Thursday, September 9, 2010

The Darkness of Evil Denied in Gainesville, Florida

In a climate of fear, hate-mongering and sensationalist statements from the right wing of the political spectrum in both Canada and the U.S., someone who calls himself "pastor" has decided to burn the Qur'an on the anniversary of 9-11 in Gainesville Florida.
It may well be that this man, like so many other "christian" leaders, has more than a few screws loose. It may be that his fifty-something congregation (size not age) agrees with this decision. His assistant, wearing his pistol on his hip, appeared on Chris Matthews last evening trying to suppport drawing a line in the sand against Islam.
As the "pastor" says, "When do we stop accepting the violence of Islam?"
Well, for a little man, with little faith, in a little church, he has certainly stirred the international "pot" of political and religious leaders from Petraeus to the Pope along with Hillary Clinton, Tony Blair and even Defence Minister Peter McKay in Canada. By noon today, both Harper and Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon had come out against the burning.
Silent are the Republican leadership; silent too is former presidential candidate John McCain, along with former president George W. Bush. Still silent is Colin Powell as is Condoleza Rice and Carl Rove and Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich, a presidential hopeful in 2012?
Sometimes the news is in the silence, not in the headlines. Just as, sometimes the real art in the canvas is in the "dark spaces" not only the "spaces of light".
In this case, the darkness of the mind and heart and spirit of the "pastor" is where the evil lurks, and he is projecting his denied evil onto the backs of the soldiers in Afghanistan. It is one of the most nefarious moves to be made under the banner of christianity in the last two weeks....and the results could be explosive.
But he is waiting for "God" to give him clear directions, if he is to change his mind...
Was it God who directed him in the first place?
Some God! Some direction! Is it the same "God" who is giving directions to Ben Ladin?

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