I had something ready to go when the local newspaper had a couple of articles which pointed to the point I wanted to make, and illustrated its need. One is the story of a New Hampshire politician who referred to his local Catholic bishop as a "pedophile pimp." Knowing who he was referring to, it is safe to say that if there were any basis for such an accusation, action would have been taken some time ago. Yet, we have a broad-brush accusation made personal, and on the order of the broadbrush attacks on Islam by Rep King of New York.
And then we have the story of that pastor in a mini-church in Florida. The church has an average Sunday attendance of about 50. If you count cyberspace, my congregation is far larger. Anyway, here is a pastor of a small congregation who decides, after some bad publicity in the past, to go ahead and burn a Quran! Well, the Muslims in Afghanistan and a number of other places were upset! (note to Christians: Matthew 12:31 will tell you where that pastor should have found a warning).
And what we really need is unity - and I offered two more examples of people in positions of responsibility who don't get it. Unity does not mean universalism. But unity does mean that even though your gods and goddesses might not be the same as mine, or we might see them differently, we respect each other's paths. Yours is as valid for you as mine is for me.
Once we get that, there's no telling how much we'll be able to accomplish!
