. . . was my neighbors virulent accusation. Ethnic tensions are everywhere. And in the course of this evening I heard railing against the chinese, Americans, albanians and spineless macedonians. Even when we are not overly prejudiced, why do we state our frustrations in negative-ethnic terms? Even the spiritually mature still, in this part of the world struggle with ethnic issues.
Americans are proud of the fact that we are a pluralistic society that embraces every race and culture, right? Not hardly. Look at the immigration bills being bounced around today. But lets go beyond that and look at all the conflicts happening in the world today . . . In Nigeria, Somalia, Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, DRC, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Cyprus, Bosnia, Spain, Myanmar, Colombia, Chechniya, Syria, Kashmir region, Philippines, Nepal, Sudan, Uganda, Papua New Guinea, Chad, CAR, Bangladesh, Laos, Indonesia, Korea, Kurds and on and on I could go.
Lets not stop there. What about our prejudices? Don't you think we have some? We are most prejudiced against those who practice a homosexual lifestyle. But we are also prejudiced against divorced people, single parents, women and lets face it, we are prejudiced against the very ethnic groups of the world that we missionally say we are trying to reach, but when they come to our doorstep, we reject them. You disagree? Do you think that our perrcentage of ethnic churches is reflected in an equal number of ethnic leaders at the district and national levels? I know they have their own districts . . . but have you stopped to consider why?
It is a problem that is common to all humanity and even Christians. I think one of the signs of a mature faith is true color-blindness . . . and I rarely find it, not in my neighbors and not in me.
Americans are proud of the fact that we are a pluralistic society that embraces every race and culture, right? Not hardly. Look at the immigration bills being bounced around today. But lets go beyond that and look at all the conflicts happening in the world today . . . In Nigeria, Somalia, Israel, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, DRC, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Cyprus, Bosnia, Spain, Myanmar, Colombia, Chechniya, Syria, Kashmir region, Philippines, Nepal, Sudan, Uganda, Papua New Guinea, Chad, CAR, Bangladesh, Laos, Indonesia, Korea, Kurds and on and on I could go.
Lets not stop there. What about our prejudices? Don't you think we have some? We are most prejudiced against those who practice a homosexual lifestyle. But we are also prejudiced against divorced people, single parents, women and lets face it, we are prejudiced against the very ethnic groups of the world that we missionally say we are trying to reach, but when they come to our doorstep, we reject them. You disagree? Do you think that our perrcentage of ethnic churches is reflected in an equal number of ethnic leaders at the district and national levels? I know they have their own districts . . . but have you stopped to consider why?
It is a problem that is common to all humanity and even Christians. I think one of the signs of a mature faith is true color-blindness . . . and I rarely find it, not in my neighbors and not in me.
6 comments:
By "immigration bills being bounced around today," are you referring to legislation that seeks to grant amnesty to people who have broken the law in crossing our borders illegally, have committed fraud by using fake/stolen Social Security numbers to obtain work, or have otherwise flouted our nation's laws? Or, are you referring to legislation that seeks to tighten border security in an age when the threat of global terrorism is a daily reality? What about terrorists that have been apprehended crossing our southern borders? Are we guilty of prejudice if we want to protect our families, communities, and churches from this danger? Are we prejudiced for being outraged when border-patrol agents are murdered by people crossing our borders illegally?
Lest I be accused of failing to embrace our pluralistic society, my father came here as an immigrant from Germany following WWII, at a time when prejudice against Germans was probably at an all-time high. But he came here legally and would never dream of breaking the law to gain entry to his new homeland. He was also eager to learn our language, assimilate, and become part of American society. Sadly, this is not the case with many immigrants today. Some even hang the American flag upside down and fly the flag of their former homeland above it.
And when you talk of being prejudiced against those who practice the homosexual lifestyle, does that mean we should tell practicing homosexuals that they don't need to repent from their sins and ask Jesus to forgive them?
For that matter, maybe we're prejudiced to believe that those who reject Christ are going to hell.
Aw Julie, you are one of my favorite kinds of people . . . you don't fit into any box at all. I like that. I want to say that my blog was intentionally International, not domestic, and it was about prejudice in me and others, prejudice of every variety. It was not about homosexuals (who get way more negative attention from us that scripture warrants, what about anger, gluttony, money, pride?) nor was it a post about immigration policy in North America (although I agree with you that wrong-doing should never be applauded, and murder is murder no matter who does it, but have you ever thought about what MOTIVATES most people to such extremes to reach the shores of freedom?) it was a post about ethnic justice (or rather injustice) in me and in the world.
I am glad to finally have provoked you to comment on my blog since I so completely enjoy reading your "Trust, Justice and the American Way" blog. I love the way you fight for justice, but in this matter, you prove my point . . . that we generally only see one side of the ethnic, moral and social issues.
Frankly I am not qualified in any fashion to comment on American Immigration policy, so I don't want to go there . . . on the other hand, were my children hungry, all the time, sick all the time, I would take some pretty strong measures to reach someplace in the world where there was hope that they could eat and receive help. It seems that you are biased (non-prejudiced) toward only those who obey the civic law. But what about a higher law, that a dad should take care of his family and feed them in any way possible? I am not justifying any wrong-doings, only raising the flag that perhaps this issue is deeper than law abiding citizens in a culture of entitlement.
As far as the homosexual issue goes, our dear Father is certainly calling them to repentance, just as He is you and me. But that is HIS role . . . to call them to repentance. Our role is to show them the love of Christ. It is illogical to expect un-redeemed individuals to behave in redeemed ways. Thus I think our calling from Him is to love them unreservedly as people He died for, while hating the sin that is destroying them. I don't do this one very well either. But I like your comment about homoselxuals if for nothing more than it seems that you actually have conversations with them , rather than just railing at them.
Way to go Julie, you rock! Thanks for passionately stating where you are coming from . . . D
I think it's really important to look at the definition of the word "prejudice"-the primary definition is, "an adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts". I agree with Julie, in that, being Christians our very determination of the what is fact is so much different than the worldly outlook of those who are not believers.
Also, you cannot compare apples to oranges. A person in sin is not a person with a certain skin color. A person categorized by behavior is necessarily engaging in it by choice. It is not our job to judge the world, but certainly a situation we step into has to be carefully analyzed by many factors, our faith certainly number one. This, in my opinion, is the hardest thing about being a believer, because some of the most strident criticism and prejudice is toward us for being the very thing.
Thanks for reading my blog, Dr. D! I'm truly honored and appreciate your encouraging feedback. And I confess I probably had a knee-jerk reaction to your offhanded comment about immigration. It's one of those hot-button issues for me, probably because I've heard so much about the devastating consequences of the U.S. government's refusal to crack down on illegal immigration. A number of hospitals on our southern borders are on the verge of bankrupcty because they've been providing health care for the massive flow of illegals across the border without sufficient resources. Recently, I read a heartbreaking story about a group of unemployed men who were sent by a job agency to rebuild homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. These men hadn't worked in months, and they were overjoyed to finally be able to provide for their families. When they showed up at the work site, they were told to go home because immigrant workers had just arrived. The men broke down and cried.
While I concede that there is a higher law than civil law (and I'll discuss this in detail in my own blog in a post I'm planning on civil disobedience), realistically, we simply cannot open our borders to every needy foreigner who is unable to feed his family. If we did so, the stress on our economy, infrastructure, and health care system could not be sustained. We would destroy ourselves in the process, and that certainly wouldn't help the dad who can't feed his children.
While I recognize that your blog was not a post on immigration policy in North America, I felt compelled to address that issue because you implied that recent immigration bills that have been proposed are evidence that Americans have failed to embrace other races (ironically, it is my understanding that these bills include provisions that will make it easier, not harder, for people to immigrate here, but that's besides the point).
I was grateful for your comments about homosexuality because I do feel that the religious right seems rather fixated on that particular sin while ignoring other sins such as the ones you mentioned. And you guessed right about my having actual converstations with homosexuals because someone in my family is gay. Over the past 17 years, we've talked very openly about Jesus, salvation, and even what the Bible teaches about homosexuality, without either of us railing at the other. This relationship has taught me volumes about the negative effects of stereotyping and prejudiced thinking. Guess what? Not all homosexuals want to force Christian organizations to hire them, and they're not all pedofiles. Some of them are even political conservatives. :)
Julie you actually have worked through some of the foundational issues related to homosexuals and immigration that others rarely think about in my humble opinion. It's rare to meet a Xian who actually knows and talks on a regular basis with one of THEM! LOL! You are so real.
As far as the immigration gig goes, I agree with you that we can not, on our home soil, bear the weight of the entire needy world. BUT, I do believe that we can do far far more than we do, investing in their economies and their infrastructures and their medicinal possibilities, etc etc, et al. In other words, I think the Christian community should spend far more time building other countries up in every sense of the word, and far less time vilifying homosexuals. The world would be a much better place. Write that blog girl, write that blog!
How fun is this, to be catching up on blogs after vacation and find two of my favorite people jousting, and ever so politely, too :-)
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