Creatio Ex Nihilo

Reclaiming Paul 1

Arrived in Kansas City yesterday for the emergent theological conversation "Reclaiming Paul".  I'll try to report today on some of the sessions.  Went out last night with Tim Gahli, Jake Bouma, Daniel Kirk and Erik Ullestad.  A great bunch of guys. We had some great conversation at McCoy's Irish Pub.  More to come.

Fighting the Wrong Enemy

A letter to the editor in my local paper today criticized the violence of religion.  You can read it here and scroll down to "Let the gods fight it out".  There was an inaccurate historical portrayal in the letter that I wanted to correct, so I am submitting the letter below to the paper:

 

In a recent letter to the editor, Ingrid Anna Ilkiw rightly criticizes the violent history of the three monotheistic world religions.  Let me first state that I deplore violence in any religion, including my own.  To be a passionate follower of Jesus does not necessitate that I denigrate people of other faiths, let alone act violently toward them.  To do so would in fact betray the teachings of the one I claim to be following.

 

However, Ms. Ilkiw’s claim that the Roman Empire was a pluralistic and peaceful society and that “the Christians couldn’t handle it!” is inaccurate.  Although it is fashionable to portray all Christians as intolerant and violent, such portrayals are a distortion of history.

 

The Roman Empire tolerated other religions in as far as it kept citizens of conquered lands subservient and paying exorbitant taxes and tribute.  The Pax Romana was a peace enforced through military power and crucifixions designed to intimidate anyone even thinking of political dissent. 

 

It was a system in which the early Jesus Movement refused to partake. They could not in good conscience participate in emperor worship.  Their early creed of “Jesus is Lord” was a subversive claim that Caesar was not.  It often cost them their lives.

 

In contrast, early Christians fed the poor, shared possessions, cared for the marginalized, were ethnically diverse, included woman in leadership roles and welcomed people across socio-economic boundaries.  Most scholars believe this counterculture of love and compassion was attractive and accounted for the movement’s early exponential growth.

 

Admittedly, Christians throughout history have not always lived up to this countercultural ideal that Jesus called the Kingdom (i.e. Empire) of God.  Empire has always been with us and too often Christians have co-opted the wrong Empire's values as their own.  Even today, Empire continues in the form of Consumerism, Materialism, Violence and Power.  Disappointingly, we Christians still fall short as a subversive countercultural force against this Empire and are frequently seduced by its promises of political power and wealth.

 

Religion is not the threat. Empire is the threat and historically, it is religious people who have often been the only ones with the conviction to stand in its way.  If we are to create a peaceful world, we need to know one another’s stories and not make broad sweeping statements about any religion, including Christianity.  The key to a less violent world is not, as many claim, eliminating religion, or creating a new generic one, but living out our varied traditions more deeply.

 

Don Heatley, Pastor

Vision Community Church

Warwick, NY

Fashionable Tentmaking

A video piece I shot and edited for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is finally online.   Quite a different world than some of the other projects I work on, but it came out as a cool profile piece.