| Racism... By A
Nose
In Garden Grove, California, the Rev. Robert Schuller has set up a
little kingdom which he calls "The Crystal
Cathedral", located off Chapman Avenue west of the UCI Medical Center.
On the grounds of his kingdom there is a statue depicting the admittedly
false story found in the Gospel of John, of Jesus and "The Woman
Caught In Adultery" (John 8: 1-11). The statue has Jesus, the woman, and
three accusers. Jesus and the woman (Editors Note: she's quite a hot
babe for a statue, actually), being "good Jews" in the story, have
small European noses, whereas the "evil Jews" have Texas size noses big
enough to delight the stereotypes of almost any bigoted anti-Semite Nazi
organization out there. The racist message being sent by the statue
seems to be that "good Jews" will have small European noses, whereas
"evil Jews" will have enormous shade-casting honkers.
Racism in Christianity is nothing new. The Gospel of John constantly
puts down "the Jews" as being just one step above pond scum. The Apostle
Paul stereotypes everyone born on the island of Crete as being
gluttonous liars. Medieval Christians routinely burned alive and
persecuted Jews. And in our own country the Mormons for many years tried
to turn Native Americans into "a white and delightsome people", blaming
their racial features on a curse by Biblegod. Only recently, in fact,
have the Mormons allowed blacks into their priesthood "because God said
so" but everyone knows the real reason: The Utah Jazz.
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"What shall we do
with... the Jews? ...Set fire to their synagogues or schools and
bury and cover with dirt whatever will not burn, so that no man will
ever again see a stone or cinder of them."
Martin Luther, "Letter To
The Jews" 1531 AD
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My question is simple: why, in this our
modern age, in a wealthy liberal church, is blatant Christian racism
tolerated, even proudly put on public display for all to see? What is Robert
Schuller trying to teach us???
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