Kester Brewin says the following in his letter to the church in North America : if you want to find the Kingdom of Heaven, you’re going to have to abandon your pursuit of paradise. In other words, the purified utopian ideal is dangerous; God is found in the dirt of the incarnation.

It certainly could be a letter to us in the North too..

“One of history’s greatest lessons is that once the state embraces a religion, the nature of that religion changes radically. It loses its nonviolent component and becomes a force for war rather than peace.

it would have to drop its power politics and renege on its mission to seek advantage over other nations, enhancing itself at the expense of others. And so a religion is in the service of a state is a religion that not only accepts war but prays for victory. From Constantine to the Crusaders to the contemporary American Christian right, people who call themselves Christians have betrayed the teachings of Jesus while using His name in the pursuit of political power.”

–Mark Kurlansky, Nonviolence

This occurrence is not limited to just the Christian right. But also to anyone like myself, capable of misusing my religion to violate “the other”, “the other” often being the ones closest to me.

My understanding of the teachings of Jesus often have a starting point of Jesus being a servant, never a dominating superman.

It is sad to see how the planned Cordoba House two blocks from Ground Zero(often referred to as the Mosque at Ground Zero) has awakened so many dangerous,” anti-religious freedom” attitudes, that if not dealt with will determine the future of American values and will also determine how the Muslim and non western world views the west.

Jim Wallis asked three important questions on fox news; (the following is from sojourners blog)

1. Should we as Americans be able to worship and pray when and where we choose? Haven’t we fought for that?
2. Are American Muslims … Americans?
3. And, for those of us who are Christians (and I am an Evangelical Christian), are we obeying the commands of Jesus to love our neighbors? Aren’ t Muslims our neighbors
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   ? So what might Jesus say to this controversy?

There was a brief silence from the Fox and Friends anchors. OK, they said, but what about “sensitivity” to the families that lost loved ones in 9/11? Well, I said, 59 Muslims also died on 9/11 because of a vile, cowardly, and criminal attack by al Qaeda. Does it honor them, or their families, by somehow connecting all American Muslims to that horrible attack?

Well, thank you for joining us today Reverend, they said. Thank you, I said, but how we handle this is very important–to what it means to be Americans or what it means to be Christians.

I was ready to talk about my friends Imam Feisal Rauf and his wife, Daisy Khan, who are among the leaders of the vision to build a new community center committed to peace, interfaith dialogue, reconciliation, and bridge-building. I know them both and can testify to their long record on denouncing terrorism in the name of their religion and their consistent work for peace. Until very recently, Daisy says her main concern about the new interfaith center was whether there would be enough stroller space. Daisy called me Sunday to describe how their lives have been turned upside down. If Ground Zero is the “gaping wound” my Fox and Friends anchors described, what could be more helpful than a religious center dedicated to healing?

That morning, as I watched continued coverage, I was disappointed to hear the low level that discourse has dropped to.  The politicians who spoke to it sounded more like the people leaving nasty and false comments on YouTube videos than anyone deserving of public office. Well, it is the election season again.

This guilt-by-association “sensitivity” argument is very dangerous stuff. Millions of American Muslims are not responsible for the heinous crime of 9/11. And an imam’s desire to heal and build bridges should be a welcome thing. Exactly how far away from what places should Muslims be able to pray in America? Is there a measurement requirement that is emerging from all the other places in the country now where mosques are also being opposed?

Fundamentalism doesn’t only exist in Islam.

The things someone like Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell have said certainly are an embarrassment to other Christians — remember Robertson’s assertion that 9/11 was the judgment of God on America because of liberalism and feminism. So how about preventing fundamentalist churches that like Robertson from worshiping within 3 blocks of Ground Zero because of “sensitivity”?

How we handle this one will affect our future as a nation. Do we believe in our principles or not? Do we believe Muslims are also Americans or not? Are we an inclusive and pluralistic nation, or not?

Is “a terrorist” and “Muslim” the same thing?

A mistake that lies at the very core of this particular discussion is how media and also many faith(Evangelical and mainline churches,Catholic and protestant, Jewish communities etc), political parties (in the states the democrats and Republicans united on this one) and anti faith movements( like all the new atheists Dawkins, Harris etc) had a field day in linking the fundamentalist maniac terrorist Islam with All Islam.

When Muslims want to build a mosque in New york (which we now know is not a mosque but a faith community far from ground zero) we look at them as the same people who flew into the twin towers.

This is really a grave mistake, the two fields of faith are as far from each other as Night is dark and day is light. I certainly don’t want to be put in the same Christian category as maniac terrorist Christians in India,Northern Ireland, Russia or Uganda (where the christian terrorist groups are known for there usage of children soldiers) who blow up Muslims and others who do not believe as they do. See this is the mistake we now are doing with Muslims who wish to build mosques wherever they want to. They, like us, have nothing to do with terrorism, and want nothing to do

with it. As we find it offensive to be linked with christian,Jewish or western terrorists they find it offensive that we even think the thought.

Only when we put all Muslims in the category “terrorist” will building a mosque in New York be a sick and horrendous provocation. And when we don’t, it certainly isn’t a provocation.
Now if we still want to put them in the same category as terrorists, my thoughts below might be food for thought;

Frank Schaeffer is the son of the late theologian and author, Dr.

Francis Schaeffer. He has left his childhood faith(Evangelical Christianity), and work with his father for a different path and faith (he has converted to the faith of the Orthodox Church). He shares some of his thoughts via different media in some of the links below. I have read most of the stuff his father wrote and was at one point drawn to much of his thought. I find it interesting to hear how his son today distances himself from much of what his father believed and taught.

He is a strong critic of the new atheists like Richard Dawlins, Sam Harris,Christopher Hitchens etc and the evangelical right in the States. The critique is actually towards the strong fundamentalism he sees in both of these ways of faith, and the dangerous consequences fundamentalism creates.

Frank Schaeffers blog and his homepage.

A radio interview with Frank Schaeffer