There are reports that an Iranian Christian pastor, Youcef Nadarkhani, is under threat of execution by the Iranian authorities for blasphemy for his refusal to renounce his Christian faith. Though there are reports of persecution of Christians in many countries, China included, it usually takes the plight of a single identifiable individual to make an otherwise generalized problem -- in this case religious intolerance -- take concrete rather than abstract dimensions.
The re-emergence of the religious right in America during this current presidential campaign, though mild by comparison to threatened executions by radical clerics, should give us cause for concern. Though well over two centuries ago, "witches" were burned in this country and a recent book documents the struggles of Roger Williams against fundamentalist intolerance. The persistent thread of intolerance springs from a narrow fundamentalist insistence on orthodoxy in an age in which strict religious doctrine in some quarters quickly emerged to fill the vacuum of failed 20th century political ideologies. And religious orthodoxy exhibits an almost demented insistence on conformity and intolerance toward political dissent.
Intolerance is a function of fear, fear not simply of conflicting views and beliefs but of a more powerful and more persuasive faith. The radical Islamic mullahs who dictate social behavior and religious belief in Iran are afraid of Pastor Nadarkhani. They fear a man whose beliefs about redemption, love, and compassion are so deep and so powerful that he will die for them. The early Christian church got its foothold in unlikely venues as much as anything because its disciples, apostles, and believers were willing to perish for these beliefs.
But do not other religions invite martyrdom, and did not the later Christian church in the middle ages barbarically persecute non-believers? Indeed, but jihad is a far cry from non-violent resistance based on faith, and the church of the inquisition and crusades was as far from the teachings of Jesus as it is possible to be.
Conformity, orthodoxy, and fundamentalism are inconsistent with both the principles of democracy and the teachings of Jesus. Those teachings upon which true Christianity was and is based are intolerant, but they are intolerant of cruelty, judgmentalism, and presumed spiritual superiority.
Though the product of an evangelical family, church, and college, and a divinity school graduate, I tried to exhibit my beliefs and the principles based upon them, though not without error, in the quiet performance of public duties and not by seeking to impose them on others. But those same beliefs now cause me to pray for Pastor Nadarkhani and others like him around the world and to pray that the spirit of intolerance is once more rejected by our nation.
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Here, here! I for one agree. Personally, I am deeply inspired when I look back at history---say, 1983---and learn about the numerous secular and atheist thinkers who were courageously speaking out for gay marriage. I know there were many, though at the moment I can't think of any. I'm sure you were among them, though, right?
Fact: In the West, strong secular traditions, separation of church and state,ideas of humanism and scientific post-modernism prevent the kind of savage abuses of freedom and human dignity common in the Islamic word.
This is firmly established fact and no account of verbal gymnastics and isolated examples would change it.
What is your point?
and they they were often annoying, they had little power. Now they have the Congress and the Supreme Court.
Even this article peddles fear in providing the "re-emergence of the religious right in America during this current presidential campaign, though mild by comparison to threatened executions by radical clerics, should give us cause for concern." And if mild in comparison to executions, what is the religious right not mild when compared to – everything else? Concern? That reads the same as “be afraid, be very very afraid.”
Whether it is same-sex marriage, abortion, or any other social issue, there is no more intolerant group than the liberal left wing and their number 1 export is fear. You see it on HP all the time – Conservatives want to starve the elderly, starve the poor, enslave blacks, and discriminate against all non-conservatives. This is the message of fear, and President Obama is also peddling it instead of selling his 3+ years of “achievements”.
Be afraid of the religious right . . . be very, very afraid . . . Nice talking point, but not very productive.
Non-accidental use of hyperbolic language on my part.
So, the left is just the sophisticated elite portion of our country seeking answers for all people, seeking a “fair” solution, while the right peddles fear, seeking answers that benefit the 1%
Fair description of how you see the left? Of course it is . . .
Not lengthy election year politicking against Christian, modern and otherwise.
Iranian despots have a habit of creating fake hostages and then exchanging them for some military, diplomatic or ideological advantage.
Compounded by the fact that the term Middle Ages term is always capitalized.
Mainstream Christian clerics... be they Baptists or Methodists or Lutheran, or whatever Christian sect... must speak out now against the increasing intolerance preached by the Christian right. Else they risk becoming as irrelevant as the American Muslim clerics preaching that Islam is a religion of peace.
The American Muslim message may be true... the vast majority of Muslims probably do just want to live in peace... don’t we all... but it is now irrelevant. As an earlier poster has written, “The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march.”
I would urge American clerics to boldly and loudly preach that in America the new surge of Christian fanaticism cannot be tolerated. Else our own fanatics will prevail, simply because the bold and the loud do prevail... especially when there is a lack of thoughtful and statesman like leadership in the country.
And we will rue the day.
Compared to the rest of the world, we do okay.
Oh, and the USA never burned a so called witch. Happy Halloween everybody.
Roger Williams (where's Anne Hutchinson) founded Rhode Island Rhode Is to escape Mass Bay. But then so did Hooker in Conn, and the guys in New Hampshire. Why focus on Mass Bay? Why not say Williams, Hutchinson and Hooker, and the Quakers in PA or the Catholics in MD for that matter, are part of proud tradition of Religious Tolerance in this country? My glass is half full.
And that was 250 years ago. Might as well talk about using leeches in medicine. What's happening in Iran is happening now. The poor guy is a scapegoat.
Don't worry Gary, I blame your fact checker, not you. But really, so we need to engage in false steroetypes to make a point?
We call on the governments of the world to
reject Sharia law, fatwa courts, clerical rule, and state-sanctioned religion in all their forms; oppose all penalties for blasphemy and apostasy, in accordance with Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights;
reform sectarian education that teaches intolerance and bigotry towards non-Muslims;
We demand the release of Islam from its captivity to the totalitarian ambitions of power-hungry men and the rigid strictures of orthodoxy.
We enjoin academics and thinkers everywhere to embark on a fearless examination of the origins and sources of Islam, and to promulgate the ideals of free scientific and spiritual inquiry through cross-cultural translation, publishing, and the mass media.
We say to Muslim believers: there is a noble future for Islam as a personal faith, not a political doctrine
To Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Baha'is, and all members of non-Muslim faith communities: we stand with you as free and equal citizens;
Endorsed by:
Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Magdi Allam
Mithal Al-Alusi
Shaker Al-Nabulsi
Nonie Darwish
Afshin Ellian
Tawfik Hamid
Shahriar Kabir
Hasan Mahmud
Wafa Sultan
Amir Taheri
Ibn Warraq
Manda Zand Ervin
Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi
http://www.centerforinquiry.net/isis/articles_and_books/a_call_to_the_muslims_of_the_world/
So much for the alleged desire for freedom and liberty.