The Words of the Halsey Family
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The Words of the Halsey Family |
"Let the brave rally to our standard." these were the last words of a proclamation written by Sam Houston in December, 1835, in order to recruit an army of Texas volunteers to fight the tyranny of General Santa Anna of Mexico.
As an American citizen, and a man of conscience, I urge my fellow Texans to rally to a time-tested standard, one enshrined in the last words of The Pledge of Allegiance: "with liberty and justice for all."
I'm asking you to stand up against the tyranny of hate speech!
Rev. Robert Jeffress of The First Baptist Church of Dallas recently made some inflammatory, insulting, and downright hateful remarks about Muslims. He took the liberty to do so, but the Muslims did not receive justice.
Here are some of the things he said, as reported by Steve Blow of The Dallas Morning News on Sept. 5: "Islam is a violent religion and oppresses women. And here is the deep, dark, dirty secret of Islam: It promotes pedophilia: sex with children. It's time to take off the gloves and stand up and tell the truth about this evil, evil religion."
On the same day, in a rebuttal to the Steve Blow column posted on his church's web site, 1stdallas.org, Rev. Jeffress denounced Islam even more vociferously by saying, "Islam is a deception that leads people from the true God to an eternity in hell. Islam is a false religion, based on a false book, written by a false prophet." To this last statement he received a standing ovation from the congregation. Immediately he tried to soften his remarks: "Don't any of the thousands of people listening today misinterpret the applause and think we hate Muslims. We don't hate Muslims. I have one good friend in Dallas who is Muslim. We want Muslims to know Jesus Christ as their lord and savior. It is our love for Muslims that demands we speak the truth about them."
I was incensed by the pastor's remarks.
I'm not a Muslim, but as a volunteer for The Universal Peace Federation, a 501C3 network of leaders dedicated to inter-religious and inter-racial cooperation, I had done service projects and interfaith work with Muslims since 2005. I treasure several friendships with Muslims of impeccable character. So, on September 12, I invited three of them to join me in attending the morning service, unannounced, of the First Baptist Church of Dallas. We wanted to meet with Rev. Jeffress afterwards to discuss his incendiary remarks of the previous week. One of my Muslim friends alerted the media, and Channel 4 met us there and captured some crucial footage for the 9 p.m. news.
See www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/christians-and-muslims-meet
True, Rev. Jeffress and his congregation greeted us warmly. He announced our presence, everybody clapped, and then he said, "We really love Muslims." After the service we met with Rev. Jeffress briefly, but only to exchange pleasantries. We didn't have the in-depth talk I was hoping for. But it was a start, a good one. First Baptist got some good PR, and so did the Muslims. The next day, Channel 4 aired more comments by Rev. Jeffress on its website.
www.myfoxdfw.com/dpp/news/091310-pastor,-muslims-meet-to-discuss-quran
On Sept.15, 2010, Channel 4 did a substantial interview of Mike Ghouse, one of the local Muslim leaders who attended the service with me at First Baptist. The dialogue between Muslims and Rev. Jeffress must continue because, in spite of Rev. Jeffress' friendly demeanor and polite smiles at his church service, he has not backed down from his bigoted positions about Islam. That concerns me, and I hope it concerns my fellow Texans of conscience. The issue is not the alleged atrocities of Islam. As Abraham Lincoln said, "The true rule, in determining to embrace or reject anything, is not whether it has any evil in it, but whether it has more of evil than of good. There are few things wholly evil or wholly good."
For Rev. Jeffress categorically to insist that the evil and falsehood of Islam is "the truth" is preposterous. That would make the Muslims who follow Islam also "evil and false." I, for one, know that the "truth" of Rev. Jeffress is false. I know dozens of Muslims in the Dallas area who are American citizens. Abe Lincoln had a comment about that, as well: "Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in the bonds of fraternal feeling." Furthermore, the Muslims in my circle are hard-working, conscientious, law-abiding, open-minded, God-loving, and peaceful people. If that's not enough for Rev. Jeffress to keep from condemning them to hell, then I can also assert that the Muslims I know do daily what Jesus said to do. They may not invoke the name of Jesus, but they live by the precepts and principles that Jesus taught: to love God and love your enemy.
Rev. Jeffress said we must learn to co-exist with the Muslims. Personally, I think that's not enough. We must embrace the Muslims as our brothers and sisters. How can God love us as His children if we first can't embrace each other as brothers and sisters? If Rev. Jeffress wants to bring Muslims into the fold of Christianity, he can't start by insulting their faith. You must build a relationship. The highest compliment you can pay to another is to listen to what they have to say. Had Rev. Jeffress consulted with some local Muslims first about his concerns and had also talked to some of his Baptist colleagues, I wouldn't be writing this letter. Furthermore, if Rev. Jeffress had accorded the slightest value to Islam or recognized even one redeemable virtue, his remarks might have been better received.
As Jesus said in Luke, verse 37: "Judge not and you will not be judged; condemn not and you will not be condemned." And verse 41: "Why do you behold the mote that is in your brother's eye but don't see the beam in your own eye?" And verse 45: "For of the abundance of the heart does one's mouth speak." Rev. Jeffress smiled, shook our hands, and made friendly remarks, but only a sincere continuing dialogue will reveal what's really in his heart. Titus 1, verse 14 and 15, directs us all about sincerity: "Unto the pure all things are pure; but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled… They profess that they know God; but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate."
What did Jesus do? He connected with the intrinsic value, the "God", in everybody He met. That's how He demonstrated the way to love your enemy. The world today is full of antagonism and distrust, and we're all living too close together to not get along. With the world as a global village, we no longer have the luxury of basking on the beaches of indifference and intolerance. We need to either fish or cut bait as members of humanity. With global warming, natural disasters, oil spills, disease, and war, our very survival demands that we all work together for our common good. John Kennedy said, "Let us solve the problems that unite us instead of belaboring the ones that divide us."
The tyranny of the majority can be enforced with language that denigrates and degrades the religious minority. Yes, it takes courage to defend a small minority wrongly painted with opprobrium by religious triumphalists. Yet courage, democracy, and justice are what the Texas revolution was about, which is why Sam Houston's manly call to arms should be taken on by men and women of conscience within the whole body of Christ today.
Jonathan Halsey, Director of the Dallas Chapter of the Universal Peace Federation