That’s the Old Team Spirit October 21, 2009
Posted by Dan R. Dick in Christian witness, Ecumenical & Interfaith Unity, Spiritual Diversity.Tags: Evangelism, Faith Sharing, Spiritual seekers
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This past weekend I had the exceptional dining pleasure of chipped beef on toast (with eggs over easy) at the Dry Dock restaurant in Duluth, Minnesota. It followed morning worship (of God) then proceeded to the afternoon worship (of football) with the Vikings-Ravens game on one screen and the Packers-Lions’s game on another. I rooted with equal fervor for both the Packers and the Vikings and my waitress asked me, with hand on hip, ”What are you doing?” “Cheering for the Packers and the Vikings,” I proudly proclaimed. “You can’t do that!” she accused. Rolling her eyes, she said, “You can’t be both a Viking’s fan AND a Packers fan. You have to pick a side!” She marched back to the bar and I heard her tell the bartender, “he’s rooting for the Packers AND the Vikings,” with as much contempt as if I’d said I liked trampling baby bunnies. Being a fan — shorthand for being a fanatic — is serious business. We defend the home team as if it were the most important thing on earth. Every other team is “the enemy.” We want our team to not just beat opponents, but to annihilate them! When two teams are in the same division, like, say, the Vikings and the Packers, the animosity is greater as is the sense of who is good and who is not.
This same level of fanatical passion exists with some in the church. (It is well to remember that religious fanaticism is the root of the word “fan” to begin with.) I am constantly amazed by the passion with which Christians — some United Methodists among them — denounce and despise members of other faiths. I have long been a proponent of interfaith collaboration and understanding. I believe that Christ destroyed the dividing walls of hostility, and I am sadly distressed by Christians (including United Methodists) who devote much of their time and energy to rebuilding new dividing walls of hostility. Why do Christians want to undo what Christ did?
