First of all, I have to give a nod to the gentleman from whom I gathered this story, as the meta-tag to his blog is "The musings of an eccentric and sometimes heretical Episcopalian priest." It's always refreshing to me to hear a clergy member a.) have a sense of humor, and b.) not be afraid to speak his or her mind.
On that note, the aforementioned Father Jake posted an article regarding the lack of hesitation in spreading Christianity through violence.
Calling out others who see proselytizing as the main goal of our political situation in the Middle East, he says:
"Franklin Graham, the evangelist (and son of Billy Graham), boasted that the American invasion of Iraq opens up exciting new opportunities for missions to non-Christian Arabs. This is not what the Hebrew or Christian prophets meant by righteousness and discipleship. In fact, the grotesque notion that preemptive war and the destruction of innocent life pave the way for the preaching of the Christian message strikes me as a mockery and a betrayal. . . One would hope that we are seeing the American evangelicals' trend of depicting Jesus as the new Rambo finally coming to an end."
(editor's note: lifted from his site is this glorious picture in context with his analogy)
Though I will not agree that our involvement in Iraq (and now Iran, Pakistan, can't forget Afghanistan, and soon Russia and Venezuela — see Greg's posts earlier today) is unjustified, I certainly do think it is from a religious perspective, and I think Father Jake here nails that on the head.
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