Should This Bother Us?

In a February 3 story in the LA Times, reporter DeeDee Correll documents new problems with religious tolerance or intolerance at the Air Force Academy.

You may remember the uproar a few years ago over charges that evangelical Christianity was being imposed on students, whether they wanted it or not. The administration at the AFA took very public steps to ensure that the religious preferences of all students would be respected.

Now, however, that good will may be gone. The AFA constructed a new worship space for cadets who are Wiccan. While there had been a space set aside for Wiccan worship, it was located far away from the living and training areas for the cadets. The new space was much more easily accessible. Then, on January 17, a cadet saw that someone had constructed a cross from railroad ties and placed it in the center of the new Wiccan worship area.

Is this something that should bother us? After all, we did not dishonor the space. Surely, we can see that this was in fun? Or, perhaps, it was more a case of the rights of the Christians on campus to express their views and promote their religion.

This is indeed something that should bother us. At best, it is symptomatic of the lack of respect people have for anyone who is different and does not quite fit in. At worst, it betrays the arrogance and intolerance that some Christians have toward any other expression of faith. I do not have to care whether someone paints swastikas on the wall of a Jewish Synagogue, because, after all, they are not Christians and should expect whatever they get. I do not have to care whether someone brings in dead pigs into a Muslim Masjid because, after all, they are not Christians and should expect whatever they get. Soon, though, I could be the one under attack and under pressure to conform because I am not considered to be a good enough Christian.

This incident should put us in mind of the words attributed to Martin Niemoller, a German Protestant Christian pastor:
First they came for the communists,
and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews,
and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.