Every so often I'll see the included bumper sticker on a beat up, rusted out car and think to myself, "these poor people need help." When I was teaching high school the mantra from some bug-eyed, overly self-righteous lay person in the religion department was, "if you want peace work for justice". This bothered me no end for I always felt it was a copout for stealing from those who had and given to those who didn't. i.e. socialism at best, communism at worst. My thinking about teaching and the salary I received was: nobody twisted my arm to sign a yearly contract so why complain about my salary.
My wife and I attend an inner city church in downtown Columbus, Ohio. It is the poorest of the poor when it comes to the congregation. It is located in one of the most crime infested areas in Ohio. We attend there for two reasons: they need our money and the priest is a "priests, priest". Our homily last week touched on the topic of coexistence, sort of. I liked the talk, mostly because the good padre agreed with me. He pooh-poohed the idea of social justice. "If you want peace be kind to each other," he said. I like that better. It's only coincidence that I came across the accompanying article from the blog site called, Brutally Honest.
"You’ve seen these bumper stickers, right? They cause me to shake my head and think, 'how naive'. Why? Because they don’t really mean what they say.
Let’s break it down. We’ll call each worldview by the letter it’s supposed to represent. So:
C = Islam
O = Pacifism
E = “Gender equality” (=the LGBT agenda)
X = Judaism
I = Wicca / Pagan / Bah’ai
S =Taoism / Confucianism
T = Christianity
And let’s assume a very broad definition of “coexist”: living together without calling for the destruction of each other. Here are the problems with that:
C wants to kill E, X, T, and (by implication) O. If they achieved the world they wanted, I and S would also no longer exist.
O doesn’t allow for effective resistance or defeat of C.
E stands in direct opposition to C, X, and T, and accuses those who speak against them of hate speech. Also, they’re trying to edge X and T out of public schools in favor of their own agenda. (They’re afraid C will be offended, so they get less trouble.) E is actually very, very intolerant.
X’s existence is threatened not only by C but also by O, who invariably supports C over X.
I and S are statistically insignificant and are mainly on there to complete the bumper sticker.
T is who the bumper sticker is really arguing against, but poses no physical threat to any of the others.
Historically, T has brought about more tolerance– “coexistence” if you will– than any other movement. But the kind of “coexistence” the people who make this sticker envision is one where at least X and T are completely marginalized.
When I see one of these bumper stickers, I can't help but think... there goes yet another non-thinking, mindless drone. Pretty much what I think when I see an Obama sticker.
Sue me."
Let’s break it down. We’ll call each worldview by the letter it’s supposed to represent. So:
C = Islam
O = Pacifism
E = “Gender equality” (=the LGBT agenda)
X = Judaism
I = Wicca / Pagan / Bah’ai
S =Taoism / Confucianism
T = Christianity
And let’s assume a very broad definition of “coexist”: living together without calling for the destruction of each other. Here are the problems with that:
C wants to kill E, X, T, and (by implication) O. If they achieved the world they wanted, I and S would also no longer exist.
O doesn’t allow for effective resistance or defeat of C.
E stands in direct opposition to C, X, and T, and accuses those who speak against them of hate speech. Also, they’re trying to edge X and T out of public schools in favor of their own agenda. (They’re afraid C will be offended, so they get less trouble.) E is actually very, very intolerant.
X’s existence is threatened not only by C but also by O, who invariably supports C over X.
I and S are statistically insignificant and are mainly on there to complete the bumper sticker.
T is who the bumper sticker is really arguing against, but poses no physical threat to any of the others.
Historically, T has brought about more tolerance– “coexistence” if you will– than any other movement. But the kind of “coexistence” the people who make this sticker envision is one where at least X and T are completely marginalized.
When I see one of these bumper stickers, I can't help but think... there goes yet another non-thinking, mindless drone. Pretty much what I think when I see an Obama sticker.
Sue me."
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