Posted on 05/20/2007 8:13:53 AM PDT by grey_whiskers
One of the complaints made most often about Christianity (aside from the fact that it is Christianity) is that it is outmoded for today’s modern world. Why, from creation vs. evolution, to the role of women in society (“barefoot and pregnant”), to rejection of homosexuality, to tacit approval of slavery, to endorsement of—shudder—CAPITAL PUNISHMENT! There is no place for such a narrow, culturally irrelevant document. And speaking of narrow, the Bible absolutely encourages bigotry and intolerance!
So goes the screed. But that got me to thinking about the whole “tolerance, acceptance, diversity” thing. (Thanks to Liddy and Hill of KKNT, 960 AM in Phoenix, for using this mantra during their Friday afternoon PC Friday segment. It’d be funnier if it didn’t sound exactly like mainstream talk radio in Minneapolis. But I digress.)
What exactly is the call for diversity and multiculturalism? As far as I can tell, it is consonant with the whole “Spaceship Earth” thinking, we are all one human race, and Western Society has taken far too large a share of the resources, neglecting the nativist wisdom, and running roughshod over women, minorities, and the differently abled, etc. etc. If ONLY the true unique worth and potential of each person were valued, without regard to labels!
And yet, there are those within Christendom who support just such ideals. The late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., in his “I Have a Dream” speech, said it…”I have a dream that my four young children will grow up in a nation where they are not judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Folk / Rock musician Bruce Cockburn, in his song To Raise the Morning Star puts it like this:
Singing for the yellow and the brown and the black For the red and the white people, too Dovetailing strong points with the things we lack Singing for the people like me and you
Here at last is diversity, with none of the hateful divisiveness! Where then, are the Evangelicals and Biblical literalists? (those ignorant Philistines!)
Gee, I don’t know. Mabe twenty centuries ahead of everyone else? Consider the situation in the First Century after the Resurrection. A schism was brewing in the church, between those parties who insisted that Christianity was only for the Jews, and those who insisted that the Gentiles would be candiates too. Peter, the uneducated fisherman, was of the “Jews only” party; Paul, the literary sophisticate, was of the “diversity” party. Peter’s mind was changed by a vision from God in conjunction with the visit of several men intreating him to help not just a Gentile, but a Roman, as mentioned in Acts 10. Paul set forth his views in Galatians 3:28:
:”There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Now, at first reading this sounds like exactly what the multiculturalists of the world say they want: Peace, Love, Understanding. “Can’t we all just get along?” Well, yes and no. Because what often ends up in the Rainbow World of liberals is Balkanization: the ugly strife of identity politics. “I have my own culture, and I want no part of yours!” Or even worse, professional victimization, and preferred victim classes – where the racial, gender-based, or sexual orientation becomes a badge FOR separating people: and the ‘aggrieved’ party always wins. While the goal is the correct one, the parable loses something in the translation.
What is St. Paul’s solution to this? Look at 1 Corinthians 12: 12 - 26:
”12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”
Again, the same theme of “many parts, one body”. And the key point here is in verse 21, “The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” The key here is working together in humility – rather than diversity for its own sake, which leads to pride and division. Which may be where the multiculturalists have gone wrong. Let us pray for unity in Christ.(*)
(*)For some reason, it bears an uncanny resemblance to the E. Pluribus Unum on United States currency. Maybe that’s one of the reasons the United States held togther so well for so long – at least, until the racial identity / gender identity crowd started pushing their ideas. By analogy, we should work for and pray for unity in the United States – in service to the shared ideals which make us Americans.
Here’s to unity.
Multiculturalism is just affirmative action for activists.
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher. All is vanity. We all thread in this earth swathe.
Wha'? I don't get it (not that that's news, but still .... )
“We all thread in this earth swathe with the unknown and uncertainties.”
It’s from this thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1836220/posts
The author is not all there, Engrish-wise, and also doesn’t think much of Joel Osteen, the pastor of the basketball arena.
Oh well, hey, in that case, who can argue with it? I often feel quite swathe with the unknown and uncertainties myself. I find a nice mint-julep really helps with that. In honor of the Preakness, this weekend's mint-julep was made with Rye instead of Bourbon (for the Belmont Stakes we have Manhattans), and I found it even more swathe than usual.
Basketto boru here we come!
“Why, from creation vs. evolution, to the role of women in society (“barefoot and pregnant”), to rejection of homosexuality, to tacit approval of slavery, to endorsement of—shudder—CAPITAL PUNISHMENT! There is no place for such a narrow, culturally irrelevant document. And speaking of narrow, the Bible absolutely encourages bigotry and intolerance!”
May be. But, in these issues, Muslims make Christians look like raging hippies in comparison.
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