{"id":1662,"date":"2015-01-17T11:39:21","date_gmt":"2015-01-17T15:39:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/?p=1662"},"modified":"2015-01-17T11:39:21","modified_gmt":"2015-01-17T15:39:21","slug":"alan-felton-why-did-i-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/?p=1662","title":{"rendered":"[Alan Felton] Why did I go?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We are delighted to welcome the Rev. Alan Felton, pastor of Resurrection UMC in Durham, to\u00a0Profligate Grace once again.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I stood on the muddy quad in front of Duke Chapel today and heard the adhan, or Muslim call to prayer. \u00a0Why did I go?<\/p>\n

\"Photo<\/a>

Photo by Connie Ma (@ironypoisoning), via Twitter.<\/p><\/div>\n

I don\u2019t know the motivations of all those who gathered at Duke today. I imagine some standing there were merely curious. \u00a0There were a few news reporters and security personnel paid to stand on the fringe of the crowd. \u00a0I\u2019m sure others were there to support the free speech rights of American Muslims. \u00a0But, why did I go?<\/p>\n

The whole event was somewhat anticlimactic. \u00a0Anyone who came out expecting to see fiery protests or anything worse was sorely disappointed. \u00a0The call to prayer was explained. It was sung in English and Arabic. The Muslims left to go into the basement of the chapel to pray (which they have been doing for years with much less attention). \u00a0I spoke to a few friends and then wandered off to eat lunch and think more about the sermon I will preach on Sunday at the church I serve. \u00a0I posted a photo of Duke Chapel on my Face Book page with the caption \u201cThe chapel is still standing\u201d lest anyone think the bell tower had been brought crashing down on us by the words of the adhan.<\/p>\n

There were no protests against the adhan or Muslims yet, in the days leading up to today\u2019s event, many objections were heard. The loudest voice of opposition came from Franklin Graham, son of the great evangelist Billy Graham. This is not the first time Franklin Graham has loudly voiced invective against Muslims. \u00a0He has been a fixture on Fox News in recent years denouncing Islam and proclaiming dire warnings against those who adhere to it. \u00a0Earlier this week he called for alumni and other supporters of Duke University to withhold financial support until the decision about the adhan was reversed. \u00a0He quickly got his way.<\/p>\n

Franklin Graham may be crowing in victory but what he did in the past few days has revealed something vile and disgusting within the soul of many Christians. \u00a0He has spouted a theology of ignorance, intolerance, and fear. \u00a0Graham has spiced up his comments with a dash of American exceptionalism and a pinch of childish bullying along with a spoonful of good ol\u2019 fashioned misunderstanding. \u00a0The whole recipe is indescribably delicious to many yet it is hard to see much Christianity in what Graham is saying and doing. \u00a0His stand on Muslims seems to be inspired more by the gospel of Dick Cheney than the Gospel of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

I am not na\u00efve about the dangerous rise in Islamic fundamentalism. \u00a0There should be appropriate concern about ISIS and Al Queda and Boko Haram. We should all grieve and condemn the recent hateful and deadly attacks in France and Australia and Nigeria. \u00a0The rising tide of violence and extremism across the world is a cause for concern and attention. \u00a0I do not believe Islam and Christians are identical in what we believe. \u00a0There are clear differences that must be acknowledged.<\/p>\n

Islamic extremism and the violence of terrorism however was not at all what the hoopla at Duke was about this week. \u00a0The uproar in fact had very little to do with Islam. \u00a0The real issue in play is instead something rotten at the core of much of what passes for Christian faith these days. \u00a0The problem is not Muslims wanting to pray at Duke. \u00a0The problem is the reaction of many Christians when they hear about this desire.<\/p>\n

Franklin Graham\u2019s words and actions perfectly illustrate this problem. \u00a0The underlying dilemma with Graham and his ilk is that they are consumed by fear rather than being filled with hope. Fear has long been the weapon of choice by demagogues and ideologues throughout history. \u00a0Fear is the well-played card played during every election. \u00a0Fear is the constant undercurrent in our society today. \u00a0I am always amazed at how gullible we the people are to unspecific \u201cthreats\u201d and meaningless \u201craisings\u201d of the so-called terror alert system.<\/p>\n

Living in fear may be something many Americans find acceptable, but fear should not influence Christians in the same way. \u00a0Christian faith is ultimately about the hope given to us by Jesus Christ who died on a cross and rose from a grave so that fear might be banished from our hearts once and for all. \u00a0Jesus is the center of Christian faith, not a beautiful chapel or a preacher claiming to be a defender of that faith. \u00a0Faith that can be eroded by the expression of another, albeit different faith, is not much faith at all. Jesus cannot be diminished by the adhan or any other non-Christian religious observance. \u00a0The only thing that can diminish Jesus is when Christians choose to replace him in their hearts with the scourge of fear.<\/p>\n

Allowing the adhan to be sung at Duke Chapel today was not the beginning of the end of Christianity at Duke or in this country. It was instead a mark of generosity and hospitality that is at the core of believing in Jesus and living by his example. \u00a0Jesus said, \u201cIn everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets\u201d (Matthew 7:12, NRSV). \u00a0Yes, I know many Christians are not allowed to freely express their faith in other nations. \u00a0This is a concern. \u00a0Yet, instead of responding in kind, I choose to respond as Jesus tells me to do. \u00a0I choose to live with the hope of Christ as my lodestar rather than the fears preached by Franklin Graham.<\/p>\n

Why did I go to Duke today to hear the adhan? \u00a0I went because Christ led me there.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n


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We are delighted to welcome the Rev. Alan Felton, pastor of Resurrection UMC in Durham, to\u00a0Profligate Grace once again. I stood on the muddy quad in front of Duke Chapel today and heard the adhan, or Muslim call to prayer. \u00a0Why did I go? I don\u2019t know the motivations of all those who gathered at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9,11,10,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-durham","category-ethics","category-guestposts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7EotM-qO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1662"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1666,"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1662\/revisions\/1666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profligategrace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}