When relegion becomes evil

Lutheran, The, Jul 2003 by Kastilahn, Kathleen

A 'teach-in' with Charles Kimball

Charles Kimball is a religion professor at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C. An ordained Baptist minister, he's worked for the National Council of Churches. He's also worked with Congress, the White House and the State Department for more than 20 years-and made 35 visits to the Middle East.

But these days he crisscrosses the country via car and plane, newspaper columns and airwaves. It started Sept. 11, 2001, when reporters called Kimball, who specialized in Islamic studies when earning a doctorate at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass., to help interpret the attack. It's only increased since the 2002 publication of his book When Religion Becomes Evil (HarperSanFrancisco; www.harpercollins.com/sanfran).

Wherever he goes, Kimball teaches about the havoc that is let loose when religion becomes corrupted. He preaches about the need for people to repent of their ignorance about their religion and that of others, and also to bear witness of the good news of their authentic faith. The Lutheran caught up with Kimball in April in Macon, Ga., where he led a daylong conference at Mercer University.

Kimball: I was as horrified as everyone else on Sept. 11. But I know that across the traditions and through the centuries many other horrors have been done in the name of religion. It's the most powerful and pervasive force in human society, bringing out the best and worst in people. There are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world. Nineteen people hijacked those planes. There is little leverage over people willing to die for their belief. The questions for us now are: What in the world is going on and what do we need to do if we want to live very far into the 21st century?

We need, for example, to know enough about Islam to put [Sept. 11] into perspective, to see what is the most extreme and not extrapolate that to the whole faith. We have ideas, images and prejudices-much of which we don't even know we have. We have to learn, and we have to unlearn.

When [evangelist] Jerry Falwell goes on 60 Minutes and calls Muhammad a terrorist, we forget about it the next day. But that statement fans the flames of extremists in the Islamic world: "See Christians attack the prophet!"

Religions "work" in similar ways to address the major issues of life: creation, the birth-to-death life cycle, and the relationship of the individual and the community. Ritual life gives meaning that transcends the physical life. It's in the content of religions' truth claims that we find very real differences among the major traditions-Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist. Very different worldviews and ultimate goals. We need to study these respectfully and make value judgments in the context of accurate understanding.

There's a pattern of behavior across the traditions that constitutes corrupted vs. authentic religion. The five signs are: absolute truth claims, blind obedience, establishing the ideal time, the end justifies any means and declaring holy war.

Absolute truth claims are made with rigidity and certainty. Whenever anyone claims to know what God wants for him or her and for everybody else, it's a recipe for disaster. Usually abuse of sacred texts is involved-to find out what God wants me to do. Suicide bombers are one example of the evil that comes from this, as their leaders frame others as "infidels."

Some Christians say the God of Islam isn't the God of the Bible-and write off all Muslims. That's somewhere between ignorant and disingenuous. Why is this an important point? Because they try to discredit a whole religion.

Is there absolute truth? I believe there is. And I also believe that it rests with God. A good dose of humility is important for all of us when we talk about truth from God.

Christians, at 1.8 billion, and Muslims, at 1.3 billion, make up 40 percent of the world's population. They're both geographically diverse and the only two religions which, at heart, are evangelical. Islam early on was perceived as a threat by Christianity. Within 100 years after Muhammad (632 C.E.) it spread from Arabia west to Spain and east to India. It's the only religion that ever threatened to overcome Christianity, and its danger is woven into literature with the most negative images possible.

Today there's a shaky political situation within many Muslim countries and also a great resurgence of the desire for Islam to again be a great civilization system. Since the Crusades, many Muslims have lived in the shadow of European colonialism. There is a long memory. My fear is the perception that [the United States is] on a 21st century crusade.

Relief efforts in Iraq by Christian groups "hostile" to Islam could be catastrophic. As Christians we can provide help in Iraq with no strings attached. That's called bearing witness [to our faith], and it's not an option [not to do so]. Our responsibility isn't to convert but [it is] to bear witness.

Blind obedience is the pattern of cults with charismatic leaders who lead followers into oblivion. But you see this dynamic in the local church, when too much power falls into too few hands. It's most frightening in TV ministries from preachers who absolutely know what's true because "God spoke to me." And there are people passively listening. Healthy religion encourages people to think for themselves.