The sermon Sunday will be a response to an opinion piece in the Coloradoan this past week. The article was written by Richard Kaplan. This is a summary of what he said:
"Time after time, religion stands out front as the variable most apparent, be it 911 or Norway this summer. While by 2011 'faith-based' religion should have been relegated to the bookshelves as mythology, it continues to permeate our politics, lead public debate and fuel division...As ingrained as faith-based religions are in the questionably evolving human experience, they are not simply the innocuous and beloved traditions that make holidays worth celebrating. They are responsible for the death of our children and only serve to stand in the way of progress and prosperity...
The argument that extremists do not represent the whole and therefore moderates don't share responsibility for their actions is a cop out. It's an exhausted defense. It is the moderates that allow for the extremists through shared ideology. The moderates embrace what is convenient and abandon what is not...
The only difference between moderates and extremists is that moderates make excuses for their coreligionists while fundamentalists have the courage of their obsolete convictions. Moderates should have the courage to discard these out-of-date belief systems as a whole relegating them to the mythology section of the bookshelf."
Richard Kaplan has something for us to think about. How do we respond? Is religion obsolete? Does it need to be put back as mythology -- I think he implies that it is untrue?
Is religion dangerous and do moderates and extremists basically say the same thing and perpetuate the same problem?
The sermon will attempt to answer this.
That do you think? If you have some defense to the charges Richard has offered write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts with the readers of the blog click on the 'comments' box below.
These are important questions.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Charles Schuster
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