Posted 1:32 am Saturday, November 10, 2012
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Faith trumps divisive politics
By REBECCA HOEFFNER
rhoeffner@tylerpaper.com
Before the election, I saw a quiz on CNN’s website that has disturbed me all week.
rhoeffner@tylerpaper.com
Before the election, I saw a quiz on CNN’s website that has disturbed me all week.
The quiz is titled, “Do you believe in a red state Jesus or a blue state Jesus?” It contains 10 questions, many of which are not mutually exclusive for many Christians.
For example: Do you see Jesus as the “Lamb of God” or a “Champion of the oppressed”? “Have you ever asked strangers if they’ve accepted Jesus as their Lord and savior? Or do you think of evangelism as more helping people in need and hoping they see Jesus in your actions?”
Both political parties tried to use God for their political gains; this is nothing new. Both sides try to use religion to shame others into their point of view (“How can you be a person of faith and believe x, y and z?”)
But not only were the questions bothersome, the idea behind the quiz is ridiculous when you think about the sayings of the faith’s founder.
The whole country has been pretty divided over the past few months thanks to politics. (A recent viral video of a 4-year-old Colorado girl crying because of her political news exhaustion pretty fairly sums up the state of the union). The diversity of our country is also expressed within individual faiths as well. It’s true, there are Christians (and Jews, and Muslims) that vote differently from one another.
But the CNN quiz perpetuates and encourages divisiveness among a group whose founder emphasized unity among His followers.
If Christians are “the body of Christ, ” this quiz is like telling someone you want to cut their body in half and don’t expect them to be offended by the idea.
This is not to say that Christians don’t argue bitterly among themselves. Still, Christ said that Christians would be known by their love for one another.
Both political parties tried to use God for their political gains; this is nothing new. Both sides try to use religion to shame others into their point of view (“How can you be a person of faith and believe x, y and z?”)
But not only were the questions bothersome, the idea behind the quiz is ridiculous when you think about the sayings of the faith’s founder.
The whole country has been pretty divided over the past few months thanks to politics. (A recent viral video of a 4-year-old Colorado girl crying because of her political news exhaustion pretty fairly sums up the state of the union). The diversity of our country is also expressed within individual faiths as well. It’s true, there are Christians (and Jews, and Muslims) that vote differently from one another.
But the CNN quiz perpetuates and encourages divisiveness among a group whose founder emphasized unity among His followers.
If Christians are “the body of Christ, ” this quiz is like telling someone you want to cut their body in half and don’t expect them to be offended by the idea.
This is not to say that Christians don’t argue bitterly among themselves. Still, Christ said that Christians would be known by their love for one another.
That’s the odd things about families: one member can complain about another bitterly to an outsider, but if an outsider tries to speak badly of one family member to another, watch out.
The election is over. Millions of people cheered while millions more gnashed their teeth in frustration and despair.
But the dust has now settled.
And I hope people of faith will remember to reach out to their brothers and sisters on the other side of the aisle and work together to change things that they do agree on. I am convinced there are many.
“My concern is not whether God is on our side,” Abraham Lincoln said during the war that threatened to tear this country apart. “My greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”
The election is over. Millions of people cheered while millions more gnashed their teeth in frustration and despair.
But the dust has now settled.
And I hope people of faith will remember to reach out to their brothers and sisters on the other side of the aisle and work together to change things that they do agree on. I am convinced there are many.
“My concern is not whether God is on our side,” Abraham Lincoln said during the war that threatened to tear this country apart. “My greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.”
