In the midst of an unauthorized war with Iran, our government has struck deals with its government to deport asylum seekers, many of whom are Christian converts. Iranian policy towards converts has been a combination of arrest, imprisonment, torture, and, in some cases, death. Iran, like certain fundamentalist Christians, have a narrow view of what can or should be tolerated.
This policy from a President who claims he supports protection for victims of religious persecution is reprehensible, to say the least. Like beauty, religion is often in the eye of the beholder. Remembering the wars of religion that ravaged Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, our founder built into our Constitution an official policy of tolerance.
Tolerance, however, is not acceptance. Tolerance enables people to practice their religious beliefs as long as no one is hurt, but acceptance of the people who may have different beliefs or ways of worship is something else. None of us have a corner on the truth. Returning people to a country where the authorities act as if they do is immoral.
Prayer for the Day
Remembering that we are created in your image, O God,
We acknowledge the many ways we turn to you;
You have created us to be voices for justice and righteousness
Therefore, we pray for the determination to reflect your call.
Grant us, O God, that we are not silent in the face of wrong,
But disturbers of the status quo and workers for justice.
In the name of the One who was not silent when he saw injustice,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Don't search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.
Rainier Maria Rilke, Austrian poet (1875-1926)
Religion is like a pair of shoes….Find one that fits you but don’t make we wear our shoes.
George Carlin, American satirist (1937-2008)
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then we shall see face to face.
Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, as I have been fully known.
Paul in his first letter to the church in Corinth, 13: 12