Truly at war

One of the strangest moments from my childhood involved a Christian concert I attended with my grandparents about America that ended with a video showing Russian atomic missiles pointed at our country, and a description of how we will be blown off the earth if Christians didn't pray hard enough. At the end of the presentation the audience was encouraged to kneel and pray, and I found myself scooting as far under my seat as possible in case the bombs fell then and there. Jessica Ahlquist (http://jessicaahlquist.com/) highlighted the fact that this concern did not die with the Soviet Union. As a teenager I watched a series of grainy VHS videos circulated by our homeschool group describing how the Clinton administration was secretly removing the freedom to practice Christianity in the US. I can see the case of Jessica Ahlquist increasing the sense that American Christians are under attack. For those not aware miss Ahlquist was surprised to find that her public high school had a Christian prayer banner posted on the wall. As prayers go it was pretty lame, but it bothered her to the point that she sued to have it taken down. This week she won and the banner is being removed, much to the consternation of Christians all over the country. The same week a suit involving another public school which invited a Christian rapper to preach in a required assembly went against the Christians involved. Of course the nonreligious in the US are pleased at the results, but the Christians complain that the war on Christianity in the US is intensifying. I hope my Christian friends see that this is not the case. A public school is supposed to be a designated safe place for all students whether we are in agreement with their beliefs, but when a nonchristian enters a school that displays hints of Christian bias the school ceases to be a safe place for that student. There truly is a war in the US, but it really is a war by certain Evangelical Christians against anything not Christian. In public this war is couched in terms that focus on promoting morality and character, but the goal is saving souls any way possible. This makes sense if one were to consider how real the Gospel message is to the Evangelical. They honestly believe that people are going to hell, and the best time to reach them is during youth years. If I honestly thought I could save someone from certain unspeakable suffering by breaking the law you bet I would break any law necessary to save them. My Christian friends ask how a subtle sign or single hour of preaching can hurt, but they fail to see how pervasive Chrstianity is in our country while there really is little tolerance of other ideas, especially nontheistic ones. This last fall an atheist group walked quietly in a parade with a banner simply identifying the group and parade-goers were angry that they carried the banner in front of children. In both the cases I mentioned above threats of violence were stated along with the online posting of the addresses of the parties involved with suggestions of the violence that could be done to those who oppose Christianity. Nontheists are acutely aware that they will be targeted for harrassment if they self-identify as nontheistic or express nontheistic sentiments. Even more disturbing is the increasingly public calls for war against Islam in the US. I received two unsolicited emails this week from a local group directly calling for a war at any cost against the tolerance for Muslim ideas in the US. It should not be a surprise that nonchristians in our nation are sensitive to hints of Christian bias in a public school because those hints point to the fact that certain religious bullying will be tolerated against them. So let Tebow do want he wants on the football field. I agree it seems strange, but he may end up being one of the few openly Christian guys who actually lives what he preaches. Let's leave school a religion-neutral place, and let Tebow and his friends fill our popular culture with their faith. There is plenty of room in the culture for all of us.

Time for battle?

ACT! for America sent me an e-mail today that exemplifies my worries for the US as I watch American Christians react in fear against perceived threats against them from the nonreligious and Muslims. The e-mail went right to the point of how Muslims want to evangelize the US in order to make our country fit their ideals. It struck me that if I rewrote the email to substitute "Christians" for "Islamists" the e-mail could reflect the worries of the other religions in countries where Christianity is making inroads. I have seen those who come out publicly as atheists or Muslims receive death threats from those self-identifying as Christians, and I wonder how many people that read these e-mails from ACT! for America or other groups asking for Christians to act for the nation's self-defense against Islam and atheism will lead to death threats being acted upon by Christians. It happened to abortionists to "protect the babies" why wouldn't Christians also take up arms to create fear in those who stand for other ideals?