Alien Drums

Those of us who are basically moral folks have to be careful. We look at the world around us and see the moral decay and it makes us want to wipe out immorality because we know how distructive it is to individuals and society. That is a good instinct. The tricky part comes in the approach we take to wiping out immorality. Do we do it from a compassionate perspective that recognizes our own failings and the importance of maintaining human freedom, or do we do it by attacking.

National Public Radio reports the latter in Gaza. A story by Eric Westervelt reported today on “Morning Edition” that a “violent group in Gaza has murdered prostitutes and destroyed a variety of businesses in the name of Islam. Some worry the crimes are meant to impose a wider Islamist social order in the area.”

This story is about Islamic moralists, but we Christians must not be smug. Religious fundamentalism breeds this sort of verbal and physical violence whether it be Islamic or Christian or whatever.

Westervelt used a great phrase — “vigilante moralists”. In other words, these seemingly moral people have taken the law, and it is religious law, into their own hands and are seeking to enforce it with murder and destruction. They don’t seem to see the murder and destruction as moral failure.

Your local Christian fundamentalist may not be murdering and destroying property, but he or she does often seek to take away the freedom that leaves the door open to immorality. And even if they don’t seek it they often secretly wish it.

Make no bones about it, freedom and immorality go together. If people are free then they will act in ways that are destructive to themselves and to others. In fact, it is a basic Christian teaching — all have sinned.

So how do we “fight” immorality. We keep holding up a moral standard, one exemplified by Christ and other great religious leaders throughout history. We keep seeking to live in such a moral way. We reach out to the “immoral” with compassion and understanding. We make sure we do not use immoral means to pursue moral goals.