Fear

The vestry (governing board) of the parish I serve is reading Peter Steinke's Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times together this year. We read a chapter before each month's meeting. Steinke's premise, building upon the work of Rabbi Edwin Friedman is rather simple: anxiety and fear keep us from thinking rationally. Halfway through the year the conversation is rather predictable and goes something like this: (1) there is nothing radically new here, it's common sense really; (2) knowing it and acting from a non-anxious place, however, are two very different things; (3) this has implications not just for congregations but for families and workplaces and everywhere human beings congregate.

Indeed.

My last four posts have been, alternatively, about beginning to explore what the Church is for in these early years of the twenty-first century and two posts about Islam. I wonder if congregations might be places where we can "dial it down" to be non-anxious enough to have serious conversations about the challenges we face in the world today. Clearly if congregations could behave in mature ways and model disagreement without polarizing and demonizing "the other" this would bear witness to the love of God made known in Jesus Christ for the world. Christians have a stake in building communities where our Muslim neighbors are free to worship as (and where) they choose.

We have our work cut out for us. Apparently one in five Americans think the President of the United States is a Muslim, and almost as many have not read the Constitution of these United States and think that this "fact" disqualifies him from holding that office. I yearn for this President and the media to not only put out press releases reminding us that he professes Jesus as Lord, but also reminding us that there is a reason the Constitution of these United States doesn't make that a requirement. It is one thing to say, "I'd never vote for a Muslim" and quite another to think it should be prohibited! The former is a form of bigotry; the latter is old-fashioned ignorance.

But we do live in fearful times, and high anxiety (as Pastor Steinke reminds us) keeps us from thinking clearly. I've seen the word Islamaphobia of late in various contexts. We've surely got it as a nation, and the Church has a stake in naming this phobia/fear/terror. We also might ask who is fanning these flames and to what end?

As I said in my post on Ramadan, I don't believe that Christians and Muslims are "the same." True dialogue among the children of Abraham (and religious traditions to the east as well) requires honesty about our differences. But before we can be honest about those differences, in search of the truth, we need to take a breath and allow love to cast out fear. Congregations can practice that. In fact it is a requirement of our faith. It's not rocket science, but if we practice it at Church we may better be able to live it in our homes and in the public arena.