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 They sang My Country, ‘Tis of Thee in my church this past Sunday. There were other patriotic songs as well. As one who identifies with the Radical Reformers, I’m really not too excited about doing anything other than focusing on worship during my worship time. Go figure.
Am I thankful for the freedoms I have in this country? Yes.
Am I grateful to those who have sacrificed to make my freedom possible? Very much so.
But, as I heard the congregation sing “sweet land of liberty†( I had excused myself during the patriotic singing, I know. I’m a jerk.) I could only think of one thing…
A picture of Jesus hanging in the Slidell City Court House. Yep, the ACLU wants the picture removed. You can read all the hateful comments at the NOLA.COM website if you wish. It seems that some folks are so adamant about having a picture of Jesus in their courthouse that they are downright Un-Christian about it!
Here’s a brief example:
Screw all them aclu liberal a__holes! Don’t give into such bull! Hold your ground, let em sue! Who the hell are they anyway! Lets round all those card carrying bafoons up and send them to Iraq where they can become the latest statistics……………..
Nothing better to do, well lets give them card carrying liberals something to do……………………………….
Unamerican all of them. Kill em all and let the good Lord sort em out is what real God fearing southerners say……………….
How can that be? How can folks that are so pro-Jesus be so mean? Maybe they don’t believe in the ideals of America or of Jesus. Jesus never forced his views on anyone. He told us we should love our enemies and turn the other cheek. He said that if someone demanded your coat, offer them your shirt too! He said this just before he said do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
I really don’t want to go into a public building, paid for by my tax dollars, and see a picture of Mohammed, Buddha, or Ganesha. Why should it be OK for Jesus to be there?
If we are the land of the free, why do some of us (who are supposed to love our neighbors) insist on imposing our faith traditions on others in a public building. If my faith tradition is doing such a crappy job of telling others about Jesus, why should we rely on a government entity to do so? In fact, isn’t using our government to promote Jesus a bit like Bill Clinton being a spokesman for a cigar company? Something’s just not right about that is it?
For me, being a good Christian and a good American means standing up for the rights of ALL. Not just for Christians. If Christians have the right to hang their paintings up, the Muslims, Hindus, Jews and all other faith traditions have the right to as well.
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