Huh?

While it was a little difficult to follow what the writer was saying in the opening paragraph, the guest column “Doesn’t freedom of speech extend to everyone?” (Asheville Citizen-Times, September 10) was not only “déjà vu all over again,” but it was ironic, as well.  (The article appears below)

When I read the article I realized it simply was an updated version, with local references, of an article I read some years ago, probably during the last election cycle.  I forget the name of the “Christian” organization that put out the same word before, but the message was unchanged:  the government is waging war on Christianity, 100,000 pastors aren’t speaking up, the same non-speaking pastors should tell their people how to vote, etc.  This group encouraged pastors to tell their flocks to vote for Republican candidates.  The IRS was on notice!

Perhaps the writer did not choose the title of the current article, but that’s where the irony took flight.  It seems he was wringing his hands over the notion that people hold different views, and express them, regarding Islam and other unnamed matters that are leading the United States to “a very terrible future.”  The sense was that those views need to be tamped down while the “fast-disappearing freedoms and liberties of everything Christian in our United States of America” should be promoted by Christian leaders who are “sitting back in their safe church safety zones and saying nothing.”  His views are to take precedence over all others.

He compares this imagined “war” against his version of Christianity to Nazi Germany of World War II.  There are no examples in the article of how this is played out.  It sounds serious, but there is nothing to back up the scare-tactic illusion.

As a seminary-educated clergyperson with over thirty-five years of experience in church pastoral leadership and in heading a national ministry devoted to social justice, I regret that the church can produce individuals who cherish exclusion, prejudice, a false idea that the United States was established as a “Christian nation,” and even hatred of those who are different from themselves.

The example of great Christian leaders such as Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Bishop Desmond Tutu, and so many others, such as Rev. William Barber right here now in North Carolina, who may or may not be public figures, but who dedicate their lives and ministries to raising awareness of human oppression, suffering, and other forms of injustice inspire people like me and many others not only to become pastors, but to also work diligently to come to terms with the deep meaning of scripture, and as Christians, to embrace the challenging teachings and example of Jesus.

The sad reality is that in many instances when pastors attempt to tap into the prophetic word of scripture it is so challenging to those who hear it – largely top-of-the-heap dominant culture folks – that they are ignored, mocked, derided as unpatriotic, or even removed from their position.  I guess some things haven’t changed since the days of Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others. 

The only “war” on Christianity seems to be from within.  And I must assert that it is not a “right” to reduce, refuse, or regret the humanity of another person. It is scandalous in a country founded on freedom and liberty that it takes hundreds of years of struggle to move society in a direction to recognize and even codify the value of equality for all.

The writer of the guest column suggests that Franklin Graham “has the answer from the great physician, the creator God of all creation, the God of Israel and the God of our Founding Fathers,” but that answer is not shared in the article.

So, we are to conclude, it appears, that freedom of speech is disappearing from those who are victims of a war against their faith; the United States parallels Nazi Germany; 100,000 pastors are afraid to say anything, but they should tell us for whom to vote; the Founding Fathers engaged in daily prayer; and Franklin Graham holds a secret answer that will make our country Christian again.  There also is this curious statement, “Only God knows how our presidential election is going to go and what it is going to bring and it is not going to bring what either of them is promising.”

All of this feeds the dismissal of, mocking of, and disdain for Christianity and the church that taints all people of faith – even those who take seriously the command of Jesus to love God with all of one’s heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to love one’s neighbor as one’s self.

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Doesn't freedom of speech extend to everyone?

Regarding the Aug. 11Asheville Citizen-Times front page story titled “Trooper: Amen to antiMuslim video post”: It appears the AC-T doesn’t appreciate what Trooper Dowdle had to comment on the statements made by the pastor of his church. Doesn’t Trooper Dowdle have freedom of speech also? Sounds like you’re wanting the trooper to catch trouble from his higher-ups over freedom of speech if not spoken by your standards and the standards expressed by the so-called professor at UNC Chapel Hill, Carl Ernst, a professor of religious studies who described the pastor’s video as a diatribe riddled with inaccuracies and falsehoods.

I challenge the professor to point out the inaccuracies and falsehoods (which most liberal statements today are based on).

In the Asheville Tribune weekly newspaper, a very talented, educated writer named Mike Scruggs has written close to 14 articles on the detailed
life and beliefs of the Muslim people plus their Islamic beliefs.

It would be a patriotic endeavor to all the citizens for the Asheville Citizen-Times to get Scruggs’ permission to print his series on Islamic religion and the Muslim people. It could save our U.S. from a very terrible future. What truly surprises many of us Christians is the lack of Christian leadership, sitting back in their safe church safety zones and saying nothing of the fast-disappearing freedoms and liberties of everything Christian in our United States of America.

I was told there are more than 100,000 church pastors of the Christian faith throughout the U.S. and, if this is so, where is their voice condemning all this evil that is spreading across our nation?

Do they even know or care that the God of all creation said they are to be the salt and light of the world? Do they even know the salt is to be the preservative of a society and the light is the truth of Jesus Christ? Their actions do indeed speak their apathy as our nation deteriorates into the septic tank of human history.

This war against Christianity by our own government is coming to be like the war Adolf Hitler did wage against the Jews before and during World War II, a war that brought forth some 90 million dead and untold trillions of dollars in damage. That subject isn’t taught in schools, so the people do not know what a falling apart society can come upon itself.

Look in the paper at the so-called entertainment section, all crime, guns, killing, drug wars, etc. And the church leaders are silent but a few, like Pastor Dennis Love, are trying to wake up a society who is nearly sound asleep in their apathy. So they jump on those who are trying to wake them up with truth. Look how our nation forgot 9/11, nearly 4,000 killed in one swipe and basically nothing done about it. The ones who promoted it, we shake their hand. Wow.

What’s left? In my opinion, our Founding Fathers brought forth the greatest freedom and liberty nation in all of human history by daily prayer power. They even held church service in our nation’s capital. Now we are throwing that nation away.

What’s going to replace what we are now losing? A living hell time. We can change it back to good by what Franklin Graham is preaching in every state. Notice the liberal media is not even covering it because they don’t want to know about what Franklin Graham is preaching to our once-great USA. He has the answer from the great physician, the creator God of all creation, the God of Israel and the God of our Founding Fathers.

Now if this was something else, someone else, talking about how the moon was going to fall out of outer space and crash into the earth, you can bet the media would report on it every day.

Only God knows how our presidential election is going to go and what it is going to bring and it is not going to bring what either of them is promising.

Where are the voices of those 100,000 church pastors? Where are all their billboards and newspaper ads, advising all of us Christian voters how to vote? Yes, the preachers have the right to tell the sheep how to vote but they have no backbone. So folks, put prayer time and power of prayer to work daily. God does hear and answer prayer time.

Jerome Peters lives in Marion.