John Kelso discusses and satirizes the whole Hyde Park Baptist Church/Thanksgiving thing with more wit and restraint than I think I could manage. My favorite part:
Why did Hyde Park Baptist decide to give the mixed prayer group the old heave-ho? Simple. They don’t want non-Christian stuff going on on their land. I didn’t realize telling people to get lost was Christian, but you learn something every day.
“Although individuals from all faiths are welcome to worship with us at Hyde Park Baptist Church, the church cannot provide space for the practice of these non-Christian religions on church property,” a statement from Hyde Park Baptist said. “Hyde Park Baptist church hopes that the AAIM and the community of faith will understand and be tolerant of our church’s beliefs that have resulted in this decision.” So they’re pleading for tolerance while being intolerant. In these situations, people often ask the question I mentioned earlier, “What would Jesus do?” If Jesus ran the Quarries, I don’t think he’d charge rent. I also don’t think he’d turn anyone away. And, from what little I’ve read of the Bible, he’d probably provide free grub, although probably seafood.
Tolerance for another faith’s intolerance. Irony truly is dead.
I’m afraid I don’t get the whole kerfuffle. If anything, the church screwed up when, for whatever reason, it said it was going to host the thing in the first place. That seems like a pretty silly decision, given what they believe.
That said, I don’t see what’s so unusual about a church (or any organization) stipulating that use of its property be in accordance with its beliefs. I wouldn’t ask the local synagogue to host the 2008 New Testament Bacon-and-Hamboree. Nor would I propose that the German Psychologist’s Union ask to rent out the Scientology Celebrity Centre.
“I didn’t realize telling people to get lost was Christian” is about the most tortured reading of that situation one could arrive at. They explicitly did not tell them to get lost — only that they couldn’t worship in a way antithetical to Christian beliefs. That seems pretty Christian to me, kind of by definition.
For what it’s worth, I always get a laugh when people who seemingly neither know nor truly care about what Jesus did or said tell me what he would do: “I don’t know much about sin or forgiveness or the Bible or such, but I’m pretty certain Jesus would have wanted Arrested Development to have a fourth season.”
Two responses:
1) The event was ultimately held at a synagogue.
2) The whole point of the event was to be interfaith, so it is not all that surprising that there might be non-Baptist stuff going on. Someone didn’t read the large print when they approved the whole thing last summer.
3) (Bonus response) Jesus would totally have wanted more seasons of Arrested Development.
I tried and tried to resist, but I have to respond once again to todd’s comment from way back when (see above).
“If anything, the church screwed up when, for whatever reason, it said it was going to host the thing in the first place.” That was pretty much the whole entire point of my post. Thank you for agreeing with me.
“I wouldn’t ask the local synagogue to host the 2008 New Testament Bacon-and-Hamboree. Nor would I propose that the German Psychologist’s Union ask to rent out the Scientology Celebrity Centre.” Here you start to lose me. Presumably, you are saying that you wouldn’t ask a synagogue to host your “Porkapalooza” event out of courtesy, since the eating of pork is strictly prohibited by the Torah. I know Scientology has a problem or two with psychiatry, so I guess that’s where you are going with that comment. How, then, do you conclude that it is inappropriate to even ask Baptists to allow non-Baptists into their facilities? Where in the Bible does it say that outdoor recreational facilities cannot be rented out to non-Baptists? I ask that because the foundation for your analogies to Judaism and Scientology is based on specific proscriptions in their particular texts. I also disagree that it would be inappropriate to even ask–what if the only facility in your area that is large enough to host your Porkapalooza is part of the local synagogue? Sure, they may say no, but what’s the harm in asking?
“They explicitly did not tell them to get lost — only that they couldn’t worship in a way antithetical to Christian beliefs.” How is reneging on the previously-made reservation not “telling them to get lost”? What this whole little saga keeps coming back to is that this is an interfaith organization. It does not take rocket science to figure out that some of its proceedings might not toe the Baptist line. The only thing that changed, as far as I know, was that they found out that Muslims would be leading the event this time around.
As for the “Arrested Development” comment, it really has nothing to do with anything, other than a means of avoiding the elephant in the room introduced by the original article that I quoted from: what would Jesus do? You don’t much like the article’s writer answering that question, I can tell, but you don’t provide an answer yourself. Would Jesus have gone back on an agreement if he knew Muslims would be leading the festivities? Anyone? Anyone?