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From the newsletter ... |
Overcome Evil with Good
As I write this, news is coming through the BBC News website of the forceful ending of the Moscow Theatre siege This action is but the latest event in which people who proclaim the highest religious motivation are prepared to kill and be killed for what they claim are sincere religious goals: 9/11 in New York; the Israel/Palestine armed conflict; the war against the Taliban in Afghanistan; Muslim/Hindu riots in Gujarat; the Bali bomb. In a hard-hitting article in the Guardian in September, Polly Toynbee argued that lethal violence was a necessary part of religious belief. To reduce the threat of violence, we must remove religious beliefs of all types. Of course, she is disingenuous. The greatest mass slaughters this century (the Great Leap Forward in China in 1959-61 and the forced collectivisation in Stalin's Russia in the 1930's) were associated with strong anti-religious campaigns. And it would be hard to claim Hitler as an orthodox believer of any type! But Christians need to be aware that there is a long history in the Church of seeking to impose our views on others, by force if necessary. There are too many examples to list here. When we seek to do so, we fly in the face of both Jesus' teaching, and his example. Jesus, in first-century occupied Palestine, was surrounded by groups advocating the creation of the Kingdom of God by violent means. He not only rejected such approaches but predicted the outcome. He was right. When Jewish radicals rose in revolt against Rome in 66AD, they brought the might of the Roman army down on them, resulting in their own slaughter and the destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus' way is a different way. It is a way that renounces power and violence. It is a way that embraces suffering and sacrifice. It is a way that leads to, and through the Cross. Jesus' disciple Paul, wrestling with a debilitating illness as he sought to bring the good news of Jesus to the Roman world, heard God say to him "power is made perfect in weakness". In a world addicted to power and violence, as Christians do we not have something different to say? "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good" (Romans 12:21) Cogges Parish | Other articles | Previous issue | 
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© 2002; Published in Cogges Parish monthly newsletter, November 2002 | |