If Mohammed Won't Come To The Mountain . . .

It seems that the modern Holy War hatred is coming to a nasty head in our country.  Continued rumours that our president is a practicing follower of Mohammed cannot be dispelled even by his own lips.  Citizens refuse to allow him to say otherwise; or, though he says he is a Christian, what he says is not recognized and recorded in the public record with any real belief.  At least not the e-mail forwarding public record -- which is taken for the God's-honest truth by many folk unwilling to do any research or more than willing to believe conspiracy theories and end-of-days preaching.

Let me just state for my own written record that my intent here is not to throw my hat in, or out, of the ring concerning President Obama.  Nor is it to opine on my beliefs concerning Christianity and those of the Islam faith.  It is the atmosphere of hate, which stems from fear, which bothers me.

9/11 only brought to the general public forefront of America an awareness of a culture and religious clash which has spanned hundreds of years after the birth of Christ, with several eras of Crusade wars as historical proof.  I'm not an expert, so I'll refrain from venturing too far into that time period.  Most of us aren't experts, and our memory of history classes is vague in light of all that we fight to keep in minds during the course of everyday life.  So, much of what mainstream society relies upon is what we see, hear, and read from the media, our religious publications, and people around us willing to speak whether or not they postulate from a foundation of knowledge or ignorance.

Recently, three separate news items have incited a national discourse which has moved out of the arena of circumspect debate and into the fighting field of irrational thought and enmity.

1)  The proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero -- which I do find to be a very bad idea in light of the location and the general propriety of honoring the feelings of the people involved who are left to bear the loss caused by the tragedy.  Though I've not read every article and blog written on the subject, I get the sense there is a stubbornness behind all of this which lacks true hindsight OR foresight.  A religion of peace will not gain the understanding of suspicious outsiders when certain members create distrust by maintaining a pitbull-like hold on an iffy-from-the-start proposition.

2)  The planned bonfire of Qurans, the holy book of Islam, by the 50-member strong Dove Outreach Center in Florida led by the Reverend Terry Jones -- again, I have to disagree, because based on what Christianity states, though we may hate the spirit of a thing, we are not called to foster an atmosphere of hate to make a point.  Not to mention the possible danger this could cause for our troops and private sector citizens in the Middle East.  In a press statement today, the reverend stated, "As of right now, we are not convinced that backing down is the right thing."   From WHAT can he not back down, exactly?  Why did he feel the need to 'stand up' to begin with?  How does this honor the memory of, or bring useful attention to, the world event that is 9/11?  Again, it seems to me that there is a need for attention at the root of this 58 year-old man's agenda.  I wonder how far an Iman would get if he led his mosque of followers to set fire to a pile of Bibles?

3)  The ongoing conflict over the mosque attempting to go up in my town of Murfreesboro, Tennessee -- which started with contentious city commission meetings and culminated in arson at the dig site this past week.  For over 25 years there has existed a community of Muslims here, small in comparison to the widespread presence of Baptist and Church of Christ and multiple other Christian worshippers liberally (no pun intended) peppered throughout this overall peaceable spot on the Tennessee map.  Until recently, we've not had this outward expression of anti-Islamic feeling in such numbers, garnering such a high level of attention, engendering both perceived and very real violence.  The ATF and FBI are now involved.  Have we stepped back into the Dark Ages?  Or worse, for this region of the country, have we rekindled the malevolent spirit of racism which held so many in bondage during our nation's time of early growing pains?

The radical and extremist groups which exist to stamp out any and all non-Islamic believers must rejoice when they view the images of discord and hostility being fostered and fed on American soil as of late.  Perhaps they are patting themselves on the back in congratulations of a job well done; the seeds they planted on September 11, 2001 are bearing heavy fruit.  The angry Americans launching this three-pronged attack on the Muslims in our midst will play well on the television sets and computer screens of training centers and back rooms in places where military and religious leaders work diligently and with great intelligence to fill the minds of young men and women with the rhetoric which will launch thousands into suicide bombings and the like.

It would appear that they know us better than we know ourselves.  Where we react emotionally, they sit back and study.  We would do well to learn from that particular model.  We can learn from the enemy without surrendering to the misinformation and poisoned mindsets.  I don't hold all of the answers. I'm not fully certain just exactly what the questions should be. But what my mind AND my heart tell me is that this goes beyond a simple exercise in First Amendment rights. Though there is most certainly a compelling need for action that should be taken here, I don't believe these particular actions reflect the need.

Christians would do well to allow the Holy Spirit to have a pow-wow at their spiritual core and examine the line between human frailty and Godly strength. Americans in general would benefit from taking an emotional step back and injecting a bit of intellectual contemplation into the mix -- wisdom is a useful by-product of such reflection.  Fear is never a sound game plan nor a sole basis for solid strategy.  Enough said.