Radical Crusader Christians - terrorists in the making?

Last evening I did not have the opportunity to present my support for an ordinance that would move protestors farther away from the Planned Parenthood Clinic so that they would not be right in the faces of clients and staff as they attempt to go about the choices of their lives. Here is my pitch.

Before I begin let me say two things: I respect the blessed task of protest. I count on the freedom of speech given to all in the First Amendment.

It is my hope that the Columbus City Council passes this ordinance unanimously for the safety of the patient greeters, the patients themselves, and the people who provide care for them every day, the staff.

As a new ‘Greeter’ at the Eastside Planned Parenthood facility, I found some of the rhetoric by the protestors to be frightening and simply vile. For example, because of the physical appearance of the other ‘Greeter’ training me that day, she was labeled a Lesbian and then that was reason to constantly demonize her. When African-America clients came to the facility, I was shocked by the level and intensity of the racist comments by some protestors. Young women and men coming to the facility for a number of reasons were reprimanded, patronized, scolded, and belittled. That day I experienced what I have come to call Radical Crusader Christians quite like how some people use the words Radical Jihadist Muslims. This labels the actions of a very, small group of people who do not reflect the wonder-filled fullness of their faith - but it is active and alive. It is not creative - it is not loving - it is not redemptive.

I have no problem with folks who are radical in their faith - in fact, I expect that - and hope I am one of them. I think of the radical antics of Jesus - the Great Prophets - Gandhi - Martin Luther King,Jr. - Harvey Milk - Harriet Tubman - Bishop Oscar Romero - all radical in their embodiment of a belief that never ceases to honor others - even those called enemies. But when radical antics seek to scapegoat and threaten and even take the step to kill others - as in the massacre in Orlando  or the murder of Dr. George Tiller inside his Lutheran Church as he attended worship  - religious radicals become - religious terrorist - we must name those actions as they manifest themselves among us - even when they become Radical Christian Terrorists.

There is a thin line between radical people of faith and those who become radical terrorist who use their faith to perpetrate violence. The former - no matter what the faith system - act from a center of love. The latter find ways to trust in violence in order to hold up their vision of how the world should be. Terrorism is - in religious terms - idolatry. It is the point in our lives when we simply give up on the goodness of creation and demand that we have the right and duty to re-create all things in our own image - to make ourselves gods.
TRRR