What a God! What Grace!

The troubling events of the last few days have brought two important ideas to my mind: fairness and grace.  I am amazed at the grace of God!  We Christians regularly intone that gift and claim it as the free gift of God to all men.  Living in a Christian society (at least that is what many Americans believe, despite the increasing number of ), I cannot help but be disappointed at the vitriol I often hear on the street, at church, on the radio, on television and on some print media, toward people of other religions, especially after incidents like the Boston Marathon bombings this week.

First, fairness.  I was also alarmed at the position some politicians took regarding the way the captured suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, should be treated. In spite of the fact that the suspect is a US citizen, several Republican lawmakers are calling for him to be tried as an enemy combatant.  A statement released by the lawmakers said, “It is clear the events we have seen over the past few days in Boston were an attempt to kill American citizens and terrorize a major American city.”  Replace the inference of a Muslim, foreign-born, American citizen with Timothy McVeigh, a white, American born, supposedly Christian, army veteran; would the Senators be making a similar statement or drawing the same conclusions?  Was Timothy McVeigh a "common criminal" which they claim Dzhokhar is not?  Does anyone see a selectivity of outrage here? Without a doubt, I believe the actions of the bombers was a cold, calculated, evil, violent dastardly act of cowardice against innocent civilians. But that does not justify the double standard that Senator Graham and his colleagues now demand.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/04/lindsey-graham-enemy-combatant-90365.html#ixzz2R3rQNKdj

What about grace?  Many Christians wish the perpetrators would "rot in hell" (or "burn forever" as some believe is the fate of sinners).  But is that what Christ thinks? Did he die for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his murderous brother?  I am going to take the liberty of sharing a post from Jason Hines because he shares my views on this important idea about God's forgiveness for us and his yearning to save the worst of sinners. You can read this and many of his other insights on his blog HineSight. (Full disclosure:  Jason is my son-in-law.)  Mr. Tsarnaev deserves his day in court and punishment to the fullest extent of the law if found guilty.  He must also answer to God for his crimes.  But like each one of us he is a sinner deserving of grace.  I seem to remember that about two thousand years ago a violent perpetrator of crimes was freed while an innocent man was nailed to a cross.  While on the cross, that God-man offered forgiveness to a criminal hanging beside him.  So are we guilty of any sins? Do we deserve God's forgiveness?  As difficult as it is to believe, or to accept, in God's eyes you and I are probably no better than Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.  What grace!

Are We a Christian nation?

I have often heard this statement from many Americans, and about America: “We are a Christian nation.”  I have always been troubled by this assertion and have wondered what it means.  Recently, a facebook friend posted the following statement on his facebook page:

“Denmark and Sweden are among the least religious nations in the world, Yet they enjoy the highest standard of living in the world and a main reason for that is because the people are concerned about each other and look out for each other, so even though taxes are a little high, the people don't mind because they are concerned that every one (rich/middle class/poor) has a right to hassle free health care (Note I did not say free, nothing is free). One cannot say the same for this country where most proclaim to be Christians. Most of the people in Denmark and Sweden are non religious or Atheists, Yet they seem demonstrate more Christian values than us who pride ourselves as Christians......go figure!!!”

Reading that statement set me to thinking about that statement again, “We (America) are a Christian nation.” Of course Christianity cannot be measured simply by the number of people who have access to healthcare but it does say something about the moral values of a people and a nation who seemingly care little about millions of their fellow citizens who have very limited or no access to healthcare while they stridently make claims to corporate Christianity. 

Here are some other troubling statistics.  In a report published by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime based on data collected between 1995 and 2011, there were 14,748 intentional homicides[1] in America, at a rate[2] of 4.8.  As a comparison, Sweden had 91 homicides at a rate of 1.0; Norway, 29 at a rate of 0.6; United Kingdom, 722 at a rate of 1.2; Canada, 554 at a rate of 1.6.  The United States ranks far worse among all European or Western countries, except a few countries of the former Soviet Union – Belarus, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Estonia, and Lithuania. (I have excluded Africa and Central America from the comparisons as the statistics in those regions are heavily influenced by civil wars, failed states and drug wars.)[3]  Americans, though vocally expressive about their Christian faith live in society that is extremely violent and awash with guns (over 300 million) which are the primary tools of violence and murder.  But America’s claim of Christianity, democracy and freedom is supported by a powerful Christian community which it proposes our political and financial model as the only viable avenue to social stability.  To the non-Christian onlookers, our culture reeks of violence, immorality, hatred, and a disdain for the poor, the immigrant and the dispossessed. The Originator of Christianity himself stood for the widow, the imprisoned, the sick, the orphans and all the underclass.  (I will exclude the current gun debate from my discussion). 

 What does it say about our “Christian” society that we are so much more violent and seemingly uncaring than our self-professed agnostic European neighbors?  What does it say about our Christian values that our cities are inundated with thousands of homeless and mentally unstable citizens all destitute and lacking basic medical care while our politicians support a system that maintain laws and policies designed to support an upper class awash in wealth, immorality and hedonism.  How are we a Christian nation, the richest on earth, while many of our citizens involuntarily live in want and need?

As the battle over taxes and guns, healthcare and immigration, deficits and budgets takes over Washington, our Christianity is expressed individually, not corporately. So, are we a Christian nation? What impact do I make on the society in which I live?  How can I make it safer and thus lighten the burden for all?  Is it relevant that supposedly God-less European societies live more peacefully and seem to support laws that facilitate more lawful and pleasant societies than we do?  So are we a Christian nation?  No!  We are not a Christian nation. To support that viewpoint is to ignore the millions of citizens – Muslim, Hindu, Atheist, Agnostic, Jew, and others – who make a notable contribution to our society and make it work, and to ignore the many Christians whose un-Christian behavior contribute to our society’s demise.  We are a nation of pluralism, of numerous peoples of ethnic and religious diversity living together with the goal of helping and supporting each other in this democratic republic.  The question is best answered by our individual behavior.  Christians must rethink this claim by many in our country and start living individually as Christians, behaving like the God-man whose name we claim; who instructed us to be the light to the world and the salt, the flavor, of the earth? 

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[1] Intentional homicide in this case is defined as unlawful death purposefully inflicted on a person by another person

[2] The rate is a measure of the number of intentional homicides per year per 100,000 inhabitants

[3] For more information http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/statistics/Homicide/Globa_study_on_homicide_2011_web.pdf retrieved February 8, 2013