Dear Indiana,
I am known by many names, and many of your citizens know me
well, but allow me to introduce
myself to the state as a whole, because the
state as a whole is currently in the news: I’m the Creator of the universes
which spread out endlessly (I came up with infinity, as well) and have been
around since Time began (that was mine, too).
Out of all that I created, Earth has been my pet project.
What would happen if I created mankind with a free will, showed clearly the
best way of going about life, and let them have at it? Of course, I already
know the answer, because I’m outside of time, but it’s been a very interesting
process for the last multi-millennia.
You may ask why I’m writing, when there are so many other
pressing issues. Trust me, I have it well in hand, although you need to
remember I see things from a very different perspective. When you see it all
from beginning to end, it’s a little easier to see the reasons, but just as a
forest fire may look – at a particular moment , to humans – as a disaster, the
living forest knows that fire is a necessary cleanser periodically, allowing
for better and more productive growth.
I am regularly accused of (1) not existing at all, (2) being
cruel for allowing any number of things to continue, (3) being ineffective
because I didn’t intervene in this or that tragedy, or (4) needing your help.
Aside from the sheer entertainment value
of (1) and (4), I put up with (2) and (3) out of mercy and patience, and the
obvious knowledge that my creation’s limited understanding was, after all,
built in. By moi.
But there are times, such as the current uproar over your
Religious Freedom Restoration Act (Senate Bill 568), that I am inclined to give
a little fatherly nudge. I could have sent tornadoes, an alien invasion, the
zombie apocalypse, or plague – could, doesn’t mean I won’t…doesn’t mean I ever
did! – but that isn’t how I roll. I wrote the book (literally and figuratively)
on love. I AM love, if you remember one of my publicists’ words (I John 4:7).
Governments are raised up with my permission and for my
purposes. As one of my other writers said, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is
no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist
have been established by God” (Romans 13:1, NIV). Rulers always think
they accomplished things by might or wallet or even qualification, and
certainly I take all that into consideration, but I’m on an eternal clock. What
happens today or next month or the next hundred years is not the pressing issue
it always is with you, or them.
But Indiana. I’ve got some thoughts.
This bill troubles many of your citizens. It troubles many
of the citizens of what you call the United States. For those with enough
vision to see beyond the geographical lines and boundaries mankind has set up,
it troubles citizens of the world, not so much for what it says, but what it
implies. What it could lead to in the future.
Your governor, Mike
Pence, wants to clarify the sticking point of discrimination protection,
specifically discrimination against men who marry men and women who marry
women, or would like to.
Not so long ago in your nation, Jim Crow laws kept the races
separate, as if whites might catch black germs, as if blacks could not be trusted
around white women, as if blacks were second-class, subhuman. Other countries
went even further, gassing millions of Jews and other so-called “vermin.” If ever there was a point that I questioned
myself, it would be when my creation, my children, are so blind that they lose
sight of the fact that they are all, each one, exactly the same below the skin.
Same bones and muscle, same veins filled with blood, same brains with
electrical energy.
Masterpieces, each and every one. How often you forget this
one basic fact.
Your bill, on the surface, seems innocuous enough, providing
protection from lawsuits if a person, business, organization, church, etc.
refuses to provide services to someone on the basis of the person (business,
etc.)’s religious beliefs. Frankly, I
would hope that folks would just as soon take their business elsewhere rather
than get their knickers in a twist, so to speak. There are plenty of businesses
that are not, for lack of a better word, jerks. Plenty of businesses who are in
business to make a profit and not to make a political stand.
People need to be honest about such things. “This business is owned by a self-righteous hypocrite
who still thinks whites are superior.” That might work. Or “We prefer to serve
only those who attend our church/synagogue/mosque/coven/temple” – I wouldn’t
think such a business would succeed, but it’s worth a try.
Because you see, even with the law in place, the religiously
inclined for whom you claim the law is desired, are going to have a difficult time convincing
the public and the courts that they are taking a stand based on religious
beliefs if they are, at the same time, doing things that circumvent that very
religion.
Religion is man-made, true – all I started out wanting for
was that my creation love me, and one another. People have gone in various
directions, and this is not the time for further explanations and apologetics.
The fact remains that in the U.S. there are multitudes of religions operating
freely, and your laws must apply equally, as your Constitution states.
Muslims will have difficulty proving that their unloving
business practices are based on religion, since they know me as al‑Wadud, He who loves. Sikhs profess love of God and his creation
(fellow humans included), therefore, good Sikhs would serve anyone. Buddhists
strive for enlightenment, which comes through unselfishness – not likely to
hold up in court if you are selfishly refusing to serve someone in a
restaurant.
And Christians! Not so-called (their name is Legion) but
true, sincere adherents to Jesus Christ, will be laughed out of court if they
try to convince anyone that being unkind, unloving, intolerant, etc. is due to
their religion. Really? Perhaps they mean a different Jesus than the one I know
so well.
Religious freedom is lawful, and I make all kinds of
allowances, constantly, for the behaviors and attitudes I observe in the United
States, because your government places such a high priority on this one
universal right. One’s right to religious freedom is not less important than
one’s right to obtain services. We are
in agreement here.
Common sense would dictate that if an organization states
clearly that it is for men, or women, or heterosexuals, or gun-toting
anarchists, or Baptists, or Catholics, or tree-worshippers, that anyone not in that
particular category would stay away. Not wanted. Find somewhere to chillax after
work. Common sense would dictate that if I want to buy something, and the owner
would rather hold on to it than take my money, I can find it elsewhere. (I don’t
literally mean myself, obviously…what do you have that I could possibly want…except
your love!)
But people don’t always show a lot of common sense. That’s
just reality. Every ornery agenda you can imagine is going to latch on to this
bill of yours, challenge it, tie up the courts, eat up your budget. What you
perhaps intended as a help for your 6.5 million citizens, a speculative
protection just in case they ever need it, is overkill. Unnecessary. And it
sends the wrong message.
Do you really want to go from the state known as The Crossroads
of America, to simply Cross, as in Cross and Surly? Find ways to be more loving, more inclusive, more
tolerant. Not less. As my guy said to the Romans years ago, "Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor" (Romans 12:10, ESV).
I can bless that. I will
bless that.
Thanks for listening,
God
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