Christians Offended by Proselytizing?
The always-excellent Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion reports on a Christian community that is offended and “fearful” about having another faith’s beliefs “imposed” on them!
“An English translation of the Quran began appearing two weeks ago on the doorsteps of hundred of homes in the BraesTimbers neighborhood. The books came in plastic bags with a note attached from the ‘Book of Signs Foundation’ asking recipients to accept the Quran as a gift from the Muslim community. But some residents, like Greg and Sue Ann Pieri, said they feared the group is imposing its beliefs on non-Muslims and found the gesture offensive.”
Of course when Christians want to distribute Bibles and religious materials at a public school, shout through megaphones at passing Pagans, or mention “Jesus” at the beginning of government meetings, we non-Christians are supposed to acknowledge that these are “loving” actions in step with the rich, wholesome, Judeo-Christian tradition of America. It only becomes an “offensive” imposition or causes fear when it is done in turn to Christians.
I would love to think that this experience has opened their eyes to how proselytizing feels to those on the receiving end, but I’m not the optimist I once was. They most likely don’t see the connection between what this Muslim organization did, and what groups like The Gideons do every day.
7 responses so far
Waaaah, waaah, waaaah! Now they know how it feels to have religious literature dumped on them. The irony is that they won’t get the clue.
Technically “proselytising” is the act of telling people they will go to hell if they don’t follow your religion. Which means Pagans are by definition incapable of it, since we don’t believe in hell. It also means that the Muslims in this story were possibly engaging in mission (depending on what the actual motive for distributing Qurans was), but not proselytisation… unless they put a bookmark in a passage in the Quran saying non-Muslims will go to hell (if there is such a passage).
Hmm though, I’ve just seen this scary post from Evn about Pagans trying to get people to go to moots that don’t want to.
Not sure why, but this one set me off more than usual, and I ranted a bit over at my blog. I know nobody ever said life is fair, but Ye Gods, unfairness just slops my horn…
andlittlefishes.blogspot.com
I went over to Bartholomew’s to check this out, and the quotes from the residents were so odd that I’m still grappling with understanding it. The residents talked as though there had been a covert, military operation executed in their neighborhood, and that these books were a dangerous item, which required special attention for safe disposal. It’s overblown as though a sci-fi writer effected the drama. Perhaps the reporter’s questions prompted those odd responses.
????
-Morning Angel
Re: the “proselytising” comment -
I’ve never seen anything to indicate it has anything to do with hell.
It means
1. To induce someone to convert to one’s own religious faith.
2. To induce someone to join one’s own political party or to espouse one’s doctrine.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Proselytising
It comes from Proselyte – A new convert to a doctrine or religion.
Which comes from the Greek proselutos – from the alternate of proserchomai; an arriver from a foreign region, i.e. (specially), an acceder (convert) to Judaism (”proselyte”)
http://original.biblebrowser.com/greek/4339.htm
Kudos to the Muslims on this one!