Taking a stand
In my daughter's Confirmation class tonight (for which my mom and I are group leaders) we were given this bit to think over:
If Jesus came today, he wouldn't be crucified. Instead, people would invite him to dinner and mock him after he leaves.
What I love about that is that it's dead on right.
Today, in the US, you don't have to worry about getting killed for your beliefs. No. Today you are ridiculed, mocked and isolated for your beliefs. A direct physical attack would not only be easier to defend against, but it would be easier to see coming.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad no one is waiting with a pit and a pile of stones to kill me for my beliefs, but standing up to the cruelty that people do while smiling and saying 'Just kidding' doesn't take any less courage than facing a mob.
The Bible is full of statements about people who face death for their beliefs, but that likelihood is so rare in our nation that it is almost meaningless. People tend to bandy about declarations of "I will die for X, Y, or Z" without any real concept of what that would really be like. But ask someone if they are willing to stand up for what they believe if they know that after they did so they would be fodder for metaquotes or some fandomwank-type place. When they know that then next day everyone will be standing around the water-cooler mocking that which they don't believe or care to respect.
Ask middle schooler how much courage it takes just to stand up for something they know is right -- and I'm not limiting this to religious beliefs here, I'm talking simple decency. Even those kids who agree with you won't stand by you -- perhaps out of self-defense, perhaps out of guilt for not having the courage to do the right thing themselves. Maybe because they've never seen an adult take a stand.
Our world kills with small cuts and smile. It seeks to belittle and marginalize anything that conflicts with the idea "everyone does it".
I always ask the kids: You know why, when someone is planning on doing something wrong, they try to get others to do it with them? Because then they can pretend it's really not wrong. If you get ten people to do this evil thing and only one stands against... well, obviously the one who stands against it has something wrong with them, right?
Yeah, it's peer pressure -- but I don't like that term because it's too limiting. Peer pressure brings to mind images of kids and school and things done by "the majority" of kids. It's done to push physical acts -- smoking, stealing, vandalism. It somehow doesn't fit when we're dealing with ideas and beliefs.
I am in awe of the Amish in my community. People who walk around every day, quietly stating who they are and what they believe by their very dress. Most people hide what they believe. Not because they believe in something evil or harmful, but because our society treats belief, devotion and integrity as lies and tricks. Faith is ridiculed as a whitewash that hypocrites paint on their lives in order to feel superior. If anyone disagrees, well, just more grist for the mocking-mill.
I tell the girls in my group that it's hard to walk the faith at the age that they are. Middle School is rough. I tell them to be strong and do the best they can, find ways to do the right thing, even if they lack the courage to do it openly.
I don't have the heart to tell them it doesn't get any easier once they "grow up". Living a life of faith and integrity makes you a target for those who want to prove that everyone has clay feet. It doesn't matter what your age is, it's always easier to shut up and go along than to speak up and make yourself a target.
Still, it's worth the try. Worth the effort to show these girls that faith can be life. For all the things that I could be mocked for in this world, at least if I'm mocked for my faith, it's actually something important.
If Jesus came today, he wouldn't be crucified. Instead, people would invite him to dinner and mock him after he leaves.
What I love about that is that it's dead on right.
Today, in the US, you don't have to worry about getting killed for your beliefs. No. Today you are ridiculed, mocked and isolated for your beliefs. A direct physical attack would not only be easier to defend against, but it would be easier to see coming.
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad no one is waiting with a pit and a pile of stones to kill me for my beliefs, but standing up to the cruelty that people do while smiling and saying 'Just kidding' doesn't take any less courage than facing a mob.
The Bible is full of statements about people who face death for their beliefs, but that likelihood is so rare in our nation that it is almost meaningless. People tend to bandy about declarations of "I will die for X, Y, or Z" without any real concept of what that would really be like. But ask someone if they are willing to stand up for what they believe if they know that after they did so they would be fodder for metaquotes or some fandomwank-type place. When they know that then next day everyone will be standing around the water-cooler mocking that which they don't believe or care to respect.
Ask middle schooler how much courage it takes just to stand up for something they know is right -- and I'm not limiting this to religious beliefs here, I'm talking simple decency. Even those kids who agree with you won't stand by you -- perhaps out of self-defense, perhaps out of guilt for not having the courage to do the right thing themselves. Maybe because they've never seen an adult take a stand.
Our world kills with small cuts and smile. It seeks to belittle and marginalize anything that conflicts with the idea "everyone does it".
I always ask the kids: You know why, when someone is planning on doing something wrong, they try to get others to do it with them? Because then they can pretend it's really not wrong. If you get ten people to do this evil thing and only one stands against... well, obviously the one who stands against it has something wrong with them, right?
Yeah, it's peer pressure -- but I don't like that term because it's too limiting. Peer pressure brings to mind images of kids and school and things done by "the majority" of kids. It's done to push physical acts -- smoking, stealing, vandalism. It somehow doesn't fit when we're dealing with ideas and beliefs.
I am in awe of the Amish in my community. People who walk around every day, quietly stating who they are and what they believe by their very dress. Most people hide what they believe. Not because they believe in something evil or harmful, but because our society treats belief, devotion and integrity as lies and tricks. Faith is ridiculed as a whitewash that hypocrites paint on their lives in order to feel superior. If anyone disagrees, well, just more grist for the mocking-mill.
I tell the girls in my group that it's hard to walk the faith at the age that they are. Middle School is rough. I tell them to be strong and do the best they can, find ways to do the right thing, even if they lack the courage to do it openly.
I don't have the heart to tell them it doesn't get any easier once they "grow up". Living a life of faith and integrity makes you a target for those who want to prove that everyone has clay feet. It doesn't matter what your age is, it's always easier to shut up and go along than to speak up and make yourself a target.
Still, it's worth the try. Worth the effort to show these girls that faith can be life. For all the things that I could be mocked for in this world, at least if I'm mocked for my faith, it's actually something important.