I hear now that Lowe's (a home improvement store) is taking quite a bit of heat because they bowed to a Florida-based "Christian family values" group and cancelled their ads on the show "American Muslim." So naturally, others are calling for a boycott of the chain. Now, I don't own a TV so I haven't seen the show in question, and I don't shop at Lowe's or any other home improvement store for the simple reason that it takes money to improve one's home and that I don't have. Especially now that I am facing a bill for the kidney stone (ouch!). We shall see how good the new health savings plan my company encouraged people to sign up for really is. Stay tuned.
Anyway, the mindset of the people who encouraged Lowe's to yank their ads is all too familiar. It's the same mindset that brought you Michigan's "moral exemption" anti-bullying law. I am sure individually these are all fine people, much like the people I go to church with. But they have been blinded by an unthinking allegiance to a "holy book", much as their Muslim counterparts are to theirs. And as a result common human decency goes right out the window.
A few weeks ago, my church was doing a community rake-a-thon for people who didn't have the time or ability to rake their yards, and one of the members gleefully told me about an incident that had taken place during last year's rake-a-thon. Seems they were raking the yard of one of the handful of Muslims that live in this community, and she spontaneously offered to pay them for their efforts. So instead of cash, they had her make out the check to the church! Oh, he was crowing about that, but I thought of what Jesus said in the Gospels about the nonbelievers, the Samaritans, the pagans, making it into the Kingdom of Heaven before those who considered themselves the Chosen. I so wanted to ask, had the situation been reversed, would they have written a check to the Islamic Center? Not on your life! We hear so many negative things about the Muslim religion, well, in some ways some of them put Christians to shame, and this was one instance.
We've been talking a lot about compassion and mercy and all that good stuff lately in church and what it means in practice. Back in the 1990's I was doing some traveling down South as part of the research for my failed book, and I stopped in at Marietta, Georgia to visit a Civil War museum. The docent was very gracious and answered my questions, and then said, if you want to know more about this stuff, go visit Wildman's across the street. He's a little gruff, but he knows a lot about the history of this area.
Now before I go further and tell you about what was inside Wildman's and what was more important, what was NOT outside Wildman's, I want to explain that Marietta at that time was home to one of these save the family organizations. The exact name escapes me, but the point is, there were a lot of "born-again believers" in the area. We aren't exactly talking a zone that is "dead to the gospel." Anyone who has traveled or lived in the American South knows exactly what I mean.
So anyway, I go across the street. Wildman and a couple of male customers were inside and they gave me one of those slow, up and down, vaguely menacing looks that you see in the movies. They didn't say a word, just stood there chewing tobacco. I looked around. Among the Confederate flags and other Civil War memorabilia, there were black dolls for sale with nooses around their necks. Souvenirs. Like OMG what have I walked into here? Did the docent know--she surely had to know--what kind of place this was and what they sold? And why did she direct me here? She didn't seem to act like she was wishing me ill-will. So why? The only thing I can think of is that us being both white she made an assumption about my attitudes towards people of color. Needless to say, I wasted no time getting out of Wildman's.
Now, for what was NOT outside Wildman's. There were no protesters, no picket signs. There was nobody. In this gospel heartland, Wildman was allowed to purvey his message of racial hate and violence unmolested. Even to the point of having his shop recommended to tourists! And, sad to say, the last I heard, Wildman's is still in business. I saw a mention of it in Newsweek magazine a few years ago.
Now, what on earth is wrong with this picture? Jesus talked about straining at gnats and swallowing camels, and I'm afraid that these "family" organizations are doing just that, ignoring the blatant bigotry in our midst and encouraging meanspiritedness in their followers. But just try to bring that up at a church gathering and see where that gets you.
Anyway, the mindset of the people who encouraged Lowe's to yank their ads is all too familiar. It's the same mindset that brought you Michigan's "moral exemption" anti-bullying law. I am sure individually these are all fine people, much like the people I go to church with. But they have been blinded by an unthinking allegiance to a "holy book", much as their Muslim counterparts are to theirs. And as a result common human decency goes right out the window.
A few weeks ago, my church was doing a community rake-a-thon for people who didn't have the time or ability to rake their yards, and one of the members gleefully told me about an incident that had taken place during last year's rake-a-thon. Seems they were raking the yard of one of the handful of Muslims that live in this community, and she spontaneously offered to pay them for their efforts. So instead of cash, they had her make out the check to the church! Oh, he was crowing about that, but I thought of what Jesus said in the Gospels about the nonbelievers, the Samaritans, the pagans, making it into the Kingdom of Heaven before those who considered themselves the Chosen. I so wanted to ask, had the situation been reversed, would they have written a check to the Islamic Center? Not on your life! We hear so many negative things about the Muslim religion, well, in some ways some of them put Christians to shame, and this was one instance.
We've been talking a lot about compassion and mercy and all that good stuff lately in church and what it means in practice. Back in the 1990's I was doing some traveling down South as part of the research for my failed book, and I stopped in at Marietta, Georgia to visit a Civil War museum. The docent was very gracious and answered my questions, and then said, if you want to know more about this stuff, go visit Wildman's across the street. He's a little gruff, but he knows a lot about the history of this area.
Now before I go further and tell you about what was inside Wildman's and what was more important, what was NOT outside Wildman's, I want to explain that Marietta at that time was home to one of these save the family organizations. The exact name escapes me, but the point is, there were a lot of "born-again believers" in the area. We aren't exactly talking a zone that is "dead to the gospel." Anyone who has traveled or lived in the American South knows exactly what I mean.
So anyway, I go across the street. Wildman and a couple of male customers were inside and they gave me one of those slow, up and down, vaguely menacing looks that you see in the movies. They didn't say a word, just stood there chewing tobacco. I looked around. Among the Confederate flags and other Civil War memorabilia, there were black dolls for sale with nooses around their necks. Souvenirs. Like OMG what have I walked into here? Did the docent know--she surely had to know--what kind of place this was and what they sold? And why did she direct me here? She didn't seem to act like she was wishing me ill-will. So why? The only thing I can think of is that us being both white she made an assumption about my attitudes towards people of color. Needless to say, I wasted no time getting out of Wildman's.
Now, for what was NOT outside Wildman's. There were no protesters, no picket signs. There was nobody. In this gospel heartland, Wildman was allowed to purvey his message of racial hate and violence unmolested. Even to the point of having his shop recommended to tourists! And, sad to say, the last I heard, Wildman's is still in business. I saw a mention of it in Newsweek magazine a few years ago.
Now, what on earth is wrong with this picture? Jesus talked about straining at gnats and swallowing camels, and I'm afraid that these "family" organizations are doing just that, ignoring the blatant bigotry in our midst and encouraging meanspiritedness in their followers. But just try to bring that up at a church gathering and see where that gets you.
