The right reason to take religious offence

Oh, great was the fuss.  A Bacchanalian scene of a drag queen and an oversized smurf during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, redolent of the Last Supper… and more than one painting of Dionysus, of which I understand at least one or two are held in French art galleries, unlike da Vinci’s fresco.

As I pointed out, the wrong reason to get offended.  If someone thinks that a painting is satirising Christ, use the situation to talk about the real thing.  Talk about Jesus who lived, died and rose again.  If you’re busy being offended by a piece of art, you’re not talking about Jesus.

But then there was this.

Calling all well-intentioned Christians, parents, and law-abiding citizens of our country.

… demand a withdrawal from our communities and our Christian country.

Bring your Christian flags and banners…

The 3rd August protest, where police and peaceful counter-protestors were attacked and an illegal parade got lost on its way to the Belfast Islamic Centre and was halted by local people in University Street.

And my blood boiled.

“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not ill-treat them.“

³³ ‘“When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not ill-treat them. ³⁴ The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19:33-34 NIV)

You can make all sorts of arguments about integration or its lack.  My preference is the story of the mosques who support the Royal British Legion each year.  The mosque I read about this morning where they fed the protestors.

Let’s stick in that same chapter, which is fundamentally about fairness and honesty.

¹¹ ‘“Do not steal.

‘“Do not lie.

‘“Do not deceive one another.

¹² ‘“Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.

¹³ ‘“Do not defraud or rob your neighbour.” (Leviticus 19:11-13 NIV)

Do not steal.  Look at the people whose livelihoods were stolen by the destruction of their premises.

Do not lie.  Would the rioters have known the difference between the Egyptian Coptic Christian who used to run our local chippy and another Middle Eastern person who happened to be Muslim?  Do they know the difference between an immigrant and a second or third generation British person?

Never mind the lies that underlie the far right protests.  The lies about Muslims taking over our country (90% of which claim to be Christian or from Christian upbringing, and 1.5% all other religions).  The lies about the Southport murderer.  The lies about taking up our NHS capacity (non-British doctors and nurses appear to be creating more capacity than immigrants are taking up)

‘You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God‘

⁷ ‘You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” (Exodus 20:7 NIV)

And this is why.

There is a reference in 2 Chronicles 7:14 that reads “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Called by his name.  Christians believe that Jesus Christ, after whom we are named, is part of the Holy Trinity, that Jesus is God (Colossians 2:9) – he is not the Father, we do not have three Gods, but is nevertheless wholly human and wholly God.  When we ascribe behaviour that goes against God’s Word to Christianity, we take the holy name of Jesus in vain.

But we are Christians.  We believe in the New Testament.

So what does it say?

¹⁹ My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, ²⁰ because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. ²¹ Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent, and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.

²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it – not forgetting what they have heard but doing it – they will be blessed in what they do.

²⁶ Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:19-27 NIV)

Hard words.  I’m angry.  Oops on verse 20.

And this leads me to action.

Yesterday I spent time working with asylum seekers and refugees.  Trying to model what Christians are called to.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress

This has been an oddity of a post.  The Bible doesn’t usually feature on Slugger in this way, but when people decide to abuse Christianity by using it to hate the orphan, the widow, the disadvantaged and those in need, we hit back with the truth.  The real Christianity that says this is the real Jesus, who leads us to serve others in his name.  The people the far right hate and want expelled from the UK, as well as the far right themselves, are part of the Christian mission field.  If those who call themselves Christians live hate towards non-Christians, then why would anybody want to be a Christian?

The campaign against ordinary Muslims is founded upon lies.  Lies spread via Social Media.  The derision of the “Mainstream media” for refusing to repeat those lies.

In the last two days, tens of thousands of people have protested against these lies.

Mark 8:40 says whoever is not against us is for us.  Wilberforce needed the support of non-Christians to abolish the slave trade.  Christians can’t serve others on their own, and people like me work with others through our unions, through our political parties, through charities, through our local communities who want better, by standing beside each other at public protests, and by just getting on with it.

The fundamental problem we keep coming back to is the lies that have been told about immigrants.  We know from Brexit that when the lies and misinformation are in the public domain, you’re immediately on the back foot.

All we can do is keep telling the truth about the immigrants who make our communities and lives better.  The immigrants whose private lives don’t affect ours.  The friends we make.  Those who refuse to hate us.  Those we refuse to hate.

The truth.  John 8:32, speaking of following Jesus’ teaching says “then you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”

Whether you are a Christian or not, lies will tie you up in knots.  The truth will set you free, and it will free others.

Andy has a very wide range of interests including Christianity, Lego, transport, music, the Alliance Party, chess and computers. Anything can appear in a post.

Andy tweets at @andyboal