Shouldn't Christians Ever Have To Answer for Anything?
I hear this all the time on NPR, even on Ed Gordon's wonderful News and Notes: The idea that Muslim communities have some 'splainin to do every time one of "their members" bombs something.
When Timothy McVeigh bombed the Oklahoma City building, there was no racial profiling of white guys nor was there any call on white people to explain themselves and say "He's just a 'bad white.'" It was taken for granted that Tim could be an individual just like the rest of us.
But when it's another community, Muslims have to explain what "they're" doing. No, "they" aren't doing anything: some people who loosely identify themselves similarly in religious and ethnic terms are doing things. Individuals just like anyone else.
Given the support among fundamentalist rightist conservatives for bombing innocent people abroad and prosecuting terror upon them, why isn't any Christian forced to stand up and say "Most of us are peace-loving people?"
When Timothy McVeigh bombed the Oklahoma City building, there was no racial profiling of white guys nor was there any call on white people to explain themselves and say "He's just a 'bad white.'" It was taken for granted that Tim could be an individual just like the rest of us.
But when it's another community, Muslims have to explain what "they're" doing. No, "they" aren't doing anything: some people who loosely identify themselves similarly in religious and ethnic terms are doing things. Individuals just like anyone else.
Given the support among fundamentalist rightist conservatives for bombing innocent people abroad and prosecuting terror upon them, why isn't any Christian forced to stand up and say "Most of us are peace-loving people?"
posted by Frederic Christie at 11:14 AM
2 Comments:
The idea that "Muslim" isn't synonymous with "terrorist" is a place to start, I would imagine. How sad a day is this? Really.
I can't believe we have come to this level of culturally reinforced prejudice. It's disgusting.
"All people who commit horrible acts should be help accountable. Let not forget the Timothy McVeigh was not a Christian and he never claimed to be one. "
Agreed. My point was that there is a lot of white and/or male and/or Christian and/or American violence and terror that members of those groups, so ill-defined, have to answer for. Being a member of the dominant class has its privileges.
"CHRISTIANS PEACE LOVEING"
Most ordinary people of all ilks are. Most people, I think, don't have the brutality nor the inclination to fight for no reason.
I am somewhat more optimistic about Christianity than the Founders, though I accept their factual premises.
Don't forget Ben Franklin, our favorite deist who said that he didn't believe Jesus was divine but accepted other people's belief as acceptable because it made his teachings better heard.
Thanks for the quotes. I myself am more concerned about the underlying dynamic that helps breed these maniacs in the modern era: the capitalist-state system that will soon spell irreversible doom.
I always respected Anabaptists who thought that no child should be baptized until they were old enough to rationally decide for themselves.
The "Give unto Caesar's" comment is somewhat like a koan (another reason I think Jesus was Buddhist.) What isn't God's?
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