Religion, the outward expression of our inward spiritual relationship with our Creator, was not meant to be loud. For those who claim to follow the teachings of Jesus, consider his example. His goal was often to draw away from the crowd, to find time for quiet and solitude, to gain strength from contemplation. When he stepped into the public square, he did not attempt to shout down his opponents and he did not demand that his religion should have any special rights or claims to privilege.
Yes, he was angry when he drove out the money changers in the temple, and I'm glad he was because it gives us the example we need in a certain context. The anger Jesus expressed was directed at those within his own religion (Judaism in the context of his birth) who were taking advantage of people and misusing power and position. I dare you to find an example of Jesus trying to shout down his oppressors or get in the face of those who were adherents of another religion or philosophy. Did he speak the truth? Yes, but it was the truth in love. It wasn't the "love the sinner, hate the sin" mindset as many have come to understand love. It was simply love. An unconditional love that didn't have anything to prove or an ax to grind, a love designed to heal rather than cause further harm.
But a loud, clanging religion has evolved over time. Rather than the quiet life and loving interaction with the world that is designed to set believers apart, something else has emerged for a large segment of mainstream Christianity in America, something which is less a city on a hill or a candle shining in the darkness and more a white-hot spotlight with a blaring bullhorn attached to it, mounted on a Humvee, roaming roughshod over the streets of the world.
Something dark has emerged which makes it fine to blast (literally and figuratively) other religions, to disparage fellow Christians and to say things in the name of Jesus that are mind-boggling in their hurtful audacity and inappropriateness. For those who are rooting for the likes of Donald Trump or Ted Cruz, that is certainly your prerogative as a citizen, but when support for the mindset they proclaim is applauded in the context of Christianity, there's a problem with that.
Running a campaign laced with rants which feature themes of exclusion, mockery and discrimination based on differentness; demonization of refugees and their religions; talk of carpet-bombing until the desert glows; and other snide, sniping and snarling diatribes, and trying to frame any of it in the context of Christianity leaves me struggling to find words sharp enough to cut through the deception and immorality at the heart of it.
We didn't arrive at this sad state overnight. Gradually introducing any ideology is the way to make it acceptable and that is how it has come to be that loudness is not only part of our religious discourse, but often it is accepted and applauded in mainstream ways. I am reminded of 1 Corinthians 13:1, "If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal."
It is time to quiet the gongs and still the cymbals. It is necessary for believers to recognize and call attention to the hypocrisy of those who would have us believe hatred is a virtue, and furthermore, we must choose not to take part in it. This situation became acceptable gradually, but if we all were to put into practice the simple loving principle of only doing to others what we wish done to ourselves, then we could shut down the loudness in our own lives and the world would follow.
I have a long way to go before I achieve this in my own life, but I want to always be guided by a still, small voice, not the loudness.
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