norway were seen by their killer as foreigners, non-believers who threatened his way of life. He set out to kill the younger generation of people who were outside of his narrow belief in Christianity. He styled himself as a "modern crusader", in the image of the Knights Templar, who stood up for the truth that is at the core of Christian doctrine.
He is not alone. We have always had crazy people in the ranks of Christianity. The Templars fought Muslims on Malta with horrible bloodshed on both sides. The Inquisition killed thousands for their beliefs. There was Father Coughlin and his rejection of the Jews back in the forties. Religion has been responsible for millions of deaths over the centuries. People are still dying in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia and many other places, all for the sake of religion.
There is a long list of religious fanatics who have graced our television sets and our radios, trying to convince us of one doctrinal thing or another. Most of them are satisfactorily ignorable.
All of our religious denominations stand for moments in time when we had profound disagreements. The split with Rome produced first the Orthodox church, then the Protestant Reformation, which itself split into numerous factions. Calvin and the radicals in Geneva gave us the Presbyterians, John Knox in Scotland opposed the Anglicans. Some of it was peaceful, such as the Wesley brothers creating Methodism out of their Anglican roots and the Anabaptists who gave us the Quakers among others.
But others were not so peaceful. The oppression of the Huguenots in France is an example of violence in the name of religion, and the killing of dissenters in England during the time of the Tudor kings and queens. Even Islam has its splits and dissension. The Sunni and Shiite division continues to affect our world. Religion is a subject that does not generally submit to easy solutions and compromise.
The problem is certainty. When a group of people become certain that their way is right and everyone else is wrong, then trouble starts. Certainly the dust up that the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh has had with the "Anglican" churches leaving the diocese is another. We need to be able to receive one another with more love than this. Our religious disagreements are certainly not ultimate, even though there are those who claim that they are; that if we don't all believe in a certain way, we are headed for Hell, or whatever it is that God has in mind for non-believers.
"Who do people say that I am?" Jesus asked of his disciples in Matthew's Gospel. The disciples offer several possibilities; Elijah returning, John the Baptist, one of the prophets. He then asks them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter unhesitatingly answers him, "You are the Messiah, the Christ" Jesus tells Peter that he can't possibly know that of his own accord, but that it has been revealed to him by God. Then Jesus says to him, "You are Peter the Rock, and on this rock I will build my church". The "rock" that Jesus is referring to is the unwavering faith of Peter.
Peter was certainly less than perfect. This "Rock" denied Jesus three times after the crucifixion, and after the resurrection, Jesus forgave him three times on the shore of the sea of Galilee. Peter became the center of the Christian movement, and was eventually crucified in Rome for his beliefs. The Christians were seen as a threat to both the Jews and the Romans; the Jews, because they were seen as heretics, and the Romans because they were a political problem.
Jesus never advocated violence. His ministry was one of persuasion by living out what he believed and then sending those who were converted to do the same. That, I think, is the essence of our religion and our mission.
After Jesus' resurrection, the church grew through the efforts of the apostles. They gathered people in homes, worshiped and preached. They took care of the poor and the outcast, which was Jesus' model for the church. The book of Acts tells us a bit about this, but only hints. Paul's letters describe the struggles of the early church; the arguments in Corinth, the problems of the Ephesians, the acts of the stupid Galatians. These were ordinary people who were trying as best they could to come to terms with the risen Jesus, and to incorporate his life into theirs. That hasn't changed much over the centuries. We are still trying to do that. All of the theological books that inhabit my library are attempts to come to terms with God's gift of life, forgiveness and resurrection.
"Who do we say that he is?" That is a question that still haunts us. If he is indeed the Christ, as Peter tells us, then our mission is clear: to take care of those on the margins and to love all of humankind to the best of our ability, doing all of this in the name of the God who loves us all so very much. That is what we are here to do.
The rest of our religious bickering is nonsense.
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