Today’s Scripture Reading (January
14, 2016): 1 Samuel 5
An incident
happened at a Donald Trump rally this past weekend that continues to sadden me –
a Muslim woman was escorted out of the rally. According to report, the woman
came wearing a shirt that read “Salam. I come in peace” and an eight cornered
star which read “Muslim.” As Trump made remarks about the possible influx of militants
invading the Syrian refugee populations that are beginning to stream into
Western countries, she stood. She said nothing. Her reason for coming was that
she believed that most of the people at the rally had never really met a
Muslim, and so she decided that maybe it was time that they did. But her
presence was enough to upset the crowd. Some even believed that she carried a
bomb – she did not.
The social
media reaction might have been even worse. People accused her of things that
they had no idea about. For some, the woman was nothing more than a rabble
rouser. Some called her a false Muslim. Miscounting the points on the stars,
others accused her of wearing the Star of David – a Jewish symbol made famous
during World War II because Jews in Germany were forced to wear the star as an identification
of their national identity – and of the fact that they really could not belong
to an Aryan Germany.
The problem
was that that was exactly the idea that this woman was selling. The idea that
maybe the United States had taken a step down the road in the same direction as
Nazi Germany. Contained within it was the idea that maybe Donald Trump was the
21st century version of Adolf Hitler. That maybe something needed to
be done about this now, before something even worse happens. But it was just an
idea. Nothing more. In fact, even these ideas were not communicated verbally,
but rather just with the way that this woman had decided to dress.
For the
Republicans, what might be even more disturbing is that all of this comes in a
moment when a furor is being built around the constitutional right to bear
arms. The message is disconcerting – or maybe disorienting. We will battle for
the right own a gun, but not for the right of a citizen to state an idea with
nothing more than a sign that she wears on her body. In short, we seem to be arguing
over the protection of Second Amendment rights while walking all over the First
Amendment. We just can’t have it both ways. We apparently have been successfully
sold a very dangerous idea; one that supposes that maybe we need to bear arms in
order to supress both the freedom of religion and free speech – or the spread
of other ideas.
The
Philistines had been sold an idea. The idea was a simple one, their god Dagon
was more powerful than any other god. And even in the light of the proof that
they were wrong – that even Dagon would fall prostrate before the God of
Israel, they could not give up on their idea. And as a result, rather than
recognizing Jehovah as their God, they wanted Jehovah to be removed from their
presence in order to continue to believe in the power of Dagon. Because that
seems to be what we do when we are confronted with truth. We hide it, or expel it,
in order to continue to believe the lie.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1
Samuel 6
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