On Faith
John T. Norris
The most powerful statement that hit me during the first anniversary of the World Trade Center disaster came from a relative of one of those killed. He said, "Religion drove those planes into those buildings." Every religion has those
who turn teachings into hateIt is too easy to dismiss the hijackers of these planes as Islamic religious fanatics and their beliefs as having no relevance for the rest of us. The sad fact is that every religion has followers who turn the teachings of that religion into acts of hate and violence. A Jew killed the prime minister of Israel in the name of Judaism. Extremist Hindus attack Muslims and Christians in India. Extremist Muslims attack Hindus and Christians in Pakistan. Christians in the United States bomb women's clinics out of a strong religious conviction that they are following the will of a Christian God. In earlier times, Christians burned women at the stake and had religious crusades that slaughtered Muslims in the name of a Christian God.
The idea that religion is a force for unqualified good in society needs to be challenged. Some people, out of strong religious zeal, have the capacity to do great harm to others. In every great religion, these people are a minority. However, to deny these exist invites disaster.
For example, the Roman Catholic Church is paying a heavy price for refusing to see the deep and terrible toll some of its priests' sexual misconduct was causing. Further spiritual damage wounds the church because others turned a blind eye or covered up incidents that needed tough love, not trivialization and denial.
As Americans we want to believe in the best in everybody. However, we go too far when we see religion as only a positive force. In 1993, Congress passed a law -- the Religious Freedom Restoration Act -- that permitted religious institutions to disobey any law unless the government could prove it had a compelling interest in enforcing the law against them. This was almost universally praised at the time as being a wonderful law. But should a church be exempt from child abuse and neglect laws? If the government underwrites school vouchers, will they allow children to attend religious schools that preach hate and intolerance of others? (The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1997 that the RFRA was unconstitutional.)
Again, I am not saying that religious institutions are bad. In fact, I do believe they are superior to most institutions in society. Nevertheless, all religions and religious institutions have the capacity for sin and evil just like every person does. That is easy to believe about someone else's religion, sect, denomination or group, but are we willing to look at our own religious institution? Sept. 11, 2001, calls all of us to take a hard look at our own faith communities with the same discernment we use to judge others. To believe "we" have it all right, all the time, allows sin and evil to grow in our midst.
John T. Norris is interim minister of Moanalua Community Church and teaches religion at Windward Community College.
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