UCC/DOC Statement on Violence and Hate Towards the Muslim Community

Yesterday, the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) issued a statement condemning the recent hateful and intolerant rhetoric aimed at the Muslim community in America. As a candidate in the DOC/UCC ordination process¹, I am so proud of the leadership of my church, and I wholly support their words. The original text can be found here.

A joint statement of the leadership of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

As people of faith, we are called to “love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.” Jesus charges us to “love our neighbor as yourself,” telling us that “there is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31). We are called to be peacemakers (Matthew 5:9), and to “pursue peace with everyone” (Hebrews 12:14).

Recognizing that all people are created in the image of God, and heeding the words of our sacred scripture, we are disturbed and concerned as we witness the divisive discourse in our country concerning our Muslim neighbors. The rhetoric of exclusion and vilification runs absolutely counter to our understanding of God’s oikos, which is an inclusive fellowship of God’s children and creation.

As leaders of the United Church of Christ and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), we offer our ongoing solidarity with and support for all those who are increasingly fearful for their safety and well-being as a result of the heightened vitriol. And we commit to continuing to pursue peace, to promote better understanding among our communities, and to pursue justice in all that we do.

We are witnessing the convergence of a massive global refugee crisis, not limited to the displacement of over half the Syrian population due to the tragic war there; a sentiment of fear resulting from heinous attacks in many places in the US and globally; and the relentless nature of a US presidential campaign in which candidates exploit circumstances and fears to put forward ever more restrictive and exclusivist programs to address perceived threats. In this combination of circumstances, Islam and Muslims as a whole community experience an escalation in violent rhetoric and action that is misplaced and unjustified—and that does not represent the ethos of nurturing stronger and deeper intercommunal ties in our society that we seek to promote.

Our two churches are vocal and consistent in our condemnation of all forms of violence, including terrorism; in our hope for a peaceful and swift end to the war in Syria; in our unwavering advocacy for humane and welcoming attitudes and policies towards refugees; and in our clear denunciation of language and actions that insult and harm people of any identity, including religious, and specifically Muslims.

Daily we see the destruction of human life caused by people who employ ideologies, policies, systems, and sometimes, religion. There are forces in the world that would choose death and destruction to life with abundance; and we stand in clear opposition to those forces. Many victims of injustice go unreported, hidden, or denied. God knows their pain; they do not go unnoticed. We are called to work for God’s kindom in this world.

In this moment, we own our Christian responsibility to lift up our voice once again to express our love and concern for our Muslim sisters and brothers. We stand in solidarity with communities of faith in our abhorrence of the xenophobic and racist attitudes that motivate such hate speech and actions. We live with the hope that peace and justice will prevail for all of God’s children.

The Rev. John Dorhauer
General Minister and President

The Rev. J. Bennett Guess
Executive Minister, Local Church Ministries

The Rev. James Moos
Executive Minister, Wider Church Ministries

The Rev. Bentley DeBardelaben
Manager, Justice and Witness Ministries

The Rev. Sharon Watkins
General Minister and President

The Rev. Ron Degges
President, Disciples Home Missions

The Rev. Julia Brown Karimu
President, Division of Overseas Ministries

UCC and DOC share a ministry track, with graduates able to serve churches in either denomination

Scapegoating our Muslim Brothers and Sisters: An Example from Girardian Theology

Since his death a few weeks ago, I have found myself drawn to the theology and writings of Rene Girard. If you are unfamiliar with his ideas, I highly, highly recommend Richard Beck’s recent 7-part series at his excellent Experimental Theology blog that explains very well Girard’s mimetic theory and scapegoating. This is a series I wish I had written.

I just want to use this as a prompt for a quick social commentary piece. The plight of Syrian refugees and Muslims in general has dominated much of the recent news, and much of my thought. I find it very interesting, in light of reading Girard, that 2015 America is reverting to a scapegoat mentality towards the minority among us.

In short, Girard’s theory says that for many thousands of years, human civilization used collective violence aimed at a minority or marginalized group, in the form of a sacrifice, to act almost as a “pressure-release valve” for human society. Beck summarizes Girard in this way:

1. Sacrifice was a real solution to communal violence.

2. But for that “solution” to work the truth about the sacrifical mechanics have to be systematically obscured.

3. Religion, via its mythical structure, provided this obfuscation.

4. The obfuscation was this: The voice of the scapegoat, the very personal cries of the one being murdered, had to be silenced. Thus, scapegoats were chosen (and are still chosen) from marginalized groups, powerless people. Further, the murder of the scapegoat must not be seen for what it is (i.e., a murder). It must be a divinely sanctioned “sacrifice.”

5. This scapegoating mechanism–rationalized, sanctioned, “religious” violence–still defines the human condition. Our collective Sin is this machinery of violence.

6. Thus, in order to save us, the scapegoating mechanism must be exposed.

The progression of Judaistic monotheism slowly unveiled this hidden mechanism by initiating a move towards identification with the scapegoat. The death of Jesus was the final act in the revealing, showing the ultimate futility of the sacrificial mechanism by disclosing the inherent innocence of our scapegoats.

We seem to have lost this conclusion. In a rush to assuage the primal fear we feel in the world, a fear of the different and of death, we have seized upon a voiceless and minor victim, that of the small Muslim community in America, and the innocent refugees fleeing violence elsewhere, and made them our scapegoat. And as the rage and anger and hate builds to a breaking point, we get closer and closer to that moment of collective violence that relieves the great societal tension that has been building for years and years.

The death of Jesus, of the innocent scapegoat, reveals the futility of such violence. It shows that safety and security, the future of society, our own personal well being, is not achieved by violence. Violence only begets more violence, until we have all operated as the scapegoat. Instead, by identifying with those we oppress, we can begin to feel compassion, and we begin to heal our world by striving for the betterment of all peoples.

We are at a crucial juncture in history. The revelation of violent futility in Jesus’ death did not end the scapegoating mechanism by any means. Many times in the subsequent 2000 years has collective violence been used to pacify the anxiety of society for a short time. We are dangerously close to living through another one of those moments, if we have not already crossed that event horizon.

May we find the clarity and sanity to recognize our trajectory towards death. May we find it soon.

Red Cups and Persecution Complexes: American Christianity in 2015

There are few things that get my blood boiling like the fake “Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas” controversy.

You know what I’m talking about. Every year around this time, we start hearing about that class of Christians who really can’t get past the indignity – nay, the utter persecution – of being wished a secular “Happy Holidays” by some godless drone selling them the newest iPhone at their friendly local Best Buy, instead of the divinely ordained “Merry Christmas.” The horror!

I have little patience for this particular brand of arrogance and lack of awareness.

This year, the persecuted few have found a new target for their ire: that previous bastion of Christian goodwill, Starbucks.

Every year, Starbucks begins serving hot drinks in holiday-themed paper cups, instead of the usual white. In past years, this has taken the form of snowmen and snowflakes and Santa Claus. This year, in a nod to the popular minimalist design style, the cups are simply red, with the green Starbucks logo.

Green and red. Get it? Like Christmas.

But apparently, according to some small-minded folks, this removal of the Holy Snowflake is tantamount to being thrown to the lions in the Coliseum. If you weren’t aware of the secular left’s push to execute all Christians before, you sure are now. All you have to do is look at your steaming hot toasted graham latte to see the sign of the end times.

This was spearheaded by one particular youth minster and internet pot-stirrer named Joshua Feurstein. I’m not gonna link to him here, but he has made a reputation out of making loud, outrage-laced, extreme-close-up selfie videos warning Christian Americans that this or that news item is a sure sign of the contemporary push by “the left” to marginalize and destroy all Christendom.

This brand of arrogant, loud, in-your-face, un-self consciously consumerist and right-wing “Christianity” is a perversion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The man we follow, who showed himself to be the most pure representation of God ever seen on this Earth, was the epitome of humility and love, and predicated his whole public ministry on repudiating the need for official empire sanction to commune with God. Jesus didn’t need Rome to validate his faith; he didn’t need every person he met to acknowledge just how holy and awesome he was.

Jesus humbly traveled about living in a way we are a called to emulate. With grace and humility, he met with and cared for the least and lost. He eschewed the company of the powerful and rich and acceptable for the company of prostitutes and peasants and the unclean. He condemned those who feel the need to trumpet their faith from the mountain tops, who need public commendation of their piety. He instructed to be so humble and meek that we should go into our rooms, shut the doors and close the windows when we pray.

The notion that we need our faith in Jesus validated in every social interaction and every transaction is anathema to the Way of Jesus.

And the persecution complex and lack of perspective on the part of Feurstein and his type would, I believe, bring Jesus to either tears or the compulsion to break out the whip he used to drive the money changers from the Temple.

Real human beings experience real persecution in this world every day. Christians in the Middle East are put to death by ISIS for their faith. Muslims in Burma are being systematically wiped out in a genocidal campaign by radical Buddhists. Hundreds of millions of men, women and children go hungry every day, and millions more die from completely preventable causes, all because we can’t find the will to take care of one another from the great abundance God gifted us with on planet Earth. Millions of Americans are uncertain of their future, due to either homelessness or hunger or lack of health care or racism or unchecked violence, while our leaders argue about email servers and the pyramids and whether we are too generous to the poor in this country.

Of course, this red cup situation is merely a microcosm of modern American Christianity. The entire establishment has a misplaced persecution complex. Whether it’s holiday greetings, or the horror of health care for all, or the growth of other faith traditions, white American Christians have somehow wrapped themselves into a pretzel of thought wherein every move by anyone they don’t agree with is a move towards the systematic destruction of all Christianity. Despite living as the largest religion in the world, in the richest, most free country on the planet, part of the dominant racial group, they folks somehow still believe they are Stephen, about to be stoned by the Pharisees of the secular left for their faith. They have lost all perspective, on their lives and where they are and the space they occupy in human history, thanks to the efforts by TV preachers and right-wing Christian politicians to whip up the fear and anger towards others in the pursuit of dollars and votes. This group has become so inwardly focused, they have forgotten how to care for others, and consequently, just how good they have it.

To cry out in terror because you received a red Starbucks cup in December is beyond despicable. It’s to side with the persecutors listed above, by pulling away needed oxygen and attention from those who need our help. We are Christians are called to help the weak and the needy, to humble ourselves and our needs and wants for the service of others. The actions of Feurstein stand in direct contradiction to the Jesus I know, and the life he called us to.

I hope in this season of joy and hope and thankfulness and giving, that Joshua Feurstein, and those who listen to him, can find the gift of perspective and gratefulness, and maybe begin living up to the example of the man whose name they invoke.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: