Countryside Community Church - Joy Luke Club

This evening one of my “Facebook friends,” Brian McClaren, turned me onto what may just be the single most intelligent article written about the Fort Hood shooting thus far.  The article is written by Paul Rauschenbusch on the “Progressive Revival” blog on Beliefnet.  The key insight from Rauschenbusch’s article reminds me very much of Luke 6:31 and Jesus’ command to “do to others as you would have them do to you” – a passage we will also be engaging this coming  Sunday when we focus on Luke 7.

Here’s the heart of the article:

We who are White, Christian and Male (WCMs) should ask ourselves this basic question: When we heard about the Oklahoma bomber, Columbine, or the shooter at the Holocaust museum – all horrible crimes committed by WCMs did we think to ourselves – ‘oh, this will reflect badly on me?’

The answer is no. Why? Because still in this country, White, Male, Christians are considered normative and therefore the range of WCM behavior, from very good to very bad, simply represents the wide range of human behavior. I know I have nothing in common with Timothy McVeigh and so does the rest of American society. Unfortunately, people of other races and religions in America do not have the benefit of recognition that there are very good people and very bad people among them. Instead, the actions of one person of a minority group reflects upon the reputation and sense of security and worth of the entire group.

This has to stop.