June 19, 2011:

Ponderings of a Pilgrim PASTOR

“Fear Thy Neighbor”

All through our history, we Americans have been vulnerable to hatemongers and demagogues inciting us to fear immigrants who come bringing a different language, culture, and faith with them. The accusation is always the same: these newcomers are bent on subverting our "American Way of Life" and (somehow) forcing the rest of us to become like them. Remember the fears when John F. Kennedy ran for President? "He’ll have a direct phone line to the Vatican installed in the Oval Office and take his marching orders from the Pope."

These days, if you are not vitally concerned about the possibility of radical muslims infiltrating the country and establishing a Taliban-style theocracy, you just don’t realize the seriousness of the threat to America. At least, that’s what various right-wing politicians would have us believe. The particular object of their ranting is the fear that (somehow) "sharia" will supercede American justice.

"Sharia," in case you didn’t know, is not so much a code of laws as a process by which muslim scholars and jurists attempt to discern God’s will and determine God’s moral guidance in every aspect of a muslim’s life. They study the Quran as well as the life and writings of the prophet Mohammed. Since it is a process involving different jurists, no one definitive understanding of "sharia" is possible and it has changed over the centuries. Fanatics such as the Taliban can misuse "sharia" as much as fundamentalist Christians in Africa now proclaim that following the Bible’s teachings means condemning homosexuals to death.

Americans believe that the followers of any religious group are free to conduct their lives by their own religious codes so long as they do not break the laws that protect life and property. Few, if any, American muslims would disagree with that. They want to be as much part of America as the rest of us. Let’s give them the opportunity to prove that they are no more dangerous to the American Way of Life than, say, Southern Baptists!

Love,
Pastor Dave