by Bruce G. Epperly
As a progressive and ecumenical Christian, I am always hesitant to excommunicate a fellow Christian, call someone a heretic, or question people’s religious sincerity. As a progressive Christian, my theology has been defined as heretical by fundamentalists and conservative Christians who deem any deviation from biblical literalism or openness to pluralism and universal salvation, however well-intended, as half-way down the slippery-slope toward apostasy and damnation. Further, I take seriously the growing theological affirmation of “polydoxy,” that is, the recognition of multiple truth perspectives within and beyond Christianity. From this perspective, there are many orthodoxies or paths of being Christian, theologically, liturgically, experientially, and spiritually.
Still, the theology and practices of groups such as the Hutaree or Westboro Baptist Churcg stretches my progressive inclusivism. Sure, they claim to be Christians and I don’t doubt that claim, any more than I doubt confusing a belt for a snake can be an honest mistake that leads to a fearful response. I believe that they are earnest in their faith. But, I also believe that we belong to different tribes, if not different faiths. While hatred, scapegoating, violence, and crusade have been part of virtually every major religious tradition at one time or another and some Christians too closely identify God and country, I believe that groups motivated by hate and violence – who see hatred as a necessary aspect of fidelity – follow a different faith and a different god than the God I experience in Jesus Christ, the healer whose hospitality embraced everyone and whose social action was aimed at transformation rather than polarization.
Hutaree and Westboro Bapist affirm the vision of a god known primarily by judgment and not love. God punishes America through the gulf oil catastrophe, the World Trade Center bombings, and the Katrina disaster. God destroys the innocent as well as the guilty. God hates homosexuals and people who love them and big governments and people who support them. In the case of Hutaree, God wants us to arm ourselves in preparation for killing the infidel, the homosexual, the police, and military, and preparing for the “last days.” The end time is upon us and God will come with a sword to destroy atheists, homosexuals, Muslims, and presumably progressive, moderate, and open-minded evangelicals. These groups believe that the world is split between good and evil, right and wrong, and black and white. God makes no compromises with falsehood and neither should we. In their own way, Hutaree and Westborn Baptist resemble the Muslim terrorists they hate – there is no middle ground, the infidel deserves death, and we are God’s chosen instruments of vengeance.
I will claim only this in regard to such groups – that we clearly follow two different divinities. Does that mean we call ourselves by different faith names? Well, I’m not sure. But, I am sure that we need to claim the “Christian” with as much boldness as those whose faith is violent and exclusive.
Perhaps, we need to focus more fully on the relationship between theology and practice in proclaiming our own progressive and moderate vision. I believe that God is ultimately loving, embracing, transforming, and liberating. God is present moving through every life and every moment, seeking salvation and wholeness for all. While we may see ourselves as God’s enemies, God has no enemies. Judgment occurs, but not the judgment of destruction but the judgment of healing and salvation. All are saved eventually, even the Hutarees and Westboro folk, who may surprisingly find themselves in the afterlife, growing beside homosexuals, Hindus, and liberals. I believe God desires that we save rather destroy this good earth, and God wants us to be partners in creation and not destruction.
There is no one response to such groups, but our own polarization and hatred is not the answer. Our task is to love, but also to affirm our contrasting vision. Polarizing religiosity calls progressives and moderates to boldly and lovingly present an alternative vision of God and Christianity. Progressive and moderate Christians need to adopt a peace-oriented “moral equivalent of war” (William James) in which we enter the marketplace of ideas, the pluralism of religious possibilities, and the political realm with a robust, life-transforming, and world-affirming vision of positive spiritual and institutional healing and wholeness.
Read more articles on Fundamentalism at the Patheos Public Square.
Bruce Epperly is a professor and administrator at Lancaster Theological Seminary and co-pastor Disciples United Community Church in Lancaster, PA (www.ducc.us). He is the author of seventeen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living, a progressive theological and spiritual response to Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life. A Reiki master/teacher for over twenty years, he is the author of Reiki Healing Touch and the Way of Jesus (with Kate Epperly). Email Bruce at bepperly@lancasterseminary.edu.
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