8/18/2011

Members of one another

Here's this week's Bible reflection:

Demonizing rhetoric irritates me. 

That’s much too soft a description of how I feel about the ways folks who hold different opinions talk about opposing viewpoints and those who hold them in the public sphere. I’m sure folks act similarly in private, ideologically driven by their public personas.

Demonizing rhetoric irritates me. And I don’t want to turn what I’m saying here into something that is demonizing rhetoric.

Wedge issues like abortion, immigration, sexual orientation, and taxes are where the rhetoric is at its worst. It seems that all who hold opinions are sure theirs is correct and all others are not only incorrect, but invalid, unpatriotic, and evil.

My faith requires that I stand up for those who are abused, neglected, exploited, and outcast. My faith also requires that I love all of God’s beloved – or everyone. 

If I demonize those who hold different opinions than I do, I cannot be true to my faith. If I don’t stand up to those who seek to exclude, marginalize, or reject the most powerless in society, I cannot be true to my faith.

I must see all of God’s children as members of the same grand club I am part of. 

So why do I still want to say,

“If your agenda is power, exclusivity, and hate – I want no part of what you do or who you are. I do not wish you well.”

Does my faith require it? How could my faith require me to reject any who are members of one another?

No comments: