Jingoistic Hell

The news this week has been such a powerful reminder of why we are creating Spirit of Truth. You can't turn on the radio or open Yahoo without news of Pastor Olson, a would be Koran burner from Florida. The news of course can't give up on this for to turn away from the disaster that is Pastor Olson is like trying not to look at a car accident, it's scary and perhaps even repulsive but you can't tear your eyes away.

When this story began I was angry as hell at this pastor but as the media has hammered this thing to death, he and this story just seem more and more pathetic. What we should be talking about is not how one pastor can go off the deep end but how much of the faith community that calls itself Christian is just a few steps away from that end of the pool. You can't drive down the street without reading bumper stickers that imply "my god is bigger and better than your god". If you're like me you get unsolicited mass emails from family and friends that make the same point. It's as if the question of religious pluralism and understanding was nothing more than a school yard pissing contest.

It's really a sad state of affairs. One popular option is to take the whole notion of faith and decide it is irrelevant or maybe even dangerous. I think, though, that that misses the reality of what's happening here with Pastor Olson and all the bumper sticker hate mongers. These sentiments don't come from the deep traditions of freedom and liberation of Jewish and Christian faith. Those sentiments are pure jingoism justified and promoted through a twisted and perverted version of those faiths. I'm in favor of calling it what it is, ignorant hatred in the name of God. I'm not in favor of walking away from the grand narrative of freedom and liberation and handing it over to those who would twist it into its opposite message.

Spirit of Truth exists to create a space where love is possible. It exists to create a space where community can be grown. And it exists to create a space where we can hear the voice that speaks sometimes so softly in our own hearts that God is good. A community like that, would change everything.
Grant