{"id":10743,"date":"2015-12-11T00:00:53","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T00:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=10743"},"modified":"2018-11-08T23:58:10","modified_gmt":"2018-11-08T23:58:10","slug":"general-secretary-speaks-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2015\/general-secretary-speaks-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Church of the Brethren General Secretary Speaks out Against Anti-Muslim Rhetoric"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Church of the Brethren general secretary Stanley J. Noffsinger<\/strong> has issued a statement against the current escalation of rhetoric that seeks to demonize Muslims. Citing Jesus\u2019 commands to love God, and love neighbor as self, and the parable of the Good Samaritan, the statement also calls church members to revisit portions of the 1991 Annual Conference statement \u201cPeacemaking: The Call of God\u2019s Peace in History\u201d that direct the church to \u201cexplore avenues of interfaith dialogue leading toward a visible expression of God’s plan for human unity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The statement follows in full below, with a shorter video version available at https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Ymd5uQ6b9kg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

General secretary statement against anti-Muslim rhetoric<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Our nation is struggling to respond to violence and terrorism in Paris, Lebanon, Syria, Nigeria, and elsewhere. However, I am troubled by the hateful rhetoric that seeks to demonize Muslim neighbors and friends.\u00a0 More profoundly troubling is that the words of hate and demonization are surfacing among Christians.<\/p>\n

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus implores us to \u201clove the Lord your God\u201d and to \u201clove your neighbor as yourself.\u201d In Luke, however, a scholar of the law presses Jesus further, asking, \u201cAnd who is my neighbor?\u201d (Luke 10:29). Jesus\u2019 response is the parable of the Good Samaritan. A priest and a Levite ignore a dying man on the road to Jericho, but a Samaritan \u2013 a cultural and religious outcast \u2013 stops, bandages the dying man\u2019s wounds, and finds him shelter for the night.<\/p>\n

Equating radical Islamic ideology with the faith Muslims misrepresents and muddies Christ\u2019s message with fear. We must resist the temptations fear elicits, holding strong to faith in the redemptive power of Christ. Suffering knows no religion.<\/p>\n

As the conflict in Syria escalates, our mercy and compassion cannot be selective. Refusing to aid those fleeing violence and injustice, especially on the basis of religion, likens us to the priest and the Levite who ignored the dying man on the road to Jericho. Giving in to words that demean Muslims betrays our belief that everyone is a child of God.<\/p>\n

In 1991, the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference reissued a call for peace among people of all religions in the \u201cPeacemaking: The Call of God\u2019s People in History.\u201d\u00a0 It states in part:<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, the Church shall:<\/p>\n

a. initiate and participate in efforts to overcome strife and differences within the Christian family;
\nb. work with those of other denominations, nations, and religions in the interests of peace, while maintaining our Christian witness and proclaiming God’s love for all humanity;
\nc. engage in the creation and support of ecumenical, cooperative, and coalitional efforts in peacemaking;
\nd. provide informational and educational materials to assist in a better understanding and love of people of other religions and faith traditions;
\ne. explore avenues of interfaith dialogue leading toward a visible expression of God’s plan for human unity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, there is a word of hope. \u201cGod still wills wholeness and unity for God’s people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeremiah writes, \u201cI will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare (shalom) and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope\u201d (Jer. 29:10-11).<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

— Find the full 1991 Annual Conference statement on peacemaking at<\/em> www.brethren.org\/ac\/statements\/1991peacemaking.html<\/a> .<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Church of the Brethren general secretary Stanley J. Noffsinger has issued a statement against the current escalation of rhetoric that seeks to demonize Muslims. Citing Jesus\u2019 commands to love God, and love neighbor as self, and the parable of the Good Samaritan, the statement also calls church members to revisit portions of the 1991 Annual Conference statement \u201cPeacemaking: The Call of God\u2019s Peace in History\u201d that direct the church to \u201cexplore avenues of interfaith dialogue leading toward a visible expression of God’s plan for human unity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1295,1262,1261,1263],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-10743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-advocacy","tag-ecunemical","tag-general-secretary","tag-peace"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10743"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13080,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10743\/revisions\/13080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10743"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=10743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}