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Posts Tagged ‘prejudice’

…false claims…

25 Mar

I’m an American…plain and simple. I stand when our national anthem is played. I shed tears whenever the flag is removed from a casket and given to a survivor. I grow angry when those who claim to be Christian disrupt military funerals with insanely hateful chants and posters. I feel blessed to have been born into this great country, and to live with the freedoms our nation affords.

One of my greatest dreams is that America might live up to our claim. For one of my darkest fears, is that we as a nation might be held accountable when we falsely claim to be “under God.”

You see, if we allow our people go hungry, then our claim to be under God is false advertising. Even when our ancestors were desert refugees…God saw that they were fed.

If we allow those who are ill to be denied proper health care, then our claim to be under God is faulty.

If we allow corporations to have more rights and privileges than human beings, then our claim to be under God is being grossly misinterpreted.

If we allow our government to deny us our God-given free will to make personal choices, then our claim to be under God has been usurped.

The bottom line is that if we want to be under God, then we should base our governmental decisions upon the teachings of Jesus…who many of us consider to be the best picture of God that we have. And what was Jesus’ purpose again? He came to “bring good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”

The only way for our nation to live up to our claim to be under God, is for us to attempt the fulfillment of this purpose. Anything less…would be a false claim.

 
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Posted in New Life

 

…location, location, location…

17 Aug

There is today much concern over the future building of Cordova House and Mosque at New York’s Ground Zero. I myself have a gut-level reaction…a prejudice if you will…that the location of the proposed mosque and community center is somehow wrong.
It is at times such as these that I must not succumb to gut-level reactions. It is at times such as these that I must force my God-given brain to understand our Christ-given directives.

Jesus taught us to love our neighbors, and to “will for others, what we will for ourselves.” And I would not wish to have my own religious expressions squelched because of the radical actions of my extremist Christian brothers and sisters.

Granted, I am a Christian. But please do not place me in the same camp as the Christian extremists who have bombed abortion clinics and murdered medical doctors. Please, do not question my motives based upon the hatred expressed by the most radical members in my faith community. And please realize that all Muslims do not advocate hatred and violence against non-Muslims.

I know…I know…something about building Cordova House near Ground Zero doesn’t seem right. It seems odd that Muslims should become our neighbors at Ground Zero. Location…location…location. Didn’t Jesus direct us to love our neighbors?

Christ did not come into my life to make me feel right…He came into my life to help me live right.

 
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Posted in New Life

 

…the truth about venom…

06 Aug

Hatred seems to have gotten a stranglehold on our current society. The inbox of my email account is assaulted daily with political opinions that are almost always colored with hatred. The senders apparently find it nearly impossible to state their political opinions without also espousing hatred for those of differing political bents.

Judging from my recent emails, it’s difficult to know which groups in America are the most hated…immigrants, gays, lesbians, ecologists, unemployed, welfare recipients, Hispanics, Muslims, bankers, or politicians? It seems that nearly every societal problem can be traced directly back to one of these hated groups.

An elderly friend of mine recently pontificated, “My venom is more poisonous to me than it is to my victims.”

We need to realize that our hateful feelings are more poisonous to us than they are toward those we hate. Our painful memories are more poisonous to us than they are to those who’ve wronged us. Our racism is more poisonous to us than to those we’re prejudiced against.

Our venom is more poisonous to us than it is to our victims.

 
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Posted in New Life