American? #end

Back in February, I commented in this column on President Barack Obama's inauguration ceremony, noting the almost religious zeal with which he had been welcomed by millions of Americans, and comparing his imperfect humanity with the only perfect Man who ever lived, Jesus Christ.

 

Whilst that piece was in no way detrimental to or critical of Americans or the American way of life, I have recently been pondering on the amount of anti-American feeling that seems to be in our culture, and especially in Europe.  This anti-American feeling occasionally borders on racism in my opinion, and in some extreme cases actual hatred is expressed towards America, which would be strongly opposed by our media were it aimed at just about any other nation.

 

One of the most severe examples I have seen was a call for the killing of any Americans, anywhere.  The source of that call does not really matter, but it provoked a response from Peter Ferrara, associate professor of law at the George Mason University School of Law

in Northern Virginia. It was published by National Review on September 25th, 2001.

 

For me, his article recognizes that in fact, we are all children of God who created us, and to harm one of us is to harm all of us.  Here is that article:

 

"An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.

 

An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho,

Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.

 

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.

 

An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.

 

An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world.

 

The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness...

 

An American is generous... Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.

 

When Afghanistan was overrun by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!

 

As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan.

 

The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America.

 

Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

 

So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American".

 

Whilst we may not agree with everything Peter Ferrara wrote, I think we can all agree that in essence his words echo the words of Jesus Christ "Love you neighbour as yourself" – before we criticize any nation, Western, Middle-Eastern or otherwise, we need to go deeper than the shallow understanding we sometimes glean from our own culture, and think of them as people, like us, and try to imagine walking in their shoes.  Then we may be able to love them first, and then we may have the right and ability to offer a positive criticism and not a shallow cynicism that derides a whole 'people group' in one broad sweep of poorly informed opinion.

American #end

Is the Christian Faith being marginalised?#

There has been a lot in the national press about faith issues in the last few months, and it has stirred up some debate - the case of nurse Caroline Petrie, who was suspended earlier this year for offering to pray for a patient (she has since been re-instated), is just one example.

Caroline Petrie has been a nurse since 1985, and in keeping with her profession, in my opinion showed a caring attitude towards an elderly patient, who she offered prayer to.  The patient did not accept the offer, but neither did she complain, and Mrs Petrie did not force prayer on her.  The complaint seems to have come from one of Mrs Petrie's colleagues.  And it was summed up in the words of her bosses who said  'As a nurse you are required to uphold the reputation of your profession. Your NMC (Nursing Midwifery Council) code states that "you must demonstrate a personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity…" and "you must not use your professional status to promote causes that are not related to health." 

The case prompted one Bishop, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, (the Bishop of Rochester), to say that he was "concerned that the Christian faith was becoming increasingly marginal in places such as hospitals, that owe their origins to Christianity".

The founding values of our British society, and of most Western democracies, are Christian.  Christian values have been the bedrock of a caring society, and they have shaped and protected a determined tolerance that welcomes diversity.  Yet now, the Christian faith is being marginalised itself because it does not seem to fit the boxes of political correctness.

It seems crazy to marginalise a faith whose essential teachings include 'do to others what you would have them do to you', to 'love God, and love your neighbour as yourself', and whose Founder illustrated the point of loving our neighbour with a story about helping and embracing our cultural 'enemies' when they are in distress (the parable of the Good Samaritan).  What's to marginalise?

Jesus not only prayed for the sick, He healed them.  He was loved by the broken, the lost, the sick, the vulnerable and the marginalised.  Even some influential folks loved him too!

But he was hated by many of the religious authorities of his time, who saw in him a genuine love and power and freedom that they themselves did not possess.  They were threatened by his popularity and worried about their own positions.  And so they tried to silence him on a number of occasions.  Their efforts always back-fired, and the good news of the love of God continued to be told in word and deed, as it has been for the last two thousand years.

Let's hope and pray for common sense to prevail in these difficult days.  Faith, and other virtues like Hope and Courage are needed by us all.  Prayer is the the most significant, and the simplest way we have of relating to God and asking for His help.  It is what many people do almost instinctively when times are tough, or even when things are going so well that we want to thank someone.  Those who have benefited from Christian prayer have a desire to share that benefit, or at least offer it, to their neighbours.  Should that desire be quenched?