A woman was stabbed outside of Roxy's as 2009 was ending, and it appears that her sexual orientation was a motive in the attack.
This, like all of the violence in our city, is a moral issue.
Walter Wink, a Christian Theologian is best known for coining the phrase, "The myth of redemptive violence."
Although the phrase is recent, the concept of redemptive violence is ancient. In short, good must confront evil, and defeat it. "If god is what you turn to when all else fails," Wink writes, "violence certainly functions as a god." Wink argues that the myth of redemptive violence is the real defining myth of the modern world. Many who claim to practice faith with other names, show, by their action, that they are more devoted by this myth.
And on New Year's Eve, this myth was repeated, and a person was attacked--apparently because she was a lesbian.
The idea that violence can solve problems is bigger than any religion. It has infected many--including my own. We learn it as soon as we can watch cartoons, but it is not only a myth in the sense the mythological power we give it, it is a myth in the sense that it is simply not true.
Because violence against gays is too often perpetrated by Christians (though we have no idea in this case), I--unfortunately--have to make this clear. We are called to be passionate about rooting out sin in our own lives, and to leave judgment of others to God. We have no business examining anybody's sex life except our own, and a violent attack on a perceived enemy is completely foreign to the way that Jesus practiced and proclaimed.
Justice comes not through violent defeat, but grace, healing, and restoration.
Our city has too much violence. As long as we think additional violence will curb it--a myth that hold sway on a personal, local, national and international level--violence will remain with us.
The myth of redemptive violence tells us that violence is the natural response to difference, and that more violence is needed to restrain that violence. Creative theology can and will allow us to find other ways of living together.
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This, like all of the violence in our city, is a moral issue.
Walter Wink, a Christian Theologian is best known for coining the phrase, "The myth of redemptive violence."
Although the phrase is recent, the concept of redemptive violence is ancient. In short, good must confront evil, and defeat it. "If god is what you turn to when all else fails," Wink writes, "violence certainly functions as a god." Wink argues that the myth of redemptive violence is the real defining myth of the modern world. Many who claim to practice faith with other names, show, by their action, that they are more devoted by this myth.
And on New Year's Eve, this myth was repeated, and a person was attacked--apparently because she was a lesbian.
The idea that violence can solve problems is bigger than any religion. It has infected many--including my own. We learn it as soon as we can watch cartoons, but it is not only a myth in the sense the mythological power we give it, it is a myth in the sense that it is simply not true.
Because violence against gays is too often perpetrated by Christians (though we have no idea in this case), I--unfortunately--have to make this clear. We are called to be passionate about rooting out sin in our own lives, and to leave judgment of others to God. We have no business examining anybody's sex life except our own, and a violent attack on a perceived enemy is completely foreign to the way that Jesus practiced and proclaimed.
Justice comes not through violent defeat, but grace, healing, and restoration.
Our city has too much violence. As long as we think additional violence will curb it--a myth that hold sway on a personal, local, national and international level--violence will remain with us.
The myth of redemptive violence tells us that violence is the natural response to difference, and that more violence is needed to restrain that violence. Creative theology can and will allow us to find other ways of living together.
on behalf of the many gay people who are my neighbors, friends and relatives, thank you thank you thank you.
having said that, the pulpit is the loudest ugliest source of antigay rhetoric in modern america. it is one reason i steer clear of religion. considering how many people get "homosexuality is an abomination" drilled into them every sunday, it is a remarkable that attacks like this do not occur more often.
@grad You're welcome. I've noticed the same thing you have, and it has not been good for the pulpit or for gay people.
And silence in the face of violence allows it to continue. Because the anti-gay voices in the church are the loudest, regular people feel like "bad Christians" for standing up for victims of violence. Reasonable people stay quiet, and what should be a simple matter turns into "us vs. them."
This ridiculous, of course. Nobody deserves to get stabbed in the eye.