Fundamentalism Its Own Religion?

I have been reading David Brooks of the New York Times writing about the Religion of Fundamentalism. Almost all religions have their own fundamentalist groups. They have so much in common that they could be their own religion. I do not mean to paint all people who identify themselves as fundamentalist with the same brush, but most follow the same pattern.

Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist or Hindi fundamentalists see themselves as the "True Faith." They are literalist and are not tolerant of any one who does not think like they do. They lack compassion for those who are different and unwilling to convert. Often, they are willing to kill those who are different, seeing them as a threat to the true religion. Quite often they attack members of their own faith who are moderate.

As one who has studied world religions, it appears to me that fundamentalists become so ridged that they wind up going against the founder of their faith in order to promote the narrow view of their particular group. The preaching of hate and killing in the name of god must be countered by faithful people of all religions who know that the true faith preaches love God, love others, and get the word out.

The Term God

The Term God

The English word god is generic and can be applied to any deity but it is not the only term that can be used correctly. Every language has it's own word that can be translated into English as god.

French is Dieu
Bosnian is Bog
German is Gott
Italian is Dio
Arabic is Allah
Greek is Theos
Finnish is Jumala

The list goes on and on and no matter what language is used the idea is the same. There are many religions that have many "gods" and three religions that claim only one god.

Jewish, Christian, and Islam all worship the same God that Abraham worshiped.

Faith and Works

I read the Scripture for today in worship. It was from James chapter two. "Faith without works is dead."

How do we apply that idea today? First comes faith and out of our faith in Jesus comes an understanding of how to live a Christ like life. It is easy for a person to say the right words of faith and many do and then do nothing about it. If we truly belong to Jesus we will then do what He calls us to do. Jesus not only taught the Gospel but lived it out as an example. We will help people in need with out being asked. We will love the unlovely with out question and we will be generous with what ever we have.

Today I see people who claim to be Christian doing and saying hateful things when Jesus taught love for all people. I remember in the Gospel of John, the self-righteous religious leaders brought to Jesus a woman caught in the very act of adultery and said to him, "The scripture says this kind of woman must be stoned. Now what do you say?" Jesus said, "Let the one of you who is without sin cast the first stone." They all went away.

When we do not accept the call to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and show hospitality to the stranger, we forget that Jesus said, "When you did it to the least of these you did it to me." In anger many Christians say to turn away people from our country who need our help. When there are millions of refugees in the world seeking a place to live in safety how can Christians turn them away?

It is a chilling thing to read the words in James, "Faith without works is dead."

Marriage License Issue

With the recent issue of marriage license in Kentucky our junior Senator stated that perhaps the state should get out to the marriage license business altogether. I think I agree with that.

Until the mid 1800's the states did not issue marriage licenses at all. It was totally the realm of religions to perform marriages. In the mid 1800's some states began to raise revenue by requiring a license to get marred. That had the advantage of registering the marriage as a legal event. Perhaps divorce lawyers serving as state lawmakers saw an advantage in that. It was not until 1923 that all states required couples to register and get a license to marry.

So here we are today with the state involved in the marriage business and caught up in ways they never dreamed of dealing with when they chose to create a new revenue stream. Any time the government is involved it needs to treat all citizens equally. Drivers license, marriage license, gun license, hunting and fishing license and all the rest are to be open to all citizens on a equal basis.

So our question of the day is does the state really need to be issuing marriage license?

Police and Fire Fighters

Police and other emergency service personal put their lives on the line every time they go to work. Over the more than 40 years of my ministry I have volunteered my services as a chaplain to these services. I am currently a Fire Chaplain but I have also served as a Police Chaplain and Emergency Room Chaplain.

Most of Police and Firefighters are honest hard working people who love what they do and they do it well. They keep us safe and serve the public with out regard to status when the need arises. There are a few who come to work with issues that can create problems when they loose control of their moral compass. This usually happens under a great deal of stress and that is when chaplains can help them. Once they loose control the results can cause a lot of trouble for them, their department and the community. As a country we are dealing with that loss of control. It is not an easy thing to deal with in advance but most departments are working on it all the time.

Pray for them all.

What's Next

All through life we move from one stage to another and not always by choice. We start of as infants with almost no choice except to cry when were not happy. The early stages of life are exciting choices around growth and change. Our parents guide us as we go through school and our teen years.

Then it happens - life! As I turned 18 I was faced with the "What is next?" question. What do I do now? How do I do what I want to do? Because of some family issues I choose to Join the Navy and for the next six years the navy made all my choices. Then life changed and I once again had some choices to make.

Where do I live? What kind of career do I choose? I felt the urges to love some one else and that brought on other changes and children. Talk about choices changing your life! When you are responsible for a new life the question of what is next is not always your choice. I am still responsible.

What is next comes at retirement and a set of different choices and then things to choose from is not always good stuff, just necessary stuff. Here we are again asking, "What's Next?"

When Christian Leaders Fail Us

It was all over the news that a priest of a church near my home had abused his position as pastor of the church. He had a lot of child porn on his personal computer including inappropriate pictures of the congregations children. He was a much loved pastor but is now reviled. In this age of awareness how did he think to get away with doing that? His church has changed from covering up for priest to exposing their evil actions.

Human beings often fail to live up to their most important ideals. The failure to realize ideals is often a mixture of apathy, baseness, cynicism, self-interest and ego. Even in our increasingly secular culture there is a conscious desire for people to find a spiritual dimension to their lives. Early Christians were first called the “People of the Way.” Christians are in essence members of a community of faith who follow a definite and certain path of the way of Jesus the Messiah. Church traditions sadly sometimes confuse the issues of following the way of Christ faithfully.

We say amen when something we see or hear confirms our own impression. We also become agitated or furious when something we hear is out of kilter with our personal beliefs. What are the truly basic beliefs of the Christian faith? There is a sense of beauty in the ideals of the total commitment and submission to God, the ideal Christian community, justice and peace.

It is sad that these same ideas are frequently corrupted to justify and legitimize the authoritarian and even brutal actions of people who contend that they are right. We must not confuse the ideal of the Christian faith with its misuse and abuse by people with political or power issues. This problem is not unique to Christianity as other religions are also hurt by mean spirited, power hungry; ego centric people who miss apply the tenets of our faith to their own perverted needs.

We as individual Christians must focus on what the Gospels teach us and seek to truly be people of the way of Jesus. We are each capable of focusing our lives on the teachings of Jesus first and saying AMEN to following those teachings. The way of Jesus was never easy for Jesus calls us to a different way of living than the way of the world. Say amen [ may it be so] and be a follower of the Way of Jesus.

I pray for the healing of that congregation as they deal with the results of a leader who was all too human and failed to live up to even his own Christian ideals. He is now under arrest and will face time in prison where his fellow inmates will not take kindly to his actions.