RBWords

     One of the principal criticisms leveled by representatives of the "new atheism" is that religion inevitably is a source of violence.  Of course, these same representatives seem to ignore the violence that has arisen from prominent secular ideologies such as Nazism and Communism!  It seems that anytime someone feels passionately about a belief, they react strongly, even violently, against anyone or anything that threatens that belief or way of life.  Jesus acknowledges this as a sad reality.  The Gospel of Luke, in fact, has a strong theme of peace running through it, but early on, in the scene when Jesus is presented at the temple, the prophet Simeon foretells that Jesus will be rejected.  It is this rejection that forms the basis for today's statement about division.

 

     We see the same dynamic at work in the first scripture today from the prophet Jeremiah!  His preaching was "demoralizing" the soldiers of the king during the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians!  The king allows Jeremiah to be thrown into a cistern!  Jesus' preaching threatened the religious powers of his time and they managed to get rid of him on a political pretext - that he was advocating the overthrow of the Romans by preaching the "kingdom" of God!

 

     Given the amount of violence that religious belief can inspire, one can understand the criticism of the "new atheists." But it is not in the nature of Christianity, despite the terrible behavior of crusaders or conquistadors or inquisitors or reformers, to advocate violence.  I think this kind of behavior arises when humans think that THEY are the saviors and not Jesus!  We must reject any violence done in the name of God, and especially, as Christians, in the name of Jesus Christ.  AMEN